Assessing Louis Olinde

May 4th, 2020

by Alan Lu

I decided to take the time to watch Brose Basket’s 6-9 forward, Louis Olinde play in a Basketball Champions League game against Nizhny Novgorod on October 23^rd, as I was able to see this with thanks to YouTube via Basketball Champions League.  As he is a 1998-born international player, he is automatically in the 2020 draft, and he is a candidate that could potentially go in the second round.  I wanted to see how far he has progressed this season.  Here are my thoughts on how he fared, as well as how his game may stack up in the NBA.

Louis Olinde excelled at scoring on hustle plays.  He ran the floor hard to get the ball, and he then drove left to the hoop and used a hop step move to score on the break.  On the downside, his teammates wouldn’t look to get him the ball off of cuts or rolls to the rim, so often times he was left having to try to score off the dribble on isolation plays or off of jumpers, which likely contributed to his offensive woes in this game.

He also did a good job of scoring in the post.  He posted up from just inside the right elbow late in this match, and Olinde pivoted to score on a fadeaway jumper. While he struggled to consistently make his jumpers in this game, Olinde was able to make a corner three, and he also used a crafty pump fake move after dribbling to his right to draw three free throws another time.  On the downside, he had a tendency to miss spot-up threes off the catch as he would usually miss it short, and he also threw up an air-ball later on.

Because Olinde wouldn’t get the ball at all when he would cut or roll to the hoop, offensive touches for him were hard to come by, as the lack of ball movement likely contributed to his team’s stagnated offense.  As a result, he was left having to try to create his own shots off the dribble, which led to mixed results at best.  On the plus side, Olinde was able to pump fakes before and after driving aggressively to the rim to score once, and he also drew free throws on an off-balanced layup another time.  However, he tended to struggle to score in traffic when taking the ball to the rim, and he ended up having a couple of his shots blocked.

He displayed fairly average playmaking skills in this game.  He would often make simple, cursory passes out on the perimeter to shooters to keep the ball moving, but late in this game, he managed to kick a ball out to an open shooter after driving off of a screen to display his ability to pass off the dribble.  While he didn’t commit any turnovers, he had trouble staying on his feet as he tended to lose his balance quite a bit, as he tripped over his own feet off the ball while running up the floor early on, and he later fell with the ball after getting a defensive rebound on a separate possession.

Olinde did a very good job of rebounding the basketball.  He is an athletic combo forward that has a keen nose for the ball, and he was very active at crashing the glass, as he would often leap up to get defensive rebounds.  There was also one play where he brought the ball up the floor after getting a defensive board. 

He also played solid defense.  Olinde is an active help defender that would often look to challenge shots, and he was able to rotate to block a shot off of a cut due to possessing good length, athleticism, and instincts.  He also would often contest shots in the paint as well as out on the perimeter to force misses, and he also deflected a pass to nearly get a steal.  He also managed to successfully draw a charge on a drive to get an opponent to commit an offensive foul due to good positioning.  On the downside, sometimes he would over-help off of his man, and he would not be in position to contest the shot due to being out of position, and other times he would fail to cut off the penetration when defending opponents on drives.  He also generally struggled to defend stronger players, and he had trouble holding his ground when guarding them down low.

Overall, Louis Olinde is an athletic combo forward that has some solid skills, but he will need to continue to improve his overall game.  He will need to significantly improve his jump shot and ability to score off the dribble, and he will also need to play for a team that will utilize his ability to move off the ball to optimize his skill set on offense.  He will also need to add significantly more strength so that he can be better equipped to defend stronger players on the floor.

This season, he struggled to consistently make shots, as his shooting percentages floundered especially in the Basketball Champions League, which may hurt his case to be selected for the draft.  Right now, he is a candidate to be selected late in the draft.  If an NBA team does decide to select him in the draft, he could end up being a draft-and-stash pick, as he will need to hone his game either in the G-League or overseas for at least another season.  If Olinde can make strides to improve his game, he could end up being a solid role player in the NBA.