Wildly Unnecessarily Lengthy 2015 NBA Draft Board, Part 4: NCAA Centres
Yannick Moreira
Moreira leaves Southern Methodist as a very experienced and much developed player. His awareness and understanding of the pace of the game improved markedly as a senior, and he went from being something of a project to a developed professional player.
Moreira is a fluid and mobile athlete, not a huge leaper or especially explosive but one who moves well and runs the court especially well for a centre. He has also added some muscle to a slightly thin frame, and has skill to go with this profile. Armed with a turnaround jump shot and a quick set-shot from the 15 feet or so area, Moreira also scores with a running righty hook, but can also use a left, and is a good interior passer to boot. He will take a dribble or two from the mid-range area and is always a threat in pick-and-roll situations. Moreira is pretty much entirely a mid-range threat, without the strength to create position in the post and without the range to step any further out, and shoots line-drives free throws poorly that belie his shooting abilities from that area in open play. But he will occasionally flash a spin move in the post and is certainly effective overall offensively, a skilled and smooth big man who presents an option in the half court, and definitely in the full court.
Defensively, the lack of strength again hinders Moreira a bit, and he is a bit soft with his interior defense. He also goal tends quite a lot of shots, and I don't say this because of his one most famous one. He nevertheless competes defensively and is a good paint protector, lively and active, who gets up quickly from standing - the goal tends are the trade-off from the overall good defensive presence.
Were he slightly stronger and slightly more skilled, Moreira would be a sure-fire NBA player. As it is, he's not far short anyway.
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Moreira leaves Southern Methodist as a very experienced and much developed player. His awareness and understanding of the pace of the game improved markedly as a senior, and he went from being something of a project to a developed professional player.
Moreira is a fluid and mobile athlete, not a huge leaper or especially explosive but one who moves well and runs the court especially well for a centre. He has also added some muscle to a slightly thin frame, and has skill to go with this profile. Armed with a turnaround jump shot and a quick set-shot from the 15 feet or so area, Moreira also scores with a running righty hook, but can also use a left, and is a good interior passer to boot. He will take a dribble or two from the mid-range area and is always a threat in pick-and-roll situations. Moreira is pretty much entirely a mid-range threat, without the strength to create position in the post and without the range to step any further out, and shoots line-drives free throws poorly that belie his shooting abilities from that area in open play. But he will occasionally flash a spin move in the post and is certainly effective overall offensively, a skilled and smooth big man who presents an option in the half court, and definitely in the full court.
Defensively, the lack of strength again hinders Moreira a bit, and he is a bit soft with his interior defense. He also goal tends quite a lot of shots, and I don't say this because of his one most famous one. He nevertheless competes defensively and is a good paint protector, lively and active, who gets up quickly from standing - the goal tends are the trade-off from the overall good defensive presence.
Were he slightly stronger and slightly more skilled, Moreira would be a sure-fire NBA player. As it is, he's not far short anyway.