Amani Hansberry Scouting Report
We have seen less high-end fundamentals among American center prospects in recent years. However, Illinois' Amani Hansberry is the exception. What's the NBA intrigue? Find out below.
This article is not meant to generalize American center prospects at all, as the headline may suggest. However, it’s a fact that in the last decade, we see the level of fundamentals changing in a negative direction. This is one of the reasons why most NBA teams have at least one European center on their roster.
Amani Hansberry is the exception. He has great footwork, and it’s clear that the basketball figures in his life worked very hard with him to teach the basics of the game and bring it to a very high level. Team Durant CEO, Wayne Pratt, deserves a lot of that credit.
Physical Profile
At 6’8”, Hansberry is built like a rock. At 240 pounds, his mobility stands out, and combined with his fluid hips, Hansberry checks an important box NBA scouts look for. Hansberry has huge hands and combined with his ability to finish with either hand, that’s another aspect of his profile that’ll put him in serious draft considerations.
Hansberry is not a vertical athlete, but instead, he shows solid body control and great balance. Although he is a good rebounder, his size, and regular wingspan make it a challenge to play as a full-time center at the NBA level, despite it being his best role.
His footwork and overall quickness will result in positional versatility in different schemes.
Offense
At the NBA level, I project Hansberry to play as a playmaking hub and interior face-up scorer. Depending on the sort of line-up, he’ll play as the five on most occasions. The first thing that stood out when evaluating him was his passing.
What gives Hansberry great NBA value is that he’s able to create for others off the dribble, and via post-ups. In the play below, we see Hansberry pop to the perimeter after the screen. Instead of launching for the three-point shot, he attacks the rim with a long dribble with his right hand, ready to launch the bounce pass to the cutter.
With a closed passing lane, Hansberry adjusts very quickly after picking up his dribble to feed the baseline cutter with a wide-open lay-up.
Important takeaways are him reading the defense and executing quickly. Plays like these are promising flashes for Hansberry to play in a highly-demanded role: a shortroll playmaker. By leveraging the threat of his face-up scoring ability, Hansberry scans the floor very quickly and delivers timely passes leading to high-quality shots.
At the high school level, the team was mostly built around Hansberry to thrive. Instead of him putting up huge scoring numbers, I saw Hansberry showcasing a lot of his passing game. An example of the NBA-translatable part of his playmaking can be seen below. He gets the entry pass in the mid-post, draws help defense, and feeds the cutter, all in one second.
Another important detail to add is that Hansberry is a good passer with both hands, which makes him harder to predict, especially when he’s in post-up situations, like in the play below. At the NBA level with more space to operate in, teams that like to move the ball will use him as a playmaking hub more often than not.
Like in the previous play, Hansberry immediately scans the floor before his hands touch the entry pass, making the execution much more efficient. When evaluating his high school film, he has shown a lot of consistency in this particular aspect.
As a freshman at Illinois, he won’t get the same treatment, but in time, he’ll again earn a starting role with the team mostly designed to benefit from his biggest strengths. When evaluating his profile, my takeaway is that Hansberry will return to school for one more season.
At the moment, he is still working on developing that three-point shot. When looking at the release, it’s a high one, but fairly slow. Against better competition playing against better athletes, this could work against him. With three attempts in five games, the sample size isn’t there yet, therefore evaluating his jumper needs more time.
When it comes to his midrange game, Hansberry shows incredible footwork and body control to get himself in the best position to score. With fluid hip movement, and the frame and upper-body strength, Hansberry is comfortable to match up against any top-tier big man in the Big Ten.
Naturally, the usage as a freshman in college is way reduced than he had as a high school senior. However, what excites me when watching Hansberry is that he’s adjusting to the situation very quickly. In the play below, Hansberry rolls to the rim after the ball screen but immediately positions himself for the post-up when the pass doesn’t arrive.
Plays like these elevate his playmaking because, at the next level, there will be a spot-up shooter relocating to the weak side. In this particular play, that didn’t happen.
Because his shot diet does not contain too many high-quality shot types, Hansberry has to find other ways to stay on an NBA floor. His rebounding is one of them. His fundamentals are partially inspired by the Gasol brothers, with the way he doesn’t bring the ball down after collecting the rebound.
