Rueben Chinyelu Scouting Report
As one of the most impactful fives in college basketball, Rueben Chinyelu has a clear case to crack an NBA rotation. However, what will his role look like? Here's everything you must know:
Rueben Chinyelu (#9, Florida): Sophomore, 6'11"
Center — Born: Sep 30, 2003 (21 years old)
Introduction
As an NBA Academy Africa alum, Chinyelu was a well-regarded prospect before committing to Washington State. His experience gave him the edge in earning close to fourteen minutes per game as a freshman, averaging five points and five rebounds per game. Hereafter, he was one of the most-wanted centers in the transfer portal.
By transferring to the SEC, Chinyelu continued to impact the game with his toughness, physicality, and dominance around the basket. As an NCAA champion, Chinyelu has shown how well he can adapt and embrace several roles. Despite shooting below 60% from the line in both seasons, he’s an instant spark of toughness off the bench.
For the NBA, energy and power fives are needed to round out the depth chart. This scouting report focuses on how his game translates to an NBA role.
Physical Profile
At 6’10.25” in socks, Chinyelu is a long, strong, and fluid athlete. He has a well-filled frame and broad shoulders. Despite being a sophomore, he has proven to be one of the strongest five in college basketball. His physicality and toughness make him a true rim presence with good verticality. At 251 pounds, his NBA-ready body continues to add intrigue for NBA scouts.
His length is another differentiator. With a 7’7.75” wingspan measured at the G League Elite Camp, Chinyelu will have one of the longest arms in the entire NBA. On top of being a rim deterrent, his speed and fluid hips round out his physical profile, making him one of the better ones in this draft class.
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Defense
Pick-and-roll
Chinyelu has a clear path to be an effective pick-and-roll defender as a five in the NBA. His feel for making timely rotations and not shying away from hedging ball screens opens up the opportunity to be an interior presence while not relying on drop coverage. These fives are harder to find via the draft, and have a clear path to grow into rotational fives at the next level.
In the first play, Chinyelu does well sticking with the screener but is ready to make the rotation when the ball handler comes off the screen. He slides his feet very well and forces ball handlers to beat him off the dribble. That’s a valuable trait, as most fives bail out by dropping back to the paint too much. With crisp footwork, Chinyelu knew he’d eventually have the chance to pile up the physicality to take control of the assignment. That led to the ball not touching the rim despite the scorer getting the paint touch.
However, Chinyelu must improve his decision-making when he’s going over screens. In the second play, the ball handler got complete separation, and that’s where Chinyelu had to focus on closing the passing angle to the play-finisher while again forcing the ball handler to beat him off the dribble. His excellent length is the main weapon here, as Chinyelu can reverse pivot and respond to potential pull-up shooting from the midrange. The potential total package of stops is the main trait in his profile. That’s the value NBA scouts continue to see in his game.
Transition
The risk for NBA teams is the lack of speed when getting back in transition. In a faster-paced NBA game, Chinyelu will struggle against teams that play fast and immediately run after defensive rebounds. Therefore, the consistency of his motor and conditioning is vital. NBA strength and conditioning programs help players change their bodies and weights to maximize their athletic and physical traits. But it’s a lazy take to view that alone as a solution.
Therefore, it’s essential to view what goes wrong. In all four plays below, Chinyelu was late to get back on defense, leading to easy scores at the rim. In the first play, Chinyelu didn’t look to run back to the paint at full speed and wasn’t aware of an opponent running on the same side as he was. After the catch, the scorer exploded to the rim, while Chinyelu slowed down as he had to change sides. Being aware of where opponents are in transition is the most essential part for fives.
In the second play, Chinyelu filled the lane well. However, he was the last man to get back to his spot. That didn’t lead to the best positioning when the opponent found two feet inside the paint. Rotations in transition are another issue. In the third possession, Chinyelu returned quickly but decided to stick to his assignment, slowing down rather than taking his spot on the floor. That bailed the opponent out, who could bank on the easy pass to the painted area for the quick two.
