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. MY BIGGEST GOAL IS SCOUTING! Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!
Almost everyone in Adeola’s family played football. But Emmanuel Adeola wanted to try your luck in basketball. When he was 11–12 years old, he started to take professional steps in basketball after growing in every sense. He likes to be disciplined in this sport, but he knows to have fun and that he is actually the biggest hobby of his profession. According to the information I got from some head coaches, Adeola is a real hard worker. He does not give up discipline and hard work not only in basketball training but also in all subjects such as fitness and school.
Born: 7 June 2004
Nationality: Nigeria
Height: 6–5
Wingspan: 6–foot-7.5
Position: G
Physical
Standing 6-foot-5 with 6-foot-7.5 wingspan and weight of 205 pounds, Emmanuel Adeola has an impressive size and frame for the 16-year old basketball player in my opinion. Despite he can play multiple positions both on the offensive end and on the defensive end, his main position is guard and most of 16–17 years-old guards are around the 6-foot-3 right now. Also, some of PGs, SGs, SF, and even PFs have serious troubles on strength. The 16-year old Nigerian talent is not perfect naturally but his upper body strength is dazzling in my opinion. Long and strong arms, wide shoulders, strong back which allows him as a good back-to-back scorer on some positions, quick footwork, nice lateral movement, and vertical pop. However, he needs to learn how to use his physical tools, I mean, sometimes Adeola plays like 6-foot-2 lack of strength player. He can’t finish in traffic or like that. Of course, he must continue to gain strength over time and continue to expand his body base. Emmanuel Adelola is an average athlete who can finish around the basket using his fluidity or explosiveness. Adeola does a pretty nice job on rotating his own body, reverse spin to going to the basket. He is not an above the rim player but showed some flashes on his great vertical pop with his strong first step. End of the day, I would like to see him more aggressive around the basket. Because he has the potential to be a quick and strong athlete like Russell Westbrook in my opinion.
Offense
Playing a significant role on the ball for the Stellazurra Rome youth team, Emmanuel Adeola does a little bit everything on the offensive end. Running the lanes quickly, Adeola’s game mostly revolves around spotting up for the mid-range or 3-pointer, filling the lanes in transition, face-up attack, and pick-and-roll situations. As a shooter, he has room to get better. I mean, Adeola using a lot of 3-pointers and mid-range jumpers. Also, he can create his own shots and can play as a spot-up shooter. However, his shooting form looks weird. I don’t think it is unorthodox or something like that but he doesn’t look comfortable. I think the main problem here is his shot pocket. His release, arc, footwork, BBIQ (knows when and how to shot), quickness, and elbow angle looks good but his shot pocket beginning too low. So, it creates a huge timing problem and effect negatively on his last touch in my opinion. Has room on that. Emmanuel runs the transitions well. Thanks to his quick feet, average ballhandling, high dribble, and good body coordination, the Nigerian player can run on open floor well. Also, he can finish in those positions himself with using his soft touch, change direction ability on the ground, and size & frame. Has a good self-creator potential, Adeola also has some problems with decision-making mechanism, painted area dribble & handling. As I said, he sometimes plays like a 6-foot-2 player, it’s the first problem. Then, he sometimes forcing the game too much. Has to learn give kick out passes in my opinion. Can’t create a shield around the ball. These things which are I think he has to improve on his face-up offense. From the good things window, Adeola has great quickness, feeling for the game, and can play with smartly. Can hit mid-range if his attacking to the rim angle is closes. As a pick-and-roll handler, not a good passer but showed some notable flashes on footwork tricks and body fakes. I mean, I think Adeola knows how to use his footwork and body to create his dribble spacing well. As I mentioned, he has room to be a good passer. Showed some advanced flashes but not consistent and good in my opinion.
Defense
I think Emmanuel Adeola is not a motor-noses defender and mostly plays with his great length, long arms, quick lateral movement, very quick and active hands in my opinion. Generally, he comes up with steals, deflections. He can anticipate well and runs around the passing lanes, then, leading to transitions. With size & frame, pretty nice body balance, mobility, quick hips, quick hands, Emmanuel Adeola is capable of defending multiple positions in my opinion. He showed some flashes on his ability to agility to slide on the perimeter defensively. Can switches from guards to small forwards as he flashed appealing versatility as an individual defender. Sometimes, EA can do pesky defense on shooter on the ball defense in my opinion. He reads his opponent’s footwork and shooting form well, then, can react well to. Not a great shot blocker or rim protector but I think he is not the weakest player around the basket in his team. As an off the ball defender has room to get better. Sometimes his motor stops on the defensive end. So, his man can find open shooting or dribbling angles on these situations. Also, Adeola is not a good help-side defender. Decent on the ball defender, yes, but as a help-side defender, go to the wrong angles. Has to learn it in my opinion. From the rebounding window, he is very good for the 16-year old point guard in my opinion. Can grab the ball, run the floor, and leading to score.
Summary
Emmanuel Adeola physical tools and his potential to be a versatility player both on the offensive end and on the defensive and makes him a good player, however, he has not played in a tough tournament (2020 Szent Isvan is not good not bad in my opinion) yet. He took very limited time even at ANGT. So for me, it is too early to say he has an excellent NBA potential for him, but his scoring instinct, average team awareness, and size & frame make him a good prospect clearly. End of the day, shooting consistency, athlectisim, defensive motor, and ability to making play are the most important things to his future. If he can improve on these things a little bit, will be good in my opinion.