Observations on William McDowell-White and Louis Olinde

June 1, 2018

Recently, I decided to take the opportunity to watch a couple of prospects that played for Baunach against Kirchheim in a German Pro A game that was held on March 31st, with thanks to YouTube via Crowne Agency. In this match, I scouted 6-5 point guard William McDowell-White from Australia, as well as 6-9 forward Louis Olinde. Both have declared to be early-entry candidates for the upcoming draft, as they could both end up being potential second round picks this year. Here are my thoughts on how both of them fared on this day, as well as how their skills may translate to the NBA.

William McDowell-White is a tall, skilled playmaker that can attack the basket to get scores and assists, and he also possesses good court vision on offense, and he also can get rebounds for his team. McDowell-White showed a solid ability to score on aggressive drives to the hoop. He has a good first step off the dribble, and he can finish plays with either hand. He was able to score on a contorted jumper in traffic, and he also can drop in a floater to score around the basket. Plus, he has good acceleration and ball-handling skills, as he can split a double team every once in a while, and he can regularly draw fouls upon his opponents. Also, he was able to receive the ball on a cut off of an inbounds play, as he pivoted to score on a turnaround jumper.

He also did a decent job of knocking down jumpers in this game. McDowell-White was particularly adept at pulling up to make long two-point shots off the dribble, as he can dribble to spots quickly, and he can use his ball handling skills to throw his opponents’ timing off. He also managed to make a quick spot-up three late in the contest, but he had trouble making threes consistently, as he would sometimes take shots from too far out that seemed to be out of his range.

Also, McDowell-White displayed solid playmaking skills. He is an unselfish player that possesses good instincts and court vision, as he can throw long, accurate passes to his teammates to set up scores on the break, and he also is adept at finding teammates off of rolls to help set up dunks for them. McDowell-White does a good job of pushing the ball up the floor, and he is a creative player that can spot the open man on the move before the defense gets there. However, he can be inaccurate with his passes, as he may throw balls into traffic that may get intercepted. Also, he once took too many steps prior to making a pass to a shooter, as he was called for a traveling violation midway through this match.

He also did an adequate job of rebounding the basketball. He would run in to get boards on both end of the floor, and he can leap up to get an occasional tough board in traffic. He also was able to tip a ball to a teammate to help his team get a defensive rebound on one occasion. On the downside, there was one play where he was called for committing a reach-in foul on an opponent’s offensive rebound due to being too aggressive on the play.

Plus, he also showed off decent defensive skills. McDowell-White has good length and anticipation skills to defend against passes, and he can tip and catch balls that are thrown his way to force his opponents to commit turnovers. He will also close out aggressively, as he will actively contest jumpers to force misses. Also, he was able to hold his ground when defending the post, as he managed to successfully challenge the shot down low on the block.

On the other hand, he tended to struggle to fight through screens, as this would allow the opposing ball handler to turn the corner on pick and rolls. Sometimes, he would be late on his rotations or not always make the proper rotation, which would lead his team to commit fouls and allow scores. Also, sometimes he would be slow to get back on defense, as he would get beat down the floor in transition.

In general, William McDowell-White is a talented playmaker that can make a variety of plays to help his team on offense, and he also can help out on the boards as well as on the defensive end. He is a crafty scorer off the dribble, and he is an above average athlete that can rack up assists in transition as well as off of pick and rolls. Still, he will need to improve his jump shot, especially from beyond the arc, and he will also need to be more consistently focused on the defensive end. He did have a good stretch in the second quarter though, where he was locked in, and he was able to help get his team numerous stops in that time span.

Right now, he may be a second round prospect for the upcoming draft. McDowell-White has solid offensive skills, but he hasn’t really played in a high-level basketball league overseas, as he is currently playing in a second division league in the German Pro A league, which is one level below the BBL. Still, his versatile skill set and solid basketball IQ could be intriguing to NBA teams, as he could end up being an effective role player in the mold of a Matthew Dellavedova type in the association.

Louis Olinde is an athletic combination forward that has emerging perimeter skills, and he is a high-motor player that will look to make plays on both ends of the floor. Olinde excels at scoring on hustle plays. He will consistently roll hard to the rim, and he can throw down emphatic dunks to score around the basket, and he also used an overhead ball fake in traffic to get to the foul line. He also is a good free throw shooter, as he has made over 80% of his free throws on the season, and he was able to make both of his free throws on that play. Also, he was able to leap up to get an offensive rebound in order to score on a strong put back in traffic.

He also showed an adequate ability to score in the post. On one play, Olinde backed down his man, and pivoted to score on an acrobatic reverse layup. However, earlier in this contest, he missed on a turnaround jump hook after backing down his man. Also, he showed a decent ability to knock down jumpers. Olinde moves fairly well off the ball, and he was able to move to the corner to patiently knock down an open spot-up three. In addition, he managed to step back to make a corner three later on. However, he may have a slow release, and he had some trouble consistently knocking down threes off the catch. On a separation possession, he used a crossover move, but he missed on a contested, fadeaway pull-up, mid-range shot.

However, he had trouble consistently scoring on aggressive drives to the basket. He does have a good first step off the dribble, and he handles the ball well for his size, which can allow him to get past the initial defender, but he showed a tendency to rush his shots, as he would struggle to score in traffic when the help would arrive. He had a couple of his shots blocked, and he also had trouble making floaters. He also attempted to score on a fast break after going coast to coast off of a defensive rebound, but he ended up missing off the glass after using a quick eurostep move.

He also displayed decent playmaking skills. He can throw accurate interior passes, and he can swiftly move the basketball to find the open man. Olinde is a deft ball handler that can quickly push the ball up the floor off of defensive rebounds. But sometimes, he would be a bit turnover prone. He attempted to kick the ball out to a shooter off the dribble once, but had his pass intercepted. He also had some trouble protecting the basketball when posting up. He posted up after dribbling around, but quickly ended up having the ball poked away once. On a separate play, he was called for committing a clear out foul when looking to score on the block another time.

Olinde also showed a good ability to rebound the basketball. He would often leap up to get defensive boards, and he would do a good job of pushing the ball up the floor afterwards. He has some point forward skills, as he can consistently push the pace after grabbing rebounds. On the other hand, he exhibited just average at best defensive skills. For the positives, he is an energetic player that has good athleticism, as he will actively defend opponents off the dribble and on curl cuts to force misses. He will look to challenge shots in the paint, and he can also step out to defend three-point shots on occasion.

However, he will still need to improve his position defense. He had trouble defending screens, as he would either gave his man too much space to shoot, or he would fail to cut off penetration on drives. He also would sometimes struggle to move his feet on defense, as he may end up committing fouls when defending his man. He also sagged too far off his man once, and then over-rotated to bite on a pump fake, as he allowed his man to score on a floater. He also can tend to be out of positon when defending in the post, which can cause his team to commit fouls.

In summary, Louis Olinde is an athletic, combo forward that could intrigue teams with his skill set and motor, but he will still need to polish up his overall game. Though he is an energetic player that has some perimeter skills as he may project to be a face-up four, he can be prone to poor shot selection and bad position defense. If he stays in the draft, he could perhaps end up going late in the second round as a stash pick this year. If he can find a way to maximize his skill set and develop as an overall player, Olinde could end up being an effective role player in the NBA sometime down the road as a Dante Cunningham type in the league.