Fardaws Aimaq Scouting Report
His combination of fundamentals and strength makes him an interesting pro prospect with enough areas that are NBA translatable. Will we see him continuing his career in the States? Find out below.
Being born and raised in Canada, Aimaq grew to 6-foot-3 while being in the eighth grade. Whereafter he played a year of high school basketball in the United States before committing to Mercer.
Via Utah Valley and Texas Tech, Aimaq re-united with Coach Madsen at California for his fifth season, after committing to him after his freshman year, where he redshirted a season to become an all-time great among Utah Valley Wolverines, earning WAC Player of the Year while leading college basketball in rebounds.
Physical Profile
At 6’10.5” in socks, Aimaq is one of the strongest big men in the last few draft cycles. While measured at 251 pounds, he has broad shoulders and a strong upper body. His frame overall developed well throughout the years, which is expected as he turned 25 in January. His biggest area of impact is on the glass, where he's one of the best rebounders in the country.
With a 27-inch vertical, Aimaq doesn’t stand out with his bounciness, but he makes up for his with his good lateral quickness. He has great defensive footwork but lacks overall foot speed due to his strength-based body. His strong upper-leg area and decently fluid hips make him surprisingly mobile when he’s defending, mostly due to his history as a swimmer in his youth.
However, for the NBA, being able to guard away from the paint will be a challenge as he doesn’t project to play the same 32 minutes a game in a faster-paced NBA game.
Defense
Aimaq’s role as a pro will mostly be as a pick-and-roll defender. He’s playing in a drop-coverage-heavy scheme. Aimaq is good at leveraging his strength advantage around the rim where his positive impact on a defensive rating consists of altering shots or blocking them when opponents get too close to the rack.
His heavy feet limit him in going over screens or to hard hedge or blitz ball handlers. This led to Aimaq adjusting his decision-making, where switches don’t bother him as he’ll gladly take on the challenge of forcing ball handlers to beat him off the dribble or to settle for midrange jumpers. During PAC-12 conference play, teams challenged California by switching to Aimaq and relying on their shooting on the perimeter to be effective against them.
In the first play, Aimaq stays composed and slides his feet well while he’s luring the ball handler to attack him from Aimaq’s right side. Due to his disruptive nature at the rim, Aimaq does well in following misses up by boxing out hard for each potential defensive rebound. Teams would often crash the offensive glass, as their three-point shooting became more crucial in beating California’s rim-protection-heavy defensive schemes.
The second play shows Aimaq’s role as a leader, where he instructs his teammate to rotate while dropping to cover the lane on the dribble penetration. He’s vulnerable against step-back jumpers, which is a shot team will give up gladly instead of an open look at the rim. Despite the above-mentioned, the separation for the ball handler was too much to overcome in the slow-shot contest.
In the third possession, Aimaq does well to use his arms as a disruptive tool in forcing ball handlers where he makes it look like he loses balance, but follows it up with his footwork, impacting the shot at the rim hard. For the NBA, his total pick-and-roll defense is average at best, with Aimaq’s maturity and good decision-making covering up most of his physical deficiencies in terms of quickness, both laterally and with his feet.
In his defense against cutters, Aimaq shows decently fluid hips which is a crucial area for him to effectively be a rim presence at the next level. As a physical force in the interior, teams will often avoid finishing against him, thus making dump-off passes to cutters an area he will have to defend consistently.
The first possession below gives an example of his decently fluid hips, moving well in his rotation to contest the finish from short range. However, an area of development for Aimaq is that he’s vulnerable to biting on pump fakes, as shown in the second play below. With a slow second jump, his decision-making becomes the difference between a hard contest and getting stops or giving two points away.
In the particular second play, the ball handler flew in, where taking a charge would have been the correct play, and even with the dump-off this would have kept Aimaq in position to move his hips and rotate to the play-finisher. Instead, he got caught in the air with no defensive line behind to cover it up.
Against baseline or sideline out-of-bounds plays, awareness becomes crucial. Aimaq shows maturity in how he keeps track of the play, using his arms actively to limit passing lanes around the area he covers. He was quick to react to the attempt right after the BLOB pass, whereafter he kept himself in defensive box-out mode. An important asset to have in his defense on cutters.
