Malevy Leons Scouting Report

Positional versatility and size are a well-regarded combination for NBA decision-makers. What else does the back-to-back MVC Defensive Player of the Year have to offer? Find out below.

Born in the small Dutch town of IJmuiden, Leons has been one of the more promising prospects in the Netherlands throughout his youth. He began playing first-team minutes in the Dutch Basketball League when he was 18. After two years of professional basketball, Leons moved to the United States, committing to Mineral Area College.

As a sophomore, Leons won Junior College Player of the Year, whereafter he earned a transfer to Bradley. His success continued in the Missouri Valley Conference, winning back-to-back Defensive Player of the Year awards while averaging double-digit points scored and over three steals and blocks combined in both years.

This scouting report primarily focuses on Leons’ role at the next level.

Physical Profile

At 6’10”, Leons offers good length with a 7’1” wingspan. Despite his size, he offers great mobility. His fluid hips and good upper-leg strength give him the basis to guard multiple positions and continue his style of play at the NBA level.

Leons has great defensive awareness. Combined with his lateral quickness and footwork, he can guard against quicker guards and wings while being able to absorb contact against most forwards.

However, for the multipositional character of his game to be continued in the NBA, Leons has to continue to fill his frame at the next level. At 201 pounds there is still room to add upper-body strength to his body.

Defense

As an NBA defender, Leons will mostly be asked to switch and guard on the perimeter. His plays against closeouts are a crucial factor in how long he can stay on an NBA floor. In all plays below, we see Leons slide his feet very well. One of the characteristics of European basketball is that footwork is invested in early in a player’s career.

The same applies to Leons, who uses his pivot foot very well to keep his balance. In the first play below, he’s not positioned well against the closeout attacker, but the recovery by putting his pivot foot further away helped him to position himself to absorb the hit around the mid-post area. The lack of strength led to the ball handler creating separation, which is something an NBA decision-maker must add to his developmental plan.

However, when positioned much better, as in the second play below, Leons shows that he can handle hits from forwards and some big men. Yet again, his footwork is the reason why he’s so well-positioned to respond to ball handlers, forcing the tough midrange jumper in the second play.

At 2.8 personal fouls in 35 minutes per game, Leons doesn’t get in foul trouble often, fouling out in only 4 of his 35 games, while getting the toughest defensive assignments. In the NBA, Leons’ role will likely be scaled down leading to him continuing his safe style of play. In the last play below, Leons gets called with the foul, despite sliding back a bit near the rim to not bump into his assignment. An important detail is how smoothly he sets his pivot foot before the burst to keep his man in front of him. That’s a good sign early for his chances to get on an NBA floor.

When having to close out against spot-up shooters, we see Leons showing feasible defense due to him barely being caught overhelping. He sticks to his assignment well and trusts his long dribbles and decent burst to close out hard when he needs to. In the second play below, we see Leons recognizing that he has to rotate to the elbows.

While the opponent completes the ball reversal, Leons comes up with the timely closeout and contest. Despite the three falling in, that’s a good example of what he can do on a better-spaced NBA floor. In the first play, we see a similar example. His assignment pops and gets above the break, whereafter Leons contests the shot timely due to his teammate helping him with the tag. In a BLOB like this one, Leons’ recognition of rotations makes it easier for him to give up less open threes.

When defending against cutters, Leons is often too reactionary when it comes to what his assignment will do. In the first play, he stops the handoff but due to help defense inside the arc responding a tad too late, he’s caught with the backdoor cut. Good execution by their opponents.

In the second play, we see a similar play. Leons gets caught ball-watching for a second whereafter the backdoor cutter launches the drive to the rim. The incoming screen is well avoided. His fluid hips in the process stood out, followed by a good recovery near the rim. Even if he makes mistakes as an off-ball defender, Leons’ reaction speed and quickness put him in a good position to make up for most of his mistakes.

Due to this size, Leons will be asked to serve as a defender near the rim, especially when a team goes smaller to add more shooting depth to their five. After the dump-off on the third play below, Leons was late to react to the finish, which is an area for NBA decision-makers to add to his developmental plan. Despite his 1.5 blocks per game, Leons has to do better near the rim against dump-offs after his team’s defense collapses

As a pick-and-roll defender, Leons can both play against the ball handler or the roll man. His versatility as a defender is being enrichened by his style of guarding against pick-and-roll sets. As mentioned earlier, his footwork is a crucial part of his success on this side of the ball.

Leons is a good screen navigator who keeps his focus on the ball handler at all times. He’s barely caught gambling on defense and only reaches in when he knows he can poke the ball away, as he does in the first play below. At 1.5 steals per game, his defensive activity is rewarding to complement his game in transition.

