The splendiferousness of Yannick Nzosa’s proprioception
This is 14 years old Yannick Nzosa
This is 15 years old Yannick Nzosa
This is 16 years old Yannick Nzosa
This is 18 years old Yannick Nzosa
And this is Hans Zimmer and his crew… Watch those, pls.
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Do you like listening to drums? Do you like listening to Hans Zimmer’s music? Do you remember the legendary tour Hans Zimmer started in Prague? Since I love instrumental music, I try to understand all instruments including drums. OK, let’s start over. Do you like listening to the violin or cello or both? Do you like listening to Hans Zimmer’s music? Do you remember the legendary tour Hans Zimmer started in Prague? I am giving the same answer this time for violin and cello. So what is the place of these instruments and Hans Zimmer in a basketball content?
If you enter the YouTube and write “Hans Zimmer Live in Prague” and watch The Amazing Spiderman 2 suit, Pirates of the Caribbean and The Dark Knight videos, you will probably be impressed by two more things besides Hans Zimmer’s martini, Johnny Marr’s glitz on the guitar, and black clothes: Tine Guo’s miracle in the electric cello and Satnam Ramgotra’s ability to make incredible turns and alignments in drums and tabla.
According to the article published on the BBC, a rock drummer can burn between 400 and 600 calories in a one-hour concert. In an interview with the famous virtuoso Joshua Bell on the official site of the Charlotte Symphony, Bell said, “I train like a basketball and tennis player before the show, I can burn 1000 calories in a two-hour show.”
Let’s now turn to Guo and Ramgotra. “Hans Zimmer: Live in Prague” is an incredible music show lasting 150 minutes in total. And for the entire show, both Guo and Ramgotra put significant effort into it. It would not be wrong to say that more or less two of them burned a total of 2500 to 3000 calories. However, nevertheless, it is possible to see that the energy of both music people almost never decreased during the show. So how? As Duane Knudson of Texas State University points out, “using body movement properly to the general principles of biomechanics makes you the most successful person in difficult conditions (this can be basketball, soccer, tennis, swimming, even just an exam…).”
Guo and Ramgorta used their energies on that show so well, according to biomechanical principles, as many professional musicians do.
Now. Yannick Nzosa Manzila. Basketball. Guo and Ramgorta are artists (I will back to them in the end, wait pls) who have had a certain experience in their work and have been able to use their energies wisely for many years, while Nzosa is a basketball player who turned 18 only three months ago and does a fantastic job on the biomechanical side of basketball.
Standing 7-feet with an over 7-foot-5 wingspan, Yannick Nzosa is not a freakish bouncy or a perfect explosive athlete. Of course, he has some salt of explosiveness but also, is very smooth, mobile and fluid with the ball in his hands or while going for an exceptional block. His explosiveness is not like DeAndre Jordan, Rudy Gobert, Blake Griffin, Hakeem Olajuwon style. Also, he is not that smooth like Pau Gasol, Tim Duncan. Nzosa has perfectly integrated the red thin line between explosiveness and fluidity with the extraordinary proprioception that he has. He is not a 3-point shooter and it is natural to have this concern: spacing. However, his tremendous combination of proprioception and other biomechanical stuff makes up for it. Especially, his versatility in the pick-and-roll games, mind-blowing velocity due to long strides and upper body movement, and mature, aggressive, smart moves on the offensive glass are perfect.
Before explaining how the Nzosa can use his body so effectively, unlike many centers, it is useful to examine the body itself.
First of all, I have to say that although I wanted this too much, I have not had the chance to watch Nzosa live, unfortunately, but after tons of films and a few pieces of information, it is possible to analyze his physical tools more or less — like other prospects. Nzosa is not a basketball player with outstanding muscle mass anywhere in his body. I can say that his hamstrings are strong, but it is clear that he has a lot of time to spend in the fitness room, especially about his upper body. However, the 2003 born African prospect possesses great things in terms of overall length, unlike many big men of his peers. In particular, his shoulders are in the best possible steepness, width, and rounding degree. You know, most of around 6–10 to 7–2 centers have issues with this. The point starting roll and straightness from the deltoid end to the anterior head allows him to build a good muscle mass in his arms. Also, with his shoulders so straight, Nzosa should be able to do the mechanical release just fine where he is a few steps from the hoop, which he already does.
