Juan Núñez García Scouting Report
Team: Real Madrid II
DOB: 6.4.2020
Nationality: Spain
Height: 6-foot-3
Wingspan: 6-foot-4.5
Weight: 190 lbs
Shooting hand: Left
Primary position: Point guard
Secondary position: Shooting guard
Projection: NBA (1), EuroLeague (2)
Juan Núñez García has been shine since 2016. He showed his BBIQ and game identity at the Minicope Endesa, where he won the MVP award with Galácticos. He stepped very importantly at 2016 and 2017 in La Roda and Torneo Infantil Globasket.
As you know, he showed his best weapons in the last two years. He averaged 9.5 points, five assists, three steals, 2.3 rebounds while shooting 80% inside the court and 0% (0/8) behind the 3-points line at the ANGT Munich as 15 years old basketball players against 16, 17, and 18 years old basketball players.
The same year, he showed his basketball-wise at the U16 Euro Championship where he averaged 10.6 points, 3.7 assists, 4.1 rebounds, 3.3 turnovers and won the gold Medal with Spain.
Physical & Athleticism
Standing 6-foot-3 with a 6-foot-4.5 wingspan and 190-pound above the average strong frame, Juan Núñez García has adequate size and frame for 16 years old basketball player but should grow for the future.
It is similar to that of Theo Maledon, the positions between Núñez García’s neck and head areas, and his shoulders. Narrow shoulders limit his biceps and triceps mass. Because I think García has really good muscle mass on his biceps, wrists and triceps but narrow shoulders prevent further growth. Nevertheless, I don’t think it is a big problem because It is much easier to develop areas that are easy to improve such as shoulders and arms in today’s training programs and also, Real Madrid’s vision for physical development a huge plus for Núñez. Hollow chests, flexibility on the torso (you can see this flexibility on his teardrops, drive-and-dish, etc.).
My favorite thing about his upper body is his hands’ length. He really looks very comfortable with the ball, grips the ball easily and this allows him shiftiness, craftiness, and smoothness. And also this allows him a lot of steals and deflections on the defensive end.
I think JNG’s biggest improvement rooms physically about his lower body. Almost not strength on his legs, has pretty good vertical pop, and quick on feet but lack of strength and agility limits him as a traffic finisher. Also, I would like to see him quicker on the hips. Has shown flashes in terms of hip turns, reverse spins but lack of quick hips especially hurt him on the defensive end. Cannot stay in front of quick guards and not a good defender in PnR situations due to lack of strength and agility on the lower body.
The athleticism window. Juan Núñez García really resembles Real Madrid’s recent guards in this area. Like Carlos Alocen, Sergio Llull and Facundo Campazzo, Núñez García knows very well how to use his body (but I would like to see him as a snake handler in PnR situations), position to absorb contact, and balance in the air, despite not having elite length. So he is not an explosive or elite fluid athlete, but his speed, balance, and coordination are impressive. On the defensive end, his feet and quick hands stand out from the athleticism window in my opinion.
Offense
I think the best thing about Juan Núñez García’s offensive package is his ability to playmaking. As a playmaker, Juan Núñez García is not similar to Vassilis Spanoulis, Facundo Campazzo, Nick Calathes, or Sergio Llull in my opinion. His court vision catalyzed by shiftiness, elite BBIQ and consistency. He has a little bit of everything from these four incredible basketball brains.
Although he doesn’t have dazzling assist numbers in his stats sheets, he does an excellent job in terms of ball sharing and control of the game pace. JNG’s passing arsenal is very wide both to on the ball players and to off the ball players.
He can feed the player who can make quick backdoor or curl cuts to the basket. While doing this, he either increases the camber of the ball too much or drops it too much. So, what to the body positioning of the defender who rotates over the player who made the cut, Juan Núñez García can quickly adjust the shape, speed, and angle of his pass (watch Stella Azzurra v Real Madrid game from Patras IBGU U16 2019, last quarter)
Before giving the pass, he bites the defender by using his stop jump shot fake or eye manipulation ability. When the defender makes the wrong hip rotate, JNG takes shifts the ball to his right and gives a smooth pass to his teammates.
