Emmanuel Adeola Scouting Report
I’m Kuzey, 19. I’ve been writing about basketball since I was 9. I have been working in Eurosport Turkey for the last 1,5 years. I have written on various sites and magazines before. I’ve been working as a freelance scout for three years. I worked as a consultant. I have interviewed dozens of prospects such as Theo Maledon, Deni Avdija, Henri Drell, Aleksej Pokusevski, Arturs Kurucs, Yves Pons, and dozens of notable basketball people such as Luis Scola, Xavi Pascual, Jonathan Givony, Dimitris Itoudis, Sasa Obradovic, Joan Plaza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Derrick Williams. I write an article every day. I live in Turkey, I go to all the Euroleague and Youth League games. My main areas are all of age group in Africa and from U12 to U20 European and NCAA. Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!
Team: Trapani — Loan from Stellazzurra Rome
DOB: 06.07.2004
Nationality: Nigeria
Height: 6-foot-5
Wingspan: 6-foot-7
Shooting hand: Right
Primary position: Guard
Secondary position: Forward
Projection: NBA (1), EuroLeague (2), EuroCup & Basketball Champions League
Emmanuel Adeola was born on June 7, 2004, in one of the big cities of Nigeria. Most family members of him played or coached soccer, and Adeola’s first sport was soccer. But also, he was playing basketball at these times, but just for fun. When Adeola grew up physically a lot, he turned to basketball professionally. After few contacts with scouts and assistant coaches from the Stellazzurra Rome, Adeola went to Italy and his all story begin seriously.
Emmanuel Adeola played in some small local tournaments in 2018, but it was 2019 when he actually made his name heard. Alongside his impressive performances at the Szent Istvan Basketball Cup and U16 Orotava in 2019, Adeola played in ANGT Kaunas. However, he just played 27 minutes and scored two points in three games.
Adeola’s performance at the 2019–2020 ANGT Munich was not good again. He averaged five points, 4.8 rebounds, three assists, 1.3 steals while shooting 35.3% inside the arc. But, he was the leading role in his team’s good victories by playing excellent in the Szent Istvan Basketball Cup.
Adeola plays for Tripani as a loan from Stellazzurra Rome & Roseto Sharks. He is a great hard worker, especially, in the GYM. He works for his body a lot of hours and also for the basketball abilities.
Physical & Athleticism
Standing 6-foot-5 with a 6-foot-7 wingspan and well-developed frame, Emmanuel Adeola has excellent physical tools for a 16 years old basketball players, for a 16 YO guard in my opinion.
Arm length is not that impressive for his height, but for a guard, Adeola has the ideal wingspan. Wide shoulders but not upright, should work on lift-ups. Good popping on triceps but not same for biceps, strong wrists, stiff elbows which allow him to absorb the contact. He also uses his elbows very well to push his opponents while he attacking to the basket/rim/closeouts.
The width in his body is generally nice, the chests are full of good muscle, the strength and flexibility in the core is magnificent for his age.
The back is thinner than the front of his body, but I think that’s not a huge minus for him. Because he can use the thinness of his back in his fluent athleticism. Despite his average explosiveness, vertical pop, Adeola should work on legs to gain strength. Especially, I think he should use his legs more agile and strengthful. Also, I am not a big fan of his knee alignment. Good on spot-up shooting but should work on dribbling and defensive stance.
Has good reverse-spin on live dribble situations thanks to his hip mobility. Can move north to south well but not good west to east both offensively and defensively.
In my opinion, the best thing about his physical tools is his improving curve. Just watch two games from the U16 Orotava 2019 tournament, and then, watch Szent Istvan Basketball Cup 2020.
If you didn’t know Adeola’s face/attitude and jersey number, you would hardly know who he was. Within a year he showed an incredible improvement curve physically. He grew in terms of height but more importantly, his upper body was greatly strengthened and widened. Adeola has room to gain strength naturally but his love for the GYM works and work ethic leaves very positive marks on his physical development in my head.
The athleticism window is half an apple situation. Has pretty impressive smoothness on the offensive end, also, has shown some flashes where he made highlights dunks, blocks, etc. but inconsistent. Quick feet, nice hip mobility, change of direction and speed abilities, body coordination, quick eye-hand coordination, chest-to-chest fight instincts, shoulder-to-shoulder cuts, reverse-spin ability by using his feet-hip coordination, pushing ability by using his body while he driving to the basket, physicality on the defensive end make him a versatile player on the offensive end and on the defensive end. However, lack of elite first step, vertical pop, kneecap strength limits his shooting, off the ball scoring, and closeout defense.
