Date | League | Transaction |
---|---|---|
24th September, 2015 | NBA | Signed an unguaranteed one year minimum salary contract with Orlando. |
24th October, 2015 | NBA | Waived by Orlando. |
2nd November, 2015 | D-League | Designated as an allocated player by Erie BayHawks. |
26th August, 2016 | Australia | Signed a one year contract with Cairns Taipans. |
8th December, 2016 | D-League | Returning player rights traded by Erie BayHawks to Grand Rapids Drive in exchange for Bruce Massey. |
3rd March, 2017 | New Zealand | Signed a one season contract with Super City Rangers. |
27th April, 2017 | Australia | Signed a one year extension with Cairns Taipans (to join after completion of New Zealand NBL season). |
13th March, 2018 | G-League | Designated as a returning player by Grand Rapids Drive. |
25th September, 2018 | Australia | Signed a short term contract with Brisbane Bullets. |
7th October, 2018 | Malaysia | Signed a one year contract with KL Dragons. |
8th January, 2019 | G-League | Returning player rights traded by Grand Rapids Drive to Agua Caliente Clippers in exchange for Dakarai Allen. |
2011 - 2015 | Illinois (NCAA) |
July 2015 | Orlando Magic (Summer League) |
September 2015 - October 2015 | Orlando Magic (NBA) |
November 2015 - June 2016 | Erie BayHawks (D-League) |
July 2016 | Orlando Magic (Summer League) |
July 2016 | D-League Select (Summer League) |
August 2016 - March 2017 | Cairns Taipans (Australia) |
March 2017 - June 2017 | Super City Rangers (New Zealand) |
July 2017 - March 2018 | Cairns Taipans (Australia) |
March 2018 - June 2018 | Grand Rapids Drive (G-League) |
July 2018 | Detroit Pistons (Summer League) |
September 2018 - October 2018 | Brisbane Bullets (Australia) |
October 2018 - present | KL Dragons (Malaysia) |
June 18, 2015
Nnanna Egwu
Continuing the theme set out by Desrosiers above, Egwu is a paint player on defense and a mid range to perimeter player on offense. The polar opposites in Egwu's game are quite extreme.
On defense, his effort is tremendous and he is effective all over the court. Be it around the basket, defending switches or in screen action, Egwu seems to always be in the right spot, with good mobility backed by a great effort level. Fluid if not the hugest leaper, Egwu's timing and length make him a tremendous shot blocker around the basket, and he also defends the perimeter better than most others on this list. Indeed, his pick-and-roll hedges are so hard that he's often not in rebounding position, but his rotations are fast and he is able to recover as well as anyone. The rebounding numbers suffer from all this help defense - Egwu is at least better at boxing out and rotating than he was, yet takes himself out of position through the hedges, chases and blocks quite routinely. But it's justified by the effectiveness of it all.
Offensively, it is a very different story. One of the worst interior finishers for a centre around, Egwu instead favours the perimeter, casting up jump shots with a reckless abandon that the percentages have never justified. Egwu wants to be a shooter and takes shots with the mindset of one, but he isn't an especially good one, and those two factors combine to make the big man a 41% shooter. A 41% shooting five would just about be acceptable with a very efficient, high volume three point stroke, but Egwu has not this. He is instead a severely limited scorer, who completely avoids the post, plays entirely face-up, mostly from far away (save for some cuts and pick-and-roll action), and utilises either a long range righty hook thing or a catch-and-shoot jump shot. Neither of which he has proven much good at. Never getting to the line and eschewing all contract, Egwu is thoroughly awkward on the offensive end, and it certainly is not justified by the effectiveness of it all.
If Egwu can stay good at that which he already is, and become good at that which he sorely wants to be, he is that rarest of beasts - a stretch five who can also defend the paint. That intrigues anybody. But in four years at Illinois, his offense barely if at all progressed, and it needs to do so quite sharpish.