1. Draft Age
18.9 years (7th percentile amongst 1st round drafted players between 2004-2024)
Australian NBL league
2. Physical Tools
Height without shoes: 7' 3.00''
Wingspan: 7' 4.75''
NBA Size: C
3. Team Role
Brisbane finished 8th out of 10 in Australian league
Brisbane had the worse DRtg in Australian league
Strengths
high orb%
Flaws
12th in minutes on team
low pts/g
low FG% for center
low FT% and 3P%
low ast%
low blk% for centre
ast/tov = 0.5
4. Nearest Neighbours
Star: Lamelo
Starters (NBA_Start% >= 50%): Sarr, Ferguson, Giddey
Rotation (VORP>=0):
Fringe (VORP<0): Klintman, Travers, Rupert, Johnson, Dieng
5. Analysis
Sarr and Klintman are the only Australian league players in a similar mould, but are more small C or Wings unlike the 7’3 Rocco. Rocco is big for a NBA C, almost 3 inches taller than Kessler with a longer wingspan.
Playing so few minutes for a poor Australian team (worse defensive rating in the league), there is a lot of extrapolation that is needed for Rocco’s NBA projection.
Stats that stand out:
low FG% for someone who is 7’4
he had a lower blk% than Sarr despite being a traditional C
he had almost double the orb% of Sarr
Sarr’s orb% dropped in the NBA (8.4% => 7.1%) as did Klintman’s
Rocco a young C that is bigger than a lot of NBA C. The 2 areas where traditional Cs thrive (FG% and blk%) were poor in the Australian league and would need to be much higher in the NBA for Rocco to have a rotation spot. Rocco’s main skill in the Australian league, orb%, may be slightly inflated when comparing Sarr’s and Klintman’s drop in the NBA.