The conclusion side is great for now and for my taste of basketball. Just thinking, the NBA’s way in the modern-era looks for the strong and long guards from the European pool, right? Just look at Deni Avdija, Vit Krejci, Abramo Canka, etc. Emmanuel Adeola is already 6-foot-5, 16 YO, has good strength, and has a lot of time to improve. From the athleticism side, he should add some explosiveness and guard tricks on his arsenal but quickness, mobility, and coordination are pretty interesting.
Offense
First and most important note, Emmanuel Adeola’s original position is point guard. But in all junior events, Adeola defended power forward and centers. In addition, the players who defended Adeola were power forward and centers. In other words, Adeola did not match up against players who are physically smaller, slow, and have bad athleticism skill-set. Played against players who are physically strong and tall like Izan Almansa, Henri Veesaar, Kingsley Onyenso, Ousmane Ndiaye.
Emmanuel Adeola is a versatile self-creator in my opinion. He does a very good job to create his position in pick-and-roll situations, one-on-one offense, and he manipulates the defense very well when his team runs off the ball sets on the weak side like flex warrior, double curls, back screen post, etc.
In one-on-one offense, Adeola sets up drives downhill. While he driving to the basket, he bends all of his body in the first two-three dribbles to avoid the steals or intense defense because if the defender shows lower stance with some peskiness, Adeola outs of control and loses the ball. He creates a shield around the by using his hips and left shoulder. Pushes the defender, turns from the shoulder, goes to the basket.
If help-defense comes from the weak side during one-on-one, Adeola can drive-and-dish, but he can also finish the position himself. He lifts his kneecaps well around the basket, he can jump in both one foot and two feet styles and finish positions by changing the ball hand in the air.
In pick-and-roll situations, Adeola can give the screen fake before attack to the basket. He can change direction and speed to exploit the defense’s weak/strong balance. However, Adeola is not an elite pick-and-roll scorer. Because if the opposite team uses double team on him behind the 3-points line, Adeola out of the control and loses the ball. He has not turnover prone against pesky defenses but also has room to grow as a handler in my opinion. But if the opposite team decides to coverage PnR by using ICE or drop, Adeola punishes it. The other reason why I do not think he is not an elite pick-and-roll scorer, his passing ability but will explain this part later.
Being able to drive more efficiently from the left zone to the right of the attack, Adeola is not perfect in advanced, pro footwork techniques but can do a wide variety of crossovers. I think he is a master in his age class in and out, between the legs, behind the back, and UTEPs. When there is no huge intense defense, Adeola can create his own space by signing magnificent sequences on crossovers.
On the finishing side, solid overall. Draws a lot of fouls. Can finish with both hands but right is better. Jumps very well, has a strong first step but the second step is not good in terms of giving momentum. Can finish in traffic and can finish through contact but I would like to see him smarter here. Because Adeola cannot use the glass very well when he tries to finish things in traffic. Also, he is not a good finisher around the baselines due to lack of elite soft touch and using the glass abilities. In air coordination, second jump, good pop, chest-to-chest finishing, average smoothness, open court explosiveness, and length make him a versatile finisher but needs to learn using the glass and has to work on some wrist movements. Not afraid of contact, goes to the basket aggressively, does not force things when he goes to the basket and has a nice spin move going downhill.
He does a solid job at using his handles to attack the basket. That’s where his ballhandling abilities going two different ways. Good and bad. Adeola can control the tempo, can change of speed the ball and his stance on the offensive end and also, can protect the ball while goes to the basket. However, in stationary situations, Adeola’s system gives error due to lack of elite passing and court vision abilities. He opens his protect hands too much and the defender can steal the ball easily.
So, for my taste, Adeola should work on his passing ability. He is not a bad decision maker but also has not any basketball talent to create something for the others. Good game instincts, has a huge feeling for the game, always fights but passing and vision are problematic. Has shown some flashes on drive-and-dish, coast-to-coast, and passing off-screen but inconsistent.
Showing a lot of effort as an off the ball player, Adeola is not someone who can make money by using bursts, shift his weight to the defender, and advanced cuts on off the ball plays. I would like to see him more active and aggressive in these games but his passion, effort, and good motor make up for it.
I have said that Emmanuel Adeola has improved a lot physically from 2019 to 2020. But in the meantime, I think Adeola lost the flexibility and comfort in shooting form. In 2019, when shooting, he bent his whole body better, was able to accelerate from his wrists to the ball, he had good alignment of his knees, he had a moderate jump ability, he had an above-the-head release and he was using his balance hand perfectly. The thing that changed the most in shooting form in 2020 was the angle he gave with the balance hand and the main strength.
