Adam Hanga is a 6-foot-7, 205 pound explosive wing who plays for Saski Baskonia in the Liga Endesa and Euroleague. His draft rights are owned by the San Antonio Spurs who took him with the 59th overall pick in the 2011 NBA Draft.
Hanga was still plying his trade in Hungary when the Spurs drafted him, and he then went over to Spain to sign with Basquet Manresa. He played there for two seasons before joining one of the top clubs in European basketball, Saski Baskonia. He is currently averaging 11.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 1.3 steals per game for Baskonia with plans on coming to the NBA this summer, six years after the Spurs drafted him.
With that in mind, let’s take a look at his strengths and weaknesses as a prospect to understand what he potentially brings to a Spurs team fresh off of an appearance in the Western Conference Finals.
Strengths
There’s a lot for the Spurs to like about Hanga. For starters, he clearly has NBA-level athleticism and length. At the 2011 Eurocamp, he measured a wingspan of 6-foot-8, a standing reach of 8-foot-5 and a vertical leap of 36 inches. This is very comparable to another current Spurs wing, Jonathan Simmons, who at the 2015 D-League Elite Camp measured in at 6-foot-8 and 8-foot-6, respectively, while showing off a vertical leap of 38 inches.
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Hanga has showcased his NBA level athleticism in Euroleague play, this has great value when he gets to the rim. He’s not just a player who tries to rise for the highlight reel dunk; he has touch around the rim as well.
Hanga showcases his touch and finesse when finishing around the rim in the above clip. He uses his athleticism to initially get by his defender and then steps back towards the middle to give himself a clear shot of the basket and knocks down an eight-foot floater.
The following clip is another example of Hanga showcasing his athleticism and his touch at the rim. He uses his speed and length to blow by Real Madrid’s Luka Doncic and then protects himself from getting blocked by using his left hand to finish at the rim, shielding Doncic off with his body.
Hanga’s offensive game doesn’t stop at his athleticism and touch around the rim. He’s also a very intelligent off-the-ball player. The best examples of this are when he cuts to the rim.
Hanga shows that skill here, as he cleverly jabs up as Shane Larkin dribbles towards him. This sells Doncic, and once Doncic’s back is to Hanga, he goes for the backdoor cut and Larkin hits him for an easy two-handed slam.
On this play, Hanga and Larkin link up again thanks to a lack of communication in transition defense by Milano. The defense fails to stop the ball so when Larkin gets below the 3-point line and starts with a hesitation dribble, two defenders come to him. Hanga reads this well and instead of just waiting on the perimeter to shoot an open 3-pointer, he makes the smart decision and cuts to the rim. Larkin hits him with a pass and then Hanga shows off his touch around the rim again with a reverse lay-up.
Hanga’s athleticism is a benefit on the offensive end, but where he truly maximizes the value of his athleticism is on the defensive end. His defensive skill was recognized this season as he was named the 2016-17 Euroleague Defensive Player of the Year. Even though many — including myself — would argue that Ekpe Udoh got robbed of this award again, when you watch Hanga you can see why some considered him to be the best defender in Europe for this season.
Hanga is a fantastic shot blocker, especially for a player who’s primarily a perimeter defender. In the previous clip, we saw him come over in a defensive rotation to block a lay-up, and then we saw him successfully pull-off a chase down block as well.
However, Hanga does more than block shots. He’s an incredibly active defender with great anticipation skills. He really knows how to get his hand on the ball defensively and cause problems for his opponent.
This clip really shows the plethora of defensive skills that Hanga has. The first highlight shows his recognition of Leo Westermann dribbling himself into trouble, and he just attacks that. Westermann fumbles the ball off of Hanga and gets it back, but Hanga doesn’t give up. He continues to harass him and then pokes it away, finally forcing a turnover. Then we see his ability to read the passing lanes as he intercepts a lazy pass to the wing and takes it in for an uncontested slam.
The final play of that clip consists of Hanga showcasing a skill that top-level defenders excel at. Augusto Lima grabs an offensive rebound but makes the mistake of bringing it down to his waist. Hanga took full advantage of the opportunity presented to him and used “the claw.” The claw is when a perimeter player gets his hand on the ball as a big holds it near his waist level with two hands. The claw is so strong that when the big goes up, his two hand grip isn’t enough to overpower his opponent’s one hand grip and he loses possession of the ball.
Here we see that Hanga can defend in the post as well. Kostas Papanikolaou unsuccessfully tries to back him down, gets forced into an area where he has a bad angle to the rim and tries to shoot a fadeaway that is way off.
Hanga can defend the ball handler in the pick-and-roll as well. He flashes that ability below when guarding Vassilis Spanoulis — a fantastic pick-and-roll ball handler — of Olympiacos. Hanga sticks to Spanoulis’s hip like glue, fights around the screen three times and then gets him trapped near the wing and forces an errant pass.
I could keep talking about Hanga’s defense but it’d just be redundant at this point. It’s clear that he’s a top level defender who could guard perimeter players with ease, protect the rim, switch onto post players and is just a flat-out pest. His defensive perseverance and activity can drive opponents mad.
Weaknesses
I know it has been sunshine and rainbows so far when evaluating Hanga, but he’s not all strengths. He does have his weaknesses. For example, he is not a good decision maker when handling the basketball. He doesn’t have a strong handle and isn’t a player who can be used to run the pick-and-roll. The less he dribbles, the better.
In all competitions for Baskonia, Hanga averaged 2.32 assists per game and 1.52 turnovers per game for this season. That gives him an assist-to-turnover ratio of 1.53/1, which is not good. His career assist-to-turnover ratio is 1.23:1. Although this season is a step in the right direction when it comes to Hanga’s playmaking ability, it’s not something the Spurs should ask him to provide at the NBA level.
Another weakness of Hanga’s is his 3-point shooting. He is shooting 34 percent from deep for this season. That’s the second-best mark of his career. He’s attempting 3.8 3-pointers per game for the season, which is a career-high. For his career, he’s shot 31 percent from downtown and has averaged 2.9 attempts per game. Those aren’t friendly numbers, and I’m not a big fan of his shot form either.
Even though Hanga makes this 3-pointer, look at where his shot starts from. He dips the ball down to his waist and then brings it up to shoot. The start point is too low, and the release takes too long.
Hanga doesn’t just do it on catch-and-shoot opportunities. We see in the clip above that he starts his shot low and has a slow release even with off-the-dribble opportunities. Hanga may get away with this in Euroleague play, but NBA defenders will make him pay.
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If Hanga joins the Spurs this offseason, he’ll prove to be a valuable addition to their squad. His athleticism, touch around the rim, off-the-ball IQ and defensive versatility and prowess will be valued by the Spurs. They’ll also know not to use him as a ball handler and have Chip Engelland, arguably the best shooting coach in the history of basketball, work with him. After all, if there’s someone out there who will work out the kinks in Hanga’s jump shot, it’s Engelland.