This was my
initial reaction to Udoh earlier in the year--needless to say I wasn't impressed with him. But with new information in tow, I might have to rethink my analysis a bit...
Physically, Udoh's very long, but his standing reach for some odd reason is still below average for a PF, so he probably can't play center in the league, not to mention he's not that strong. He does have decent enough leaping ability and good lateral quickness in combination with his length. He's not a speedster of a freak jumper in any sense of the imagination, but his length/lateral quickness will help his already natural shotblocking instincts translate even further for the next level, actually sort of like Marcus Camby in this respect.
Offensively, Udoh will mostly be a mid-range jumpshooter in this league--this season he really took a ton of mid-range J's for a PF, and it shows decent potential (although, judging from his free throw percentages hovering in the mid-60s range, I sort of doubt that he can really call this his bread-and-butter in the league). Udoh rarely tries to play inside--he doesn't utilize too many post moves, and his finishing off his own moves his highly suspect as is. Moreover, he isn't a prolific dunker around the painted area. However, he does get quite a few tip-ins, and is a very good offensive rebounder, so his motor is there. This year in particular, he's made strides and showed some wrinkles of passing ability. But what makes me think he could succeed somewhat offensively in the NBA is that his team always does better offensively when he's on the court. At the end, he'll be an average at best offensive player in the NBA, based on his scoring rates, but he does have three quite serviceable tricks of mid-range jumpshooting, passing and hustling for easy baskets with his tip-ins. Again, very, very eerily similar to Marcus Camby in this respect--he's actually quite skilled relative to most other big men.
Defensively will be where Udoh makes his money. He's probably a top 5 shotblocker in this league...let me put it this way, if Udoh merely had average shotblocking skills in college in combination with his length and lateral quickness, he probably would be a late 1st rounder. But since he's an elite level shotblocker type, he's in the lottery. He's also learned to control his fouls more, which will only bode well for his future. Moreover, his team defense is very good as well--so I have no doubt he can become a very good defensive type in this league. The only gripe I sort of have with him is his defensive rebounding ability--he's not a very good defensive rebounder at all, so that lessens some of the intrigue surrounding his class defense. He still rates highly with me on the defensive end, but I generally like bigs to be at least good defensive rebounders, and he's lacking here.
At the end, though, Udoh just has so many interesting skill wrinkles--mid-range shooting and passing--alongside elite-level physical skills--shotblocking, offensive rebounding--and his impact on both ends of the court further verifies that he's a very capable NBA player. It's tough to pass that sort of thing up by the time you hit pick #15 or so, so he might very well go in the mid to late lottery (#6-14). I earlier said that he had bust potential--scratch that, I don't think he does have much at all. He combines physical and skill attributes, and has potential particularly offensively because he can polish up his mid-range game further. At the end, he seems sort of like a Marcus Camby without the defensive rebounding at his peak, which may be problematic in the future, but many teams would kill to have someone like Marcus Camby on their team, which makes him a viable draft choice in the lotto.
