Game Scouting Report | Thijs De Ridder vs. Czech Republic | 2019 U16 European Cham.

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, 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 BIGGEST GOAL IS SCOUTING! Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!

32 minutes

31 points

11/22 FG

2/5 3PTS (All of spot-up)

Eight rebounds (Four of offensive)

One assist

Four steals (Found four points and made one assist)

Three blocks

Plus 10

31 EFF

(These reports (more coming soon) are match reports, but in general, I tried to explain what the player could and cannot do.)

Physical

When you think about an ideal power forward in the NBA or NCAA, you probably look for height plus wingspan. I think Thijs de Ridder fits that model. In addition to his wide wingspan, 6–10 Belgian F has an impressive upper body. TR’s arms are long and looks strength. Has wide and thick shoulders. His core muscles do not look great but he can use his core and chest muscles with fluidity. I am a big fan of the Belgian prospects’ lower body. His feet very quick for his position and age. Most of European F (like Lefteris Mantzoukas, Stefan Vukcevic) does not have both a fast and strong lower body, but Ridder has strong legs and very quick feet. He also has hip mobility, which gives him excellent fluidity around the baseline. In that match, his athlectisim looks smooth. In general, he is a fluid athlete, not explosive. Thanks to his smooth athleticism package, he can finish around the basket very well. He has not good vertical pop and it is hurt his defense and some painted area games. I like his lateral movement.

Offense

Thijs de Ridder’s game mostly evolves around spotting up for the 3-pointer or mid-range. He also plays around the basket by using his smooth athleticism, impressive second jump and soft touch. Occasionally, he makes opportune cuts and pursues the offensive rebound for timely putbacks. He cannot finish in traffic but he does not struggle with finishing strong at the rim thanks to his BBIQ and strong upper body. Thijs finished perfectly around the rim three times in the first quarter, once in the second quarter, three times in the third quarter and twice in the final quarter. In the first half, he played a lot of post-up games against strong Czech defensive player Ondrej Hustak and did not found bucket on these games. Thijs de Ridder played very well in the first six minutes of the first quarter, but made a simple mistake on offense five times in total, four minutes before the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, TR did not finish in the painted area many times due to lack of vertical pop. With 05:25 minutes to go to the end of the second quarter, he could not score in three consecutive positions in the painted area. His last touch in these positions was not soft. However, he played perfectly in the second half. Despite the trap defense against the Czech Republic, Thijs stood behind three lines at the beginning of the offense. He broke spacing of the Czech defense as he was a reliable handler and a good shooter. In the second half, he took the ball behind the three-point lines in many positions and went to the basket with high dribble with good BBIQ (used his body very well against movement Czech defense) and timing. He hit three-pointers twice as a spot-up shooter. He took the lead role in the difference that his team caught in the third quarter. Let’s talk about his shooting. Okey, Thijs has a very interesting shooting mechanic. His feet look very parallel, he doesn’t bend his body too much, and the ball comes out of his hands fast. The last thing I say is good, but I think this strange shooting mechanism allows him to transfer energy from his lower body to his upper body. I would say this kid is a good shooter but he has to improve in FT’s (he didn’t miss in critical FT’s at the end of the match). My biggest question about his offense in this match and in general is about feeling the match. Thijs’ motor is active but sometimes he doesn’t focus on the game. For example, in the last period of the match, while the Czech Republic comeback and took balance to the match, he made three simple mistakes but did not react. Also, I think he’s not a good transition player. A little bit slow. He isn’t very effective as roller in PnRs, but I think he is a good PnP threat.

Defense

I think one of the most important things that make Thijs de Ridder a special prospect in his class is TR’s efficiency on defense. Ridder can play positionally on defense. He can even defend fast guards during the switch. He senses the timing of the roles after PnR and makes moves. He has really good balance, impressive lateral movement, body control and mobility and is a decent on-ball and help-side defender. His good length and wingspan help him play passing lanes aggressively, alter shots, and trap. By the way, I don’t think he is a defensive playmaker, because, Belgium played with high effort on defense. So, like four of his teammates, de Ridder is a key player for the Belgium defense system. His versatility and high BBIQ make him a valuable line defender. Despite lack of vertical pop, his strong upper body and stance make him a valuable rim protector. He does a bad job of just putting the shooters under intense pressure on defense. Sometimes he reacts badly to fakes. I think this is not a huge problem. He showed how good a defender he was positionally three times in the first quarter, four times in the third quarter and once in the last quarter. He defended the guards well six times during the match. Nine times during the match, he broke his opponent’s shot angle around the basket. Okey, I think he is an underrated rebounder. As I mentioned, he has not great vertical pop but it is not mean “he is a bad rebounder”. Thanks to his positional knowledge and game instincts, he grabs a lot of rebound both offense and defense. Thijs not a rebounder who can just take defense. He also competitive and successful offensive rebounder thanks to his long arms, air balance and eye-hand coordination.