Official Thread: Alexis Ajinca

[admin]

Alexis Ajinca, PF/C
17 years old 7'0" 210 lbs.
INSEP Academy, International

Check out the complete profile at: Full Profile (http://www.draftexpress.com/viewprofile.php?p=534)

[zyht]

I was born in France and even though I now live in the US, I still follow the French championship. I knew about TP and Pietrus (and his brother that unfortunately did not make it to the NBA) and Moiso (the sky should have been the limit for this guy that was by far the most gifted of all the French prospect but is state of mind is so bad that he wasted any chance that he was given). I knew everything about Antoine Rigaudaud, Fred Weiss, Tariq Abdul Wahad, Turiaf and Johan Petro. But I never heard of Alexis Ajinca and Ian Mahinmi until I read some topics about them in the websites dedicated to the NBA draft.

I wonder whether this means that the NBA scouts are so good that they know about the kids before everybody knows or just if they keep doing the same mistakes and fantasize about raw physicals with no clue of how the game is supposed to be played. From what I have read on US website (no information available in any French website), Alexis seems like a good kid and a athletic freak. However this kid doesn’t even make it in the INSEP team which gather all the best young prospect in France but plays in something like the French NBDL. At least Petrus, Diaw and TP were the leaders of a wining team at the Euro under 20 championship. They accomplished stuff in France and were respected players. TP was very young when he was drafted but he was the leader of a division one team in Paris and Diaw and Petrus were the best players at Pau which is a Euroleague team. Still with their natural talent and their athletics it was very difficult for them to make it to the NBA. Hence I cannot prevent myself from wondering about Ajinca. Some website have him ranked in the top 20 of the 2007 draft and I keep thinking that the more the draft date will be, the deepest in the draft he will get a la Alexandrov…

Actually I hope it will be the case, since it would prevent him from making a big mistake and jumping to the nba like darko did. Darko was a tremendous prospect and I keep thinking Detroit was the worst case scenario for him (I just hope it is not too late now and that nothing has been broken). But Darko is not a single case and we have seen a lot of tremendous players doing nothing in the nba as they were not ready and needed some playing time. Therefore I hope that Ajinca will go back under the radar for a while so that he can develop his game before he gets drafted.

[Genjuro]

From what I know, Ajinca actually plays in the INSEP.

Anyway, he has amazing potential, but he's at the same time incredible raw. 2007 seems way too soon for him. He has such a long way to go... But you rarely (almost never) see that combination of size, athleticism and skills.

[Borisdiaw]

Hi zyht, about these unknown that gets the attention of the scouts, it's mainly due to 2 facts ( speaking of France) : First exemple : a guy like Mahinmi has been discovered in international young competition. Now a lot of scouts goes to under 18, under 16 european championships.
Second exemple : Johan Petro was already on NBA's radar at 15/16 playing for INSEP, same here, nearly all the best french players who are between 15 and 18 plays for INSEP, so this team attracts scouts.
Now about INSEP, this team of teenagers plays in the third french division against players who are adults ( it would be like an good sized HS team playing in a league like CBA or ABA ). It's a competitiv league that has in it for example Limoges which has a great past ( like a "euroleague" title in 93 ) and other former powerhouses of the french league. This environment enable these players to learn quickly and be aggresiv .
Now about Ajinca, he is doing well in INSEP, having better stats and better influence in the game then Petro at the same age. Petro's rookie season is slowly showing that it was the good time for him to play in the league. However these 2 are totally different players. I don't like much the interest he draws but it's legit. If i could advise him i would ask him to play 2/3 years professionnaly ( starting 06/07) before declaring.

[xtf]

Just this about Ajinca:
I saw him playing in the Douai tournament last summer, and i think, you can not except this guy to become an inside player. His potential is on the Small Forward spot as het got a great shot for a seven-footer and hits three-pointers on a regular basis.
His body is not very developped. You can find more infos about him on my website soon, as i am putting together a profile of him on it.

[Genjuro]

Just this about Ajinca:
I saw him playing in the Douai tournament last summer, and i think, you can not except this guy to become an inside player. His potential is on the Small Forward spot as het got a great shot for a seven-footer and hits three-pointers on a regular basis.
His body is not very developped. You can find more infos about him on my website soon, as i am putting together a profile of him on it.
What you can't expect is a seven footer (most likely 7-1) playing small forward in the NBA. It has never happened succesfully, and I doubt it will for some time. In my opinion, he would get constantly burned on defense (right now he doesn't have any lateral quickness on defense; although I think it's basically a problem of not knowing how to defend) and he would take less advantage of his quickness in the offensive end.

His body is light years away from being ready, but he will have to build it strong enough to play power forward, which doesn't necesarily mean to play inside (there are several PFs that play in the perimeter). I'm not sure if he will be able to get strong enough, given his extremely thin frame, but he should try.

Every legit seven footer with potential to play small forward ends up playing PF, like Nowitzki, Tskitishvili, Gasol or Bargnani.

