The San Antonio Spurs may not have come close to winning the championship this year, but there is a chance they could draft someone with championship experience. Of course, that narrows it down to several of the UConn players who have declared for the NBA Draft. We’ve already talked about Jordan Hawkins, but we’re going to be looking at his teammate, Adama Sanogo.
The 6-foot-9, 245-pound big man is capitalizing on his team’s march to a national title and his massive role in it. He was absolutely unstoppable in the paint and an excellent rebounder on both ends of the floor. He will bring that and his motor to the next level. Here are his stats for the past season.
- 17.2 PPG, 0.8 BPG, 0.7 SPG, 7.7 RPG, 1.9 TOPG
- 60.6 FG%, 36.5 3P%, 76.6 FT%
- 30.0 PER, 125.1 ORtg, 93.0 DRtg
Adama Sanogo dominates to lead UConn to the National Championship:
– 21 PTS
– 9-11 FG
– 10 REB pic.twitter.com/ahBubvtjwm— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) April 2, 2023
Adama Sanogo Breakdown
While Sanogo might be a bit undersized to be a true center, he does so many other things well that someone is going to give him a shot in the second round. He has a never-ending motor and a bevy of post moves that netted him such a high field goal percentage and great efficiency rating this season. He has a chance to be a great big off the bench for someone and a guy the offense can run through on that unit.
An underrated aspect of his game has been his willingness and ability to be more of a pop man after a screen. Of course, he’s got good hands and is still a good roll target as well. He took the opportunity this season to extend his range. While his shooting percentages are pretty good from beyond the arc, those are also on low volume. But it does portend some potential to extend his range and be a reliable floor-spacer. If he can show that he’s comfortable taking and making more of those shows at a higher volume, he could find more playing time than just as a backup big bullying second-unit guys.
Adama Sanogo with one of the best performances of the tournament thus far leading UConn to a first-round win against Iona:
– 28 PTS
– 13-17 FG
– 13 REB pic.twitter.com/nhSsKx341R— B/R Hoops (@brhoops) March 17, 2023
Sanogo is not going to play outside of his comfort zone and try to do too much so he’s a smart player in that regard. He’s not super athletic, but he knows how to use his body well to screen or seal defenders. He’s not going to be a fearsome shot blocker, but he knows when to drop into coverage or when he switch and stay with a perimeter player. All these traits should have him taken off the board early in the second round.
