Yaxel Lendeborg Scouting Report

After landing back-to-back JUCO All-American selections, the dominance continues, this time in the AAC. The NBA has a spot for big, long, and versatile bigs. What else does he offer? Find out below.

Photo via UAB Athletics

With double-digit double-doubles for UAB, the JUCO transfer continues to be an impactful player, this time at the D1 level. The numbers together with the versatility on the defensive end make Lendeborg an interesting long-term prospect for the NBA.

By having a year of eligibility left, he can keep improving his game before turning pro. This scouting report is meant to highlight the parts of his game in an NBA-translatable role.

Physical Profile

At 6’9”, Lendeborg is a long athlete who stands out with his consistent motor. He has a strong frame which helps him as an interior presence for UAB. The NBA-translatable physical tools come in his mobility and quickness, a must-have for undersized bigs who have to play both as a four and a five at the next level.

At 230 pounds he’s continuing to dominate the boards in the AAC after leading the NJCAA in rebounds last season. His combination of positioning and hard box-outs make him a consistent factor on the glass.

Defense

One of the things Lendeborg does well is his ability to roam on defense continuously. He’s an active help defender who doesn’t overcommit which is one of his valuables he’ll bring to the next level.

The third play is an example of how good his space-covering abilities are. With the shot clock winding down Lendeborg is making sure passing lanes inside the arc remain closed, with a timely contest of the corner three.

One of the areas of development for the next level is that Lendeborg has the foot speed to keep most wings and forwards in front of him, but he isn’t using it that often. The second play is an example where he sets his feet quickly but gives up a tad too much space to ensure that the driving lanes are closed.

Lendeborg’s leadership on the court is what makes him a reliable team defender. He’s actively coaching his teammates in rotations, helping them to develop on that end. Occasionally this leads to him having to fill in gaps left open on defense.

The first play is an example of the above-mentioned. Lendeborg sees the drive coming and tells his teammate to rotate, whereafter he comes in with the help defense. He turns his hips quickly to cover the rim after the dropoff pass but was a tad too slow in his contest.

In the last play, we see Lendeborg losing grip on the play for a second. He checks on the distance between him and the elbow-shooter and at that moment the big man steps out to the left block. A rare miss in rotations for Lendeborg, who contested the shot but came in late.

In a faster-paced NBA game with a better understanding of rotations, Lendeborg has less to worry about. When evaluating his defensive plays there was a consistent urge for him to serve as the orchestrator of setting the defensive rotation for his team. With Coach Kennedy’s trust in him, that’s something that’ll help him to impact the defense early in his pro career.

In a switch-heavy NBA game, there’s extra pressure for big men to be able to guard in space and stay in front of mismatches. Lendeborg slides his feet well and doesn’t get tempted to enter the perimeter. He lacks a good enough first step which might lead to him struggling with the more explosive NBA guards and wings.

The first play of the three below shows how the ball-handler created separation by using his strength. Lendeborg recovered well ending up in a block, but at the NBA level that’s two points due to players being quicker in finishing off the play. Despite the 230 pounds, there’s much to gain for Lendeborg via an NBA strength and conditioning program.

In the second and third play, Lendeborg shows that he can make guys beat him off the dribble. Forcing them to take contested shots and having to work to get to their spots while maintaining balance is a good sign of value for his profile.

An NBA team will ask Lendeborg to defend in the pick-and-roll. While he’s most comfortable playing drop-to-contest shots at the rim, he has shown the ability to go over, hedge, or blitz ball-handlers. On a better-spaced NBA floor, it’s riskier for Lendeborg to go over the screen too much due to his first step not being good enough to stay in front of scorers.

In college, we see successful shot-blockers get a fair share of their blocks from behind which is not sustainable for a team’s defensive rating. Lendeborg’s main approach in defensive P&R schemes is to position himself closer to the strong side, betting on the ball-handler exploiting the driving lane and getting open on the weak side.

This helps him to stay near his assignment to stop them at the rim. This resulted in 57 blocked shots so far in the season, ranking him second in the AAC.

