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Finishing: Good – very good finisher, and a high level cutter. Soft touch with either hand, can finish through contact. Does not have great pop on finishes with an open lane on a catch and drive or in crowded areas – only 3 of his 27 makes were dunks, though also does a nice job staying away from getting blocked (1 shot blocked in paint). 27 of his 31 made baskets around the rim in the halfcourt have been assisted (excluding putbacks / postups), but shows ability to grab and attack off the bounce from 3 and had a few burst finishes from a standstill that were very nice. On his catch and drives, he does a nice job staying low and not getting bumped off his spot. Doesn’t have that much craft when finishing besides using off hand and an outstretched hand, but has solid body control on finishes. He uses plenty of pump fakes around the crowded areas to get a better angle / defenders on feet to draw fouls (12 fouls drawn in paint in the HC on all attempts, 9 excluding putbacks and postups), but some of these are unnecessary and the hesitation probably doesn’t do as much as he thinks it does (relative to how often he goes to it, at least). Most of finishes came off of cuts improvised when his defender turns his back on him (really nice job taking advantage of the defense here), by setting it up with a fake high, or designed cut on a cross-screen. At next level, length and vertical pop from opponents might hurt his finishing around the rim – will want to see him work on finishing through contact, different angled finishes, etc. Not someone who is overly physical in the paint, and doesn’t always finish strong around contesting bigs.
Post Up: Efficient post-up player, though he is not particularly advanced with footwork or moves – likes overpowering smaller players, drop steps, and flashed a spin and turnaround J a few times. Even though it’s not something he’ll likely use very often in the NBA, it’s still a good skill to have in the toolbox – especially when he takes advantage of smaller players on switches / mismatches. Does a nice job sealing defender either fully behind or in front, opening up easy entry passes / over the top passes. Physical in the post and does a good job not being dislodged from where he is or wants to go – like his physicality on baseline drop steps. Can go over either shoulder against smaller players and has flashed a turnaround J. He really tries to overpower smaller players on his way to the rim instead of settling for turnaround Js / weaker shots. Usually goes back to basket – not so much facing up, though I can see him developing a mid-post faceup game. Nice job kicking it back and trying to get better position when there’s nothing there. Nice job passing out of post.
Shooting: Not a good shooter right now / has never been a good one with Maccabi Tel Aviv or with FIBA Israel. 29th percentile overall, 26/94 on all jumpers, 26th percentile on C&S (22/76), and 3rd percentile on off dribble jumpers (1/11, though 7 of them were bailouts) this year…28th percentile last year overall, 13th on C&S last year. He’s shooting 34.4% from three so far this year, but the sample size is small – 21/61. FT indicators have not been good either, 53.5% this year, 51.2% last year. However, the numbers are a bit better in FIBA for 3 – for his career, he’s at 36.1% on 155 attempts…but FT% is at 57.2% on 138 attempts (28.6% from 3 and 60% from the FT line during U20s last summer. Basically, the numbers are, at best, all over the place and at worst, not pointing in a very good direction. However, two things do point in his favor – he has nice form and I have been told he is an insanely hard worker, oftentimes staying well after practices (and games) to work on his shot. On his form: upper body looks good on film, with elbow not leaking out and usually a smooth with no hitch or unneeded movements. However, on the release, he is prone to two bad things happening (which, in my opinion, at least partially lead to the poor percentages) : (1) release isn’t up and down, as his body crunches a little (see pictures below), making the release more out instead of up and out and (2) he is prone to turning his lower body / flaring his feet on the release. Given the upper body shooting motion, touch, and his streakiness from the outside now, I think it’s fair to project Deni hitting in the mid 30s from 3 in time, if he is able to fix the lower body a bit. One last point on his shooting numbers, he’s shooting 36% (18/50) on 3s outside of the final 5 seconds of the shot clock and 37% (16/43) on C&S on 3s outside of final 5 seconds of shot clock à through 1/26/20.
