Aday Mara full breakdown

#27 Prospect: Aday Mara

Role: Big bodied center who offers play finishing, passing, and rim protection but lacks lateral mobility and physicality

Rankings

Grade	Grade Rank	Ceiling Grade	Ceiling Rank
5.2	27th	6.3	28th

Anthropometrics/Agility

Height	Weight	Wingspan	Vertical	Shuttle	Agility
7’ 3”	259.8	7’ 6”	28	3.36	11.47

Intangibles

Strengths	Weaknesses
Height/size/length	Ball security/decision making
Rim protection	Lateral agility/foot speed
Passing ability	Physicality

Summary

Mara presents as a big bodied center who offers play finishing and passing potential on the offensive end while providing rim protection and outlet passing on the defensive end. Offensively, Mara’s role relies on his positional height and length. He provides a big body to set screens. He is a large target to receive passes near the rim. His height also allows him to scan the floor and locate his teammates in rhythm. Mara also uses his size and length well to generate second chance opportunities on the offensive glass. Areas of improvement revolve around his balance, strength, ball handling, shooting efficiency, and decision making. His self-creation is limited to the low-post but his efficiency is highly dependent on his balance to convert his attempts. Against physical opponents, he struggles to maintain his balance and finish consistently near the rim. He also needs to improve his ball handling and decision making to reduce his turnovers. And although he doesn’t require shooting to be effective, it will provide another element of his offensive game. On the defensive end, Mara is an imposing rim protector. He uses his height and length well to contest shots near the rim and disrupt passes in the passing lanes. His defensive impact can improve if he ramps up his intensity, discipline, and arm activity. He needs to maximize his impact on the floor since he is considerably deficient defending in space. He anchors the paint and has difficulty guarding on the perimeter which makes him an enticing target for opposing teams. Another area of development revolves around his strength. Mara will benefit from improving his strength to absorb contact and hold his ground while defending in the post or boxing out to secure defensive rebounds. 

Expectations

I expect Mara to earn a consistent reserve role playing between 10-14 minutes a game as a play finisher, screen setter, offensive rebounder, front court passing option, and defensive rim protector. His offensive role will lean into his strengths and physical gifts as a large big body center. He will support an offense as an obstacle for defenses to get around and a large target for his teammates to deliver the ball to. In addition, his height and length will help him secure rebounds over his opponents. His passing ability will also provide an additional option for offenses to design sets around. He needs to improve his balance, strength, ball handling, shooting efficiency, and decision making to convert his attempts at a higher efficiency and reduce his turnovers. Those are all areas that are within his capability. On the defensive end, Mara will anchor the paint as a rim protector. He will have difficulty defending in space and presents as a target for the opposition to attack. If he is forced to leave the paint, he is at a disadvantage and will have a difficult time sustaining minutes on the floor. Defensively, he needs to increase his arm activity, defensive discipline, strength, and balance to maximize his impact on the floor. If Mara can improve upon his deficiencies, he can expand his role to play up to 20-26 minutes a game in a platoon type of role. 

Strengths

Offensive footwork, Soft touch around the rim using either hand, Rim protection due to height/length/positioning, Hustle in transition (offense/defense), Passing ability/versatility, Concentration to convert lob attempts, Outlet passing, Unselfish passer, Court vision, Length/size, Catch radius to receive passes, Active disruptive arms, Screen and roll/short roll ability, Rebounding presence (especially offensively)

Weaknesses

Ball security, Athleticism/lateral agility/balance, Closeout ability, Strength and physicality, Lateral mobility/ability to defend in space, Delayed defensive reactions/late to help teammates, Defensive discipline/foul trouble, Hand strength to secure defensive rebounds, Inconsistent offensive footwork, Targeted often by opposing defenses, Blocked at the rim often, Shooting efficiency (perimeter/free throw line), Hands to secure passes, Ball watching tendencies, Absent boxout, Spatial awareness

Offensive Footwork

Mara's offensive footwork demonstrates high potential from the low-post. He utilizes either pivot foot and is a capable finisher using both hands making his direction of attack unpredictable. He covers a tremendous amount of space during his pivot moves and has great length and touch to convert hook shots over opponents. He will benefit from ongoing development as his balance while executing his moves, absorbing contact, or transitioning to a counter move is problematic. For a center, Mara handles the ball at a high rate from the perimeter primarily as a passer. His footwork is underdeveloped from the triple threat position. Against pressure, he consistently drags or switches his pivot foot. He was not called for violations at the college level but that can become an element of focus for officiating teams. 

Offensive Reactions/IQ

His ability to read the floor is special. Standing at 7'3", he has a vantage point that other players do not possess. He leverages help on the block due to his size and skill, but he exploits double teams by locating his teammates. He is prone to turnovers as defenses can confuse him as he anticipates their rotations or help. He forces errant passes and needs to improve his ball security. 

