NOA ESSENGUE
Position/Archetype: Long Aggressive Forward
College: (Pro) Ratiopharm Ulm - Germany (French Prospect)
Pros:
Age: 18 year old professional playing meaningful minutes in competitive basketball always sounds great, is the league the best? no but it isn't bad either I mean he's playing adults in professional systems and has handled it really well and has made huge impacts on the playoff run and his most recent game he hit some clutch shots
Length: Super long, 6'9-6'10 with a big wingspan and the standing reach you can see of a center, none of thats confirmed but he looks pretty good for it. Now the measurements I've been given don't really add up but I do think he's gonna measure really well.
Defensive Instincts: there's some stuff you just can't teach and Essengue has the off ball and help defensive tools and awareness which has made him a very effective defender with a DRTG of 107. Is he perfect on all? No a lot to work on that I will touch on but he has great defensive tools and a great mindset.
Ability and Efficiency at the Basket: Although not the efficient shooter you'd hope he is an extremely efficient player in general and a lot of that has got to do with his driving and ability at the basket. Simply a force at the basket he may not be strong but he uses his body and isn't scared, he is a 62.3%TS and shoots 66% at the rim on a lot of attempts. I would say this is the primarily reason for a very high 125 ORTG. 85th percentile at the rim and I can only seeing that getting better with NBA Weight training.
Transition force: 93rd percentile in transition, very athletic and long to finish over people and get it out quick while also being able to use his hands to disrupt defences turning it into turnovers and transition offence. this is how we've seen his effectiveness on defence and his length and then his finishing ability all blend in and I really love to see this. Seemless and I think it will translate.
Upside and Two Way ability: Simply the type of player he is makes him an intriguing prospect per young guys with the length, has real two way abilities he can use day 1 and has pathways to develop as well as a base IQ and Feel for the game a lot of players with similar abilities just don't have. I think he's not perfect there's a lot to work on but he doesn't have a very low floor in my opinion, he doesn't feel like a swing and there's a very high ceiling. He isn't a guarantee at all but he is a lot more ready than many think
Cons:
Coordination: One thing that will wipe out a lot of his flaws is simply being more coordinated, having better hands, a neater handle, better passing form, a more controlled mover will improve him so much and make him way more impactful day 1, what it will improve is pretty much two things I will bring up, how to improve it feels quite obvious.
Weight: if he wants to improve this he has to simply get stronger, he needs to have stronger legs for his shooting form he has to be stronger to handle the larger forwards and center, Eludes to the rest of this profile, and then to improve his strengths he will have to be more forceful in general to make him a real weapon
3PT Shooting: simply the rawest part of the game, has been improving recently and as we go further into these playoffs, but he is still only taking a couple a game in general and all of them being open, he has started hitting them though which is all we can ask. The form is off and seems unbalanced but this is pretty workable and I can see him being around 33% in the league at some point in his future with the right development.
On Ball play: I brought it up earlier but he has a lot to work on to be a more effective on ball defender, his length can disrupt pretty well and that cause him to get transition plays but he can't do that every play and he will need to have more controlled movement and size to handle quicker more agile players and stronger guys. And then offensively we don't see a whole lot with his handle or creating plays which doesn't surprise me and I don't think we are gonna see a tonne of that especially early in his career but something to definitely work on and will be a project.
NBA Pro Comp: Al Farouq Aminu, Mix of Pascal Siakam and Aaron Gordon
Projection: Probably bench to start but he has qualities to impact day 1 but a lot holding him back too, but he has a lot of potential to be a star that I can see. High ceiling guy.
CHEESE FINAL BOARD RANKING: (coming soon)