Impressions on Oyedeji

Since some BBS posters feel Oyedeji could be a dark horse candidate for the Rockets, I went ahead and watched the Nike Hoops Summit tape last night, closely examining his game. When it was actually on live, I was watching Darius Miles very closely, but I decided to go in last night and saw Olumide closely for about 36 mins; he played almost the entire 40 min game. Here are my impressions on him:

Olumide is a big, strong wide body, about 6-10 245-250. The clear strength of his game right now is his rebounding ability. He gets excellent position on the boards and is the type that devours rebounds. He has that desire to board and really gets after it. I am pretty sure he should be a double digit rebounder in the NBA. He is very physical in getting his positioning, also uses elbows and such a good bit. On the defensive end, he has that quick jumping ability and challenges a good amount of shots which should make him a good shot blocker. He also holds his ground very well in low post defense, playing strong position defense. However, he does not step out to defend people, just kind of waits under the basket and lets the action come to him. Thus, if the Rockets played Cato and Oyedeji together, they could block shots like crazy but any PF with even a 15 footer would smoke them. The part of his game his game that I was disappointed in is his open court speed. I would have expected someone with his athletic ability to run the floor well, but he just kind of jogged up the floor and was the last man up a strong majority of the time. This definitely is a minus if he were ever to play on the Rockets. I wanted to see how he catches passes in transition but just could not b/c he simply did not/could not run the floor with the guards. The part of his game that surprised me was his ball handling. He actually handles the ball pretty well for his size. To his credit, he uses this to his advantage esp in the halfcourt. His offensive game is still very raw esp in the range department. He shot about 5 shots from 15-18 ft, and they are all line drive bricks. Definitely a bad sign for a potential Rockets big man. He still needs work in the post move area, it looks like he is working on a jump hook, but it is not nearly as fluid esp in the footwork area as it needs to be. He has one offensive move: He gets the ball on the left side with his back to the basket, he uses his ball handling ability to take the ball across the floor and throws up a running hook off the glass. This is kind of like that barreling move that Larry Johnson does but not exactly. He got a good amount of his scoring off his dirty work ie. putbacks; he had something like 8 offensive rebounds in that game.

Is he the pick for the Rockets? Doubt it. He's not a bad pick but definitely does not fit the way Johnson or Moiso do.

Is he going to be a star in the NBA? Doubt it. I think he will be along the lines of an Antonio Davis/Charles Oakley but with better leaping and shot blocking abilities. He possesses the desire and plays the hard nosed style of these players but like them
has some serious flaws in his offensive game.

Is he worth a lottery pick? Yes I think so, but a late one. Either the Celtics or Mavs would do well taking him and adding his toughness to their soft frontlines.

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Yup, NoWorries, that is very accurate. You have to really ponder and piece stuff together to figure out what type of player Oyedeji could be. I would wager to guess that there are a good amount of varying opinions on him.

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