Although Nzosa has a good filling area in his arms, he does not have that flashy biceps and triceps. However, he makes great use of his arms in terms of agility and fluency. He can use his arms like a robot. Some researches have shown that the optimal angle of projection for basketball shots is between 49 and 55 degrees. And Nzosa’s angle of touch in post, PnR, transition, off-the-ball finishes (lob target, dunker spot scoring, CnF man), proper with that principle/rule/thought. As it is known, many centers that are 17–18–19 years old have minimal or major problems in finishing (e.g. Ibou Badji, Ariel Hukporti, Henri Veesaar, etc), but Nzosa plays a very clean basketball around the rim due to his biomechanical perfectness, in my opinion.
Also, I can say the same for his defense. The African center has a great extension on his blocks, coordinates his hands like a mixer around the perimeter, does a perfect job to avoid the foul while contesting the shot, and knows how to closing-out with his hands and feet.
My doubts about the Nzosa’s torso are a bit more serious. Nzosa is one of the rare centers with both core strength and flexibility. He is able to use his torso so well that even if he sometimes has a hard time in traffic (both on offense and defense), he can position his body in a way that is like Inspector Gadget and turn the situation in his favor. By the way, you might think, “okay, if Nzosa provides something this good, why not play with 35 mpg?”
Some things arise here from basketball-wise and experience, which I will discuss later in a detailed scouting report. The important thing here is the body movement that Nzosa has as an 18-year-old basketball player. Anyway.
The biggest doubt I have about his torso is how much power he will gain and what he will lose when he gets stronger. To be honest, I don’t think Nzosa will be an overly powerful center with six-packs, in the future, but the truth is that he will have to have a bit strong to be a consistent difference-maker at the NBA level.
The back view of the upper body is decent. Particularly his back teres and abs seem strong, which can be seen from some of his flashes in the back-to-the-basket situations. Also good back width.
And here we go, the lower body. Truth be told, the thinness of the spiral around the kneecaps always scares me every time I watch Nzosa, but the agility in his calf and muscle mass in his hamstring allow him to translate power from the ground. So his second and third jump is good. His leaping reminds me of Tony Stark’s rocket feet.
I will always have a doubt about Nzosa’s kneecaps, but his ability to use what he has in his body is so good that I hope that he will not have problems with injury as much as possible.
Perfect hip mobility and turns. His hips are tight and he can rotate his hips perfectly in both directions, so Yannick can take his first step as a roller at the perfect angle after making the screen in any style from all over the court in PnR situations, thus keeping his rapidity and acceleration smooth in the other steps.
Speaking of feet … Nzosa is a versatile vertical leaper, I mean, it does not matter for him how he jumps, etc. He can move above average linearly, laterally, and vertically.
.Last note: his combination of bending, alignment, ability to generate power from the ground and hip mobility allows him a bit more strength on his finishes and blocks.
Wait, and action. Yeah we are diving into some clips…
I do not have any kind of rule about the order of the videos. I already had a small archive about him and added two more videos. So those are just analyzed separately. The main content is clear: The splendiferousness of Yannick Nzosa’s proprioception.
This is from the 2018 ANGT. Have you noticed Nzosa’s compasses movement with his left foot while screening? He uses his left foot like compasses, but of course, he moves straight instead of drawing a circle. I think there are two important points here. First, his hands. Nzosa raises his hands at the perfect angle and makes a screen with only his feet, which gives him instant acceleration. Second, feet mobility. It is useful to pay attention to his speed after the first step. Rytas’ PnR defense, which seemed effective at first, crashes suddenly, and Nzosa makes one of the most critical buckets of the game.
