Yannick Kraag

Historically speaking, the Netherlands is considered a small basketball nation with little success in terms of talent development. Since the ABA and NBA merger in 1977, only five Dutch players have appeared in the NBA and none since the 2011-2012 season. Of those five players, Rik Smits did make the All-Star team in 1997-1998. The most successful Dutch player in Europe was Henk Norel, who won the EuroCup in 2008 and was a great player in the ACB for several seasons.

Over the last several years, more energy has been put into talent development in the Netherlands. This has resulted in the most talented Dutch generation in years with players like Tristan Enaruna and Keye van der Vuurst de Vries. However, the most intriguing player might be Yannick Kraag.

Yannick is one of the few top Dutch prospects to remain in Europe instead of playing in college. He is a late bloomer who hasn’t played at a high level for very long, but has generated plenty of interest from NBA and top European teams. Eurospects currently ranks him as the 19^th best prospect of 2002.

BACKGROUND: Born in Amsterdam, Yannick didn’t start playing basketball until he was 12 years old. Prior to that, he mainly played soccer. He started his career with Apollo Amsterdam and later moved to Triple Threat. Yannick played in the lower youth levels in the Netherlands until he got recruited by the Orange Lions Academy, the youth academy of the Dutch federation. During his first year, Yannick developed quickly and took part in an NBA camp where he started getting noticed by scouts. At the conclusion of his first year at OLA, he signed with Joventut Badalona and represented the Netherlands in the FIBA U18 European Championship. In 2019, Yannick played for Badalona’s U18 team and took part in ANGT Valencia. This season he was rewarded for his development by making his first team debut in both the EuroCup and ACB. For the remainder of this season, Yannick will be loaned out to CB Prat in the LEB Oro. During the last EuroBasket 2022 qualifiers, he got called up for the national team for the first time but didn’t make an appearance. 

PERSONALITY: Yannick is an introvert who has gotten more confident over the last two years and has a mature and relaxed personality. He is well liked by teammates, who describe him as friendly and cheerful once he is comfortable. He might not be the life of the party, but he blends in well in social situations. His coachability has made great improvements over the last few years. In the Netherlands, Yannick often had poor body language and lacked consistent effort due to the low level of competition. He initially struggled being coached by a no-nonsense type of coach, but it helped improve his work ethic and body language. Coaches saw a positive difference in confidence and work ethic after attending the NBA camp. This has further improved since moving to Spain.

PHYSICAL/ATHLETIC TOOLS: Yannick is a 6’7 wing with a 7’2 wingspan. He has a naturally skinny frame, but is slowly gaining more muscle. His body and measurements make him an intriguing prospect, but his slim frame and lack of physicality makes him more vulnerable at the highest level. He will need to get stronger in order to be more effective against physical opponents.

OFFENSE

Shooting: Yannick is an inconsistent shooter with potential. He has good technique and shot the ball relatively well from beyond the arc at last year’s ANGT, but he hasn’t been able to achieve that yet in his first few months at the pro level. To be fair, he is mainly positioned in the corner and hasn’t gotten many open looks. Yannick struggles with creating his own shot and often relies on off-ball screens to get open. With more consistency and a quicker release, he could become a dangerous shooter. 

Slashing: Lacks explosiveness as a slasher and struggles finishing with contact. He does read defenses well and his leaping ability makes him a threat for alley-oops, especially when guarded by guards and less athletic forwards.

Playmaking: Average ball handler who can use both hands, but lacks explosiveness to beat defenders off the dribble and create space. Yannick doesn’t get many opportunities to run the offense and handle the ball, but he has shown flashes of his above average court vision and passing ability. Even though there is definitely room for improvement, don’t expect him to be a primary ballhandler at the professional level.

Off-Ball Offense: Yannick mostly plays off the ball and positions himself well. He has good court awareness and reads when to spread the floor or cut. As highlighted in slashing, he is an alley-oop threat when playing off the ball due to his athleticism and ability to read defenses. In order to create space between him and his defender, Yannick relies too much on off-ball screens. It’s good that he uses the screens, but he doesn’t seem to be able to use his athleticism yet to get past opponents.

DEFENSE

Perimeter Defense: Yannick is a versatile defender who can guard both guards and forwards, but there is a lot of room for improvement. He is not an aggressive in-face defender and explosive guards beat him relatively easily off the dribble. Yannick’s long legs help him recover and stay in pursuit, but he needs to improve his quickness and footwork if he wants to be able to defend guards at a higher level. His wingspan should make him a good shot contester and passing lane disruptor, however he has to do this more effectively as his blocks and steals averages are low. 

Pick & Roll Defense: Contrary to on offense, Yannick regularly gets into P&R situations on defense due to him often guarding the opponent’s primary or secondary ballhandler. He is a vulnerable P&R defender and often gets targeted due to his struggles to fight through screens. When Yannick gets stronger and starts anticipating screens betters, he could become a good P&R defender considering his versatility. He would then be able to not only switch onto rollers, but also defend the pick and pop.

Off-Ball Defense: Yannick is a solid off-ball defender and plays with effort, but there are improvements to be made. He struggles fighting through screens, has moments where he loses his man, and rarely anticipates passes to go for the steal. His understanding of when to help also needs improvement, as he has moments where he commits too early or doesn’t help at all.

SUMMARY

Overall, Yannick is a very interesting prospect with a lot of potential. His physical tools give him the potential to be a versatile wing, but he needs to work on his quickness and get stronger. At the moment his skillset is still quite raw and needs improvement across the board. With a consistent shot, improved ballhandling skills, and better more aggressive defense, Yannick can become a successful player in Europe and potentially the NBA.

Long and lanky Dutch wing displays unique coordination talent. The way he extends his body in the air, his hangtime and plasticity give him great advantage as a slasher and allow to find good finishing angles in tough spots. Although he is still unpolished and starts the drives often from travelling you got to notice his overall unique fluidity (more smooth than explosive though) and huge room to grow physically and skillwise. Moreover he has defensive potential and promising touch to be a threat at least in spot up looks after catch. Yannick is a super interesting prospect and even must follow for NBA executives. Speaking of them reportedly besides great Spanish youth programs, Global Academy in Australia is an option for his further development. He still resides in Orange Lions Academy in Netherlands which is uncommon for youngster with his ceiling.

Trending player:

YANNICK KRAAG – Maybe one of the most overlooked prospects from this age group at the moment. We first saw Dutch tall wing who plays for Orange Lions Academy at the FIBA U16 European Championship. He was doing just solid job vs very good competition but it was hard not to notice his tremendous long term potential. Blessed with positional size & freakish length, may not be the most explosive athlete but is blessed with coordination talent and moves / makes plays effortlessly. He possess solid feel for the game, big defensive upside and developable jumper as he already occassionally makes shots off the dribble. At times he can bring poor Ingram-esque vibe and following how his potential unfolds into the future will be very intriguing.