[zyht]

I totally agree, one could be amaze by Shaq playing as a PG if he could, but actually who would care? that would probably prove an incredible versatility to see a 350 pounds man handling the basketball but his value for a team would always be on the post. Being more than 7 foots always make you slower. You can be faster for a 7 footer but you will never be as fast as a fast 6-6 player and what is the use of this size in the perimeter. THis is nice to be bigger than his direct opponent but this advantage never makes it for the lack of quickness.

It the same as if a prospect would be great at both Basket and Football. This is great to be good in 2 sports but being a great footballer doesn't help you being a better basketballer, not directly.

[coachjon]

this kid should be a top 5 pick in the nba draft in 2008 and has the potential to be a franchise player one day.

he is extrodinary long and athletic. at 18 he is skinny but if he puts on 30-40 lbs to get up to 245lbs he will have an nba body and by 20 which his age would be in 2008 he says he wants to play in Euroleagues a few years before he comes over he should have that weight added on. his body seems to be the type that will fill out appropriately. he has excellent hands for catching passes and grabbing rebounds. he is very fundamentally sound and has a great basketball IQ. with his 7-6 wingspan he blocks shots very well. he is a good shooter and can knock down the 3 ball pretty consistently and his free throws. he runs the floor really well and handles good for his size.

he needs to transition into the post more. right now if he continues to play like he does and he doesnt gain weight he could be another jonathon bender type a big man who would only play guard and shoot his threes due to lack of strength.

i dont know the sky is the limit for this kid. people are saying he is the most legitimate kevin garnett comparison ever. 2008 should be the year of him and OJ Mayo becoming franchise players and helping out the NBA even more into the future like Lebron and Wade have early on in their careers. Add that to Oden coming out in 2007 and you have 5 very young players that could carry the nba on their shoulders for the next decade.

[xtf]

Ajinca signed a three-year deal with French Euroleague team Pau-Orthez a few days ago.
So he will be available for the NBA without a buyout in 2009, if he does not sign another contract before.

The Garnett comparison, hmm, i do not like it. I do not know if you have seen him play already, coachjon, but he has a very different game than Garnett. this comparison just comes of their similar looks, long and thin and good shot.
Ajinca can have a bigger impact than Garnett on shot blocking but will IMO not become such a big scorer than KG

You can follow his performances during the U18 Euro championship in July on my site

[Hitster]

The 2009 Draft would be ideal for Ajinca, he'd only have just turned 21 then and will have had 3 years in the Euro League. With that wingspan and shot blocking potential he could have the ability to become a player similar in style to Tyson Chandler but with much greater scoring ability. 3 years down the line he'll hopfully be up to say 235 to 240lbs so would be physically ready for the NBA then. Also waiting until 2009 would avoid any buyout clauses and allow any deferals from 2007 draft and the likes of O.J Mayo to declare in 2008, thus giving him a great shot of being a top 3 pick in 2009. If he proves himself in Europe he'll be of interest to loads of teams who need a quality big man, I'd say that when he declares he'll be a better player than the likes of Aldridge when he declared this year.

[coachjon]

Well two years later i am not as high on Ajinca. I think he will be a late first round pick either this year or next year. He will probably be an athletic role bench player in the NBA and in his prime an athletic roleplaying starter.

He is athletic, good wingspan, a good weakside shotblocker, excels in an uptempo game, lots of potential/rawness to him still, needs to add weight/strength.

Likely role in the NBA is as an athletic uptempo big that can block shots and hit the midrange jumper.

Career 6pts 4reb 1blk Prime 10pts 6reb 1stl 1blk Rookie 3pts 3reb

[ecuhus]

this kid should be a top 5 pick in the nba draft in 2008 and has the potential to be a franchise player one day... people are saying he is the most legitimate kevin garnett comparison ever.

Career 6pts 4reb 1blk Prime 10pts 6reb 1stl 1blk Rookie 3pts 3reb

I know I'm busting your chops, coachjon, but this is quite an about-face!

[coachjon]

yes i know it is and thats what i was saying at the beginning of the new post. the kid has potential and all the physical tools (athleticism, ability to run the floor, lateral quickness) to be a stud but he still hasn't added all the weight he needs and his skills seem to be rawer or haven't developed as i thought they would. the first time i saw footage in 2006 i thought he had more of a perimeter game and range on his jumper than he actually does.

you know how it is ecuhus lots of younger kids (17 in 2006) show immense potential especially if you don't see them alot you can draw wrong conclusions and as they age if they don't show returns on that potential or you have seen them more your opions change.

i deserve to get my chops busted the first time i probably overhyped him and now i may be underhyping him lol so he will probably end up somewhere in the middle. i have my ground covered huh lol from franchise to role bench player so my middle is pretty big.

[Hitster]

We all went overboard with Ajinca but that has happened in actual drafts, Darko got drafted above 3 current All Stars back in 2003 and now Ajinca seems to have settled into a mid first round draft spot which seems a mid first round spots with several other big men like Jordan, Koufos, McGhee, Speights and Hibbert so I could see teams from say 10th pick downwards looking to get all these guys in to see how they compare and a llot of politics going on. No player woud want to risk being blown out of the water by a guy in the same position and thus it effects there draft value.

