Udoka Azubuike Scouting Report

Udoka Azubuike is the youngest senior in the draft, playing his whole year at 20 years old. In his 4 years at Kansas, Azubuike was one of the most dominant big men in the country. As a senior, he averaged 13.7 PPG, 10.5 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.5 SPG, and 2.6 BPG, and 2.5 TOPG on shooting splits of 75/0/44. Below is his full scouting report:

Name: Udoka Azubuike

Height/Weight: 7’0/ 270

Wingspan/ standing reach:

Hand size: N/A

Position: C

College/ country: Kansas/ Nigeria

Tools: Rebounding, frame, interior finishing

Pros:

Incredible frame- long arms and very strong; large hands
One of the most experienced younger players in the draft
Excellent timing makes for good shot blocking
Pick & roll threat; aerial threat; plays above the rim
Good touch around the rim
Excellent rebounder
Plus drop step

Cons:

Mostly limited to the low post on offense
Poor shooting form- very low chance of him developing a jump shot. On free throws he has too many movements and a hitch
Slow- doesn’t run the floor well at times
Often gets into foul trouble
Below average lateral quickness

Overall:

Udoka Azubuike makes a living at the rim on both ends of the floor. Azubuike only shot below 80% at the rim once in his four years at Kansas, and that came during his freshman year when he took 35 total shots on the season. Azubuike struggled with injuries in his collegiate career, playing only 87 games in 4 years. However, when he was healthy, he was a force at the rim between alley-oop finishes and his drop steps. Despite being somewhat limited athletically, mostly laterally, Azubuike’s excellent frame makes him an easy aerial target. Azubuike’s best strengths offensively in the NBA project to be diving to the basket, post up efficiency, and putbacks.

Defensively, Azubuike might struggle to stay with his man outside of 15 feet from the rim, which limits him on switches in a league that runs a heavy volume of pick & roll sets. Azubuike is a pure rim protector, and will likely be a limited minutes space-eater inside the paint to both maximize efficiency and to play to his physical strengths as he continues to improve his conditioning. If Azubuike’s conditioning and shape improve, this may allow for his lateral quickness to improve as well, which increases the range of defensive mobility for him. Thus, he could have significantly more value as a defender and earn more minutes in the NBA.

NBA Comparison: Floor: Chinanu Onuaku; Ceiling: Adonal Foyle

Projected draft range: 40-undrafted

Fit with Mavs:
The Boban Marjanovic experiment has been mostly successful in Dallas, which makes me optimistic that the Mavs could find some time to make Azubuike effective. While he would likely need to develop in the G-League for a year or two before contributing meaningful minutes, Azubuike could adjust to the NBA tempo with the Legends and continue to get into NBA shape to prepare himself for the NBA. Once he reaches the NBA, Marjanovic is likely to be off the Mavs’ roster, so he could fill the 5-10 minutes per game role as a rim protector, high level finisher, and plus rebounder. In an offensive system that uses lots of screens, Azubuike could benefit as a roll man and produce 5 points per game and 5 rebounds per game in very limited minutes.