In the second play, Leons does well to slide off his opponent after the hand-off to keep his man in front of him after the dribble-drive. With Leons’ need to get stronger in the upper body area, he does well in forcing opponents to midrange jumpers with his footwork. But at the NBA level, he’ll be a more effective defender against pick-and-rolls once he can add the option of absorbing contact early.

This applies to when he has to guard around the rim after pick-and-rolls. He picks up the foul in the third play after responding to the ball handler’s change of pace whereafter the physical contact near the rim doesn’t look convincing. If he gets stronger in the next few years, Leons will be much more effective on that end.

Offense

In a faster-paced NBA game, teams that like to push the tempo will likely benefit the most from having Leons in their frontcourt. What Leons does well is moving up the court quickly on plays, opening the room for him to be the recipient of passes in the open court.

In the third play below, Leons finishes the possession himself, showing his handling which is limited to going east and west or to benefit from straight-line drives. In the first play, Leons locates himself well near the elbow to fake the three-point shot whereafter he attacks the closeout by showing his footwork. Leaving two points on the board after the euro step is not something he’ll do often. As a 66.4% rim-finisher on more than three attempts per game, Leons shows he’s consistent where he had 65.9% and 67.2% finishing rates in the two years before this season.

The second play shows another good habit of Leons’ transition offense, where he passes the ball ahead to be the recipient of the wide-open finish at the rim.

At 34.1% on 3.6 three-point attempts per game, Leons is a better shooter than the numbers indicate. This is due to his consistent form with a high-arcing release. However, for the NBA, his slow release has to improve. Despite good upper-leg strength, Leons takes too long to power up for the jumper as shown in the first play below. Another factor that leads to a slower release is his bringing the ball under his waist and then having to power up the shot from his arms.

We see an example of the above-mentioned in the two plays below. In the third play, we see Leons move toward the ball, which is a good sign of him doing the little things he has to do to quicken the process. Despite NBA floors being better-spaced, the pace of the game is much quicker, leaving Leons’ shooting off the catch more vulnerable to get timely contests or even blocked.

On an NBA floor, Leons’ contribution to a team’s offensive rating will mostly be as a play-finisher or as an offensive option who exploits closeouts. In his case, the handles don't stand out, but Leons creates his looks with his craft and footwork. In the first play below he earns two free throws by using the jab step to his advantage whereafter he exploits the mismatch by playing physically, almost earning an and-one.

With an increase of over 50% in free-throw attempts (4.6 to 3.1) compared to last season, Leons shows consistency at the line at 78.3%. That’s a good number to work with as Leons shows he can stay on a floor in the latter stages of a game where trips to the free-throw line leave most teams more vulnerable as most frontcourt pieces in the NBA struggle at the line.

What makes Leons’ NBA profile so appealing is the maturity of his game. He knows that a slow three-point release doesn’t help him. But he turns an area of development to his strength by using his footwork to sell the defense the idea he’s going to pull up while popping to the rim instead. We see an example in the second and fourth plays below.

Another value-riser of Leons’ profile is his ability to serve as a cutter. He’s an active cutter who doesn’t keep moving on the court for the sake of moving. He uses fakes very well to get away from his assignment. In the Missouri Valley Conference, one of the reasons he got to double-digit scoring numbers is finding easy looks at the rim as an activity of his cutting.

That’s crucial for NBA teams to know due to the below-average shooting numbers in multiple years; even if the shot doesn’t fall, Leons has other ways to get himself good looks without the ball in his hands.

In the first play, Leons pops to the rim by faking the screen near the high post area, whereafter he follows that up with another screen-fake in the second play. On an NBA floor, help defenses will be better prepared for such easy plays, but in Leons’ defense, the efficiency with which he screens makes him a bigger threat on these screen-fakes compared to most of his peers.

Being an active cutter and screener will help Leons serve as a complementary piece for NBA offenses.

NBA Draft Projection

As a 24-year-old, his experience in two years of professional basketball and five years of college in the United States gives him the experience advantage that makes the low-usage character of his game intriguing for NBA decision-makers.

While winning two Defensive Player of the Year awards in the Missouri Valley Conference, Leons’ role on offense was simple but effective. In terms of long-term potential, there isn’t much to develop, but an NBA team should consider giving him a chance due to him being consistent over the years in a limited role, while still impacting winning on the defensive end of the ball.

For Leons, the slow release of his jumpers is the most crucial area of development that NBA teams will help him with. This combined with his having to work on his upper-body strength makes him a valuable bet for franchises.

I project Leons to be undrafted this summer. However, he’ll be one of the first off the board to land a two-year deal on a team as a two-way. Expanding his offensive role via reps in the G League will help him secure a larger role later on in his career.