In the last play, Aimaq again uses his arms well in limiting passing angles on the backdoor cut in the fourth play. As an off-ball defender, his impacting passing lines are another important asset he’ll add to his next team. What stood out was Aimaq acting like the first man in line, actively coaching his teammates in their rotations while his awareness came into play after he saw his opponent pick up the dribble, and set his pivot foot to launch the bullet pass to his cutter. That’s the court vision and leadership the fifth-year senior shows while stepping up as a signal-caller on this play.
When guarding against spot-up shooters on the perimeter, Aimaq’s most important improvement is combining his drop coverage with security in not overcommitting in his closeouts. His heavy feet make it an uphill battle to stay in front of the closeout attacker, thus he has no other option than to give a shooter an angle to shoot, rather than collapsing the interior and leaving the defacto rim protector in him out of the play.
It’s a give-and-take league, and with Aimaq on the floor, teams will find more three-point shots. That’s a given. The area where an NBA decision-maker will see how to respond is in Aimaq’s mechanics in how he’s closing out on the shooter. The positive NBA decision-maker must acknowledge in his profile is despite his heavy feet, the footwork and active sliding make it workable for a faster-paced game. In a league where drop coverage is still the most commonly used tool by big men, Aimaq fits into that spectrum.
In the first play, Aimaq actively uses his feet to eventually contest the shot decently well. He can afford to commit to harder contests as he sees dribbles being picked up or feet being set for the jumper. The second possession involves a pick-and-roll where Aimaq drops. An area in his awareness is that he as a natural reaction, relocates to the mid-post area after the dribble penetration, this left him with too much ground to cover for the popping screener above the break.
It’s understandable why Aimaq reacted to protecting the interior. But in a shooter’s league, the right way was to serve as the help defender by not committing with help yet, keeping only one foot in the paint, eliminating the open shooter, and forcing the ball handler to finish through contact. There was help available at the baseline, leaving Aimaq not necessary to commit. That’s how an NBA decision-maker would like to see Aimaq react. Especially since teams will likely try to exploit his heavy feet.
To counter that, allowing as few open threes as possible via the above-mentioned adjustment is crucial for his future as a pro. A positive that Aimaq brings to the table is that his rebounding instincts make up for a part of the defense rating he’ll give up. After the second play, it’s clear that he has a nose for where the ball will likely fall, solidifying his reputation as one of college basketball’s best rebounders.
In the third play, Aimaq does well in maintaining his drop coverage while not being lured out by the ball handler’s hesitation move. With his assignment in the high post, that was the correct read whereafter Aimaq did well to use his strength advantage at the rim, whereafter he rushed to get in transition.
The last possession is an interesting case for Aimaq. It’s understandable why he doesn’t rotate with his guard getting stuck in the screen. Despite fighting through it well, Aimaq chose to accept the three, as he was the last line in defense with no rotational options around the rim. His active coaching and still decently closing out is a result of him reading the offense well. Despite the wide-open look, the nuance here is that taking away easy looks at the rim was the right play here, due to Aimaq not being able to afford to close out earlier because there was no one else close to rotating to the rim for him.
Offense
At 12.1 field goal attempts per game, Aimaq had a bigger role at California than he will have at the next level. Therefore, scaling down his offense and offering key elements such as screening and passing becomes more important.
Aimaq is one of the best passing big men in this class in terms of creativity and executing reads. He’s a very good ball mover, but at his best of strength when he’s the playmaker in the interior. His quick decision-making doesn’t force him into being a short-roll playmaker, as he can create or move the ball fast via entry passes to the post. With fewer post-ups being used in the NBA, it will lead to an offense partially adjusting to his needs. However, the outcome of his passes is worth the consideration for NBA decision-makers.
At 2.1 assists per game, the numbers don’t indicate the above-mentioned. The reason for it is the large chunk of offensive scoring load he had to carry. In the first play below, Aimaq keeps the ball high while in post-up mode after the entry pass. With a lack of motion by his teammates, he stays composed and executes his passing read in three seconds after getting the ball.
