Bulls Draft: Point Forward Georges Niang
This coming June, the Bulls might take a good look at Fred Hoiberg‘s secret weapon at Iowa State: Georges Niang.
Hoiball, unknown to most critics, isn’t dependent on a point guard to run sets.
While Fred Hoiberg is blessed with an explosive point guard like Derrick Rose to bring the ball into the front court for the Bulls and be the primary attacker. At Iowa State, this duty fell on tweener power forward Georges Niang.
You wouldn’t believe that seeing that Iowa State has the requisite two guards in their lineup. But, if you watch how the Cyclones rocket their offense from the defensive rebound into the front court, the man bringing up the ball and being the focal point of sets would be Niang.
Niang is everything an NBA draft prospect isn’t. He is undersized for a power forward at 6’8″, he has a short wing span at 6’9″ and he isn’t an elite athlete. His defense isn’t tops for a big, he’s not a good shotblocker (just 28 in his entire college career) and only mediocre rebounding stats. In spite of this, Niang isn’t a pansy on defense and has instinctive timing and good anticipation; enough to prevent his man from scoring easily on him in college.
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In college, he was an almost unstoppable scoring machine. He has amazing handles, enough to enable him to bring the ball up the court and get the Cyclones flow offense running. When he is in the paint, Georges uses his footwork and scores off a variety of post up moves from jump hooks to floaters and up-and-unders.
He might not be able to score the same way as a big in the NBA and will probably get his shot blocked by the more athletic players at his size and position, but he doesn’t need to match up at power forward or center. Synergy Sports Technology breaks down Niang’s offense as 20.3 percent spot-up opportunities, 19.8 percent post-ups pick-and-rolls and 11.2 percent from cuts.
Niang’s ability to score in any way you can think of makes him difficult to scout and just like Nikola Mirotic, he presents plenty of problems for for opposing defenses. He can play point forward, but not really look like it, which makes him a really good fit.
The real strength of Niang is potentially giving the Bulls the back-up ball handler they need in a point forward big body to run a point center offense. Niang is expected to create unbelievable mismatches as a point forward despite his physical shortcomings. Hoiball is all about creating mismatches in a flowing pace-and-space game. Niang is deadly in the pick-and-pop and catch-and-shoot three point opportunities, on top of being a strong post player in college. If he were posting up an opposing guard or wing player, he could take advantage of them with his strength and basketball IQ the way Mirotic scores in the paint.
He’d be better than Cameron Bairstow in every aspect, even if he initially rides the bench at the start of the season before finding his place in the Bulls rotation in the second unit. Having two Mirotics might not be a bad thing if the younger version can play point forward and knows Hoiball like the back of his hand. The Bulls can even run small ball with him as an inside-outside threat like Mirotic and Doug McDermott.
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The Bulls need a back-up point guard for Derrick Rose if they keep him for the rest of his career. Someone like Niang will fly under the radar of most general mangers and just might fit perfectly with the Chicago Bulls of the future.