Neoklis Avdalas Scouting Report
The NBA looks to add more plus-sized ball handlers. Offensive creativity and scoring prowess get featured when prospects fit into multiple roles. That's Avdalas in a nutshell. More details below.
Introduction
Avdalas is Greece’s next top guard. When he was 15 years old he signed a multiyear contract with powerhouse Panathinaikos. Despite the popularity in Europe, he remained unnoticed across the pond. With his team being a contender for domestic and European titles, the path for development was to get loaned out.
The context with Greek teams is the large gap between the best teams, Olympiacos and Panathinaikos, and the rest. Many Greek teams compete in European competitions as well. They have an advantage as young players can often find the right context to develop despite playing at the highest level.
That’s what happened, as Avdalas got loaned out to Peristeri, who's also active in the Basketball Champions League, the third-tier international league of the continent. Therefore, the sample size of a higher level makes it much more feasible to project an NBA role and how adaptable his game is. The role that Avdalas will have is the emphasis of this scouting report.
Physical Profile
While measured at 6’6.25” in socks1, Avdalas has a strong upper body that helps him initiate contact. Considering him playing as a pro for several years now, physicality and strength development have been a primary focus of the coaching staff. He’s measured at 212 pounds and has room left in his frame to fill up with more muscle.
Avdalas doesn’t stand out with his verticality or with speed. But he has a great feel for angles and craft. On top of that, he decelerates and accelerates very well. His footwork forms the base for his advantage-creation, as Avdalas looks to initiate contact early when getting downhill.
Due to his size, Avdalas is forced to play in other positions. That puts more pressure on him as a team defender. At a 6’8” wingspan, the length doesn’t stand out. Regardless, Avdalas is a good athlete but still looks for ways to master his physical tools on both ends of the floor.
Offense
Catch-and-shoot
Avdalas’ off-the-catch shooting has been his main struggle in recent years. When looking at the last two seasons, he converted 9 of his 76 attempts. The numbers confirm his struggles, with the process before the jumper being the main reason. On a lesser sample size, Avdalas improved the numbers this season, making 9 of his 23 attempts, but as of now that’s not feasible for future success.
The first play below is an example. Avdalas looks to put too much focus on setting his feet right before the jumper instead of it being a natural process. After the catch, he corrected his stance before not fluidly powering up for the jumper. In a faster-paced NBA game, closeout defenders will get to the perimeter much quicker in comparison with the European game. With more teams looking for open threes, Avdalas has to execute his shots quicker to ensure he can stay on an NBA floor. For NBA decision-makers, it’s vital to see improvements as a shooter, as that’s the key indicator of whether Avdalas can have more on-ball reps at the next level.
However, he’s showing flashes of the above-mentioned so far. Avdalas looks much more comfortable and fluid whenever he has his feet set correctly before catching the ball. In the second play, that’s a quick trigger with a fluid power-up and a decent release point. The creativity is seen in the third play below, where he’s fading away for the three to ensure more space to shoot with the defender closing out on him.
Despite the last play below going on, he’s still moving forward too much, while pushing the ball. It’s still experimenting with Avdalas to find the best process possible. Therefore, it’s essential for NBA decision-makers to not focus on the numbers too much, with the clear focus needed on how fast Avdalas can find a shot process that works for him.
Catch-and-drive
One of Avdalas’ habits is that he settles for too many threes. He’s much more effective when he’s getting downhill to collapse the defense instead of bailing the same defenders out by taking a shot where he’s not helping the team’s offensive rating stay on par. And considering this ball-dominant style of play, that’s something to work on for Avdalas between now and the next few years.
In the first possession below, Avdalas had the opportunity to burn the closeout defender who hadn’t set his last step yet. Instead, he catches the ball and waits one second before throwing in his jab step. Much more experienced players won’t fall for the dribble penetration thread, which led to the defender holding his ground. As a last resort, Avdalas took the stepback three, while his weak side was empty. Therefore, acknowledging the bad read and making the extra pass was the right play here.
The second and third possessions show much more promise. Avdalas does well to put his head down and attack the interior. Whenever he gets two feet in the interior, he’s aggressive and looks to put defenders out of balance to ensure he can get a good look near the rim. The touch around the basket is decent at best, and that’s a combination of playing against much stronger and older opponents consistently while forcing most of his finishes. The opposing scouting report on him is clear, and that’s to make sure he loses balance before his finish, as it’s more likely than not that Avdalas will look to finish his plays rather than thriving on passing out of the advantage creation when getting downhill.
The promising part of Avdalas’ evaluation is that he’s recognizing the decisions to make when he has the ball in his hands. In the last play below, he’s in a world full of spacing with the backline of the defense being near the line of the basket, whereafter he immediately trusts his instincts to take the wide-open three after burning the closeout defender and seeing the opposing big man not entirely going over the screen. Regardless of a miss or make, that’s the type of reads he has to continue to make as a closeout attacker and creator.