As I mentioned, Juan Núñez García has room to add strength but he can absorb the contact in the air. And this makes him a craftier drive-and-dish passer. For example, after hesitation/Iverson crossover/pump fake, he drives to the basket from baseline (he looks like going a backboard tip bucket but….), jumps, absorbs the contact, and gives an excellent pass to the catch-and-finisher. He did this combination 19 times (I watched ANGT, U16, Patras U16, a small local tournament; 17 games total) last year.
He is a good PnR operator in my opinion but not like a traditional operator. Afther the big’s screen, JNG steps back, goes to the right but changes his direction suddenly to the left (he uses this combination usually) and creates two great option for himself to make an assist: Feed to roller who already has mismatch or give a pass to the open man who waits in the corner with an unbalanced defender (because this defender should move on under the basket to help defense). The Spanish guard’s game instincts and BBIQ allow him to make the best choice usually.
He is really fluid on the court with the ball and also has some underrated tricks like reverse spin passing, draws the double team, and creates a lot of spaces for the others, etc. However, he plays gambles in the passing lanes too much. And in some possessions, he gives lazy passes due to his lack of elite game mentality. He should work on these two issues in my opinion. Last note on his passing, he can use his both hands easily.
Playing as a primary ballhandler, Juan Núñez García, who has bump and fade and inside the hand finishing styles, is not a GREAT scorer yet but has shown flashes as a self-creator from top of the key.
I do not think that he is an elite diver to the basket due to lack of elite physical tools but his shiftiness, above the average vertical pop (for his size), body coordination, change of speed and direction abilities, ballhandling (he is an advanced ballhandler, in my opinion, I mean, he can pass the defender by using the crossovers, manipulation tricks and aggressiveness) and absorb the contact ability make up for it. While he attacks the basket, he reads the defender’s footwork well, and uses his chest and hands always.
Has pretty nice soft touch from both sides of the glass. Can finish with both hands but I would like to see him better w/right. He gives great momentum to the ball, and the ball outs of his hands a very balanced way and quickly. He especially makes a lot of money right nail. He drives to the left but changes to right, jumps and finishes like Milos Teodosic. So, he can finish positions over the rim protector thanks to his one hand release ability (watch Spain v France 2019 U16 game, his buckets over the Victor Wembanyama)ç
However, this is also a problem for him. I mean, he sometimes trusts his finishing ability too much and forces the positions. But he is not a finisher who can make many in tight spaces despite has shown flashes (last year, vs. Serbia, when two defenders came on him, JNG lowered his stance and creates his angle). I think he should be more patient in traffic.
In PnR situations as a scorer, Juan Núñez García loves to use screen fakes like every shifty Spanish guards… He does a lot of in and out, behind the beck, between the leg, etc. moves after the screen and tries to create full free layup angle. Not effective against double teams and switchability bigs. It’s easy to dislodge him for physical defenders. But again, absorb the contact is a huge plus in his finishing ability.
His shooting ability is something that doesn’t make me feel comfortable. I cannot decide whether he is good to shoot the ball or bad right now. Good, because I think has pretty nice shooting form. The shot pocket starts below the core. Has great quickness in loading. Elbow points good and consistent, bends his knee and back very well, jumps well, and has good release which hard to contest.
But he has two problems in his shooting form. First, when he brings the ball from his chest to his shoulders, JNG still tries to set up his feet. If you watch Spain’s game against Latvia last year, you can see that JNG quickly set up his feet before the load in the hit 3-points. Another problem is that he cannot fully grasp the ball — sometimes. However, these two things are not big problems. My biggest question mark about his shooting versatility. JNG has shown flashes on creation but due to lack of shooting mentality, he did not hit. I think he should work on 1/2 jumpers around the mid-range. His rates are not bad but really can be better, should be better.
The two critical improvement areas for him are his off the ball efficiencies and learn not to play by heart. In the first thing, despite he has vision for the court, he is not efficient as an off the ball player. In the second thing, okay, knowing the game is an excellent thing but he really sometimes plays by heart too much. Lack of elite mentality hurt him here in my opinion.
Defense
García is a good team defender. He is not a defensive playmaker or has the ability to make a major impact on his team’s defense. Also, I don’t think he has the future as a lockdown defender in one-on-one situations. However, he has shown flashes about peskiness in one-on-one situations and his anticipations, BBIQ, quick eye-hand coordination and body balance allow him a lot of steals and deflections.
