Vonleh has a ton of potential, but for what position?
Without a doubt, one of the most intriguing prospects in the nation right now is Indiana freshman Noah Vonleh. He’s regarded as a very promising long-term prospect, and it’s easy to see why. At this point, we don’t even know what his future position is, but he is already a very exciting player to watch and is giving opposing teams fits on a nightly basis.
Last year while being recruited, Vonleh was listed at 6’8” and only weighing anywhere from 210-215. At this point, most scouts were predicting that his most probable future position would either be at SF or PF, but after just one summer at Indiana he’s put on anywhere from 25-40 lbs. and also apparently grown two inches. Now according to draftexpress.com, he’s 6’10” and weighs 242 lbs. He has scouts all in a tizzy at this point. One will tell you that he has potential to be a center in the NBA while the next could still say he has potential as a PF or even a SF. The first thing that catches your attention while looking at Vonleh is his frame. He has an insane wingspan of 7’4” with huge hands and tremendous athleticism.
One of Vonleh’s biggest strengths right now is rebounding. He currently averages 9.6 RPG which leads the Big-10. Thanks to his ridiculous wingspan and athleticism, he’s able to move out of his area to chase down a lot of balls; he’s particularly good as an offensive rebounder. Right now a lot of his baskets are coming off of misses near the hoop. Another aspect of Vonleh’s game scouts are in love with is his hustle. He’s not afraid to hit the deck for a loose ball, and he’s a very unselfish and team-oriented player, which is sometimes rare in a player as young and talented as he is.
Right now Vonleh looks very promising on the defensive end. He’s not afraid to bang in the post, and he’s able to get a lot of blocks thanks to his wingspan and hands. Additionally, Vonleh also has a lot of potential as a perimeter defender because of his wingspan and quickness. At this point in his career, Vonleh could defend about any position effectively. Offensively, Vonleh is much more a work in progress. Now he’s nowhere near as bad as a player such as Bismack Biyombo or Gorgui Dieng was coming into the league, but there’s definitely room for improvement here. For starters, he’s still scoring at a decent rate; 11.8 PPG in less than 23 minutes per game is impressive, but he still needs to expand his overall offensive arsenal. Most of his baskets right now come down near the hoop on drive-and-dish plays or off of misses (again, he’s a very good offensive rebounder.)
As of now, Vonleh doesn’t exactly have a go-to post move, but this isn’t all that surprising. Before arriving at Indiana, Vonleh spent a lot of time playing on the perimeter where he dominated on straight line-drives to the hoop. Vonleh has also shown some flashes with his jump shot. The form and mechanics could use some work, but with proper coaching and effort, he could become a decent jump shooter in the near future.
There’s still so much about this guy that we don’t know. Again, we don’t even have a clue what his future position could be. He could become a SF, face-up PF, C, etc. However this is what makes him so intriguing; he’s still very raw but showing some great production at Indiana. It’s going to be very interesting to see how he performs in Big-10 action. But for now, I’m not even going to begin to try to compare Vonleh to a player that’s already in the NBA.
By Brian Emory
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