Elijah Mahi Scouting Report
Elijah Mahi Scouting Report
There aren't many who find themselves on NBA rosters a year after they transferred from the JUCO reigns to Division I. But Mahi will be one of the few. Here are 3K+ words on why he's so highly-touted.
Introduction
After a tremendous career at West Valley College, Mahi finished his JUCO career in style by averaging 17.5 points per game on 50.8% shooting. He won Coast-South Defensive Player of the Year and was an All-Coast First Team member. On top of that, the Toronto, CA-born represented Canada in the 2023 Global Jam, where his team made it to the Finals, where they faced Kentucky.
The context behind the accolades is Mahi’s successful game as a defensive-minded, creative wing who handles the ball and consistently puts pressure on the rim. As a decision-maker, passer, and self-creating scorer, it didn’t take much to convince Coach Sendek to bring him to Santa Clara, as Mahi played 20 miles away from his new home, allowing the Broncos coaching staff to evaluate his game consistently.
The emphasis for this scouting report is the well-regarded physical tools combined with the role Mahi has.
Physical Profile
At 6-foot-7, Mahi has a strong upper body with broad shoulders and is listed at 220 pounds. The physicality and craft-based part of his game could allow him to continue to add weight and muscle in the next few years. Despite his game focusing on craft, Mahi has good burst and footwork that help him to create advantages. He’s a decent to good leaper, and his length adds to the list of physical tools NBA decision-makers would want to work with.
There are no official measurements available, but my best estimate would be that Mahi has a seven-foot wingspan, five inches more than his size. Despite being a junior, physically, Mahi has an advantage compared to his peers, which opens the door to test NBA waters in the summer rather than sitting out his four years in college.
Offense
Catch-and-shoot
For the NBA, Mahi’s ability to consistently knock down open three-pointers is the base for him to support a team’s offensive rating. At West Valley College, he put up a 47.1% shooting mark on 70 attempts, which translates early at the Division I level. He started the season hot for Santa Clara. When taking a faster-paced NBA game with more ball movement into account, numbers could likely go down. That’s a natural result. Therefore, it’s vital to evaluate the process of the shot, rather than focusing on the outcome.
Mahi has a good habit of staying vocal on the floor, actively relocating, and putting himself in clear sight of the ball handler. In the first play, that led to the easy kick-out pass, as Mahi made sure to relocate to be in clear 180-degree sight of the dribble-penetrating ball handler. Eventually, he set his feet well, but the area of development is that Mahi looks a tad too slow and there isn’t much fluidity in his jumper. He’s fully bending his knees to power up for the shot, while his natural strength is good enough for him to not dip the ball too far down after the catch.
NBA decision-makers will focus on certain habits. Mahi shows maturity in how he makes it easy for him to stick to his consistent shooting routine. That’s what made him a successful shooter at West Valley. In the second possession, we see Mahi taking a bailout pass in the corner, and despite the pressure the defense sets on the sideline, Mahi shows composure and corrects the catch to place the ball around the area of his chest to launch the jumper off the catch. He doesn’t get impacted by the defense’s pressure, as he’s exploiting a potential closeout attack as well, considering the eye contact with his defender.
Balancing out his stance before shots is the first focus, the third play is a great example. The side step after the catch makes Mahi a focused shooter with a clear shot process. That makes it feasible that his good numbers will continue to be there, throughout his career.
Catch-and-drive
NBA wings make it more feasible for them to stick in the league if they can express their offensive creativity as scorers. Making plays out of closeouts is the main opportunity to do that when they play a role with fewer ball touches. The context at Santa Clara is good for Mahi, as he’s not the team’s star. Therefore, his plays out of closeouts are a good example of how it will look like on an NBA floor.
Decision-making is a big part of everything. In the first play below, Mahi forces his dribble to the rim to get two feet inside the paint. Instead of making the extra pass early in the process, he’s falling into the defense’s trap, who simply trap him underneath the basket, giving him zero passing opportunities. That’s what led to the turnover. Not repeating mistakes like these is an area of attention for NBA scouts to focus on this season.
The intriguing part about Mahi’s NBA future is the physicality combined with his craft. He’s very good at putting pressure on the rim and collecting paint touches while not relying on his speed, but purely on his handles and physicality. His upper-body strength is a big part of his success. Mahi is very good at putting defenders out of balance by attacking opponents in the chest area while keeping the ball out of reach due to good handles and a long wingspan. Despite the miss on the forced layup, it’s a good play on his part. The difference-maker could have been the in-air dropoff pass to the cutting teammate in the middle, but that’s a part of Mahi’s process and learning curve.