His game reading skill catalyzed by quick hands, game instincts, BBIQ, and body positioning, I think his best skill in defense. Juan Núñez García reads well in all defensive situations, especially in passing lanes, he is energetic and can use both hands, soft fingers and perfect timing to steal very well.
In one-on-one situations, JNG is slow when the ball handler attacks the basket after hesitation, burst, pump/eye/body fake, and the ballhandler can easily pass him. But Juan Núñez García showed that in some possessions he was able to follow his opponent from behind or laterally side and then steal the ball after first step of the ballhandler. So he prefers to be a smart, fluid defender rather than a tough, aggressive defender in these situations. But for the high-levels, he definitely should work on to be a pesky defender against slashers.
Slides around the perimeter quickly and moves laterally well, Núñez’s both hands always active, he always looks to steal the ball and starts to attack. This is good but also bad. Because Núñez watches the ball too much in some possessions. While he focuses on the ball side, his man makes flash cut and finds an easy bucket. I don’t define him as an average off the ball defender. Has a lot of room to improve here but the best thing here is his awareness. As I just mentioned, JNG is not good off the ball defender but he always talks with his teammates to direct them to good rotations. Makes good rotation from top of the key to the downhill while talks with others also. However not good as an individual off the ball defender.
I really like his potential as a pick-and-roll/pop defender. Lack of strength hurts him as a PnR/P defender. BUT there is a huge point positively.
Juan Núñez García takes the most accurate body position in PnR situations. When the screen comes, he shifts his body weight slightly in the opposite direction of the screen. In other words, he limits all of the ballhandler’s options after the screen (the big’s defender can defender the ballhandler’s 3-points threat). But the problem here is that JNG’s hips aren’t very mobile, and overall he’s not a strong basketball player. In other words, he does not have the energy and strength to go around the screen and defend his opponent again.
However, he may be able to do this with his hard work physically. And he has one of the most important things to have in a PnR defense. Ability to read PnR catalyzed by quick hands, body positioning, timing and quick hands. This is important.
Quick to back his court in transition situations as he does on the offensive end. Last note, rebounding. Juan Núñez García is an underrated rebounder. Despite lack of elite vertical pop and length, JNG’s BBIQ, timing and quickness make him a good rebounder on the defensive end. He grabs a lot of ball in the air and most importantly, he can start the offense quickly, very very quickly which is important for all basketball teams in the world. Because if your guard has shiftiness and quickness, you probably want that he can grab the rebound. Because your buckets number can increase quickly in this way.
Questions
Will he be able to add a consistent 3-points weapon?
Will he be able to create his own shot?
In how long and how much weight and muscle will he gain?
Will he be better able to mentally adapt to the game?
Can he be a player who can carry his team in every way as a clear scorer?
Will he be able to show an average defensive performance against quicker players?
Overall
In the new era of the NBA, point guards should be able to shoot as well as playmaking (court vision, BBIQ, and passing) ability. Juan Núñez García’s lack of elite shooting may create some problems on his NBA projection but it’s also true that all 30 teams in the NBA are looking for creative as backup guards who can bring pace to the team and keep up with team momentum, have court vision, BBIQ, passing and handling abilities.
Juan Núñez García has the capacity to use his BBIQ, playmaking ability, and creative tricks in the NBA, he can translate these skills to the NBA in my opinion. Because he can make up some of his physical shortcomings with critical red lines such as body positioning and body balance.
Of course, his current physical tools aren’t ideal for the NBA, but he’s only 16 years old. There’s no reason he shouldn’t physically improve until the 2023 NBA Draft. I have no HUGE doubts about his basketball skills and game intelligence right now, but my biggest doubt about his mentality.
Sometimes, Nunez is very disconnected from the game, cannot fully focus on the match, becomes ineffective on off the ball roles, and sometimes he does not talk to his teammates and tries to do something by drive to tight areas. I think his mental development is the most important step for him. If he can pass this step well, then his 3-points consistency, athleticism, physical tools windows will determine his journey in the NBA and Europe. And it is a big plus that he works with Pablo Laso and trained at the Real Madrid academy in this process. (just look Luka Doncic, Carlos Alocen, Sergio Llull, Facundo Campazzo, even Matteo Spagnolo, Rudy Fernandez, Nicolás Laprovíttola)