Joel Ntambwe (UNLV Transfer) | Page 3 | The Boneyard

Joel Ntambwe (UNLV Transfer)

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Right now we have:

Guards- Gilbert, Vital, Gaffney, B. Adams

Wings- Polley, Wilson, Bouknight

Bigs- Carlton, Akok, Mamadou, Whaley
 
Same legal guardian Chuck Okwandu had. I really like our chances here! Need to find more roster space though, can’t go into next season with the roster we have now down 2 scholarships.
 
UcannUconn said:
Same legal guardian Chuck Okwandu had. I really like our chances here! Need to find more roster space though, can’t go into next season with the roster we have now down 2 scholarships.
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I think you take this kid even if we only have 1 scholarship. That being said, I still don't think we're only going to have one scholarship
 
Fishy said:
He’s sitting one and playing three - it seems like players seeking waivers have better luck pretending that someone’s sick or something. He should try to mention his great-grandmother’s battle with gout if he does transfer.

Saw UNLV a few times this year. He looked very good against BYU and Boise, less good last week in the MWC tourney game. His game definitely overlaps with Wilson and Polley, just with a motor that’s more like the former and much better than the latter.

He’d be a nice add.
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I don't really see him overlapping or similar to Wilson and Polley. Wilson is an athlete who doesn't really know how to play at this level yet, Polley is just a three point shooter at this stage. Ntambwe handles like a point forward, scoring in a variety of ways and he rebounds. He's significantly better than both Wilson and Polley.
 
superjohn said:
I don't really see him overlapping or similar to Wilson and Polley. Wilson is an athlete who doesn't really know how to play at this level yet, Polley is just a three point shooter at this stage. Ntambwe handles like a point forward, scoring in a variety of ways and he rebounds. He's significantly better than both Wilson and Polley.
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I know this is early but it seems more like he's a plug-in at the four if Akok leaves after one year.
 
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Statistical scouting report:
ntambwe.PNG


As people have said, his physical profile looks similar to Tyler Polley (plus about 10 lbs and maybe an inch).
The KenPom supplied comp of freshman Christian Watford is pretty encouraging (Watford hit 48% 3s on plus rebounding and foul drawing as a senior on a 1 seed team... also has a 5* brother, pretty bizarre coincidence).

He played a light starter amount of minutes, slightly less than Polley did this year for us. But he took a lot of shots. A really surprising amount for an unheralded freshman, to be honest, He took the highest % of his team's shots while he was on the floor, around what Gilbert did for us.

He wasn't particularly great shooting from the paint or mid-range, clocking in at 42% from 2 overall, but he got a bit better during conference play as the season went by (45%). On the other hand, he shot an excellent 39% from 3 as a freshman. That should only rise in his career and his FT% checks out for being at least an above average shooter. Overall, he took slightly less 3s than Polley did, but double the 2-point attempts. So we're not looking at a specialist stretch/spacer, but more of an overall player with stretch capabilities. If he can get that 2pt% up above 50% (whether by improving or reducing his shots and having better shot selection), he'll be a real player (all-conference level efficiency/volume), but I don't know if he can expect to get there.

Because he mixes it up inside more, he shot double the FTs than Polley this year, drawing fouls about as often as Carlton did this year (but shooting over 10% better from the stripe). As a rebounder, he's about equivalent to what Yakwe did this year, but another rebounding comp would be DeAnde Daniels in championship year. So not quite elite as a rebounder, especially on the offensive end (likely because he's often spacing the floor), but certainly adequate from the 4.

As to his playmaking, it's yet to see if he couldn't or didn't do it, but he has a spot up shooter's playmaking profile. Now that's good from a turnover perspective, but quite poor for his assist numbers relative to the niumber of shots he shot himself. So he was a bit of a black hole, but at the same time he wasn't trying to do too much or failing in what he was attempting. He didn't have particularly efficient teammates, so that didn't help, since a decent amount of his minutes were with the bench unit.

His block, steal, and offensive rebound numbers taken together suggest a subpar athletic profile. His team didn't force many turnovers as is, but his block% is particularly poor for his height, similar to Polley's. I wouldn't expect a lockdown defender, and his main contribution on defense will likely be rebounding. He was also a little foul prone, but some of this can be chalked up to being a freshman.
 
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auror said:
Statistical scouting report:
View attachment 41612

As people have said, his physical profile looks similar to Tyler Polley (plus about 10 lbs and maybe an inch).
The KenPom supplied comp of freshman Christian Watford is pretty encouraging (Watford hit 48% 3s on plus rebounding and foul drawing as a senior on a 1 seed team... also has a 5* brother, pretty bizarre coincidence).

He played a light starter amount of minutes, slightly less than Polley did this year for us. But he took a lot of shots. A really surprising amount for an unheralded freshman, to be honest, He took the highest % of his team's shots while he was on the floor, around what Gilbert did for us.