In space, Mahi looks much better with his decision-making. The shot fake at the top of the key was timed perfectly and completely collapsed the defense. Instead of taking it to the rim and banking on his size advantage, an NBA decision-maker will always have a team’s offensive rating in mind. That’s why a kickout pass to the open shooter on the elbow would have been the preferred play. Regardless, Mahi shows that he’s a good advantage creator, making it feasible that decision-making can improve in the next few years. Mahi's willingness to shoot, as shown in the fourth play below, adds another dynamic to his paint touch gravity, as defenders are constantly on their heels in not allowing Mahi much space to operate in.
Passing
With 143 assists to 79 turnovers during his sophomore year at West Valley College, the numbers show that Mahi makes good decisions with the ball in his hands. It’s good to mention that his role won’t be to be a full-time playmaker, as the fewer ball touches throughout his NBA career will be what’s most likely. The challenge for Mahi is to take more risks.
He’s often making the easy pass, which doesn’t lead to advantages in most cases. Therefore, expressing his creativity will be his area of focus. With his good game thus far at Santa Clara, Coach Sendek will likely give him more responsibilities throughout the season.
In the first play below, instead of pressuring the rim, Mahi makes the easy side pass that leads to a three-point shot. However, the second play shows how well Mahi can execute his reads. He’s using his physicality and toughness to pressure the rim, whereafter help defense was forced to support near the mid-post. Hereafter, Mahi spins away and uses his length well to find the open shooting angle to the opposing corner, where the big man in the middle makes the good pindown to complete the openness of the three. Floor-spacing at his best.
Composure is another big plus in Mahi’s profile as a playmaker. After posting up his opponent, he again waits for help to arrive, whereafter the calmness to find the backdoor cutter makes this a feasible part of his NBA game. Advantage creation from all positions is what’s making it most likely offensive ratings improve, and a low-usage wing showing additional playmaking chops is what could lead to more ball-handling duties in the NBA.
Creating angles is what Mahi’s focus is at all costs. That’s why he’s thriving on having the ball in his hands without being a ball-dominant player. The fourth play below shows how good his basketball IQ is. He’s pressuring the rim, knowing help defense will arrive. The gravity of his physicality and strong upper body made the defense gamble on him finishing the layup, whereafter Mahi hit his teammate with the slick bounce pass for the easy two at the rim.
Pick-and-roll
For Mahi’s long-term trajectory, the biggest prize is more ball touches. That’s what NBA decision-makers need to consider when they evaluate his profile. Mahi will likely find minutes, where he’ll be asked to make plays off the dribble. Regardless of the physical advantages, it’s hard to create advantages as the main ball handler. But in his early Division I career, Mahi doesn’t struggle with that at all. He’s getting good looks at the rim, often forced but often well-created.
In the first play, Mahi gathers, whereafter the stutter rip got him downhill. The best choice here is to kick the ball out with five defenders clogging the paint, but Mahi went for the finish himself. That’s his biggest challenge. Despite being a plus rim-finisher, shot quality keeps offensive ratings alive in the NBA. Even if he made the layup would be converted, the conclusion would stay the same.
The same applies to the second possession. Mahi gets two feet inside the paint and traps his assignment in his back. Hereafter he has a clear path to the rim, with the corner shooter waiting as his assignment rotates for help. Yet again, Mahi finishes the play and finds the rim protector in his path. The will to make winning plays and show toughness is what Mahi should continue to do, but the challenge for Coach Sendek and his staff to unleash is to help Mahi make the best decisions in these live-dribble plays by making the extra pass and not force the finish.
In his defense, the fluidity and touch at the rim are way above average. Mahi makes it look easy in the third and fourth plays below. His creativity by decelerating and placing his chest into defenders is what makes him potentially a great scorer in the NBA. The base for success is there, with the area of development being the decision-making for when to make the extra pass.
Defense
Cuts
For Mahi, adjusting to a quicker NBA game with more ball movement is the biggest challenge to overcome. That makes his defense against cutters the first part of evaluating his defensive potential. The physicality is an advantage for Mahi to use in on-ball defense. However, it holds more value when he’s in the same comfort guarding opponents away from the ball. The JUCO path has helped Mahi to mature his fundamentals and decision-making.
The two plays below are interesting parts to get a clear view of what Mahi needs to work on. Recognizing switches is the main part that NBA defenders struggle with nowadays, especially the younger ones. Communication with teammates is a big part of what brings success. In the first play below, Mahi ran into a teammate whose opponent used Mahi as the screener to get free. The bad part is that Mahi had to take over the assignment near the perimeter. Instead, he crashed into a teammate, giving away those two opponents completely free. Mistakes like these are not acceptable as they can mess with a team’s rhythm and could take away confidence.
The most vital part of Mahi’s development is that he recognizes how plays turn out when he’s defending away from the ball. As a weakside helper, Mahi gets the best returns. With his toughness and length, he can continue to disrupt leading guards by limiting passing angles. The second possession below is a good example. He recognizes the pick-and-roll sequence and offers timely help by entering the paint with one foot. On top of his deflection, it kept him flexible to close out to the corner in case of the kickout pass occurring.
