Henri Veesaar Scouting Report
Floor-stretching seven-footers with ball skills and quick decision-making are priorities for NBA scouts. But what's Henri Veesaar's long-term role? What's his potential? Find out below:
Introduction
At Real Madrid, one of Europe’s premier talent development programs, Henri Veesaar started to make a name for himself. His blend of size, mobility, and offensive prowess made him climb up the ranks as one of the team’s best NBA prospects. This led to a dominating outing for his native Estonia at the FIBA U18 EuroBasket. Hereafter, he earned the right to represent his national team at the highest level in a FIBA Qualifier’s game, making him the youngest Estonian in history to do so.
While oozing with potential and talent, Veesaar chose the collegiate path to continue to find playing minutes while committing to Coach Lee and the Arizona Wildcats. After a limited role as a freshman, where he played seven minutes per game, he sat out his sophomore year. Hereafter, Veesaar doubled his minutes to over seventeen per game and, more importantly, started to play in a role that seamlessly fits what he will be asked to do in the NBA. That’s the emphasis of this scouting report.
Physical Profile
As a true seven-footer, Veesaar has an incredibly well-filled frame and broad shoulders. Physically, he has developed rapidly over the last few years and has an NBA-ready body from a physical standpoint. While listed at 235 pounds, Veesaar is heavy-footed but compensates for most of it with his high-end footwork. This helps him to create advantages in the post, either sealing off defenders or when he’s his craft to create angles as a play-finisher.
Despite underwhelming verticality, Veesaar makes a difference with his great touch around the basket. Considering his size and body mass, he has fluid hips, which help him to move more easily in crowded areas. Veesaar doesn’t stand out with a long wingspan or athletic traits. Instead, his game is built on fundamentals and decision-making, where his strength advantage helps him to maintain a presence around the basket on the NBA level.
Offense
Pick-and-pop
We see a trend of more teams running four or even five-out schemes. To make these work, shooting gravity coming from centers plays a large part in succeeding in taking opponents out of the painted area. Therefore, screening is vital for Veesaar to find enough three-point shooting opportunities to support a team’s offensive rating and coaching staff willing to use him in such a role. Considering the physicality and toughness of his screening, it’s feasible ball handlers can look to take over the big-man assignment, leaving Veesaar room to pop after the screen and prepare himself for a shot off the catch.
Considering his advantage creation as a screener, Veesaar’s most essential skill is to show a form of creativity off the dribble. His handles are too loose, but he’s a decent straight-line driver using his physicality to punish defenders and draw fouls, as shown in the first play below. As a 29.6% three-point shooter, the volume is neglectable at slightly over one attempt per game. The best evaluations are from things seen in misses. Therefore, the second, third, and fourth plays below show more about the process of his shot and how consistent it is to be a volume shooter in the NBA.
In the second play, Veesaar pops into his comfort zone after the screen. Hereafter, he keeps communicating with his ball handler before using his fluid hips to put himself at 180 degrees to the basket. His arms, legs, and the ball face the same direction, which is essential to have consistency in shooting mechanics. Considering his strength level, Veesaar doesn’t have to lower the ball to his waist, as he can afford to keep the ball at the level of his chest, as he doesn’t need to power up. Despite the low-arcing release and barely leaving the ground on his jumps, Veesaar shows consistency in his shooting motion.
However, on top of lowering the ball to his waist, Veesaar has some other areas to clean up. He’s not softly releasing the ball; it’s more of his pushing the ball before the release. In the third possession, he’s using the drag screen to get rid of his assignment, who dropped to the interior. Despite good positioning and process, he’s not fluid in his release as his arms move too much, causing an unbalanced shot. The fourth play shows more comfort, but Veesaar is again looking to push the ball out of his hands rather than the smooth release.
Catch-and-shoot
One of Veesaar’s main issues as a shooter is the lack of balance after he sets his feet after motion. He’s much more comfortable to set his feet after a ball screen, considering the big-man role he played his entire life. But when he’s moving away from the ball or play, he’s looking to make extra unnecessary movement. That’s the most vital part for Veesaar to clean up in the next few years. In the first play below, he focused too much on the three-point shot, as the option in the post was waiting for him to make the cut to the basket and use his physicality. Veesaar’s body language didn’t scream confidence when asking for the ball.
