Ekpe Udoh is back, and better than ever

The Jazz became the latest team to dip into the well of European talent on Monday, signing Ekpe Udoh away from Fenerbahce on a two-year, $6.5 million deal. On the surface, the signing doesn’t look too consequential for the Jazz. It’s a short-term deal for a 30-year-old backup center, who’s going to spend most of his time behind Rudy Gobert.

When we last saw Udoh in the NBA — well, “saw him” isn’t really the right term — he played just 128 minutes in 33 games for a Clippers team that finished with the third best record in the Western Conference. A rough start to the year ended up with him getting buried on the depth chart behind Glen Davis and Spencer Hawes, and Udoh was out of the league that summer, five seasons after being selected sixth in the 2010 NBA Draft. His averages of 16.9 minutes, 4.0 points and 3.2 rebounds per game were nothing to get excited about. He was known more for his off-court exploits and personality than his on-court skills.

He landed a deal at Fenerbahce in Istanbul, and has been reborn as a potential NBA rotation player two years later. He immediately found traction at the five in the Euroleague, and it’s hard to have a better two years in Europe than Udoh did. In 2015-16, he led the Euroleague in blocks with 53 (an all-time record); led his team in scoring with 12.4 points per game; made All-Euroleague 2nd Team; and helped Fener to a Turkish League title and the Euroleague final, which they lost to CSKA Moscow.

This past season, Udoh again led the Euroleague in blocked shots, as well as rebounds; again helped Fenerbahce win the Turkish League; made All-Euroleague first team and Final Four MVP; finished 2nd in Defensive Player of the Year voting to Adam Hanga; and, of course, dominated in Fenerbahce’s Euroleague championship win over Olympiacos.

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That’s a lot of accolades to accumulate in two years, especially as an immediate follow-up to a year of not really playing in a game setting. Now he brings all of that to Salt Lake City, where he’ll get a chance to prove his doubters wrong once again in the NBA. And this time, things should work out in his favor. His situation is better than those Warriors and Bucks teams he struggled on, and his role will be well-defined. Most importantly, his skill set is in a better place at 30 than it was in 28, and Udoh should be able to harness his strengths a bit more in his new situation.

Primarily, Udoh is a defensive presence at center. The 6-foot-10 big man uses his length and mobility well on that end, and he made the most positive impact in his first stint in the NBA as a secondary rim protector, working with Larry Sanders to ensure the Bucks always had someone on the back line shutting down the hoop. Those skills transferred well to Europe, where he was quite simply a wrecking ball in the restricted area. No one made a more consistent impact on a game-to-game basis at the rim than Udoh.

Fenerbahce used Udoh as a free safety in their defense. They’d often match him up with the opposing team’s least threatening shooting big, and let him roam around to shut down the pick-and-roll and clean up poor perimeter defense. There was no better example of this than the game against Red Star Belgrade, where Udoh matched up with former Warrior Ognjen Kuzmic and was able to reject all three of the Serbian team’s point guards to the tune of these five blocks:

Udoh has great shot-blocking timing, and his instincts for when to help and when to crash to the hoop against a drive are great. He can get beat off the dribble by quicker guards, but his recovery speed when defending the perimeter is at an NBA level. Quino Colom of Unics Kazan has NBA quickness, and Udoh just erases his first step with his long strides and length on this possession:

Isolate on him, and you’re going to end up shooting a step-back jumper if you don’t have elite foot speed. He’s disciplined at not giving up the dominant hand, and can probably handle switches onto NBA wings.

Offense, meanwhile, was never a strong suit for Udoh, but his biggest strides in Europe have come on this end. Naturally, his offensive rebounding and finishing skill transferred easily from the NBA to Europe, and Udoh posted a healthy 10.1 percent offensive rebound rate. The pick-and-roll combination of Udoh and Bogdan Bogdanovic was lethal, and he should be able to develop similar chemistry with Utah’s bevy of pick-and-roll guards.

The real offensive improvement for Udoh came in the passing department. Fenerbahce coach Zeljko Obradovic unlocked something in Udoh out of the post and on short rolls, and created a dynamic weapon as a secondary passer. After posting 179 assists in 270 NBA games, Udoh had 138 in 61 appearances last year. His court vision is his most underrated attribute, and he can find teammates with short dump-offs close to the rim…

…or on kick-outs for open 3-pointers:

Udoh’s jumper has also improved, though that’s not a high bar. Udoh wasn’t anything close to a shooting threat in the NBA, and he wasn’t really someone you had to worry about beyond 15 feet even in Europe. But his jumper mechanics did get better in his time with Fenerbahce, and it’s worth exploring if this can become a bigger part of his game now that it’s almost a prerequisite for a bench big.

Udoh gives the Jazz a quality backup five, something they were clearly looking for after Gobert went down in the playoffs and they had to rely on Boris Diaw to fill his spot. Behind Gobert, Udoh ensures a strangling defense always has at least one rim protector and decent pick-and-roll defender on the floor, and lessens the burden placed on Derrick Favors defensively in Gobert’s rest minutes. He adds yet another clamp in a Jazz defense that is going to be impossible to score on, and while he doesn’t add to their biggest need (scoring), his passing should replicate what they’re losing in Diaw at a fraction of the cost.

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Udoh is finally getting a second chance at the NBA, and the situation could not be better for him. He’ll add to the Jazz’s strengths. He’s a great culture fit, given he was one of Europe’s best personalities joining a team that includes Gobert, Ricky Rubio, Raul Neto and Joe Ingles. After years of Keith Smart and Scott Skiles, he now gets to work with Quin Snyder, who should be able to get closer to maximizing his talents on the defensive end.

All in all, Udoh’s second shot at the NBA should be better than his first. Europe’s losing another of its top talents, but the time is now for Udoh to prove he belongs at this level.