James Nnaji (04‘ – 6’10 / 208cm – Nigeria) is without a doubt the best big man in this years draft coming out of European competitions behind the French unicorn Victor Wembanyama.
With one of the best teams in Europe and EuroLeague final four participant FC Barcelona, the 18-year-old is playing a solid season in which he has steadily improved individually and his basketball-IQ, while getting regular playing time primarily in the Spanish league (but also sometimes in the EuroLeague) and regularly providing highlights above the ring level. Nnaji is an overaverage athlete with a tremendous combination of size, NBA-ready athleticism, and strength, which is the door opener for his NBA career. With the help of this report, comparisons will be made with previous international Centers going to the NBA to filter out glimpses of similarities.
Season stats (ACB): 26 games, 12:13min, 4,9pts, 3reb (1,3off – 1,8def), 0,3ass, 66,3% 2FG, 48,9% FTs, +2 +/-, 1,5fls
Generally said: Nnaji is, as already mentioned, a tall athlete who is currently primarily playing as a rimrunner and non-shooting big in a very structured offensive system in Barcelona. Here he is already now an asset at the highest European level, as he is constantly helpful with his energy, hustle and good half-court position play. When he is not involved in pick-and-rolls, he acts at the dunker spot and is ready for cuts to the basket, which not too seldom lead to crashing dunks. In addition, he shows good approaches to act as a shotblocker and control the defense due to his presence.
Showcase athlete – Clint Capela
Bounce, strength, and mobility. All these characteristics distinguish the Swiss Capela, which he uses perfectly to set accents as a rim-runner, pick and roll finisher or variable defender. Nnaji’s attributes obviously don’t quite reach Capelas level yet, which is also due to his somewhat heavier body (250lbs / 113kg). Nevertheless, Nnaji is a constant asset who sprints fastbreaks and acts as a trailer and rim-runner, manages to defend guards on a solid level, which he can defend at a distance thanks to his long arms and finally, like Capela, he is an enormous presence in the zone.
Shooting Development
While European Centers like Jusuf Nurkic took only a single three-pointer in his rookie season, he has now reached 2.5 distance shots per game. This shows that basically such rapid developments can take place and even shooting techniques can evolve as one’s career progresses. Nevertheless, the same cannot be expected from the Nigerian Nnaji now because, firstly, his shooting posture in the arms is not stable and, secondly, his hands are poor. Although he was able to improve by 18% to now 48% from the free throw line in relation to the 21/22 season, he still does not even show approaches to spread the floor. At least he can finish with floaters all the way out to the free throw line, which makes him dangerous as a short roller and in cutting sequences.
Strong and smart screener / rebound tendencies – Steven Adams
One of the most important questions and requirements is to demonstrate the nowadays essential big man basics, the screen setting and the behavior in pick and roll actions. This includes on the one hand the technique of screen setting and on the other hand the positional play in roll behavior. A good example is the Australian Steven Adams, who ranked second in this category in the regular season with 7.6 screen assists and at the same time was very efficient and had high percentage with his few roll touches. Like Adams, Nnaji’s broad build coupled with controlled, non-hurried and robust screens allow him to provide his guards with the necessary space needed for shot creation and playmaking. Also worth mentioning is his variability to often fake blocks and slide directly and nimbly to the basket. He straight up keeps a close eye on his partner and is always ready to close out via alley-oop, floater or contact layup.
Another aspect when comparing Nnaji to Adams is the strong rebounding skills. With 5.1 offensive rebounds per game, Adams was ranked No. 1 in the past NBA regular season, while Nnaji is also extremely active at it. In almost all games he dominated the boards and stole several offensive rebounds as well.