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Post-ups
Chinyelu’s strength in the post is a difference maker. However, he has to clean up and improve his hips to stop five's sealing off him easily. That’s been the area of development throughout his college basketball career. Regardless, he's a dominant interior presence with crisp and timely footwork to respond to smaller players posting him up, rather than solely forwards.
In the first play below, Chinyelu does well to use pushes and his chest to keep his assignments out of the paint. However, the footwork is not the issue. His lack of composure led to being too responsive to what scorers do. Here, it means being shaken out of balance before the five found the lack of balance and easily sealed off Chinyelu for the two points at the rim. That’s fixable. The positive in his profile is the quick second jump. In the second play, the face-up scoring led to good responses from Chinyelu. He bit on the fake, but immediately fixed his mistake with a good shot contest in the close two.
The third possession is another good play. Chinyelu controls his assignment, denying a foot inside the paint. That forced the scorer to defer to a hook from the other side. With a strong reverse pivot, Chinyelu had the positioning to keep the post scorer in front of him, forcing the unbalanced hook finish. That’s the context behind averaging 0.9 blocks per game. That’s a bad number, but in the context, it’s excellent because Chinyelu limits the number of close-range finishing opportunities. Therefore, he can block fewer shots. That’s the value NBA scouts seek.
Catch-and-shoot
Having a potentially elite interior presence is a good thing to have. However, the other side of the coin is that these archetypes often don’t stand out in closing out to the perimeter against shooters. NBA teams focus more on dribble penetration when there is a heavy five on the floor, solely to force kickout passes and potentially open threes. But with Chinyelu, he’s focused and does close out when he must. However, the issue is that he’s often too late reaching the perimeter line.
That’s what comes with drafting heavy interior presences. NBA teams know that, but seek to compensate for it as much as possible. Protecting a defensive rating is the idea behind it. In the first play, Chinyelu did well to block out the play-finisher by locking him in his back. With the defense around him collapsing, he did well to immediately pop out to the corner. Despite the late shot contest, that’s a positive play on his part.
In the second possession, Chinyelu is focused on the ball and misses the rotational must on the weak side. He should have been the one closing out to the corner. It’s fair that he had to focus on his tasks inside the lane, but that’s where others had to rotate after Chinyelu hit the corner shooter. Therefore, NBA teams must help him be comfortable in making different decisions in dribble penetration situations rather than sticking to his assignment. Motion-based NBA offenses demand that.
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Offense
Passing, ball-moving, and playmaking
With 26 assists to 38 turnovers, passing-wise, Chinyelu has shown a promising sophomore season. He’s not used as an interior hub, but more as a ball-mover with some playmaking duties off his gravity as an interior presence. That’s a similar role he’ll have in the NBA. The bare minimum is effectively passing out of doubles, which he got better at. That’s not the most essential, though, as teams will barely double him at the post, as they’d rather give up a contested two than a potential open three.
In the first two plays below, Chinyelu shows flashes of executing his passing reads. He’s not lazily moving the ball around, but focuses on finding angles for the recipient of the pass to dribble, pass, or shoot. The third possession shows good awareness, as Chinyelu saw his assignment gamble for the steal. That led to him immediately attacking the rim and forcing the interior defender to switch to him, followed by a timely dropoff pass to the play-finisher inside the paint.
The issue NBA scouts might have early in his career is that Chinyelu is not making quick decisions. In the fourth play below, Chinyelu forced his playmaking by staying at the top of the key. He deferred well to a one-dribble handoff but has to focus on keeping the ball moving to open up angles, rather than seeking the tight passing pocket. That’s a similar outcome in the fifth play. The offensive rebound was impressive, but Chinyelu needed a second too much to kick the ball out above the break with two opponents on him.
Offensive rebounding and putback scoring
Hitting the offensive glass for garbage points and putbacks is a big chunk of Chinyelu’s production. The positive for NBA scouts is that he’s one of the best offensive rebounders in college from a fundamentals standpoint. He’s so good at positioning himself and using his strength and long arms to take over boxouts and locking opponents in his back, where they are forced to avoid over-the-back calls. NBA teams focus more on hitting the offensive glass and adding second-chance points to keep their offensive rating at par. That’s where Chinyelu can solidify his chances of finding a spot on the team.
