In the third installment of our series before June 26's NBA draft, John Gonzalez analyzes a power forward out of Indiana who is expected to be a top-10 pick:
Noah Vonleh
Position: PF
Height/Weight: 6-10, 247
School: Indiana
In his only season at Indiana, Vonleh was voted Big Ten Freshman of the Year. He led the league in rebounding, was third in field-goal percentage and eighth in blocks. Vonleh averaged 11.3 points, 9.0 rebounds and 1.4 blocks, while shooting 52.3 percent from the floor.
At the combine in Chicago, Vonleh had some impressive measurements. He has a giant 7-4 wingspan (second among all prospects), and his hands are crazy large, according to DraftExpress.
In terms of body type, he’s already as big as Derrick Favors was when he came out of Georgia Tech. Favors is 22 now and weighs 268 pounds. Vonleh won’t turn 19 until August. (Bonus: Unlike Arnett Moultrie, Brett Brown shouldn't have any skin fold or effort issues with him.)
Vonleh’s draft stock is rising. From the beginning of the college season until now, he went from being a first-round selection to a lottery pick to, quite possibly, the first power forward to be selected.
Strengths
He’s got NBA length. He’s already an excellent rebounder (19.4 rebounding percentage), and he showed he can protect the rim (31.7 percent of the team’s blocks; 5.4 block percentage).
NBA
Vonleh was an efficient scorer, posting a 60.4 true shooting percentage at Indiana. He also had a 22.2 player efficiency rating. Most of his offensive damage was done inside, but he demonstrated a variety of moves in the paint.
Despite not really being used to stretch the defense, he showed some ability to get outside and shoot from distance. Vonleh made 48.5 percent of his three-point attempts, but it was a small sample size. He attempted only 1.1 per game. In an interview with NBA TV, Vonleh mentioned his outside shot as a (potential) professional weapon.
Weaknesses
He can’t pass. As in, he doesn’t pass often, and when he does pass, it doesn’t usually end well. Vonleh had a 0.28 assist to turnover ratio last year at Indiana. That ranks at the bottom of his draft class, according to DraftExpress.
Vonleh averaged 2.1 turnovers per game last year. That could be owed, in part, to being young and trying to do too much. But he obviously needs to take better care of the ball.
How he’d fit with the Sixers
Well, he’d have no problem running the floor and keeping up with the Sixers' pace. Pair him with Nerlens Noel and suddenly the Sixers should be an excellent rebounding and shot blocking team. If he can develop his three-point shot, he would be able to run the pick-and-pop and the pick-and-roll. That would give the Sixers two athletic big men with different offensive games that could pose serious matchup issues for opponents.
NBA comparison
One evaluator said Vonleh reminds him of Chris Bosh, while an NBA executive likened him to LaMarcus Aldridge.
Draft projection
Lottery (fourth to ninth overall pick).