Alex Toohey Scouting Report
Continuously adjusting their game to keep impacting winning makes it more feasible for young prospects to adjust to the NBA. That's Alex Toohey in a nutshell. But here's all you must know:
Alex Toohey (#22, Sydney Kings): 2004, 6'8"
Small Forward/Power Forward — Born: May 5, 2004 (21 years old)
Introduction
Having won the NBL Next Generation Award, which is given to the best player under 25, Toohey crowned his successful season in Sydney. While scoring over eleven per game, Toohey’s defensive impact was the differentiator among his peers. He found ways to influence winning, especially on the defensive end. The league’s value toward defensive stoppers who adjust their game to maintain the offensive rating becomes more vital.
That’s the potential NBA scouts see in Toohey. The fast-paced style of the NBL is similar to the NBA and makes adjusting easier. With two full seasons under his belt, the experience will also be valued. This scouting report emphasizes the importance of his role, the long-term value, and how well he’ll fit into being a complementary wing at the next level.
Physical Profile
At 6’7.75” in socks, Toohey has excellent positional size to play as a three while switching to take on duties of a two and a four. He’s a good athlete with quick feet and a strong body. Weighing in at nearly 223 pounds, Toohey invested in making his body NBA-ready. He has great core strength. That’s one of the differentiators.
Considering the strong body and switchable character of his profile, it adds more value because of the core strength. Vertically, Toohey is average, but laterally, he makes it count. That’s where he can grow as a defender at the next level. With a 6’10.75” wingspan, the length helps, especially when playing against smaller opponents.
Defense
Closeouts
Toohey has a strong last step and loves to play physical in closeouts. He’s not the strongest, but doesn’t shy away from using his length and force to beat ball handlers off the dribble. He’s closing out to take away threes and force dribble penetration instead. His last step is solid, with a quick correction step to ensure his balance. He slides his feet well, but must continue to get stronger to effectively take away physicality, especially when switching against taller wings. Regardless, closeouts are a good building block to help Toohey develop into a defensive rating-improving player at the next level.
In the first play below, Toohey recognizes he’s on the three-point line and doesn’t bite on the opponent’s jab steps. He’s positioning himself to take away the strong side and force the defender into the weak side, where help defense is already present. That’s a smart move, as it forced the opponent to shoot or make the extra pass. In the second possession, Toohey pivots strongly on the elbow, ensuring his balance before using his lateral quickness to stay attached to his assignment. He’s again playing tough, throwing in his chest after the opponent got two feet inside the paint, ultimately taking away the balance before the runner.
The third play is an interesting one. Toohey immediately threw up his arms to take away vision on the rim. He bit on the fake, but corrected his mistake immediately, showing good footwork. Despite the made shot, that’s a good play on his end. The fourth play shows him again using his chest in the post-up after the closeout. Taking away balance is his primary weapon, relying on his footwork. Playing professional basketball helped Toohey mature his game on the fundamentals side.
Pick-and-roll
The best part about Toohey in pick-and-roll actions is his closing driving lanes and passing angles. He’s most comfortable in the second line of defense, not entirely relying on drop coverage as he steps in to make ball handlers beat him when they use screens for switches. Toohey uses his length immediately by actively raising his arms to deny early lob passes or entries when ball handlers change their pace after using ball screens.
That’s a positive. NBA teams run a lot of pick-and-roll, and the main goal is to generate paint touches to force rotations and ensure higher odds of finding open three-point shooters. In the first play below, Toohey rotates well by tagging the roller and denying the ball handler’s entry via the strong side. Hereafter, the play changed to isolation, where he got a clean contest on the shot. In the second play, Toohey again tags the screener and pivots between taking over the assignment and denying the cutting angle for the roll man. He again got the clean contest on the shooter, settling for the shot.
Positioning-wise, Toohey has a mature game beyond his years. His feel for rotations gets clearer in the third play. Toohey denies getting ICEd and he immediately runs his man off the line. The opponent got separated, but Toohey’s good court mapping got him back at the weak side baseline to contest the shot. Despite the made midrange jumper, that’s a strong defensive play.
Screen-offs and screen navigation
As a screen navigator, Toohey shows a good feel when using his arms to slide between the ball handler and the screener. He recognizes tight pockets and doesn’t shy away from throwing himself in between. He’s quick off his feet and shows strong defensive footwork. The context behind the NBL running a fast pace and motion makes it similar to how NBA teams play. That’s giving a strong feasibility test of Toohey showing similar things on an NBA floor. Screen navigation and length are two essentials that NBA coaches seek to see if they can sustain their defensive rating with young players on the floor.
The first play shows a good example. Toohey slides the roll man and doesn’t get locked in his back. Hereafter, he’s quick to rotate back after the post-entry pass to unbalance the finisher inside the arc. In the second possession, Toohey cleanly avoided the double-staggered screen to meet the shooter with a hard contest above the break. When facing elite shooters, teams often run these staggers, but Toohey’s feel of positioning and screen navigation gives him a weapon not to get caught by opposing teams. That’s a major positive in his profile.
Catch-and-shoot
Toohey isn’t caught ball-watching. On the contrary, he’s following plays maturely and makes the right rotations. That’s remarkable for his age and one of the reasons the Kings gave him a bigger role throughout the season. However, there’s an issue with his profile. When closing out, he’s not closing out at 180 degrees of shooters. The arm moves in the shooter’s face, but the body positioning makes it likely that experienced NBA players will punish him for leaving the baseline open for drives. The league trends towards maximizing their possessions in a game and thus runs actions early. You’ll rarely see shot clocks with a few seconds before shots.