The key to his success as a playmaker is leveraging the strength advantage he has over most of his opponents. Therefore, the help defense is forced to commit heavier, opening up the floor for him to execute his passing reads. In the second play, Aimaq pops after the double ball screen, to answer the packed paint with him potentially left open as a shooter. The side pass itself doesn’t stand out by any means, but the example here is how quickly he moves the ball.
In a ball-movement-heavy NBA game, taking away unnecessary seconds of a shot clock puts pressure on a team’s offensive rating. And with Aimaq, him moving the ball so fluid is key to have for a lower-usage center. In the third and fourth play, we see Aimaq’s creativity as a passer. As per ShotQuality.com, California ranked 62nd in the quality of shots via cutters, with his passing being a crucial reason why.
The third play shows Aimaq using his element of surprise with the jump-stop before hitting the backdoor cutter through the middle with the bounce pass. His executing this live-dribble read after faking the handoff is an example of his creativity as a playmaker. We see a similar play in the fourth possession below where Aimaq is using the jump-stop to create a passing angle to hit the cutter to execute his live-dribble read.
Another area where Aimaq sets himself apart from most of his peers is his screening. His great frame and strong upper body help him to serve as a wall, opening up scoring opportunities as a roll man. That’s how he got a chunk of his production at California this season. Despite seeing fewer amount of pick-and-rolls where the roll man finishes the play in the NBA, it’s an area where he can hang his hat on in terms of getting production to keep a team’s offensive rating at par.
In the first play, Aimaq followed up the ball screen by knocking the opposing ball handler out of the play by blocking him in the lane using his back, this opened up a wide-open driving lane to the basket after the timely bounce pass right after the second screen. At 54.5% rim-finishing, Aimaq has below-average numbers, which is partially lower because of his heavy scoring load. When he’s only serving as a play-finisher, the number would be unworkable. However, in his role at California, he’s also asked to create his looks via post-ups, naturally lowering the finishing number.
Therefore it’s crucial to put that into context for NBA decision-makers. His touch is decent, but an area of development is the floater. In the first play, we see a decent floater. The catch point was lower, having to power up from below his waist. Aimaq has the habit of keeping the ball high, therefore it would benefit the speed of his floater when he develops a higher release point, which would benefit his overall touch.
We see an example of Aimaq doing so in the second play, where the pindown followed by a quick spin using his hips fluidly led to a wide-open floater. However, the shot selection here is questionable, as he found a mismatch in the post and should have gone to finish it at the rim instead. Shot selection is another reason that led to a below-average rim-finishing number at 54.5%.
Aimaq has a great nose for when to hard roll to the rim. In the third play below, the ball handler does well to spread out his dribble, by not getting too close to Aimaq to complement his exploding to the rim for the alley-oop finish. With the opposing ball handler dodging the screen, Aimaq knew his assignment had to switch while seeing the weakside defender was not looking to rotate to him. Sequences such as these are what good screening big men can self-create via using their screens not only for the good of the ball handler but to help themselves get to scoring angles as well.
In a physical NBA game, the last play below had to be included. Aimaq has a significant strength advantage in the post, which he utilized to bully opponents at times after rolling to the rim. The ball handler got bailed out by Aimaq leveraging his strength resulting in the easy finish down low. Less of that to happen in the NBA, but it shows the level of toughness he brings to the table.
As a cutter, it’s clear that Aimaq saw some of Marc Gasol’s technique in keeping the ball high after the catch. He doesn’t lose time after getting dump-off passes in the post, limiting the chance for opposing teams to foul him and make him earn points from the line. At 65.0% on 4.3 free-throw attempts per game, that’s a decent number, especially considering he shot over 70% for two years straight before transferring to California. Therefore, it’s feasible that he can play closing minutes during games where teams don’t benefit much from fouling him, outside of taking away dunks as shown in the third play below.
An area where Aimaq struggled during conference play is that teams were focusing on committing multiple bodies when he was trying to finish at the rim. That is another reason why the rim-finishing numbers are below average. This way, he got hacked by teams utilizing his slow jump, which is something an NBA decision-maker must take into account when evaluating his profile. In the second play below, that results in him getting blocked after the baseline out-of-bounds play.
