Nolan Traore

Offense

Nolan Traore is an extremely fast point guard with intriguing passing vision and transition game, but he’s currently more tools than impact, and his game is a work in progress.

His best trait is his explosive first step and high end speed. In the open court, he’s lightning in a bottle and capable of getting upcourt quickly with his speed and long strides. In the halfcourt, when he can just jet past defenders with a clear lane, he does fine. However, if he doesn’t beat his man off the initial move, he lacks any real secondary moves or great counters and can end up forcing a poor shot or retreating.  Tarore does have at least a decent crossover and at times can hesitate and then explode, which can get defenders off balance.  But as of now those moves are just underdeveloped and not very consistent.

Traore also has the inklings of a stepback, and at times it looks promising that can look good at times, but is also still a bit slow and while he can cover some ground stepping backwards backwards, he needs to speed it up to have more space to shoot and improve the accuracy of his shot after the move.

Traore’s jump shot overall is inconsistent.  He seems to have a hitch in his shot at times and can have erratic lower-body mechanics. His feet often land unevenly, especially when trying to shoot accurately off the dribble or on the move where his accuracy drops significantly. He does a pretty good job when he can step into a shot in rhythm or taking a dribble to get his balance. Teams regularly went under screens and dared him to shoot, something that won’t change in the NBA unless he develops into a more reliable threat from outside.

Taore’s midrange game and ability to get to the hoop are hampered by his shooting.  Right now, he looks a bit slow and clunky shooting off the dribble. In theory, he has the speed and in theory can use that to create separation, but needs to improve the speed and accuracy of his shooting. Right now, the consistency of his midrange shot is a bit troubling. He doesn’t just miss close shots like some other prospects, but even when he doesn’t appear particularly sped up, he has some truly ugly misses that are shot well to the left or right or are just air balls.  Again, his feet move a lot on his shot and he struggled with consistency and balance.  This is probably partially a factor of Traore trying to do too much.  He could actually benefit from having more time in an off ball role and driving opportunistically in the NBA at least to start his career.

Around the hoop, Traore is limited with even light resistance or traffic. He plays somewhat under the rim, lacks functional strength, and tends to avoid contact.  He does have a bit of bend and isn’t overly stiff and while he lacks vertical hangtime, he does have what I call “horizontal hangtime” where he can takeoff several steps from the hoops and he kind of glides, which let’s him get some layups or up and unders.  However, he also shows the ball and gets blocked a decent amount and overall has mixed touch, so he has bend, but sometimes will just twist and then just shove the ball into the bottom of the hoop.

Traore seems to favor his right hand.  While he is not completely one-handed he did have a few layins approaching the hoop from the left side that he put up with the right hand and was blocked or had missed when it should have been easier to score with the left. He also tends to shy away from contact, which can ramp up the degree of difficulty on some of his shots. He loves to charge in and fade away or lean his head back and toss up a layup if there is not a clear path to the hoop, which leads to some accuracy issues. Traore has the beginnings of a runner which given his speed and height could be a good weapon for him and alleviate some of his inside scoring issues if he can become more consistent with it.  To his credit, Traore’s shown a bit more physicality and willingness to engage off-ball late in the season.

Off the ball, he relocates well; relocating and running off screens and other actions where he can use his speed or savvy.

While not a great rebounder, he does use his length and coordination to even grab some contested rebounds in his area, occasionally snatching them in traffic with one hand.  And immediately becoming a grab and go threat, pushing the ball upcourt.

The passing and playmaking is where Traore shines. Traore has strong vision and very good accuracy. He excels at finding his roll man off the P&R if defenders try to hedge or trap him. He also can make passes off the live dribble and does a great job of anticipating where his teammates will be and can hit cutters and spray shots around and out to the perimeter or hit skip passes finding three point shooters.
He has the height too see over defenders and hit more passing angles thanks to this height, length, and overall vision

With Saint-Quentin, his P&R partners (Dominik Olejniczak and William Pfister) was strictly a rollers who could not pop and were not an outside threat, Traore should benefit from playing next to some NBA bigs with more diverse skillsets, which could open up more space inside for him if they could help spread the floor. Traore ran a few pick and pops with wings like Khalid Moore and it definitely showed his potential here.

In transition, he’s dangerous; pushing tempo, pressuring defenders, and finding the open man and hitting them with precision.

Traore has two main types of turnovers. Like with some of the other talented passing guards, one type is passing turnovers and honestly I am not too concerned with these. Traore has a ton of assists and high usage and a lot of his passing turnovers are sort of expected and forgivable for a young player adapting to a higher level league. He can cut down on some crosscourt passes and passes he forces into traffic that he may have gotten away with in lower levels, but he will and part of that comes with experience and is the tradeoff of some of the amazing assists.

