Film Room: Emmanuel Mudiay’s CBA debut (first half)

Emmanuel Mudiay | YouTube

How good is Emmanuel Mudiay? It’s tough to say.

The 6-foot-5 point guard is expected to be a top-five pick in the 2015 draft. But unlike anyone else in this top-heavy class, Mudiay’s decision to play in the Chinese Basketball League (CBA) this season rather than attend college has put him way out of the national spotlight.

While Karl Anthony Towns and Jahlil Okafor continue to jockey for draft positioning on a nightly basis, Mudiay has been adding to his myth thousands of miles away while keeping his stock intact.

To make matters even more complicated, very few scouting reports are available of Mudiay and the hush-hush nature of the CBA, where there are wonky regulations and referees are said to be rather bias, makes it nearly impossible to get a good grasp of what’s going on with one of the brightest prospects in this year’s draft.

So here we are, four months away from the draft, without a good idea of who Mudiay really is.

Nevertheless, there’s plenty of time to right that wrong. While we don’t have nearly the same sample size to work with as the likes of D’Angelo Russell, Stanley Johnson and Myles Turner, we do have some resources available to help build a better picture of Mudiay.

With that in mind, let’s go back to Nov. 1 — Mudiay’s first game of the season, a matchup with Stephon Marbury’s Beijing Ducks — to find out more about the dynamic guard.

Game Stats

18 points, 6-19 FG, 5 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 turnovers

First quarter

With the Ducks hedging on pick-and-rolls, Mudiay doesn’t get much daylight throughout the first half. On the few occasions he’s able to put opposing bigs on their heels, however, he’s quick to turn the corner and take advantage of the opportunity by aggressively attacking the basket.

On this play, a smooth left-to-right crossover on the right wing creates the separation Mudiay needs and he’s able to squeeze his way into the paint. Nevertheless, he picks up his dribble too soon and gets caught in the air trying to finish over length. Because he’s unable to explode off the floor, Mudiay fumbles the ball and barely touches the rim on a floater.

Mudiay’s first shot attempt on the night is a forgettable one.

Despite filling in as point guard, Mudiay finds himself playing off the ball on defense in the opening half. Unfortunately, the results aren’t great.

After doing a good job of fighting through a screen on the perimeter, Mudiay finds himself just outside of the key as the last line of defense. While he has his eyes peeled on both his assignment and the ball, he’s too slow to slide over once YanXi Zhu beats his teammate off the dribble.

Mudiay tries to make a play but isn’t in position to draw a charge or strip the ball away, and winds up fouling a 90 percent free throw shooter.

Mudiay’s first basket in a Tigers uniform comes in the closing minutes of the first quarter.

Mudiay receives the ball at the three-point line following a turnover and uses his speed to beat everyone up the floor, creating a two-on-two fast break in the process. With a defender shadowing him, he slows down just after half court and uses two large steps — one of which is deliberately slow to shrug off his defender — to weave his way to the basket.

Even with a defender attempting to block his shot, leaving three of his teammates open around the paint, Mudiay has the momentum to go up strong and finish the play himself.

When Mudiay gets even the slightest bit of breathing room, his mind is set on getting into the paint and making a play. That doesn’t mean he always makes the right one, though.

The Tigers run a basic set of “Horns” by bringing up the two big men to set a screen on either side of Mudiay. He uses the left screen and Zhu, expected to hedge on the pick-and-roll, is a step slow on his coverage, giving Mudiay the space he needs to turn the corner and get into the lane.

However, with a weak pick being set, Mudiay’s defender is quick to recover and cut him off, forcing him to give up the ball. Instead of picking up his dribble and making an easy pass out to the perimeter, Mudiay gets in the air and attempts to skip it over to the opposite corner, only to have it picked out of the air.

Second quarter

The second quarter gets off to a promising start with Mudiay passing the ball off to Peng Zhou on the perimeter and using a brush screen to shed his defender and get into the paint. But when he receives the ball with nobody protecting the rim, he looks to draw contact instead of going up strong. It doesn’t help that he’s being guarded by Sun Yue, who, at 6-foot-9, is averaging 1.3 blocks per game.

Mudiay get his shot tipped and fails to captalize on a golden opportunity.

This play is yet another example of Mudiay’s persistence to get to the basket.

Knowing Mudiay won’t pull-up for a jump shot, Yue goes over the screen and trails him into the paint. Meanwhile, Randolph Morris, the Ducks’ leading shot blocker on the season, falls back to lure him into his haven. Mudiay bites, drives to the rim and is met by the 6-foot-11 center yet again.

Mudiay changes his shot midair to avoid the block, but loses control and short-arms a layup.

Mudiay is quick to redeem himself, running a perfect pick-and-roll the Eagles’ backup center only a minute later.

In semi-transition, Guangdong runs a high pick-and-roll with Mudiay and Dong Hanlin. Mudiay sets the play up perfectly, using a vicious in-and-out to send Yue in the opposite direction and forcing the switch. He then draws Hanlin’s defender out of the play by dribbling the ball to center court, and makes a sweet bounce pass that finds his teammate in stride to the basket.

With no rim protector camping in the lane, Hanlin catches the ball with ease, takes two steps and throws down a big dunk over Stephon Marbury.

On a scrambled play, Mudiay finds the ball in his hands and quickly makes a move towards the basket.

With Yue planting himself underneath the rim, Mudiay uses a euro-step to draw him away from Yi Jianlian, the Tigers’ leading scorer. He proceeds to fake a shot and make an underhand pass to Jianlian. Unfortunately, it gets knocked out of bounds.

The pass from Mudiay is slightly late, with Zhe Ji crashing down into the paint and reading the play perfectly, but he had the right idea.

Wrap-up

Mudiay’s first half of professional basketball wasn’t particularly noteworthy. While he showed flashes of potential — a sweet fast break and a perfectly executed pick-and-roll — it’s clear his best is yet to come. Even against the Ducks, Mudiay appeared to be more at ease in the game’s final two quarters, settling more into his role and breaking out of his shell. Although it wouldn’t be enough to spoil Stephon Marbury’s monster night, it was a promising sign for the young guard.

However, with a lot here to digest, I’ll return next week with a breakdown of the second half.