The second play is an interesting one. Veesaar cuts the three-point line but enters his shooting motion before setting his feet. Despite the better release, his stance wasn’t good which caused it to hit the backboard. For NBA scouts, the shot process doesn’t need much focus, as Veesaar has to focus on being quick to set his feet before even entering his shooting stance. As of now, it’s as if Veesaar has the three in his mind before his feet can catch up with his thoughts.
He shows much better cutting and active communication in the third and fourth plays below. In both sequences, Veesaar uses his floor stretching to keep his assignment inside the paint and force others to rotate. Despite correcting his feet after the catch in the third play, Veesaar shows flashes of feasibility that he can become more comfortable and consistent in his shooting motion. As a result, better percentages will follow.
Passing and playmaking
At 25 assists to 22 turnovers in the same amount of games, the numbers leave a neutral impression. However, Veesaar has to show more confidence when serving as a ball-mover or playmaker. He’s playing too safe which is a combination of a lack of confidence, but also the 'always make the right decision’ style of European youth development. In the first play below, Veesaar has to hit the play-finisher in the post. Instead, he chooses the safe path and kicks the ball out to the perimeter.
This continues in the second possession below, where Veesaar is the recipient out of the defense’s pressure on the ball handler. Instead of bringing the ball down to hit the backdoor cutter, he again doesn’t risk a deflected pass and chooses the cutter through the middle instead. Despite the outcomes being positive, this style of safe passing isn’t feasible to succeed on an NBA floor with much more motion, and the game is played at a much faster pace.
Regardless, that’s a fixable approach to his game. The most vital part is Veesaar recognizing the game and making the right playmaking reads. In the third play below, we see him make a play off the dribble when the handoff option wasn’t there. He sees the corner option but uses his spin move to lure in the corner assignment to ensure a safe kick-out pass. That’s good execution on a decent-leveled read. Considering the ability to make plays with the ball in his hands, Veesaar’s value of his physicality and floor-stretching makes it much more feasible he's used in a similar style on an NBA floor.
This gains more value with his quick decision-making, as shown in the fourth play below, where he’s attacking the closeout after a pick-and-pop and doesn’t hesitate to hit the elbow shooter when seeing a crowded paint. In the last possession below, Veesaar grabs the offensive rebound and again looks to immediately get the ball out of his hands to an open option outside when multiple defenders attack him. Despite a lack of returns as of now, I expect Veesaar to be an impactful ball-mover and playmaker in the NBA.
Pick-and-roll
At 28 dunks in 22 games, Veesaar’s focus on finishing above the rim as a play-finisher stands out. As the chart above shows, he’s highly efficient in the paint, mainly due to his excellent screen-and-dive-styled game where he’s either making sure he’s in the ball handler’s passing angle when he’s diving to the rim or ensuring that he’s serving as a tight end who’s blocking opponents to create driving space for the ball handler whereafter he can be the recipient of dump-off passes.
In the first play below, Veesaar shows good fundamentals by keeping the ball high after the catch. That takes away the safety of fouling and making him earn the two points at the charity stripe. Despite being a 68% foul shooter, Veesaar avoids teams hacking him as he’s scarcely not putting himself in the right angle to finish after diving to the basket. We see a similar outing in the second play where he’s showing his toughness and aggressiveness with the rim in sight by dunking it home and yet again taking away the opponent fouling him.
The third play below shows how strong Veesaar is, as he has no issues in blocking away his opposing five to ensure the wide-open driving lane to the basket. That’s the type of space-creation more NBA teams look to utilize their interior presences for. With dribble penetration being a must-have for guards in the NBA, that’s the support scorers need from their fives. However, at a turnover per game, Veesaar still makes sloppy mistakes, such as the moving screen on the fourth play below. But that’s a part of him maturing his game and getting used to playing more minutes.
Why Subscribe to Ersin’s NBA Draft Newsletter?
I've set some incredibly ambitious goals for the 2025 NBA Draft Cycle:
My plan is to provide you with 125+ in-depth scouting reports to ensure you're completely prepared for draft night.
But wait, there's more! I'll keep you in the loop with ongoing college basketball coverage, spotlighting those promising JUCO prospects. This means you won't be surprised when a lesser-known player makes waves in D1 or even steps up to the NBA.
Here's what you'll get:
Thorough 3,000+ word scouting reports delivered to your inbox
Big Boards and Mock Drafts
Exclusive insights into players from the less-highlighted conferences and levels of college basketball
And plenty more!
Join this exciting venture by subscribing for just $5 a month or save with our annual plan at $50, effectively giving you two months free.