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This is from the 2019 ANGT. The taller a person is, the harder it is for him/her to be effective in taking advantage of his/her downforce. Think about this: Why are guards always fast? Things are much tougher for prospects, but Nzosa shows excellent body movement here. He uses his left foot as a nail and uses his right foot as a stabilizer while leaving the block. He can make points in tight space by lowering his stance against help defense while positioning the upper body perfectly.
(by the way, Nzosa’s left-right step balance reminded me of stage one in Ninja Warrior)
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This is from the 2020–2021 ACB season, vs. Gran Canaria. Nzosa does the same technique while screening. One foot is compasses and one foot is ready to fly. The brutal point here is Nzosa’s mini sprint in short-range after aligning his feet. Running with your kneecaps as close to your torso as possible will always maintain your overall momentum and speed. Nzosa does this here and makes excellent use of the geometry-related weakness in the Gran Canaria defense. Hello, Usain.
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This is from the 2020–2021 EuroCup season, vs. Nanterre. Sorry but I do not have any word for this. Just watch and enjoy it. This is needed to be happy with the basketball.
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This is from the 2019 ANGT. Yannick’s body IQ is unique. Look at how he aligns his kneecaps and feet while bending his hips to hold the ball and finish it quickly. Body IQ, BODY IQ.
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This is from the 2020–2021 ACB season, vs. Real Madrid. Nzosa takes 14 steps before catching this pass. 14 steps in more or less three seconds. He uses one foot perfectly while catching the ball, and what’s really great is that he gets flexible and can finish the position intelligently without waiting in a difficult situation. In such situations, many big men try to protect the ball with their body and then finish it, which actually negatively affects the overall speed and momentum of their team. However … Nzosa … is … so … good.
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This is from the 2019 ANGT. Again, fantastical feet movement.
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This is from the 2020–2021 EuroCup season, vs. Nanterre. He does what he does always in the PnRs. However, we have huge plus points here. When boxing-out, it is very important for the player to set his feet tightly and strongly on the ground and to bend his body, because standing upright against the impact from the back will be difficult both in terms of absorbing the contact and being the person who leaps into the air faster. Nzosa is setting up his feet here like those perfect machines that break holes in concrete.
And then jumps three times in two seconds. Core and translation.
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This is from the 2019 ANGT. As I mentioned, Nzosa is not a shooter, so, it is a problem but I believe he will be a better shooter in the future due to his good shooting mechanics. I really do like his decent form, he just needs more reps and a bit adjustments in the upper body form.
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This is from the 2019 ANGT.
Yannick Nzosa demonstrates an extraordinary energy regeneration-utilization balance. He intelligently starts the transition after protecting the rim with his combination of gravity effect, timing and extension.
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This is from the 2020–2021 ACB season, vs. Tenerife. The Malaga’s defensive geometry is sleeping. However, Nzosa gives perfect reaction, uses mini hop, gets flex and rejects the finishing.
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More examples…
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Studying a person’s biomechanics can take you to a whole different world, really. Satnam Ramgorta and Tina Guo (and we back!), did not lose their rhythm for 150 minutes while embodying the musical pleasure in their minds, it is a super example. Also, the movements of a ballerina, the learning awareness of a five-year-old child learning to write and the movements of an athlete — as we have seen.
Yannick Nzosa, I think, is one of the most outlier examples of biomechanics in basketball today. Because he is only 18 years old, but he uses the physical tools that he has perfectly and he has made it a habit. Of course basketball is a sport that requires talent, but a player uses his body to demonstrate his talents. Is length and strength important here? I do not think so (at least, it is not an absolute barrier) because we have tons of examples like Steph Curry, Jalen Brunson, Bobby Dixon. What matters here is the ability to use what a basketball player has, good or bad. And I think Nzosa is one of the best at this. Footwork, muscle IQ, momentum gaining while rotating his body, the ability to adjust his elbows around the basket, and more …