Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi | 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!

Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi was born on June 6, 2002, in Lagos. His father died when Ariyibi 15-year-old. After his father died, he took leadership in his family. His father’s main profession was not a basketball player, but he played basketball at a professional level in his 20s. Oluwatobi has two older sisters. One older sister is a fashion designer and the other older sister works as a manager in a wine company. His mother works in the secretarial department of the government in Nigeria. Both of Ariyibi’s older sisters were runners in their youth. Samuel started playing basketball and soccer at the age of 9. Upon his mother’s guidance and being impressed by the Miami Heat, he focused entirely on basketball. He wasn’t a good soccer player. OSA played as a striker. Their home was close to the basketball academy in Lagos. Ariyibi was discovered simultaneously with Victor Ezeh from Nigeria to the NBA Academy. It was Patrick Mwamba, born in 1999, who made the academy aware of him. Ariyibi’s biggest goal is to become an All-Star NBA player.

Physical

Standing 6-foot-8 with a 6-foot-1 wingspan and 190-pound frame that continues to improve, Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi has nice size for an 18-year-old small forward in my opinion. His arms long, not too strong, also, has great core and chest muscles in my opinion. However, his shoulders not wide, not even average. In his lower body, has great vertical pop for his own height in my opinion. Moving well laterally, Samuel’s linear movement is not too good. Quick footwork, but has not any shifty or trick in my opinion. His legs are long but lack of strength hurt his defensive stance sometimes in my opinion. From the athleticism window, I think Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi has a lot of room to get better. Ariyibi showed that he can make highlight dunks, can be a good lob target guy, after running open flor well can dunk too but not consistent. Can’t finish in traffic with using his athleticism in my opinion. Showed good thing on his smoothness in the post in my opinion but overall, lack of elite strength hurt his athleticism here.

Offense

My favorite thing about Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi’s offensive is so much in his arsenal. I mean, he has a good potential to be a floor spacer shooter even though not perfect yet, he can play around the post, he can sometimes finish in traffic, he can run and score fast in transition, he can play above the rim … In short, he can do a little bit of everything on the offensive end as a floor spacer. 6-foot-8 Ariyibi can sometimes play like PG and broke his opponent’s defensive geometry. As a shooter, Ariyibi does much of his best work on spotting up two-pointers. Has a nice elevation on his own shot, the Nigerian prospects showed a lot of times that he can create his shot after one or two-dribble. He has a nice burst fake, court vision, and hop in my opinion. Also, he can hit around the mid-range as a snake-host player after the screen. From the 3-pointers window, I think Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi has a lot of room to get better. Showed some flashes as a catch-and-shooter but not consistent. I think the main problem with his 3-pointers shot is his release. Ariyibi looks uncomfortable on his own shooting form, behind the 3-point line in my opinion. His right hand too open, and it’s creating a problem. I am a huge fan of his pick-and-roll offense. Because Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi can play as a handler after the screen with soft-touch, nice dribbling, body balance, and change direction ability on the ground. Also, he can play as a roller after the screen with good rolling timing, post footwork, and pump fakes. Naturally, he is not an efficient scorer as a roller or post-up player but has these two weapons on his own offensive arsenal and it’s perfect in my opinion. Samuel does struggle with finishing strong at the rim — can play above the rim on the open floor but can’t do it on half-court offense consistently — especially if any contact is made. If OSA can increase his ability to drive and attack the hoop strong, he will inevitably draw more fouls to get to the line in my opinion. As an off the ball motions player, Samuel showed that he can give body fakes around the wings to create his running channel. Then he runs, takes the ball, and finishes or giving a pass. I don’t think he is a good passer or handler. I would like to see him more aggressive with the ball. Lack of strength and experience (naturally) hurt his ballhandling skills in my opinion. As a passer, there are not any crafty or pocket things, just showed some flashes as a read-and-reacts passer. Despite he can take responsibility in critical moments, I don’t think Ariyibi is the hot scorer.

Defense

Jumping for grabbing the ball extremely quickly, Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi is a very good rebounder for his position and size in my opinion. My favorite thing about on the defensive end is his awareness. I think Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi’s team awareness, directing his friends to on-the-ball or off-the-ball action, and talking to them all the time is a big plus on his defensive package. His hands and general body are always active, he coordinates his body well, has good timing for deflections. The Nigerian not an aggressive defender, but generally fluent and trying to bring something to the table with his BBIQ. He tries his best to protect the rim by integrating his vertical pop, coordination, and physical tools, but he’s not perfect at it. Thanks to his solid stance on the ball defense and his ability to transfer good energy from below to high, Ariyibi can sometimes become a pesky defender. In addition, thanks to his lateral movement and game reading skill, he does not give wrong reactions to his opponent’s pump fake in my opinion. He has a lot of room to work off the ball defense and putting pressure on shooters. He follows his opponent well on off the ball motions, but he is completely helpless against things like reverse spin, pin-down, and stagger. When his own man is gone, he has trouble doing the correct rotate, causing two vulnerabilities in the team’s defensive geometry. The most important reason for not putting good pressure on the shooters is that he cannot adjust his balance well in my opinion. Sometimes very hard and sometimes very soft. His ability to defend multiple positions and high team awareness make him a good defender, but at the end of the day, I think he should work on perimeter sliding, off the ball rotate, and closeout defenses.

Summary

Oluwatobi Samuel Ariyibi can do many things on offense and defense by playing in multiple positions. For these reasons, I think he could be the ideal NBA player. But I think his development on his own shooting, whether he can gain strength and his experience on defense will determine his role, consistency, and overall projection in his NBA career.