Passing and playmaking
The next step as an advantage creator is to make the right passing and playmaking read. From 46 assists to 37 turnovers the outcome is promising. He’s mostly being asked to carry the scoring load rather than involving his teammates. For the NBA, that’s different. Avdalas’ scoring prowess and rim pressure give him gravity he has to use to execute his reads and generate better looks for others.
What immediately stood out is that Avdalas’ creativity allows him to use eye manipulation to confuse defenders before executing his passing reads. In the first play below, his team keeps the ball moving in transition, where Avdalas had two dropoff options, dropping the no-look bounce pass to the right while making eye contact with his man on the left.
He’s also a smart angle-creator for others. In the second possession, we see the strong side covered, forcing Avdalas to adapt to the big man on the weak side. Instead of dropping the lazy entry pass, he’s dribbling left, forcing the mismatch in the post to bail himself out with a rotation, whereafter he hits the entry pass right in the big man’s pivot, following in the easy two.
Whenever Avdalas is in trouble, as shown in the third and fourth plays below, he stays calm and composed. The valuable part of the NBA is the youth and ability to read the game well. Instead of launching bailout passes, Avdalas still found an open man, benefitting the offense, rather than handing over his problems to a teammate. However, in the early stages of his career, Avdalas will mostly be asked to be a connective passer. The fifth play is no special play by any means but shows how quickly he executes his reads. Avdalas didn’t have a good angle to drive, so he kept the ball moving and forced his assignment to adjust.
Pick-and-roll ball handler
NBA decision-makers will put the long-term potential to the test with his scoring prowess out of the pick-and-roll. That’s an area where Avdalas needs to get rid of his habit of settling for midrange or threes off the dribble. He has to keep the ball moving and show that he can create and recognize angles for others while quickly executing them. He’s a gifted passer but one who still prioritizes his self-created points.
That’s related to him wanting to make the most of his opportunity to play professional minutes at the highest level. For the NBA, it’s about substance and maintaining a team’s offensive rating. Spreading out the production, with one or two clear team leaders is how they build teams. So Avdalas has to show that he can impact the game with his passing, creating easy scoring opportunities and toughness.
In the first play below, Avdalas couldn’t get the driving lane after having two ball screens. Instead of launching the jumper, he should have dropped an entry pass, relocated, and executed his read. However, when he does get downhill, it’s often explosive. In the second possession, Avdalas gets two feet inside the painted area and immediately attacks the rim with aggression. His body control was decent and will improve when he adds more muscle to his frame. He has had 16 free-throw attempts in 10 games so far this season. That's a number that should go up by staying aggressive and poised like he did here.
He’s also good at changing his pace, decelerating well after coming off the screen in the third play. He has good handles, as he kept ball-swipers away while playing in a phone booth. The difference between good playmakers and scorers and great ones is their having good court vision in these situations. The elbow and corner shooters were open, and the opponent doubling him near the rim led to Avdalas having three passing options, with the backdoor cutter below trying to initiate eye contact for the dropoff pass. This is his biggest area of development.
Defense
Pick-and-roll
Avdalas is tough. He’s a gritty pick-and-roll defender who immediately reminds me of Corey Kispert with how he dives between screener and ball handler. He has a good feel for incoming screeners while actively tagging them. An important detail in his profile is that Avdalas uses good footwork to pivot before initiating with the screener. This helps him to initiate contact better while maintaining his balance. He has a decent burst while making up for the speed difference that occurs in the stop. The first play is a good example. He’s not backing away from initiating contact and plays tough until the rim. Despite the and-one, that’s a quality possession by Avdalas, which should intrigue NBA decision-makers in combination with his positional size.
He averages close to two fouls per contest in the last two seasons. In 15 minutes, that’s on the higher side, but it speaks to his toughness and still needing to learn to play more in control against experienced players who are baiting him to generate free-throw attempts.
Avdalas also gives enough opportunities in inverted pick-and-rolls. Due to his size, he’s often being used in the second line of defense, as shown in the second possession below. With most NBA teams still relying on classic drop coverage while having fewer pick-and-roll defenders who can defend the interior, Avdalas’ strength development is a vital factor for him to add more versatility to his defensive package.
The last play below is another example of how well Avdalas tags screeners and slides between both. That’s an essential fundamental that the Greek youth development emphasizes, giving them an advantage compared to their other European peers when developing guards. Avdalas is a clear product of them continuing that tradition.