In the play below, we see an example. Hansberry stutters for the immediate putback attempt, but then brings the ball down, and powers himself through the defense for the lay-up. The shot doesn’t fall, but the way he got to his shot is a prime example of what NBA franchises can expect.
It’s imminent that Hansberry will offer a lot of offensive versatility at the next level. However, during his time at Illinois, exploring different roles should be a focus. With a lesser role as a freshman, I am confident that Coach Underwood will grant him more playing time throughout the season.
Defense
When it comes to Hansberry’s defense, the first thing I want to see is how well he slides his feet on defense. Because his size doesn’t allow him to play as a full-time center, Hansberry has to show he can switch and guard multiple types of players.
As a pick-and-roll defender, we’ll see Hansberry play drop coverage most of the time. Although he’s decent laterally, he lacks the quick first step to take more risks and go over the screen more often, or in some occasions, even blitz the ball-handler.
The play above is an example of the type of difficulties Hansberry could face when he’s switching to quicker guards and wings. By playing too far from the hoop, the defense is forced to offer help on most occasions, leaving the weakside open.
The wide-open driving lane does give something to worry about. However, Hansberry being burned has mostly to do with him closing out late, and the ball-handler simply launched for the drive when Hansberry’s pivot foot touched the three-point line.
When his feet are set, we see Hansberry sliding more comfortably, leading to the block from behind in this play. Although the quicker guard surpassed him, I don’t see any concern due to the well-timed effort and shot contest.
Hansberry also uses his body fairly well to absorb contact. Avoiding fouls is something we see back in the numbers—7 fouls in 75 minutes so far at Illinois.
Due to the lack of vertical pop, I don’t expect Hansberry to be a plus rim protector at the next level. However, looking at the type of role he’ll ideally play, I don’t expect the need to turn Hansberry into a defense-anchoring shot blocker.
When evaluating his defense in his minutes at the five, I see Hansberry making a difference with his strong upper body to absorb contact and his great decision-making.
In the play above, Hansberry is guarding the rim alone at the level of the free-throw line, I love how he simply waits until the Valparaiso big man makes his decision, before the contest at the rim.
Overall, Hansberry should improve as a pick-and-roll defender. Despite the limited sample size, I see a form of consistency in him making the reads, but still being a tad too late in the execution.
In the play below, Hansberry could have gone for the ICE against the ball-handler, instead of going over the screen after the handoff, which led to him losing ground. Despite great efforts to keep the ball-handler in front of him, it led to a good look from the short midrange.
Another aspect I would like to see improvement on is his defensive box-outs. In the play below, Hansberry plays way too close to the rim, leaving him in a tough situation to collect the defensive rebound.
Despite being bigger and stronger than his opponent, Hansberry loses the positioning battle, leading to potential second-chance points. In a faster-paced NBA game, defensive rebounding becomes more important, and one of the aspects of being a starter-worthy NBA center is winning the box-outs at all costs.
An area of untapped potential for Hansberry is his ability to close out. Despite his vertical pop, Hansberry does have a great motor and has shown the ability to play for longer stretches of time. The ball reversal here ends up in a wide-open three, which Hansberry blocks purely with his effort.
Most defenders his age struggle by recognizing rotations consistently, but with Hansberry, I saw him consistently making the right reads on defense, which is another value riser in his draft profile and a big reason for me to believe Coach Underwood is going to give him more minutes at Illinois throughout the season.
NBA Draft Projection
Amani Hansberry has many tools to be a starter at the NBA level. His passing is top-notch, and with his feel for the game, I project that Hansberry won’t need much time to adjust to the NBA game.
However, for his development, I would prefer him to stay for one more year at Illinois to develop his skillset as a playmaker and shooter. As a screener, he’s already one of the better big men among his peers.
As a defender, developing into a good pick-and-roll decision-maker is key, and early signs show that he could do that during his time at Illinois.
Creating his own offense won’t be a focus early on in his NBA career, therefore, using that aspect of his argument for his draft stock isn’t realistic. However, Hansberry could be a top-tier playmaker if everything clicks in his development, and that’s a game-changer for him.
Combined with his value as a rebounder and potentially as a shooter, Hansberry has the talent to be a lottery pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.