He wasn't particularly great shooting from the paint or mid-range, clocking in at 42%, but he got a bit better during conference play as the season went by (45%). On the other hand, he shot an excellent 39% from 3 as a freshman. That should only rise in his career and his FT% checks out for being at least an above average shooter. Overall, he took slightly less 3s than Polley did, but double the 2-point attempts. So we're not looking at a specialist stretch/spacer, but more of an overall player with stretch capabilities. If he can get that 2pt% up above 50% (whether by improving or reducing his shots and having better shot selection), he'll be a real player (all-conference level efficiency/volume), but I don't know if he can expect to get there.

Because he mixes it up inside more, he shot double the FTs than Polley this year, drawing fouls about as often as Carlton did this year (but shooting over 10% better from the stripe). As a rebounder, he's about equivalent to what Yakwe did this year, but another rebounding comp would be DeAnde Daniels in championship year. So not quite elite as a rebounder, especially on the offensive end (likely because he's often spacing the floor), but certainly adequate from the 4.

As to his playmaking, it's yet to see if he couldn't or didn't do it, but he has a spot up shooter's playmaking profile. Now that's good from a turnover perspective, but quite poor for his assist numbers relative to the niumber of shots he shot himself. So he was a bit of a black hole, but at the same time he wasn't trying to do too much or failing in what he was attempting. He didn't have particularly efficient teammates, so that didn't help, since a decent amount of his minutes were with the bench unit.

His block, steal, and offensive rebound numbers taken together suggest a subpar athletic profile. His team didn't force many turnovers as is, but his block% is particularly poor for his height, similar to Polley's. I wouldn't expect a lockdown defender, and his main contribution on defense will likely be rebounding. He was also a little foul prone, but some of this can be chalked up to being a freshman.
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I think the knock is probably athleticism right now. Maybe the reason he was umheralded as a recruit?

And I think he could shape up to be a better passer than he showed at UNLV for whatever reason. He passed well in high school on a very good team.

He is definitely a late bloomer. As I said before, he wasn't a shooter at all until this last year.
 
NJHoops said:
it’s interesting timing. Within the last two days, there were reports that Ntambwe had met with the new UNLV coach and was staying.
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Hopefully he decided he wants to play for a coach/program that emphasizes DEFENSE because T.J. is not the answer.
 
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NJHoops said:
Have to plan for only 12 spots.
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Better to plan for having more scholarships. Get the commits. Then if schollies don't open up, you take the biggest priority, and break the hard news to the rest.

It's a hell of a lot harder to make up ground late than it is to cut bait.
 
intlzncster said:
Better to plan for having more scholarships. Get the commits. Then if schollies don't open up, you take the biggest priority, and break the hard news to the rest.

It's a hell of a lot harder to make up ground late than it is to cut bait.
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Chill out dude. Just a game
 
intlzncster said:
Better to plan for having more scholarships. Get the commits. Then if schollies don't open up, you take the biggest priority, and break the hard news to the rest.

It's a hell of a lot harder to make up ground late than it is to cut bait.
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That really doesn't seem like how Hurley operates. I'm pretty sure he's never had a transfer as a coach and he's pretty proud about that.
 
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intlzncster said:
Better to plan for having more scholarships. Get the commits. Then if schollies don't open up, you take the biggest priority, and break the hard news to the rest.

It's a hell of a lot harder to make up ground late than it is to cut bait.
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Sure, but that was in response to a specific post that mentioned getting down to 13 and had specific names written out. I was clarifying the scholarship restriction.

Unless that post was made by Dan Hurley. Then, he should definitely plan for more, which he will with the information he’s gotten through the end of season meetings.
 
johnhuskies95 said:
That really doesn't seem like how Hurley operates. I'm pretty sure he's never had a transfer as a coach and he's pretty proud about that.
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I really doubt that. It’s really stupid if so. Some kids
1)don’t develop or
2)were misevaluated or
3)conflict with the culture

And
can go other places and play and have a great experience vs sitting for 4 years and doing little to nothing. This is a big business. There’s a reason L$U paid hundreds of thousands for the current roster esp Waters, Naz Reid. Or Alabama in hoops and football or FSU buying guys in both sports for decades.

It’s not bad for a kid to go somewhere and contribute. Often all parties win. Not always. But to never have a transfer would be foolhardy and put oneself at a competitive disadvantage.

These are 18-19 year old kids it’s easy to make a mistake on them on and off the court.
 
A couple things on Ntambwe; his recruitment made no sense he wasn’t even ranked coming out of high school by the major sites yet was highly regarded held offers from Tennessee, Florida State, Clemson, Wichita State, Virginia Tech, Providence. At one point we were even linked to him, under KO. Someone earlier said that he’s a stretch 4 but he’s really not he’s a wing/point forward, like a poor man’s Cam Reddish. He shoots the ball extremely well, with range, was shooting 43% from 3 at one point mid season ended the season just under 40%.
 
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This player makes sense for us, Hurley is focusing on building a program . I would feel pretty good looking ahead to 2021 with Ntambe, Gaffey , Bouknight , Alok , Polley and Carlton on the roster. If Gilbert is still on the team and we land another big I would feel very good about the future.
 
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