Shot Versatility: Not much versatility – do not think he will provide much horizontal gravity or off the bounce Js. He’ll likely be relegated to basic movement shooting (ie, moving to the open spot on perimeter for C&S) and maybe some pindowns and DHOs, but no heavy movement. Though his release is compact, does a nice job staying ready to C&S (and getting set quickly if shooting off a little motion), and he gets it off pretty quickly, he’s not very fast off screens…which is a limiter here. In terms of off the bounce Js, there is some potential here, but it’s not something he’ll go to often – I do not project him as someone who can downhill and pull up very often, except maybe off a PnR. He’s shown some flashes shooting off the bounce on mismatches against bigs (hit a couple stepbacks) and had good rhythm shooting off L or R handed dribble, but the consistency (or results) is not there and given how streaky he is now on C&S attempts, it’s unlikely to project him as much of an off the bounce shooter
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Post Up: Efficient post-up player, though he is not particularly advanced with footwork or moves – likes overpowering smaller players, drop steps, and flashed a spin and turnaround J a few times. Even though it’s not something he’ll likely use very often in the NBA, it’s still a good skill to have in the toolbox – especially when he takes advantage of smaller players on switches / mismatches. Does a nice job sealing defender either fully behind or in front, opening up easy entry passes / over the top passes. Physical in the post and does a good job not being dislodged from where he is or wants to go – like his physicality on baseline drop steps. Can go over either shoulder against smaller players and has flashed a turnaround J. He really tries to overpower smaller players on his way to the rim instead of settling for turnaround Js / weaker shots. Usually goes back to basket – not so much facing up, though I can see him developing a mid-post faceup game. Nice job kicking it back and trying to get better position when there’s nothing there. Nice job passing out of post.
Shooting: Not a good shooter right now / has never been a good one with Maccabi Tel Aviv or with FIBA Israel. 29th percentile overall, 26/94 on all jumpers, 26th percentile on C&S (22/76), and 3rd percentile on off dribble jumpers (1/11, though 7 of them were bailouts) this year…28th percentile last year overall, 13th on C&S last year. He’s shooting 34.4% from three so far this year, but the sample size is small – 21/61. FT indicators have not been good either, 53.5% this year, 51.2% last year. However, the numbers are a bit better in FIBA for 3 – for his career, he’s at 36.1% on 155 attempts…but FT% is at 57.2% on 138 attempts (28.6% from 3 and 60% from the FT line during U20s last summer. Basically, the numbers are, at best, all over the place and at worst, not pointing in a very good direction. However, two things do point in his favor – he has nice form and I have been told he is an insanely hard worker, oftentimes staying well after practices (and games) to work on his shot. On his form: upper body looks good on film, with elbow not leaking out and usually a smooth with no hitch or unneeded movements. However, on the release, he is prone to two bad things happening (which, in my opinion, at least partially lead to the poor percentages) : (1) release isn’t up and down, as his body crunches a little (see pictures below), making the release more out instead of up and out and (2) he is prone to turning his lower body / flaring his feet on the release. Given the upper body shooting motion, touch, and his streakiness from the outside now, I think it’s fair to project Deni hitting in the mid 30s from 3 in time, if he is able to fix the lower body a bit. One last point on his shooting numbers, he’s shooting 36% (18/50) on 3s outside of the final 5 seconds of the shot clock and 37% (16/43) on C&S on 3s outside of final 5 seconds of shot clock à through 1/26/20.
Shot Versatility: Not much versatility – do not think he will provide much horizontal gravity or off the bounce Js. He’ll likely be relegated to basic movement shooting (ie, moving to the open spot on perimeter for C&S) and maybe some pindowns and DHOs, but no heavy movement. Though his release is compact, does a nice job staying ready to C&S (and getting set quickly if shooting off a little motion), and he gets it off pretty quickly, he’s not very fast off screens…which is a limiter here. In terms of off the bounce Js, there is some potential here, but it’s not something he’ll go to often – I do not project him as someone who can downhill and pull up very often, except maybe off a PnR. He’s shown some flashes shooting off the bounce on mismatches against bigs (hit a couple stepbacks) and had good rhythm shooting off L or R handed dribble, but the consistency (or results) is not there and given how streaky he is now on C&S attempts, it’s unlikely to project him as much of an off the bounce shooter
Deni Avdija Scouting Report - The Stepien
Net Rating: +10 Athleticism / Frame Overview: Nice straight-line athlete (nice transition player) with solid reactions, but not quick laterally and does not have much vertical pop in...
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