Another area of development is Aimaq forcing his rim finishes too often. In the fourth play below, the opponent commits with three bodies underneath the basket, whereafter he still tries to finish through contact. That’s an area where NBA decision-makers will want to see an extra pass to keep the ball moving, especially with how Aimaq had them in the air after the well-timed fake. In this example, Aimaq had to value the open three with 10 seconds left, instead of putting all his energy into the play which led to a transition opportunity for his opponents.
At 30.2% on 1.7 attempts per game, the sample size is decent, favoring Aimaq’s potential to stretch the floor, especially considering the 43.5% on 1.4 attempted threes per game in his last year at Utah Valley. But there are important nuances to add as context to the numbers. Despite today's NBA turning into a shooter’s league, Aimaq’s unique selling point to NBA decision-makers revolves around his rim dominance and value to create looks as a screener.
Therefore, the volume of threes isn’t relevant, because in a reduced role, he won’t be asked to shoot many threes as he will find most of his looks inside the arc. The numbers can say something about his touch. But the sample size (53) compared to the last two years combined (64) is limited. Focusing on his mechanics, there is an area of development an NBA decision-maker should consider to focus on if Aimaq becomes a part of its NBA team.
Despite a high release point, he has the habit of powering up the ball from his waist, while the release point is almost at the top of his standing reach. As Aimaq keeps the ball high on catches under the basket, he should work on doing the same for his threes off the catch. Lowering the ball to under the waist is usually a technique that helps players who need to power up for the jumper. But Aimaq has the strength to power up while the ball is at his chest. This adjustment likely won’t cost much time because Aimaq doesn’t fully bend his knees in him powering up for the shot.
In the second play below, it becomes more clear that Aimaq is pushing the ball after his release, making it look less fluid. For a low-volume shooter, Aimaq sets his feet quick enough, which forms the base to improve his jumper.
The third possession shows an interesting outcome. Aimaq looks much more fluid when he’s shooting off movement. He sets his feet quickly after California grabs the offensive rebound with him in the high post. The shot is a miss or make is irrelevant due to the process itself being more important on lower sample-sized shooting numbers. The release looks more fluid and consistent compared to when he’s shooting from a standstill. Flashes like these are what NBA decision-makers should view as positives to add offensive versatility to his role, where it’s a plus to a team’s offensive rating if he can shoot threes, but he doesn’t have to be a volume shooter to stay on a floor.
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NBA Draft Projection
At 25 years old, Aimaq shows an NBA-ready profile to serve as a utility piece off the bench as the team’s third center. To summarize the report, here are the most crucial outcomes.
Strengths
Very good screener, who mastered the art of the roll, using timing and recognition to create angles and space for potential rim finishes.
Excellent rebounder. Teams who need rim dominance on both ends to limit second-chance opportunities and maintain or increase their shot attempts will benefit from Aimaq’s impact on the glass.
Very good ball mover. Suited for offenses focusing on ball movement. Executed his passing reads quickly as a playmaker thanks to effortless court vision.
Areas of development
Shot selection. Tends to settle for midrange floaters with an open path to the rim.
Forces the rim finish too often. Teams exploit his heavy feet and slow jump to commit with multiple defenders at his finishing attempts at the rim. Should leverage that to hit open spot-up shooters on the perimeter.
Powers up for his jumper from below his waist. Mechanics are consistent, but not fluid as a stand-still shooter. He’s much more fluid off movement, which projects possible improvement in the future.
Based on the pros, cons, and NBA readiness of his profile, I project Fardaws Aimaq to be an undrafted free agent who will get an Exhibit 10 contract, whereafter it’s up to him to earn a roster spot. With the likeliness of being in the G League in his first professional season, a call-up later on in the year is a feasible outcome.
Considering the many NBA projectable skills, I don’t think Aimaq will settle for a contract outside of the NBA, where he can afford to bet on himself for one or two seasons, whereafter he can always use his experience from the G League to get a fair entry point into a career overseas.
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