Offense

Lendeborg can give a team instant offense off the bench. With most NBA teams playing a drop coverage big man, the demand for floor-spacing fours and five is one of the areas of focus in the draft to offer their roster extra offensive versatility.

At 22% usage, it’s clear that Lendeborg won’t get as many ball touches as he does in college. Therefore he must show he’s able to make plays via closeouts. What makes his offense sustainable is that he looks to attack the rim at all times. He’s most dangerous while facing up as his handles are good enough to create separation or get downhill.

At around 58% the finishing rate at the rim is below average. However, an important context to add is that in conference play, most opponents have their coverages set to double or immediately help when he’s attacking the basket.

An NBA team is getting a plus-rebounding face-up scorer who can play bully ball and doesn’t hesitate to punish mismatches. While he doesn’t stand out as a passer, that’s an area he’ll develop in the long run.

The plays above don’t lead to him exploiting open spot-up shooters. At 52 assists on 54 turnovers in 27 games this season, that’s not a bad number as his role isn’t to facilitate others. Despite him being close to 22 years old near the start of the next NBA season, there’s still untapped potential in him as a passer.

In an NBA system, the four and five have a crucial role in making quick decisions to keep the pace high and have the best odds to keep the offensive rating neutral by taking more and better field goal attempts. Lendeborg shows flashes of being a good ball-mover who can occasionally create via the short-roll.

The first play below shows him seeing the cutter to dish the touch-pass. The passing gravity is his strength with the way he can attack the basket off the dribble while forcing the defense to commit help thus opening a teammate. In an NBA game that values passing big men, Lendeborg shows the traits a team would like to have somewhere in their rotation.

A floor-spacing big has to earn a defense’s respect by being able to consistently score open three-pointers. At 29 attempts in 27 games, the sample size is limited. However, Lendeborg shows a decent release which is high and quick enough to limit the odds of a successful closeout. He’s shooting 37.9% from deep so far this season.

The screening is something that has to improve. He’s not creating separation, only forcing the defense to make a decision. Another area of development is his floater. While he’s comfortable attacking the closeout to use his free-throw line floater, the returns aren’t as good as they could be. That’s something an NBA decision-maker has to give an important place in their developmental plan for him.

Another trend we see in recent years is that teams collect ball-handlers in each position. Whether it’s to run inverted pick-and-rolls or to react on counters from opponent blocking switches, occasionally the big man will be asked to make plays from the perimeter with the ball in their hands.

At 1.8% of his total shot attempts come as the pick-and-roll ball-handler, Lendeborg doesn't have the feasible sample size to determine how good he can be with the ball in his hands. But he’s showing the basics of trying to execute his passing reads, as shown in the second play below. He improvised to go with the finish himself instead of dropping the pass to the cutter.

Being too late on this play isn’t an issue due to him not having consistent playmaking reps in his career yet. The last play shows that Lendeborg should focus on improving his jumper to avoid teams allowing him to shoot thus hurting any separation he creates by utilizing ball screens: the biggest area of improvement in his profile.

NBA Draft Projection

Being a mobile plus-rebounding rim protector who can stretch the floor is a value for NBA teams, but he has to improve on banking on the advantages he can create.

Improving his touch on floater and midrange jumpers will expand his game. While Lendeborg shows he can make quick decisions after receiving entry passes, he has to show more of his passing game to be a more complete NBA-ready player next year.

On the defensive end, we see Lendeborg showing leadership and helping his teammates in their rotations. His mobility and the amount of space he can cover, make him an effective team defender. His quickness makes it easier to reply to switches and close out effectively. He’s durable and plays long minutes while shooting 75.5% from the line which will give an NBA team options to rotate in closing line-ups.

Lendeborg should test the waters this summer to get feedback from NBA teams on the areas of his game to develop in his senior year, which will likely be the above-mentioned ones. If he decides to declare for the draft, I project him to be undrafted with the likelihood that a team will offer him a two-way contract.