Draft Profile: Deni Avdija
Position: SF/PF (Maccabi Tel Aviv, Israel)
Age: 19
Height: 6 ft 9 in
Wingspan: 6 ft 9 in
Weight: 215 lbs
The Sales Pitch: The point guards Knicks fans want from this draft all come with considerable risk. You know who doesn’t? The only true playmaking wing in this class, Mr. Avdija. He doesn’t need the ball to give you value with solid defense, shooting, cutting, and finishing as a stretch wing. He also gives you great on-ball value as someone who can secondary playmake for others better than most point guards in this class thanks to great passing vision, and as someone who is a legitimately great finisher. We laugh at his Shaq-esque free throw percentage, but he finally began to knock down the 3-ball in 2020 and the mechanics are crisp. You may hate on the upside, but he’s good now. Tall as Kevin Knox, passes better than Frank Ntilikina, finishes better than RJ Barrett, and if you believe the work ethic, he could be a better shooter than all three. Go debate your mom. If he develops his handle, he’ll go from good to great efficiently and easily.
Check out The Strickland’s 2020 NBA Draft Big Board here!
Elite Traits/Skills: Finishing at the rim (~75% in half court possessions) is elite. Passing is pretty damn good, if not quite elite.
The Devil’s Advocate Argument: It took a late season hot streak where he shot damn near 50% for a month and a half to get his 3-point percentage to *checks notes* 35%. And his free throw percentage is *check notes* 55%. Even if his shot off the catch improved from bad to OK, he’s still not going to be a 3-point shooter who defenses care about — he’s never gonna put up six threes a game, for example, and even his hot shooting is mostly in the corners, not above the break where it matters for spacing. Also, while he is a good passer, why would he have the ball enough for it to matter? If he has the ball enough to run more than a handful of PnRs per game, your team is likely awful. Lastly, all the weightlifting in the world ain’t helping him on defense where he still gets bodied regularly. He was getting YouTube highlights sent around Twitter while his peers were at home mid-pandemic — don’t let recency bias fool you.
The Misconceptions: He gets lumped in with other Europeans as unathletic. He is very fast in transition with the ball and a quick jumper off one and two feet (even if he doesn’t jump that high), on top of being a 220 pound, 6-foot-9 19-year-old. He will be a tank in transition, and is more functionally athletic than other kids with better empty gym YouTube dunks.
Important Numbers:
71%: His percentage at the rim in half court
52%: His free throw percentage
47%: His corner 3-point percentage
30%: His everywhere else 3-point percentage
Knicks Fit: A big wing who can do a bit of everything on offense — something the Knicks sorely lack. Additional playmaking is a welcome plus too, even if he’s not going to run the offense singlehandedly.
Educate yourself on some other potential Knicks: Killian Hayes, LaMelo Ball, Anthony Edwards, Onyeka Okongwu, Devin Vassell, Isaac Okoro, Patrick Williams, Grant Riller, Obi Toppin, Aleksej Pokusevski