The other is ball handling and given his relatively mediocre overall handles, this is much more of a concern. He gets picked a lot, especially in or any traffic. This will only be magnified against better defenders in the NBA and will cap his ceiling if he can’t really improve and create shots without turning over the ball. Some of these are up top in 1 on 1 situations or on very basic moves where defenders just swipe the ball away or a single defender digs down and grabs a loose dribble.  This is definitely a bit of a red flag.

Defense

Traore’s defensive profile shows some promise, but right now his play is uneven and needs some growth and technical development.  Traore tends to play high and upright, rarely sitting in a stance, which contributes to “dancy” feet and poor balance. That, coupled with a high center of gravity, makes him vulnerable to fakes, counters, and stepbacks. He bites on almost every kind of fake; jumping at pump fakes, getting pulled out of position on ball fakes, and getting setup by hesitation dribbles.  This leads to him getting thrown off and beaten to the hoop or not being able to effectively challenge a jump shot because he’s at an odd angle.

Still, when he’s locked in and gets into a stance, he can slide well laterally and use his quickness and long arms to contest. He has the speed to cover ground on closeouts and recoveries, and his speed lets him chase shooters or help from the weak side effectively. He also shows flashes of rotational awareness and fight, as he’ll rotate when teammates get beat and will try to put a body on opposing bigs when switches happen.

Theoretically has nice north to south change of direction; however, his footwork isn’t clean, so he will take an extra step when moving back or getting ready to move forward before he plants. If he needs that step for balance, it’s going to hurt him in the NBA. If he can clean up his footwork, once he pushes off he bursts towards his man and can close ground quickly, which would be very helpful for his defensive upside.  Sometimes his momentum can also carry him too far when a player stops and he needs time to recover. This happens too often and it maybe his high center of gravity hampers him at times and can lead to him being very susceptible to countermoves, especially step backs.

Traore’s screen navigation is poor as he rarely fights over the top of screens and often tries to finesse his way around them.  He also lacks the strength to really fight through them, although to be fair, he is 18-19 going against grown men and FIBA allowed more moving screens.  Still, once a screen takes him out of a play, he can struggle to recover and get back in.  If his man drives to the hoop, he sort of drifts behind the play and doesn’t always seem to know what to do.  Although, to his credit, a couple of times when his big man rotated over to help, he did instinctively go put a body on the big man his teammate was guarding to prevent an easy assist or offensive rebound.

He’s not the most physical defender.  Traore’s tendency to shy away from contact on offense also shows up on defense.  This is in almost all aspects of defense, but again with screens, almost seems to anticipate them and to want to avoid contact, will guide with his arms sometimes or slow down and try to finesse his way around them.  Really doesn’t fight over the top at all or use any aggression to fight quickly underneath.

Similarly, if a player is driving up into his body, if there is room he almost steps back and gives them space instead of just absorbing the contact.  And this isn’t big wings knocking him back.  This is with pretty regular sized guards who he steps back and gives an opportunity to get off a runner, while only trying to block or contest with his outstretched arms.  Also, he can just turn his back to the offensive player when they start going up instead of contesting.  Maybe my least favorite kind of defense is when a player tries “to block the basketball with his butt.”

Traore has nice lateral speed allowing him to keep up with ball handlers and avoid getting tripped up by quick crossovers and other countermoves. Has some ability to quickly change direction from east to west, but on any real fake or counter where he gets his momentum going in one direction, it takes him a moment to recover and gives the opposing offensive player a real advantage. Still, when engaged, does a much better job east to west than north to south, even looking a bit like a legit defender at times.

However, Traore still has a thinner frame and is a bit too easy to turn a corner on, especially paired with how he positions himself at times.  Also has an odd habit of almost immediately turning sideways instead of continuing to slide and block the ball handler.  Not sure if its avoiding contact, coaching, or something else, but lets a lot of guards drive by him who it seems like he should be able to stay with due to how he positions his body.  Doesn’t seem like funneling though, so not sure why he’s doing it or it hasn’t been corrected.

That said, his tools give him defensive upside. He has long arms, fast hands, and sharp instincts that allow him to generate steals and deflections. He’s tough to pass over and can disrupt ball movement with his anticipation. With development, his off-ball defensive feel and awareness could grow into a strength.

Tarore currently offers minimal rim resistance or presence down low. While he has some length and willingness to rotate, his lack of physicality, biting on nearly every pump fake, and thin frame prevent him from offering much congestion or real resistance inside.  Although, can break up some passes with his long arms and reflexes.