Catch-and-shoot
Closing out to the perimeter is another essential aspect every NBA defender has to master. For Mahi, it starts with staying 180 degrees in front of his assignment. At times he’s consistently making the right reads, where the risk of Mahi losing rhythm comes when he has had a couple of bad plays in a row defensively. The motor is consistent, but the level of confidence may drop from time to time. That’s the context NBA decision-makers have to factor in when evaluating his defensive profile.
In the first play below, the opponent spaces out the floor well by feeding the corner shooter, who stood right next to the baseline. Mahi had that area covered, but after dribble penetration, the defense collapsed and he had to gamble on taking away the rim pressure. The problem here is that the five did the same, and thus Mahi could have opted to help instead of fully committing to taking over the assignment. In that way, the dropoff pass to the backdoor cutter was the only option, and giving away two points instead of three would always be the priority for NBA defenses.
Actively helping on the defensive end gives long-term quality injections to a team’s defensive rating. Mahi fits the bill. He’s actively looking to correct mistakes from teammates, but not without forgetting his assignment. In the second play, Mahi does well to deny entry to the interior, pivoting strongly with his left foot for him to stay flexible and take over his assignment after the bailout pass. Another part that will serve Mahi well is using his length and burst to close out when completely wide-open shooters get fed on the perimeter. The third play below is a good example. He’s banking on the long three leading to a defensive rebound, whereafter Mahi has already crossed the court, so he can punish opponents in the fast break.
Mahi’s closeout defense is built for playing a fast brand of basketball. That’s the emphasis NBA scouts need to consider. The quality of his closeouts needs time and reps to improve in the next few years.
Catch-and-drive
Against opponents making plays out of closeouts, Mahi focuses on bothering scorers with his length and tenacity. His toughness doesn’t just stand out physically. He’s continuously disrupting scorers with his habit of bothering them near the line, making it harder for opponents to bank on blowing by him when he’s getting to the perimeter. In the first play, the intensity of his defense forces the scorer to pick up his dribble to where the pullup jumper or bailout pass were the only two options left.
At about 1.5 personal fouls per game as a sophomore, Mahi shows he can play with discipline. However, at times, especially against more experienced scorers, his will to win may get the best of him. The intensity of his on-ball defense makes him vulnerable to scorers who can generate trips to the charity stripe. He’s focused on forcing misses too much, to where he’s bailing out scorers by fouling them in the interior. In the second play, everything goes well as Mahi doesn’t give an inch of space to operate in whereafter the intensity of his defense makes it easy for the scorer to gamble on the ref’s whistle.
Another area of development for Mahi’s closeouts is that he’s often getting too close to a defender. In the third play below, Mahi closes out with a straight 180-degree stance, but he’s getting to the perimeter, taking away the option of pulling up for a three. That made him more vulnerable to getting blown by, as his last step wasn’t good enough, and Mahi was still correcting his balance before the opponent banked on it by getting two feet inside the paint and the foul.
Screen-offs and rim protection
Mahi’s defensive profile could offer more value in the long run, especially if he’s getting more comfortable using his toughness and strong upper body to play as a smaller five in shooting-heavy lineups. He averaged nearly a block per game at West Valley, giving signs of him being able to alter away shots underneath the basket.
In the first play below, he’s forcing his opponent to go under the hoop, whereafter Mahi’s length and physicality bothered the scorer enough for the miss. When opponents try to post him up, Mahi doesn’t have the size of a full-time rim protector but has built a habit of focusing on bringing opponents out of balance rather than denying the outcome of shots.
The second value-add to the defense is Mahi’s screen navigation. His strong and broad shoulders help him to stay in balance when he’s getting in contact with screeners. He’s using his footwork well to pivot and move past screens rather than fully bumping into them. In the second possession, the double stagger led to Mahi trusting his burst and quickness to eventually fully contest the elbow three. In the third play, Mahi sees the pindown coming his way and decides to snake between his teammate and the opposing big man to surprise the shooter who banked on him coming through the weak side.
Mahi might not consistently execute his screen navigation well, but the ability to not foul and trust his instincts in finding the best path to contest spot-up shooters makes him a viable option for NBA defenses. The fourth play below shows the biggest area of development: lack of positioning after coming out of screens. Whenever the screen action being run doesn’t end up in a three-point shot, Mahi has a habit of not fully committing to staying 180 degrees in front of his assignment. In this play, Mahi gave away the driving lane on the weak side, bailing out his opponents. Regardless, those are fixable habits due to reps and playing a higher level of competition, which makes it the most essential part to improve on at Santa Clara this year.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project Elijah Mahi to be a clear-cut second-rounder in the 2025 NBA Draft.
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