Therefore, Toohey must focus on closing out at 180 degrees. The four plays below show examples. The third play is shown twice to note how he’s keeping himself on the strong side. Despite the open three, athletic wings will use these opportunities to relentlessly attack the rim via the baseline. Toohey must work on improving that in the next few years.
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Offense
Utilizing closeouts as a self-creator
FIBA-organized games don’t have a defensive three-second rule in place. That’s the context behind Toohey’s 46% rim-finishing in the last two numbers. Regardless, it’s a bad number, but not as bad as advertised. Toohey is crafty and uses his length and speed well to find paint touches. His NBA role will mostly be off-ball, and thus, Toohey must show a degree of creativity and paint touches to earn more on-ball reps in the future.
He’s fearless in attacking the rim. While finishing over three free throws per game at close to 74%. Toohey shows a decent touch. His handles are tight enough to hide the ball when he’s gathering before exploding into his defender. He’s comfortable absorbing contact due to his improved upper body strength. The first three plays show how he’s using jab steps and fakes to shake closeout defenders out of balance before his drives. He doesn’t have a great burst, but that’s not necessary, seeing how he mastered his physical tools in recognizing how to unbalance defenders and find scoring angles.
The fourth play shows how well he absorbs contact. In the NBA, that’s two free throws. The area of development is Toohey forcing his shots by pushing them. He doesn’t have a soft touch around the basket, and that’s the missing ingredient to make Toohey an effective closeout scorer at the next level. Regardless, he has a good base to develop on that end.
Scoring out of handoff actions
Toohey is not a natural scorer. He needs gradual improvement throughout his career to improve his rim-finishing and midrange shooting. That’s not an issue. The tight handles and paint touch generation give him a base to make plays out of handoffs. More NBA teams value fives using handoffs at the perimeter to ensure their four, or even five-out, schemes work. Rim pressure is vital here. Toohey is good at creating his scoring angles. But that’s where his lack of experience is visible.
In the first play below, Toohey shows a great change of pace while running off the screener with the handoff. He was bailed out by the five jumping up, as Toohey wasn’t in balance when he rose to lay the ball in. Decent touch regardless of the finish. But the second and third plays show him struggling at the rim. The main issue is not timing his last step well, which is not placed at enough distance from the rim to follow up with a natural layup. That’s the main reason why he’s a below-average rim finisher. The NBA coaching staff must help him map the court better when he’s slashing and driving to the basket.
Passing, ball-moving, and playmaking
At over an assist per game and a positive assist-to-turnover ratio in back-to-back years, Toohey shows a positive impact of passing in limited opportunities. That’s a good start. He won’t be asked to serve as a playmaker but more as a ball-mover in motion offense, where the ball moves fluidly. The passing mostly consists of executing basic reads while he’s looking to make improved passes, not just bail himself out, and not help a teammate create better scoring angles.
Toohey’s rim pressure is his main weapon to generate assists for play-finishers. His relentless and well-timed drives often force defenders to react or have rotations around him. He’s seeking to use play-finishers at the rim, feeding them with high-quality looks, as shown in the first, third, and fourth plays below. Another positive is his fluid change of pace after handoffs, where he’s patient and composed in waiting out help defenders before deciding to pass. The instincts of a playmaker are there.
But a limited role got in the way of showcasing himself as a passer for others. He’s executing basic reads, and that’s good enough to potentially grow into a secondary ball handler in the next few years.
Catch-and-shoot
At 27.3% and 34.0% in the last two years, Toohey is an average shooter at best. The positive is how quickly he sets his feet and actively moves toward the ball. That’s essential as he makes it easier for ball handlers to get in their passing angle. This will help him to grow into a volume shooter in the next few years. But there are some issues surrounding his touch. He’s rushing his elevation and doesn’t have a consistent shooting motion. The arching point is high, and with his length, that’s a positive.
He won’t get contested on his jumpers easily as he rises well on his jumper. But the fluidity is lacking. That’s fixable. The first play shows Toohey keeping the ball high on the elbow. With the closeout on its way, he’s not fluidly releasing the ball. The positioning of his body is not at 180 degrees of the rim, and that makes it less accurate to shoot. That’s the main ingredient to improve as a shooter. He’s often not setting his feet correctly. In the second play, he’s moving smartly to the weak side corner and pivots strongly. But his right foot needed to be corrected on the catch.
If he sets his feet earlier, he’s much better able to position himself at 180 degrees to provide a better release. NBA coaches must help him develop that skill in the next few years. Outside of that, it’s feasible that Toohey will improve as a shooter, benefiting from better spacing in the NBA, considering how well he finds his spots and puts himself in the passing angles of ball handlers.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project Alex Toohey to be an early second-rounder in the 2025 NBA Draft. That comes with the teams giving him a guaranteed contract to where he’ll find a spot in the rotation as a rookie. The high floor makes him an intriguing pick because the long-term potential is visible in his profile.
Maturity is everything when it comes to young prospects sticking in the NBA. Toohey will have no issue adjusting to the next level, and adding his mastery of athleticism to maximize his craft gives him a good outlook to contribute to playoff teams.
I don’t speak about a fit often, but the Minnesota Timberwolves immediately came to mind.