Ezra Ausar Scouting Report

Sometimes you'll look back wondering how a certain prospect was hiding in plain sight for such a long time. For the 2024 NBA Draft, that'll be the case with Ezra Ausar. Find out more in the link below

Image via ECU Athletics

A combination of power and finesse was the first thing that came to mind when seeing Ezra Ausar’s play. The East Carolina forward sits at 6’8” and comes off a successful freshman season, earning him AAC All-Freshman Team honors.

Before diving into his profile, we have to consider the role of the modern NBA four, where being able to switch to multiple positions is the first must-have to eventually succeed. Overall, having ball-handling skills and being able to dribble, pass and shoot is the perfect summary of the direction the league is heading towards.

With an NBA-ready frame, Ausar does a great job at making his presence felt on the court. Despite his 235 pounds, he has the fluidity of a wing and thrives in his role as a face-up scorer. What immediately stood out on film is Ausar’s attention to detail. With his great hip flexibility, he has no issues finding the right angles for his shot; the spin move is my favorite one in his arsenal.

His footwork stands out and is ahead of his years, however, Ausar still needs more reps to bring his game to the NBA level on that end. Although having taken only 27 jump-shot attempts last season, Ausar looks comfortable on that end, especially from the midrange. Throughout the season, he started shooting more, which is a must to improve on in his sophomore season to increase the total attempts per game.

Here we see Ezra Ausar collecting the ball in the midrange, before attacking Houston’s Jarace Walker in the face-up, resulting in a stepback midrange jumper. Although the release looks a bit too slow for my taste, the amount of separation Ausar creates by using his pivot foot so aggressively before he steps back for the launch.

In terms of his potential NBA role, I project Ausar to be a good ball-mover and playmaker via post-ups. He’s already so good at leveraging the threat of his scoring threat to draw enough help to get his teammates open. In this stage of his career, flashes mean more to me than the actual production — 0.5 assists to 1.75 turnovers — because Ausar ‘s role at East Carolina mostly consisted of having his share of the scoring load in his minutes on the court. So the context of the stats has to be mentioned to keep it at the potential, instead of viewing his passing as a ready product.

Against Tulsa, we saw an example of the above-mentioned, where Ausar receives the entry pace and positions himself to attack his defender in the face-up. With the incoming help defense from the strong side, Ausar delivers the one-dribble drop-off pass to the cutter for the easy two.

As someone who cares more about substance than flashes, seeing Ausar executing his reads the way he does, gives me enough confidence to bank on further developing this particular skill in his sophomore season.

Regarding his defense, Ezra Ausar is one of the rare commodities that can guard the one to the five. He slides his feet very well on the perimeter and can switch to eventually guard the post. Especially in pick-and-roll coverages, Ausar makes the right decision more often than not.

With a pick-and-roll heavy-oriented offense in the NBA in general, we see a trend of more drop-coverage defenders in the league, which slowly has to change. That’s why we have seen good P&R defending bigs and forwards being selected higher than usual in recent draft classes; Usman Garuba being an example.

Ezra Ausar stood out to me with the combination of his positive body language where he always looks locked in, and the quickness with which he slides his feet to stay in front of quicker guards. East Carolina ranked 69th in the country in SQ points-per-play allowed on P&Rs (0.96), as per ShotQuality.com, and Ausar is a big reason behind their success on that end.

Ezra Ausar with a solid defensive play in the clip above. Closes out quickly, but remains at a distance good enough to contest a pull-up three, and has enough room to cover the ball-handlers potential attack of the closeout. After the opposing center forces another switch, Ausar does well to react and switch back to the ball-handler finding an open lane to attack, resulting in a clean contest and team rebound.

One of the most NBA-ready skillsets Ausar possesses is his rebounding. He’s a natural rebounder with strong instincts. His work ethic results in him boxing out hard after each opponent’s miss. His strong frame allows him to meet the physical level of most college big men. The 9.1 oREB% is a testimony to his hard work on the offensive glass, where he gets his fair share of offense on putbacks.

His rebounding often results in him leading East Carolina in transition. As a grab-and-go threat, Ausar shows he has the ball-handling abilities to carry the ball up the court for his transition finish or to create for others. What we often see with high-volume rebounders, is that they are so focused on collecting the rebound, that they miss certain defensive assignments. But this is not the case with Ausar, who’s a coach’s dream in terms of how locked in he is on his defensive assignments.

NBA Draft Projection

It’s still early to project a certain draft position for next year. But if everything clicks and Ausar is showcasing his shooting and passing ability more on offense, while continuing to improve on the defensive end, he has a chance to be a top-40 pick.

The biggest unique selling point is his ability to guard every position on the court. His rebounding also results in his team gathering extra possessions per game. But as of now, Ausar’s lack of three-point shooting costs a team too much offensive rating, which is something NBA franchises keep an eye on with their draft picks.

I’m happy he’ll stay at East Carolina, and I have no doubt in my mind Coach Schwartz will give him a bigger role this upcoming season to let Ausar continue to impact winning and put his name into NBA considerations.