International Spotlight: The Enigmatic Ousmane N'Diaye
Ousmane N’Diaye has generated nearly equal amounts of buzz and intrigue among international scouts for the past three years. In early 2020, N’Diaye had a breakout performance for Bayern Munich at the Szent Istvan U16 Basketball Cup in Hungary, where he showed impressive perimeter skills for his age and size, being able to put the ball on the floor, create space against opponents one-on-one and shoot the basketball.
After the COVID pandemic led to the cancellation of the entire 2020-21 basketball season in Germany as well as all junior basketball tournaments in Europe, we finally had the chance to watch N’Diaye once again in the 2021-22 season playing for Dragons Rhöndorf in the third-division of Germany, where he saw important minutes and continued to show the flashes of perimeter skills for his size.
After his performance at the FIBA U18 African Championships last month, it’s time to dive into the tape and look at how the Senegalese prospect could contribute to winning at the NBA level.
Scouting Notes
The first thing that stands out about N’Diaye is just how fluid he is for his size. Listed at 6-foot-11 with long legs and arms, N’Diaye handles the ball with the fluidity of a perimeter player, using his long arms to keep a low dribble point. He truly shines in drive initiation, where he utilizes a number of dribble moves (crossovers, in-and-outs) to get defenders off-balance and attack the rim.
As good as he is at initiating drives, N’Diaye is limited as a finisher, as he shot just 32% in the restricted area at the African U18s according to InStat. The key factor lies in his lack of strength, which makes it hard for him to create separation against similarly sized opponents and forces him into turnovers or tough, lower-percentage shots further away from the rim.
N’Diaye, however, also shows the ability to contribute as a scorer from the perimeter, as his shooting ability is excellent for someone at his size and age. At the African U18s, N’Diaye converted 32.1% of the 8.8 3-pointers he attempted per game; outstanding volume and percentages when you consider the lack of shooting around him and especially, the level of difficulty of the shots he attempts.
N’Diaye is an efficient shooter off-the-catch, showing repeatable mechanics and a deep range, but even more impressive are his moments of shooting off-the-dribble, where he uses his handling ability to create space in ISO situations against defenders before rising up for stepback jumpers. N’Diaye is able to convert shots under pressure and off-balance, showing a great level of deceleration which allows him to stop and pop for jumpers, both as a transition handler or after beating his man in the half-court.
Defensively, N’Diaye seems to still be looking for an optimal role. He does contribute as a prolific defensive rebounder and is able to contest shots with relative ease due to his height and standing reach. However, while he has been effective in this area at junior levels, it’s hard to see him making a similar impact as a full-time five at the NBA level from day one due to his aforementioned lack of strength.
While he does contribute as a perimeter defender by using his size and length to contest jumpers and to bother drivers on their way to the rim, his narrow hips and high center of gravity makes it hard for him to get low in a defensive stance and to turn his hips quickly to cover drives.
NBA Questions and Projections
N’Diaye has clear potential as a shot creator both in jump shots and drives to the basket, with the main question in these areas being just how consistent he can be.
N’Diaye will move to Spain for the upcoming 2022-23 season where he will play for Baskonia. If he continues to make an impact as a self-creator and is able to sustain his level of play for an entire season in his new destination, then I won’t expect many NBA teams to even question if the skills are there. However, I do expect teams to ask themselves how they can utilize his unique combination of size and skills to win games.
Having the measurements of a big, the skillset of a perimeter player and some glaring weaknesses that will need to be addressed before he contributes to winning at the NBA level, N’Diaye is a curious case.
In my opinion it all starts with him growing into his body, as becoming stronger will either solve or mask some of the current deficiencies in his game.
Given his body type, his optimal defensive role will likely be as an off-ball defender who uses his length to cover bigger forwards in the perimeter and protects the rim on a secondary level, helping to contest and block shots after penetration. But in order to do that he will need to get stronger, otherwise he could simply get bullied by the size of bigger NBA forwards.
Offensively, getting stronger would allow him to improve as a driver, which then turns him into a threat to score not only from beyond the arc but also at the rim.
As it tends to happen with enigmatic prospects, the floor is low with him, but being a two-level self creator at 6-foot-11 is as rare as it is valuable and N’Diaye definitely has the skills and the tools to become one. Once June 2023 rolls around, his ceiling could prove to be too enticing for certain NBA teams to pass up at some point in the draft.
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