alexis-ajinca1 The Draft Review - The Draft Review charlotte The Draft Review - The Draft Review

Strengths: Ajinca is a physically intriguing prospect with his 7-1 size and tremendous wingspan … Despite his size he can catch the ball in the high post and then use his ball handling ability to get to the rim … Possesses soft touch around the basket on jump hooks or bank shots from the low post … Provides a shot blocking presence thanks to his length, timing and wingspan … Has shown the ability to face the basket and hit occasional jumpers 16 feet from mid-range … Runs the floor very well for his size, which enables him to usually outrun his assignment in transition … Ajinca is a quality rebounder out of position due to his wingspan and also displays decent in-area rebounding thanks to his length … Has decently soft hands to catch most passes thrown into the post … Does a good job of getting his body wide when posting up … Excellent free throw shooter with good mechanics … Passes the ball well out of the post and recognizes double teams quickly … Possesses solid athleticism, allowing him to use his length to finish around the basket on lob passes … Back to the basket skills are still in need of development, but shows promise with a good looking turnaround jumper and jump hook … Upside is tremendous for someone with his physique and the fact that his bad habits are correctable … Moves with above average fluidness while maintaining his balance in the traffic … Once motivated Ajinca plays the game with a mean streak …

Weaknesses: Even though Ajinca has noticeably added more weight since last year, he remains 15-20 pounds away from the size he needs to be … Gets pushed around and bumped rather easily … This contact sometimes appears to bother Ajinca, which raises questions about his toughness … Lack of body strength often prevents him from establishing good position in the post without getting pushed out … Not a great offensive rebounder at this point as he gets boxed out easily by opposing players who don’t have his size advantage … Based on how his body distributes his weight there may be some concern that adding more bulk could hinder his explosiveness … Not a very effective help defender due to his stiff lateral movement … Has choppy post footwork, which is why his post moves take a little time to execute, but to his credit is vastly improved since last year … Doesn’t possess the top level experience that many of his European counterparts have … Back to the basket moves are often predictable and could stand more variety, such as an up and under or spin move … Can be a little too focused on blocking shots, which can lead to him picking up simple fouls … Post defense is a skill in need of refinement as he rarely tries to deny opposing players post position and often relies too much on his shot blocking opposed to using his body to stay between his man and the basket …

Matthew Maurer - 5/2/08

Statistics

SEASONS

GP

FG%

3PT%

FT%

SPG

BPG

RPG

APG

PPG

2006-07 Pau Orthez

2

00.0

00.0

50.0

0.1

0.1

0.4

0.1

0.1

2007-08 Hyeres-Toulon

29

53.5

40.0

56.4

0.3

0.9

2.8

0.5

4.5

Totals

31

51.0

20.0

58.7

0.3

0.9

2.8

0.5

4.3

 

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