Ousmane Ndiaye| 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!
Born: March 19, 2004
Height: 6-foot-10
Wingspan: 7-foot-2
Nationality: Senegal
Physical
Ousmane Ndiaye stands 6-foot-10 and possesses very good size while boasting a 7-foot-2 wingspan, wide shoulders, stiff core muscles, long and average strong arms, quick hips, rotate legs, and average footwork. His long arms that allow him to contest shots and good finishing skills around the basket. Lack of elite footwork hurt his back-to-the-basket scoring sometimes, also, lack of elite wrist and arms strength hurt his short hooks, 3-pointers shoots, and through to contact scoring. But the end of the day, Ndiaye’s great length, offensive arsenal, and awarenesses make up on here. Light on his feet, has a good one and two feet jumping, runs the floor hard, also, runs the floor with the ball. Not a great smooth or explosive athlete yet. Has both things but not well in my opinion. As an explosive athlete, Ndiaye does that highlight dunks with self-creation which is very important for modern-era basketball. Also, showed some things as a lob target and catch-and-finish scorer. As a smooth athlete, lack of elite footwork hurt him here but his quick hips, nice decision-making mechanism, and court vision increase his efficiency here in my opinion. I think that Ousmane Ndiaye can finish above the rim well. Does a pretty nice job draws the foul. Overall, has room on his own body but his wide base and average strength are very notable things in my opinion. As an athlete, Ndiayehas to learn that how to use his body more efficiently around the basket in my opinion.
Offense
Shortly, Ousmane Ndiaye has the ability to stretch the floor, hitting threes off the catch, create his own shots both around the mid-range and behind the 3-pointers line, primarily off pick and pop actions. I think that the Senegalese prospect has the potential to become a constant pick-and-roll threat at the next level thanks to his length, solid shooting form (good shot pocket, has a pretty nice release, timing, and mentality but sometimes using unnecessary and lazy shots which are bad, also, he has room on his own stroke and footwork in my opinion), mobility, good sense of setting screens, and BBIQ. But I think his self-creation potential as a shooter is more important than his pick-and-pop threat. I mean, okay, p-p is a good thing for all 6-foot-10 and 16-year old bigs but Ndiaye is more of than that. He showed a lot of time that creating his shots. Sometimes even showed that one-dribble or freeze jumpers but not consistent naturally. I have a huge trust in his shots because Dieng has a shooting mentality. I mean, most of you big prospects have a problem using deep threes but Ndiaye has not. Sometimes he even uses unnecessary, extra threes. As an interior scorer, he is more of a crash the board types. He showed some flashes as an explosive, dominating athlete but usually, he using his ability to giving pump fakes, soft-touch around the rim, great vertical pop, court vision to giving pass others, and fluidity. I think his real offensive weapons are those things. He has a lot of room to get more consistent in the post, in the pick-and-roll situations, and back-to-the-basket games. My biggest question marks on his offensive arsenal are his dribble, passing, and transition offense for the higher levels. I mean, Ndiaye showed his self-creating as a driver in his age group. Also, running full-court quickly, doing things with advanced ballhandling in half-court. ON also gave the team momentum by running the transition very fast. As a passer, he using his floor spacer role. Advanced passes, extra passes, and some good game reading skills. But I wonder if he can do these at higher levels. Because Ndiaye generally plays as the net leader in his team harmony. It is perfect if he gives the ball to the main handler at higher levels and makes his motor and hotting ability consistently on off the ball motions, but otherwise, things can go very badly.
Defense
I think that Ousmane Ndiaye using his size well as a one-and-one defender but also shows significant things to improve on the perimeter and off the ball motions follow. I think Ousmane’s best job on the defensive end is his team awareness. I don’t think Ousmane is sleeping or low-level motor defender, active hands, sees things early and reacts, has a good body balance, eye-hand coordination, lateral movement, vertical pop, and deflections. He showed some great flashes on his rotating on the perimeter, sliding, switching to quick guards, etc. On these positions he really showed good things in terms of staying balanced, making move but not consistent yet. Has a lot of room to learn move against pump fakes, pressure on the shooters, etc. As a rim protector and shot blocker, he recorded several impressive blocks rotating aggressively over from the weakside and showing a quick second jump. Runs transition well on the defensive end too, showed some chasedown blocks, also, besides blocking, he showed that his ability to protect the rim with his length, mobility, and active stance. I would like to see him more aggressive as a post-up defender. But my biggest concern about his defensive performance is his projection. Ousmane defended against an attacker with whom he could be matched precisely, except for a few PF-Cs like Izan Almansa. I mean, he may not be aware of his significant physical shortcomings on the defensive end. Sometimes he was very weak against moving, physical, stretch PF-Cs. I think he needs to gain muscle as soon as before he playing at the high-level. Showed instincts as an area rebounder, also after grabs, he runs the open floor well and leading to the score.
Summary
Ousmane Ndiaye has a huge potential on the offensive end with his catch-and-shoot and movement shooting ability, interior scoring. On the defensive end, he has a lot of room to get better. Also, he needs to gain weight.