Screen-offs
To continue on the screen navigation, which is a unique selling point in Avdalas’ profile, the first play immediately stood out. When coming off screens as the non-pick-and-roll defender, Avdalas uses tags and his length well to force ball handlers to shoot or attack the interior. Another good habit is Avdalas immediately moving in transition when he recognizes a bad shot. The basics of basketball tell us that long threes often lead to rebounds and transition offense. Small details like these have an enormous impact on a team’s potential offensive rating, as Avdalas offers quick two points in transition.
The screening action in the second play forced Avdalas to stay ready to help and impact passing lanes while coming off the screen later on. He’s stuck at the elbows while losing his balance. That’s a strength disadvantage he still holds when facing fives who are higher-tier athletes. Avdalas also needs to work on his focus. In the third possession, he lost focus in the baseline out-of-bounds play, which led to him getting baited to take both feet out of the paint and hunt his assignment. Instead, he should have stayed within the paint and countered by simply avoiding the screener from the back side.
Avdalas is still young and has areas to work on as a screen navigator. But he’s one of the top prospects in that regard. And with his size advantage, that’s valuable for the NBA. The fourth play below shows how tough and smart he is while he’s keeping himself in the balance after the double-staggered screens and still holding a decent runway to defend his man. However, he’s often too aggressive, leading to the and-one for the opponent.
Catch-and-drive
When defending against closeout attackers, Avdalas’ area of development is to stay at 180 degrees of his opponent and not get baited to leave the interior. In the first play, he’s moving with the guard to impact the handoff. However, if he stays within the interior, he can either close out or dodge the big man handing the ball off and stop the potential pick-and-roll. Considering he was positioned on the strong side, rotating to the weak side and eliminating space was a third option. Instead, he gets baited, and the big man simply fakes the handoff and dishes a better pass.
In the second possession, Avdalas was caught ball-watching and subconsciously moved toward the ball. That stopped him from staying at 180 degrees of his opponent, giving away the baseline drive. The chest bump was good but not strong enough to keep his balance, ensuring his investment in improving his upper-body strength in the next few years. Regardless, he decently contested the shot at the rim.
In the third play, Avdalas is more focused and keeps his head down to slide his feet in the potential closeout attack. But the intense defense forced the shooter into the shot, which Avdalas recognized well, immediately running in transition after the long three. In the last play below, Avdalas shows a decent last step but loses his balance, making him vulnerable as the ball handler going from east to west. However, he did well to keep up the intensity, forcing the tough finish underneath the basket.
For the NBA, Avdalas will be a decent to good closeout defender, as his fundamentals make lots of sense, but the positioning issues cause him to get baited to leave the interior against more experienced players. That’s an area NBA decision-makers must make a part of his developmental plan.
Catch-and-shoot
The danger in Avdalas’ profile is role confusion. To be more specific, Avdalas is a guard, and due to his plus size, he’s often used as a small forward or power forward. This confuses his rotations. That impacts his closeouts on spot-up shooters on the perimeter. That’s a vital detail for NBA decision-makers to bear in mind. In the first play below, he’s defending the interior and has to rotate and switch to the perimeter, where his assignment sat on the elbow. He was simply too late in closing out for the wide-open shot.
We see a similar outcome in the second play below. Granted, they were games with the Greek national team and against powerhouse Panathinaikos, his original team. But those are sample sizes that add lots of value if he makes the right defensive reads and executes. It’s not a red flag for now, but a sign for NBA teams to focus on which role they will fulfill. Despite the versatility of his size and fundamentals, Avdalas should play a role with boundaries and grow from there.
In the third play below, Avdalas was still busy positioning himself while the dribble penetration was already in place. That led to a bad help-side defense, with the possibility of him closing out to the corner going away, and forcing a teammate to pick up the rotation. In the last play below, Avdalas did well to dodge the screen, whereafter he went too deep inside the paint. The area of development is thinking ahead and noticing that as a pick-and-roll defender, his place is to guard the perimeter for eventual extra passes, collapsing the defense. The instincts were there, but the distance to close out became too large to fully contest the spot-up shooter in the elbow at the weak side.
Regardless, there’s lots of promise for the future, while Avdalas’ profile puts more emphasis on recognizing his role and having one role he’s comfortable in rather than being used as a forward due to his size.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project Neoklis Avdalas to be an early second-round pick in the 2025 NBA Draft. His contract situation will force the drafting team to pay a buyout fee, so therefore, it’s much more likely he’ll get either stashed if the development hasn’t been enough or brought over immediately.
If he comes over right away, that could lead to him falling into the first round of the draft so the drafting team can continue to develop with a smaller cap hit, as they are not forced to pay him more money after two years.
Regardless, if the NBA doesn’t work for Avdalas, he’s a clear-cut starter in the Euroleague, as he’s already under contract with Panathinaikos, the title-defending champions.
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