NBA Draft: Five sleepers to consider in the first round

NBA draft sleeper No. 2: Udoka Azubuike

If this were 15 or even ten years ago, we would not be having this conversation about Udoka Azubuike. Standing at a gargantuan seven-feet tall with an intimidating 7’7” wingspan, and a standing vertical of 37 inches, he would have been a consensus lottery pick with his size, strength, athleticism, and bruising post-game.

Yet here we are. In today’s pace-and-space NBA, Udoka Azubuike projects to be a mid to late second-round draft pick despite his stately presence and physical gifts.

Azubuike took home the Big-12 Player of the Year and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (NABC) Defensive player of the Year awards in his final season at Kansas. His college career comes to an end with the highest career field goal percentage in NCAA history (74.6 percent). He also led the Big-12 last season with a 31.3 Player Efficiency Rating (PER).

He’s an excellent finisher around the rim. Azubuike uses his Herculian strength and long arms to shoot over and around defenders or simply power through when posting up or rolling to the rim out of pick-and-roll sets.

A bruiser in the low post, Azubuike does a good job sealing off defenders and getting into position. He does most of his damage with a smooth short hook shot that he can quickly turn and get off over both the left and right shoulders. He shot 65.9 percent on post-ups and 74.8 percent overall last season.

A monster on the glass, Azubuike averaged 10.5 rebounds per game and 3.5 offensive rebounds per game. According to Synergy, he ranks in the 87th percentile averaging 1.34 points per possession (PPP) on offensive rebound put-backs.

Only five players averaged 3.5 offensive rebounds per game in the NBA last season, none of which averaged more than 1.30 PPP on offensive rebound put-backs.

He’s also an Imposing rim protector, especially in the post due to his size and toughness. According to Synergy, in his final season as a Jayhawk, Azubuike ranked in the 96th percentile defending post-ups.

He allowed just 0.426 PPP on 24.2 percent shooting in 47 possessions defending against post-ups and forced a turnover on 19.1 percent of those possessions.

Azubuike does a stellar job of defending without fouling. He averaged 2.6 blocks per game last season while only being whistled for a shooting foul on 5.5 percent of defensive possessions.

He lacks a perimeter game (did not attempt a single 3-pointer in college), and his 41.6 free throw percentage in his four years at Kansas indicates he’s unlikely to ever develop an outside shot. Because of this void in his game, there are doubts about how high his ceiling is, but his floor is pretty high for a rookie with no perimeter game.

With that being said, if there’s anything we have learned from this past NBA playoffs, players of Azubuike’s size and skill are still pretty valuable despite the league’s overall change in the style of play.

The Boston Celtics come to mind when I think of Udoka Azubuike and where he could land in the draft. They could’ve used someone like Azubuike to combat against the size and strength of Bam Adebayo and the Miami Heat in the eastern conference finals.

With Tacko Fall far from being NBA-ready, the Celtics still have a crippling need at the center position, and Azubuike would immediately be the tallest player on the team aside from Fall.