In the first play below, Chinyelu does well to position himself where the miss potentially lands. However, the main issue is that he brings the ball down immediately. That’s a habit he must get rid of. From the charity stripe, he shot under 50% as a freshman and 60% as a sophomore. That makes it easy for opponents to hack him. The lack of composure when he powers up also makes him vulnerable to missing the putbacks, leaving a few points per game on the table. He must learn how to keep the ball high, similar to how Marc Gasol operated.
The second possession led to him locking up his opponent and demanding his presence inside the paint. He grabbed the offensive rebound, but suffered from tunnel vision in wanting to finish the play, rather than passing out of the interior defenses surrounding him. That’s another area of development. His length is the main weapon in winning offensive rebounding battles. Chinyelu is too good at the collegiate level in these sequences. In the third play that’s put on display. Hereafter, he did well to hide the ball to his left and finish the play quickly.
NBA scouts have a potentially elite rebounding trait. Maximizing his impact is what has to be done.
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Screening and scoring out of pick-and-rolls
When excluding dunks, Chinyelu finishes 69% of his rim attempts. That’s a good number, but not a great number. His physical advantage and most of his attempts came a few feet around the rim, which should have been at least 75%. The main issue is lowering the ball.
That has been a struggle for Chinyelu to get rid of. With his size and length, Chinyelu can keep the ball high at all times. That takes away other defenders so he can focus on his assignment at the five. Especially when considering he’s a below-average free-throw shooter, it makes it easier for defenders to accept the foul to take away two surefire points in exchange for one at the line. The second possession shows an example, with a rushed finish leading to the miss.
The positive aspect of his length is shown in the first play below. The high finish is a testament to how great his touch around the rim is. The process before the finish is where Chinyelu potentially loses a few points per game. For the NBA, Chinyelu will find a few screen-and-dive finishing opportunities per game. His hip flexibility is very good. He’s using his broad and strong body to put hard ball screens where he’s a smooth and comfortable roller. The third play below shows an example, with an impressive quick spin when catching the ball. The fourth play shows a similar outing, with his upper body strength leading to complete separation.
Lowering the ball after the roll led to a later finish. Keeping the ball high is the main area of development that NBA coaches must help Chinyelu with.
Cutting and play-finishing
Not lowering the ball is the main emphasis of this scouting report, and it’s worth repeating it when evaluating the effectiveness of his play-finishing underneath the basket. The touch is there. Using his strength to lock opponents in his back or seal off them is there as well. Chinyelu will be a play-finisher in the NBA but needs fundamental changes to not lower the ball to be an effective one, at least one who can stick around for five to ten years.
In the first play below, Chinyelu brought the ball down and found two opponents jumping up. The lack of decision-making to fully crash into their arms for the potential and-one, rather than avoiding them for the unbalanced shot, is key. He has to be a better decision-maker on these finishes. The second possession shows how easy the game gets for him if he doesn’t lower the ball. The dropoff pass came late, but he immediately finished it with a good touch despite the defender on him.
In the third possession, he pushed the opponent off well, and Chinyelu created the wide-open passing angle. Hereafter, he got the ball but was hesitant as his habits took over, and he felt the need to lower the ball to power back up. That eventually led to the miss. This summarizes the struggles Chinyelu has on offense, and it would be a pity if this led to him not sticking in the NBA.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project Rueben Chinyelu to be a surefire top-60 draft selection in either the 2025 or 2026 NBA Draft.
He is having a good summer so far, but there’s a clear path to return to Florida to defend his NCAA title. The positive is that he can grow his role and play more minutes while solidifying his strengths and working on his areas of improvement.
I’m leaning toward Chinyelu returning to the Gators to focus on a good NIL package and be a surefire top-45 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft. However, his strengths and role make it feasible that NBA teams would be willing to give him guaranteed money in the second round, but it’s a question of whether that’s worth giving up his last two years of college eligibility.
I’m 100% sure Chinyelu will be on an NBA floor in the next few years.