Game report — Matthew Strazel | ASVEL @Elan Chalon | 9/5/2020
For my detailed report on him with his background, click here buddy.
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, Orhun Ene, Joan Plaza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Derrick Williams, Ekpe Udoh… I write an article every day. I live in Turkey, I go to all the Euroleague and Youth League games. My main areas: All of the age groups from Africa and Europe. MY BIGGEST GOAL IS SCOUTING! Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!
Stats things
4/8 FG
3/5 3PTS (3/4 spot-up, 0/1 creator)
Two rebounds
Three assists (Played very well pick-and-roll games with Ismael Bako and Moustapha Fall)
Two turnovers
One steal
Who defended him from Elan Chalon?
Standing 6-foot-2, 26 years old Teyvon Myers
Standing 6-foot-4, 20 years old Babacar Niasse
Standing 6-foot-2, 30 years old Garrett Sim
Ousmane Camara and Assana N’Doye did double teams on him
Who did he defend?
Standing 6-foot-2, 30 years old Garrett Sim
Standing 6-foot-4, 20 years old Babacar Niasse
Did help defenses on Ousmane Camara and Rafael Menco
Physical Situation
Standing 6-foot-0 with 6-foot-2 wingspan and skinny 178-pound frame, Matthew Strazel still has problems on his strength. Narrow shoulders, thin lower body hurt his stock still but his arm strength and core smoothness look better than eight months ago in my opinion. I wrote my detailed opinion about his frame here.
Offense
Matthew Strazel did his best job in preseason matches so far against Elan Chalon on the offensive end. He scored 13 points but more importantly, he showed that he can pass pesky defenders with using his burst, body fakes, his ability to make snake-host moves and freeze jumpers. Five minutes and 42 seconds before the end of the first quarter, he made a burst fake from the left forward to the left corner in off-ball motions and passed out Niasse and created his own shot field, when he got the ball, he got the hit with his fast and fluid mechanics. With 01:29 minutes to go to the end of the first period, Matthew took the primary passer and handler roles. He gave two read-and-reacts passes, used the screen to the left forward, and got a three-point hit. In the second minute of the second quarter, he gave an excellent pass to Bako against a hard double team, while doing it, he using his excellent court vision and game instincts. Then he took the ball again and used three-pointers, but he didn’t get the hit. One minute before the end of the first half, he used the screen against Myers’ pesky defense in off-ball motions. With handoff, he took the ball and used the two-dribble freeze jumper fake to use his mid-range jumpers but there is no hit. He showed excellent advanced ballhandling ability against Sim in the middle of the third quarter, surpassing his opponent despite being physically thin, and finding a three-point hit as a spot-up shooter after gave a pass to Yabusele. In the third minute of the last quarter, he stole the ball in Chalon’s half-court but misses a hit in the painted area due to his lack of finishing ability against strong PF-Cs. The most excited about his points in this game was his floater basket, with 06:43 minutes before the end of the fourth quarter in my opinion. Strazel used his snake-host ability and burst fake against Niasse and Camara’s trap defense, and scored the basket with his perfect soft touch. I think he was good at this game on the offensive end. I mean, yup, Chalon is a weak team, but Strazel showed that despite his slim physique, he can beat the pressure with his dribbling and ballhandling tricks. He was also very good at his main identity, the shooter. As a passer, Strazel showed good flashes seven times in the match. He managed good pick-and-roll four times, did two simple TOs, but didn’t lose momentum in the match.
Defense
To be clear, there weren’t enough positions to detail Strazel’s on the defensive end. Because Chalon generally chose to open space for Sim and play through Menco. But there are two good points and two bad points that I would like to specifically mention. Let’s start with the and things. In the 17th second of the second quarter, Straze perfectly read his opponent’s stagger set, which Chalon set up it in off-ball motions, he ran well around the screens, but could not cover his opponent’s main shot angle due to his lack of size. Another bad point is that he was slow linear for the first time against Elan Chalon’s transition offense in the middle of the last period, giving to Sim a full free dribble area. Two good things. 49 seconds before the end of the third period, he showed an incredible defensive balance. Strazel showed his game awarenesses while pesky defending off-ball (as he did against Facundo Campazzo in the Euroleague) against Sim. The other good thing is overall rather than detail. Strazel made some mistakes on the defensive end, but in general, he showed his high-level motor on the ball defense like he showed last season. He wasn’t perfect but he seemed a bit more balanced, clever, and logical in his decision-making in this game in my opinion.