NBA Draft International Spotlight: Musa Sagnia
Earlier this week, a list of the best-performing prospects in professional leagues compiled by HoopsHype’s Alberto De Roa made the rounds on Twitter and provided some interesting takeaways.
While production is not the end-all, be-all indicator of NBA potential, it’s always worth to check what the stat-sheet provides and try to identify potential players who are worthy of NBA consideration. With the help of Cerebro Sports’ metrics, I’ll be trying to point out potential NBA prospects around the top professional leagues in the world, dive into the tape and see what value they could bring to an NBA team.
This time we take a look at Musa Sagnia, who leads the Spanish ACB in Cerebro Sports' C-RAM metric.
Sagnia is a name that I mentioned near the end of my Spanish ACB prospects preview at the beginning of the season. The plan for Sagnia, who didn’t even appear listed on Manresa’s roster at the beginning of the season, was for him to split time between Manresa and CB Mollet, an affiliated team in the third division of Spanish basketball. However, after just one game in the lower tiers, Sagnia was able to carve a stable role in Manresa’s rotation with his productivity and efficiency.
Sagnia stands out due to his physical tools, listed at 6-foot-7 he definitely looks and plays bigger than his size. Having wide shoulders and a strong, filled out frame for his age, Sagnia can be matched up against Forwards and even some Centers at the ACB level, with the lack of optimal height for the position not being an issue. His wingspan and standing reach are also positive factors as he’s able to use his long arms to contest shots at the rim, collaborate as a rebounder on defense and, especially, create second opportunities on offense by crashing the glass.
Another aspect of his physical profile that he utilizes to make an impact as a defender is his mobility and body control for his size. Sagnia is able to stay in front of opponents in the perimeter, moving laterally with speed and fluidity and being extremely quick to turn his hips, which allows him to execute difficult closeouts with an impressive ability to keep himself between the ball handler and the rim.
When it comes to his offense, Sagnia does most of his damage around the rim, as 29 of his 46 field goal attempts during the season have been within an eight-foot range from the basket according to InStat. Sagnia uses his combination of length and touch to be an efficient interior, as he’s converted 66% of his shots around the basket.
Musa Sagnia's shot chart via InStat
In the perimeter Sagnia plays mostly off-the-ball, capitalizing on opportunities to attack closeouts and take open jumpshots against out-of-position defenders. Sagnia is fluid with the ball in his hands for his size and role and while he is not asked to create drives by himself, he can put the ball on the floor with enough space and is able to solve situations with slight changes of directions and eurosteps on his way to the rim. His combination of length and touch at the basket is evident in these situations as well, as he’s able to finish not only with power but also with touch on difficult shots under pressure.
The jumpshot is his key area for improvement, as he has converted on just five of his seventeen attempts from beyond the arc this season according to RealGM, on fairly low volume: just 2.7 attempts per 36 minutes. Beyond the numbers, the film shows that Sagnia is still finding himself as a shooter. His form can change from shot to shot and even the attempts that go in show an exaggerated two-motion shot with a long wind-up and a slow release which should be easy to contest for NBA defenders.
Overall, despite his production at the ACB level and his profile as a positive defender at any level of competition, it’s hard to see Sagnia being as productive for an NBA team from day one considering that he doesn’t add much value offensively beyond the restricted area and that he lacks the optimal size for a full-time role as an interior player on both ends of the floor.
With his tools, defensive potential and flashes of offense around the rim, I believe Sagnia could be an interesting developmental bet late in the second round or as an undrafted free agent. With enough time and in-game experience, if the jumpshot comes around, Sagnia could play a role as a versatile defender who also contributes as an off-ball player on offense.
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