In Adeola’s shot, there is no major problem in things such as elbow point, footwork, back bending, but the ball comes out too strong or too soft. His right hand is under the ball too much and balance hand shifts the momentum of the ball in a bad way, and I think these two things create a problem. Because Adeola can hit free-throws very well. He close to the basket and has balance…
Shooting versatility is not bad but also not good. Can operate his mid-range jumpers after one dribble or two dribbles, can use the screen well to create his shooting angle, can hit spot-up 3-points from the corners, makes good shooting choices generally and excellent feels. However, despite the occasional fake on the shoot, he lacks a degree of shiftiness and handling to use pump fakes. Cannot bite the defender. But at the end of the day, I have a reason to buy his shooting ability. Adeola is 16 years old basketball player and has no major problem with FTs. If you consider his ability a lot of draws inside the line, this is a huge plus, and also has shown flashes on pull-ups and spot-ups. But I think that he should fix his shooting stroke.
Defense
Based on what I have seen so far from AD, I really think that his potential as a defender too much. And I have a very simple reason for it, he can guard multiple positions with multiple tricks and a lot of effort.
As I mentioned at first, Adeola played against bigs like Izan Almansa, Henri Veesaar, Ousmane Ndiaye, Kiir Kiir Chol Deng, Dick Rutatika Sano, etc. and he really defended them well. I do not think he will guard PFs and Cs in the future at the higher levels but he already has switchability. Fitting for switch defense as a guard means having a touchstone in the NBA’s defense principles around the perimeter, I think.
Playing with high-effort, Adeola has some good flashes on defensive techniques in one-on-one situations. Has a good defensive stance in my opinion. Many prospects have the bad habit of standing too far upright in their stance but Adeola has not. He bends his lower body very well, heels touches on the ground but he can shift his weight forward, drop his knees and gives good reacts against the ballhandler’s decisions. The right hand is always up and he pushes the ball/the ballhandler’s body by using his left hand. He turns his left or right easily thanks to his body coordination and good physical tools.
Sometimes he can be beaten against the ballhandlers who are quicker than him, but thanks to his ability to anticipation the drive zone of his opponent, he can slide his body to that area and come to the table with deflections.
Solid pick-and-roll defender, comes with effort, nice footwork at the point of attack. Doing shoot the gap things, Adeola can be a pesky defender on the ballhandler after the screen. Especially when the ballhandler grabs the ball, Adeola shifts his whole body weight on his opponent in a controlled manner, raises both hands and covers all angles of his opponent.
Smart team defender. Adeola does a good job talking on defense, has good awareness, sees what is happening on the weak side or the ball side, one hand always up, average level anticipation but he is not a good off the ball defender yet. He runs around the screens but sometimes biting by the strong side plays too much and loses his man. Not a fan of his tagging and recovering. Has room here in my opinion.
He is not a good shot blocker but really nice job using his length, to contest shots with good timing. Does an average job rotation into the paint from the perimeter and shows a lot of effort here but inconsistent. Has shown some flashes where he blocked bigger guys comes from the offense’s back.
He is good at closeouts. Emmanuel Adeola is sometimes biting by his opponents’ pump fake in closeouts, but in such positions, he can quickly turn to his opponents with hip turns by throwing one foot left/right and can contest their shots. When players in closeouts don’t fake and shoot, Adeola runs fast in the air with one hand and leaps well, not giving his opponents a good angle.
Transition defense is not good in my opinion. He gambles a lot in these situations, I mean, he does not run to his team’s basket, tries to steal the ball but usually loses this gamble.
Rebounding is a critical plus for him. Because, as you know, the ability of ballhandlers to rebound today increases the team’s attack pace a lot. That is why a player who is fast in the open court like Adeola can finish his position and can get the rebound is a big plus. While Adeola rebounds the ball, he can use his length, game senses, and leaps well and start offense quickly.
Questions
Will he able to shoot consistently?
Will he able to improve as a passer to be a versatile player?
Will he able to make money in pick-and-roll situations?
Will he maintain his defensive performance at the high levels?
Overall
Emmanuel Adeola has good size and frame, plays with his BBIQ, has decent shooting, does a little bit of everything on the defensive end and he is a definitely great person, has a good work ethic, off-court life and family bond.
All these things are good but I have some question marks about his projection. Adeola is only 16 years old but is already doing good in many areas. I think he can use his abilities at higher levels because he physically has space. However, if the growth curve stops for two to three years, things could go bad. This is true for every prospect, but I think Adeola’s potential and what he has demonstrated so far puts him in a different place in this regard. Italy is a good place for players like him not to be “pronto”. His performance at Trapani this year may give an excellent signal for his projection. Regardless, he has the potential to become one of the most valuable international prospects for the 2023 NBA Draft, and that’s exciting.