Ajinca not having played collegeball is perhaps the biggest unknown and could have one of the biggest perceived upsides so good workouts could really benit him. Until I see more feedback as regards these he rremains in 15 to 20 draft range.

[Srle]

Another material for D leagues. When will NBA teams learn. Sene,Darko,Petro etc.
Non of them had no clue how to play on offensive end ,except they are good athlets. Its same wit Ajinca. He is unproven player. I cant bealive people mention him as Draft Lottey pick. And players like Pekovic are underated. He would eat Ajinca any time.

[Yezsyr]

Another material for D leagues. When will NBA teams learn. Sene,Darko,Petro etc.
Non of them had no clue how to play on offensive end ,except they are good athlets. Its same wit Ajinca. He is unproven player. I cant bealive people mention him as Draft Lottey pick. And players like Pekovic are underated. He would eat Ajinca any time.

Don't put Darko in the same category as Sene and Petro. The latter two were as raw as prospect as they came. Darko had actually basketball skill, but Detroit killed him. They literally tore his heart out when it comes to basketball.

And plenty of unproven players get drafted high, and plenty of unproven players become successful. I would say that every high school player who hit the league could be considered unproven. KG and Kobe turned out to be alright. Ajinca could be a lottery pick because, like Brandan Wright last year, he's got the tools to be special. We will see if he can fill out his body like KG, or fall into a defensive role like Chandler, but there have been enough players with a profile like Ajinca who have succeeded for him to be taken in the first round. I personally think he inst lottery material, but to regulate him to the d league before hes played a minute in the NBA is a smidgen harsh.

[nextstar1019]

wow, chandler...thats a very interesting comparison, i have never heard that one before
i like it alot tho

[Hitster]

Darko was drafted way too high but hey I don't feel sorry for him, he got a nice 4 year rookie deal and a $21 million 3 year deal with Memphis and has seen decent minutes for the last two and a half seasons.

KG was finished product by his 2nd season (he has started every game since then I believe). Body type Ajinca is very similar to Chandler but is more of a finese type player in my mind. I'd like Houston to take him if Mutombo could work with him, Seattle even with their 2nd first round pick - they have so many project bigs that if Ajinca is the one then he does have the chance to come through.

Detroit have Samb who is a similar size and with Maxiell and Johnson already have two back-up frontcourters but if Ratliff retires or maybe goes back to Boston then they have two shots at a genuine 5 with him and Amb as Maxiell and Johnson are undersized to play 5 and Dice and Sheed are both 34 this year.

[metrocard]

Any word if Alexis is staying in the draft?

[KristianH]

Ajinca probably has biggest bust potential of any prospect that will be selected in the first round. He is very big and surprisingly athletic with good hands, so Alexis obviously has loads of potential, but on the other side there was a reason why he got so little playing time last season with Toulon, which isn`t even among 50 best teams in Europe. His competition were slow veteran C Vincent Masingue and perimeter oriented American who doesn`t shoot good percentage - Tony Williams. In a 4 of games i was able to watch, Ajinca showed surprisingly poor finishing around the basket, taking much time to gather himself before trying to go for a dunk. His FT shooting looked smooth, but his best asset is shot-blocking. Except mamouth lenght he can also get off the floor and has advanced timing for a young kid. However, he looks raw and atlest 2-3 years away from contributing at the NBA level. If he doesn`t wind up with a team that will invest much patience and time in him, Ajinca will be out of the league after is rookie contract.

[metrocard]

^ wrong.

[CelticBalla32]

Ajinca has suddenly skyrocketed on the DX mock draft, all the way up to 13. Has he been THAT good in workouts? I have not seen him play in an actual game, but he is gross skinny. If he's any more than 190 lbs. soaking wet, I'm shocked.

What has Ajinca done to make the jump from the late 20's to 13 so quickly? Do you guys believe picking him in the lottery would be warranted, or is he the next Saer Sene?

[Placebo]

He has a lot of potential but still 13 seems a little too high for him. I currently have him going to sixers at 16 right now. I think he is not the next Sene, he knows how to play ball. Sene didn't... And yes from what I've read he was very impressive in workouts.
I think he is a very interesting prospect overall. Can't wait for the draft day to see where he'll end up.
There is this "insider" rumor (Ajinca to Pacers at 11) whirling around Pacers message boards. Bird recently mentionned that they will "reach" for a guy at 11. So I am assuming he is one of the strong candidates for Pacers. (Along with Koufos and Speights I believe.)

[coachjon]

ajinca has been excellent in workouts and has great physical tools (7-7 wingspan). he has outplayed mcgee, jordan, hibbert, koufos and others in workouts. he is defiently going to be a potential pick. i think his range as of right now is late lottery to late first. i think the earliest he could go is to Portland at #13 where they could take a risk on a player they can keep overseas and he won't fall past Minnesota at #31 which i doubt he falls that far because they will be looking to go best international in the second.