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Per 70 Possession Stats
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Report by: Neema Djavadzadeh
Efe Abogidi
Big G League Ignite
Rim running big with a growing jumper and elite rim protection.
Age
Height
Weight
Per 70 Possession Stats
PTS
REB
AST
STL
BLK
Positions Defended
Offensive Role
Defensive Role
Meet Efe Abogidi.
Efe Abogidi out of Delta State, Nigeria is G League Ignite’s 2nd prospect from their African global academies. Abogidi played his last two seasons for the Washington State Cougars. While there, he made Pac-12 All-Freshman and led the Cougars to an NIT Final Four. After going through the draft process last season, Efe decided to delay entering the draft one more year. However, he decided to forego his remaining NCAA eligibility, opting to sign for G League Ignite. The 6’10” mobile big man brings on a versatile skillset for a rim runner, and provides team Ignite with a defensive anchor in the paint. His shot-blocking prowess may be one of the best in this class. He will look to showcase it against the many skilled big men in the G League.
Offense
Some of the most important things a big man can do on the offensive end are set screens, rim run and crash the offensive boards. Efe excels at these attributes, and also has some fun folds in his offensive game. Efe is a strong screen setter, and moves quickly and with intent towards the rim in the PnR. Alongside Scoot Henderson, Efe will be getting plenty of opportunities to show his strength as a lob threat in the PnR, and his ability to impact the game with his screen setting.
Efe’s soft touch makes him a great post threat. He showed this off with a few post fadeaways and hook shots early in the GLI season. Efe also has shown to be able to hit the midrange jumper, which he’s become more accustomed to with GLI. Last season at WSU, Abogidi shot 36.4% on 77 attempts, showing that he is at least capable of hitting the shot and a willing shooter. His 79% free throw percentage bodes well for hopes that Efe will be able to develop this shot, and maybe even a 3 pointer, to make him a more versatile player than your average rim runner.
Defense
Abogidi is a premier shot blocker, however sometimes to his detriment. An issue with many great shot blockers is they tend to assume that they’ll be able to block any shot. This sometimes leads to allowing a player to get past you in order to get a better angle on the block, rather than getting the best contest on a shot. Some players that exhibit this often are Myles Turner and Walker Kessler. While this can be effective in the stat sheets, it occasionally leads to blow-bys and open looks at the rim. Abogidi falls into this style of defense more often than not. However unlike Turner and Kessler, Abogidi is much more mobile. His 7’4″ wingspan and ability to get into a low wide stance make him switchable onto wings or larger guards. His quick foot speed helps him recover when he does get beat. Abogidi averaged 3.6 blocks per 70 possessions last season at WSU.
Efe excels by not sagging too close to the rim and using his long wing span to contest any pull up jumpers in drop coverage. Showing high could also attribute to the block chasing, but Abogidi is athletic enough to recover when beat off the dribble. This leads to many emphatic blocks. While not the perfect defender, it’s hard to ignore Abogidi’s impact around the rim, and the presence he imposes defensively.
Conclusion
There’s no better player for a center than an elite point guard, and playing next to Scoot Henderson will open many opportunities for Efe Abogidi. The Scoot and Efe pick and roll has already been unleashed in the G League, and will be a go-to for team Ignite. With consistency in his jumper and adequately anchoring the Ignite defense, Abogidi could prove to be one of the better big men in this year’s class.