Matteo Spagnolo | Scouting Report

Who am I?

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 year. I have written on various sites and magazines before. I’ve been working as a freelance scout for three years. I’ve mentored a few clubs. I have interviewed dozens of prospects such as Theo Maledon, Deni Avdija, Henri Drell, Aleksej Pokusevski, and dozens of notable basketball people such as Luis Scola, 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. Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!

Best role for NCAA: Leader scorer and playmaker

Best role for NBA: Top rotation player

Expectations?

I think he should go to NCAA. Yes, Real Madrid has raised many young stars in the Euroleague in recent years. But Matteo needs the NCAA atmosphere in terms of development. Because his NBA future is the highest after Luka. Clever, disciplined and hardworking. At NCAA he gets used to the US atmosphere and game a little better, and his transition to the NBA may be better. I think he could be a rotation player in the NBA who stayed on the average field for 15–22 minutes.

In the Euroleague, he can be superstar like Milos Teodosic. But … But his decision-making mechanism and physical development in terms of muscle can be questioned. My expectation is high, but you know, basketball. Anything can happen.

But of course if he plays for an excellent prospects coach like Pablo Laso, his future would be also good.

Personality

Excellent. I once spoke to him from Zoom. He has a fun and hardworking character. He likes to joke. He loves Mediterranean cuisine. He likes studying. He cares about school. One of the names most valued by Coach Pablo Laso in Real Madrid like former (Garuba, Radoncic, Barreiro, Doncic, Willy, Yusta, Nakic, De la Rua, Tisma, Pantzar, Alberto Marti, Dani Die, Samba N’Diaye) Real Madrid prospects. He has a good relationship with his family, but has had some problems with his relatives.

Frame Overview

Has a great frame for his class. Good and strong athlete. Pretty fast in straight line. Quick hands and pretty quick reaction time. Quick hips, can covers ground weel. Has a good mobility thanks to his smooth footwork and hip reverse. Not a great vertical athlete. Need more muscle, especially for his chest and shoulders.

Finishing

Good finisher, overall, but needs some improvement here. Can finish with both hands with a soft and smart touch. Does a great job switching hands, change direction when needed avoid the shot blocker. Can take contact, pretty nice footwork, and a quick release with the ability to finish in taff spaces. Not a great explosive athlete. But can dunk against PG, SG, SF and stretch PF. Soft touch on runners/floaters. Good sense of timing around the basket. He should work a bit more on using his body against switch defender. Misses some shots he should finish because of his rush. Need more strength.

Shooting

Bad long-range shooter but end of the day, I buy his shooting. Why?

Has a beautiful/smooth mechanics, natural dip. Nice set in the upper-lower body. Nice and smooth release with deep range and can hit quickly when defense is closing. But need to work on shot selection, footwork and arc. Sometimes the ball goes very unbalanced as the ball goes from his hand to the basket.

Versatile shooter, both on and off ball. Good scorer after PnR. Though he’s not a particularly consistent shooter yet, he can hit mid range jumpers and c&s. He has a good shot base for NCAA. As I said, volume and percentage are not high. But he has really good mechanics. He just needs to experience a little more and develop in one major and two minor issues.

Handle

Great! Does not have many loose handle turnovers. Nice footwork and balance as he’s piecing together moves. Has the ability to piece together multiple dribble moves to create spacing for himself and teammates. Has shown the ability to take mismatches off the bounce with his strong first and soft (so, he can change direction easy) steps. Comfortable driving with either hand. Nice change of speed. Easy translation going from his handle to his floater. I would like to see him be stronger with the ball. Can succumb to pressure in the PnR

Passing

Read and react passer with good vision. Matteo does an awesome job reading the floor and making the correct decision — his passing feel (knowing who to hit, with what pass, etc) is pretty high level unlike his long range shooting selections. Live-action passing with right hand. Nice job manipulating the defense with subtle body fakes, pass fakes, moves with handle. Good passes after PnR-P.Quick decision-maker. Good swing passer. Does a nice job cutting to the open spot. Forces some passes. But he should know a little better to adjust the tempo. He has to learn to make surprise tricks in some positions. He should get away from spontaneous.

Team Defense

Good team defender and does an awesome job using his length, nice awareness. Talks on defense, often directing teammates. Nice positional defender, doing a good job being in the right place on the court Does an awesome job rotating underneath to protect the rim weak side thanks to his great timing, footwork and game reading. However, he can get a bit too help-happy so he give up too much space his area. End of the day not a major defensive playmaker. But really good helper.

PnR Defense

Solid. Does a nice job using his length to take away passing lanes. Good job fighting through the screen. Flashes ability to get back in the play from behind. Can guard PG, SG and SF. However need to see a more consistent effort. Italian prospect can get jumpy before the pick and often gets caught by the screen if he goes over.

Off Ball Defense

Pretty nice off ball defender. Does a great job sticking with his man thru the pick, plays angles well, and makes multiple efforts on contests if he contests the first and has to get back. He is running off the screen and reading screens in general to get back to his man. Shortly, very good off-ball defender who can defend off screens and does a great job tracking his man.

ISO Defense

Does not possess ELITE lateral quickness, but still quick and covers ground well. Does a nice job cutting guys off, forcing re-directions, and staying with them. If he’s beaten off the bounce, he doesn’t always close out the play. Needs to stay active in his stance. Need muscle against guard who has a great size.