Emmanuel Mudiay finding early success in China

Once projected as one of the top talents in college basketball, Emmanuel Mudiay is now starring for the Guangdong Tigers of the Chinese Basketball Association. Like he did in high school, Mudiay is quickly proving to be superior than most of the competition.

The latest example? In the third game of his pro career Mudiay dropped a triple double (22 points, 13 assists and 11 rebounds) in Guangdong’s 127-116 win over Qingdao. Through three games he’s averaging 19 points, 5.7 rebounds, 4.3 assists and 1.7 steals per game. It’s not all perfect -- those numbers come with 3.3 turnovers per contest while shooting 61 percent from the charity stripe -- but it’s impressive regardless.

Mudiay is dominating his competition, but how good is he? One scout is convinced Mudiay’s maturation process is still beginning.

“He’s not playing elite talent in China,” the scout told SB Nation. “I watched his first game and it was a mess. He does have a very strong body already which helps him vs. pros, but his actual game is still very limited to trying to overpower his way to the basket.”

And the scout is correct. Mudiay’s game, which is similar to a younger version of John Wall, is like a tornado. It’s all over the place. He does a lot of good in the places that are unexpected, such as shooting 50 percent from deep (5-for-10) and 42 percent from the field (17-for-40) thus far.

His strengths are around the basket, but what’s been interesting is his court vision and how he’s finding his way to the basket especially in one-on-one situations.

Getting to the rim

The 6’5 combo guard is able to contort his body around the rim to get the most out of any penetration he gets after using his dribble package, body size, length or athleticism to get around the defender.

Here, he uses the triple threat to get his man in the air before using his speed to get to the rim and capping the play with a flashy finish to get up and under the rim.

He starts with plenty of space to go to work ...

... and slips past the first man but doesn’t give up the ball when the defense rotates and starts to collapse on him.

Instead he finishes at the rim in probably the most ridiculous fashion.

Altogether, it looks like this

Improving Court Vision

Outside of his game, which is currently made up of a lot of dribble-drive penetration, the thing that teams should get excited for is how Mudiay could improve as a passer. In this play, Mudiay is on the break in transition and uses an in-and-out move to get into the lane. He then makes an over-the-shoulder pass to the weak side corner to find a wide open teammate.

Let’s take a look. He starts here in transition.

He uses a nice in-and-out move to shake his defender and continue penetrating to the rim while his teammate slips to the weak side corner.

And the end result is something you could see from a mile away.

In full it looks like this:

Though his passing looked better earlier in the season when he played Stephon Marbury and Beijing. In the first passing play he grabs the rebound, cuts through defenders, runs in transition and finds a man for the alley-oop finish from a great pass.

If he continues to progress, Mudiay could end up being a great prize by the NBA Draft in June. Currently, however, teams are looking for a set of improvements if he is going to become an elite guard at the next level. The same scout said a lot of his game will need to improve by next summer.

“[He needs to improve] his jumper, making smarter decisions, finishing around the basket, and tightening up his defense.”