Ball Handling

His ball handling is very limited. If asked to dribble the ball, the chances of a turnover increase with each dribble. As a result, his ball handling should be limited to the low-post touches at this time. From the perimeter, he can execute out of DHO situations but even then, quick defenders are capable of disrupting his control. 

Shooting

Mara needs substantial development on his shot. His form looks promising but the results from the perimeter and free throw line are well below average. He does not necessitate shooting to increase his effectiveness on the floor. But it will enhance his game and make him more of a threat while handling the ball from the perimeter. As a finisher near the rim, he is skilled utilizing either hand. He has soft touch and a very long reach. As long as he has his balance and space, he converts at a high rate. If he is bumped or loses his balance, his shot attempts at the rim are easily blocked. That is a discouraging sign as the athleticism, strength, and length will significantly improve at the next level. Since he lacks vertical jumping ability, Mara needs to improve his strength, physicality, and balance to create a stable base to get into his shot attempt. 

Passing

His passing is a special quality. He sees the floor well. He delivers passes using either hand from an array of angles. He is a flashy passer who passes his teammates open but is exposed to turnovers from his flashy passing style. He anticipates defensive rotations and reactions but is easily manipulated into an incorrect decision. He executes his passes from a number of different areas of the court: low-post, perimeter, on the short roll, or outlet passing after securing defensive rebounds. His outlet passing is truly special and kick starts fast break opportunities. 

Creation Ability

His creation ability is limited to the low-post. As mentioned in the footwork section, he demonstrates great potential due to his use of either pivot foot or hand to finish. He needs to improve his balance and strength to get his shot attempts up cleanly. 

Spacing/Movement

Mara does not offer floor spacing ability due to his non-shooting threat, but he sees the floor well from the perimeter to direct the offense and find his teammates. He also moves well around the rim to find soft spots for his teammates to deliver dumpoff or lob passes on their drives. He offers a big body to set screens and rolls with purpose. He offers a tremendous catch radius for his teammates to locate him near the rim. This is a valuable trait that creates opportunities that other players are incapable of. 

Offensive Hustle

His hustle and effort on the offensive end is displayed as he competes on the offensive glass and runs in transition. Mara is a big body with long arms and demonstrates consistent persistence to keep the ball alive on the glass. He positions himself well after his teammates draw help to convert putback attempts. Since defenses target him on the perimeter, he has a head start in transition to present a target for lob passes or post entry passes after drawing a mismatch.

Defensive Footwork

Mara's defensive stance and footwork is uninspiring. He plays in a vertical stance and his hands are consistently inactive. He is willing to compete on the perimeter but due to his lateral mobility deficit, is consistently at a disadvantage. He also struggles to maintain his ground while defending on the block. Physical post players back him down too easily and he relies on his height and length to block their attempts. Mara will benefit from sitting lower in a defensive stance to maximize his ability to defend in space and increase his strength to hold his ground on the block. 

Deflections/Activity

Mara's length is impactful. Despite his inconsistent activity with his hands, he generates a quality number of deflections due to his reach to disrupt passing angles. If his hands are up or away from his hips, he presents a tremendous obstacle for opponents to pass the ball by him. His impact can greatly enhance if he improves his activity and reaction timing. He also is an imposing rim protector. He times his blocks well and contests with verticality. 

Intensity/Discipline

Intensity is lacking. Mara makes an impact on the defensive end but his potential to impact the game is much higher if his intensity and discipline improve. As discussed in other sections, his arms are stuck to his hips when he is not directly involved in the action. His lack of discipline also makes him susceptible to ball fakes creating angles for opponents to attack or exposing himself to fouls. 

Screen Negotiation

Mara primarily plays in drop coverage while defending screens as he likes to anchor the paint. He is very effective in drop coverage unless he is matched up against a floor spacing big. During these scenarios, he is consistently exploited and has difficulty closing out on the shooter. If he closes out aggressively, his lack of mobility exposes him to drives, causing his teammates to cover for his deficiencies. This was a consistent strategy by teams who possessed floor spacing bigs and will continue to be a strategy at the next level. Mara demonstrated the willingness to hedge and recover but his inability to defend in space makes this continuous challenge. 

Off-ball Awareness

His off-ball effectiveness comes from his length to disrupt passing lanes and offer rim protection near the rim. Mara anchors the paint and as a result finds himself out of position to close out on shooters. His close outs expose him to fouls or blow-by drives. If Mara is not stretched out to the perimeter, he offers great weakside rim protection although he will benefit from improving his reaction time to position himself more effectively. 

Defensive Hustle

His hustle on the defensive end is inconsistent. He misses boxout opportunities too often as he relies on his height and length to secure rebounds. He also has difficulty securing rebounds in traffic as he needs to improve his grip strength and physicality to maintain his positioning. Despite his inconsistent effort on the defensive glass, he is a great outlet passer after he secures a rebound and is willing to run the floor to challenge shots in transition.