David N'Guessan Scouting Report
David N'Guessan's enticing athleticism, rebounding and versatility on the defensive end easily puts him on NBA radars despite being a non-shooter. Here's why he'll find a roster spot in the NBA:
Introduction
After two years at Virginia Tech, N’Guessan committed to Coach Tang and the Kansas State program. His play-finishing nature fit well alongside their excellent guard play, and for N’Guessan, he found ways to influence the game with his rebounding, quick feet, and efficiency in the painted area. Despite the non-shooting nature of his game, he found himself minutes in vital parts of the game due to his defensive presence.
Despite it being a no-go for NBA teams to focus on non-shooting tweeners between the four and the five, N’Guessan offers many intangibles where he can convince an NBA decision-maker to bet on his niche role while developing his shot at the next level. His below 50% free-throw shooting makes it a tough sell, but the versatility on defense with enough room to score to support a team’s offensive rating is the main emphasis of this scouting report.
Physical Profile
At 6-foot-9, N’Guessan is a great athlete. He has broad shoulders, a well-filled frame, and decent core strength. His verticality and light feet help him to elevate his role as a play-finisher, and his footwork has improved over the last few seasons. While playing above the rim, N’Guessan can defend in space while deterring shots effectively at the rim.
There is no official measurement available, but he should have a wingspan between 7-foot and 7’2”. Alongside the verticality, he has an excellent feel for rebounding, which is the main area where N’Guessan uses his physical advantage against his opponents. That will continue in the NBA, where his switchability and high-tier athleticism will intrigue NBA scouts during the process.
Defense
Pick-and-roll
N’Guessan is a dynamic pick-and-roll defender. His quick feet help him to go over screen, hard-hedge, or even blitz ball handlers. However, he tends to be cautious at times when he’s focusing on keeping both of his feet inside the arc. That’s a good thing when considering fewer spaced floors in college compared to the NBA. However, these flashes should convince an NBA scout that he can defend in a variety of ways where he’s comfortable going over screens, matching the need for more teams to slowly change their drop-coverage-heavy coverages.
One of the things N’Guessan does well is tagging his assignment. In the first play below, we see an example where his tag keeps the opposing play-finisher attached to him. But to switch against the well-covered ball handler gave away the dropoff pass, as N’Guessan had to keep his feet on the ground rather than jump. In the second possession, N’Guessan did well to cover the baseline to stop the drive, Hereafter, he switched back well to his assignment in the middle, using his upper-body strength well to not give away an inch against one of the more physical finishers in the game.
A vital intangible N’Guessan has is his screen navigation and awareness. He does well to see the incoming drag screen, which caught him off guard in the third play below, where he gave too much space for the three-pointer to find the net. An area of development for N’Guessan is that he’s too reactive after a shot to see if it goes in rather than immediately moving to his assignment to box out defensively. The fourth play led to an offensive rebound because of it. That has to change if he wants to improve an NBA team’s defensive rating.
Catch-and-drive
N’Guessan’s footwork needs to continue to improve if he effectively wants to defend against closeout attackers. He’s often not positioning himself well with his pivot foot, leading to him giving away angles and driving lanes to opposing ball handlers. In the first two plays below, N’Guessan is caught by not closing out at 180 degrees of his assignment, which leads to him getting blown by. Despite his good lateral quickness, he has a slower first step, which makes it a do-or-die to close out properly and keep driving lanes closed. If he’s willing to give away a lane, he should always see where help defense can collide properly rather than the weaker side, which was the opponent’s target in both plays.
However, one of his good habits is to not bite and step out when ball handlers attack him off the dribble. He’s forcing them to beat them with speed, giving N’Guessan an advantage to contest pull-up jumpers, with the third play as an example. Despite the ball going in, that’s a good defensive play on his part. In the fourth possession below, he drops too far into the interior, giving away an opportunity to shoot off the dribble. In the NBA, that’s a no-go. For NBA decision-makers, it’s vital to test his ability to close out with more space to see if his footwork has enough potential to improve to round out his positional defense. Inside the arc, he’s much more confident, but in space, N’Guessan is still not convincing enough. The fifth play gives an example where he’s blown by, and the defense collapses.
Catch-and-shoot
When N’Guessan is defending against spot-up shooters, he’s often not positioning himself well away from the ball. He’s too reactive to the ball handler, making unnecessary motions, which frees up his assignment against open shooters. He has to play with more composure to be able to position himself better, especially considering the context of much more motion and deception that NBA teams try to create space for open shooters. When closing out, he uses his length and speed well to not give away open looks. But when he’s positioning himself not well, he’s setting himself up for an uphill battle to effectively close out against shooters.
In the first play below, N’Guessan does well to recognize the extra pass to the elbow. Hereafter, he closes the gap with long strides. However, after positioning himself too far in the painted area, it was simply too much ground for him to cover. In the second possession, the ball handler’s pivot and one-second wait deceived N’Guessan to rotate to the middle to cover the play-finisher, where he left the corner shooter wide-open in the process and yet again had too much ground to cover to effectively defend the catch-and-shoot jumper.
In the third possession, he was much more comfortable staying at his spot, where he did a much better job contesting the shot. Despite the make, that’s a good defensive play on his end. This continues in the fourth play, where he’s rotating well to cover the elbow on the weak side after the opponent left the corner empty to run the set via the strong side. As a result, N’Guessan’s length and good bounce when contesting make it difficult for opponents to effectively shoot through the angles he’s closing. That’s a positive he’ll carry to the NBA.
Cuts
Stop jumping against dribble penetration. That’s the task for N’Guessan to work on. He’s often bailing ball handlers out despite his good positioning inside the paint as the help-side rim protector. However, at less than one blocked shot per game, N’Guessan’s main struggle is his tendency to bail ball handlers out by getting caught by the fear of giving away two points when teams find paint touches. However, with his size and length, he can afford to let opponents beat him by attacking him in the chest, where he has an advantage over any assignment he’ll face. Stopping his jumps will fix a main struggle N’Guessan had throughout his collegiate career.
In the first play below, N’Guessan shows his excellent rotations by keeping the play-finisher underneath the basket and his opponent in the mid-post busy. His presence as an extra body in the interior gives a team enough breathing room to protect their defensive rating against dribble penetration. However, in the second possession, the ball handler is already covered while dribbling into him in the paint. By catching himself in the air, he’s blowing the extra coverage and offering an easy out with the dropoff pass, which led to the easy dunk.
This continues in the third play below, where he does well to rotate after the backdoor cutter got fed, but if he keeps his feet on the ground rather than jumping up, he can completely close the lane in the middle and thus force the play-finisher to a contested shot. That’s the main emphasis NBA decision-makers have to focus on when evaluating him in workouts in their gym. The last play below shows what goes wrong with him jumping while effectively defending no space than just giving away the dropoff pass in the middle.
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