Is Baye Ndongo the ACC's next frontcourt playmaker?

Georgia Tech's PF/C provides a spark of interior passing and 5-out initiation

As soon as Baye Ndongo entered Georgia Tech’s lineup last season — returning from a hand injury that forced him to miss time in the preseason and the first three games — he never looked back.

In just his third game of action, Ndongo put together a massive performance during a Georgia Tech home win over Duke. Matched up with Kyle Filipowski, Ndongo showcased his blend of skills, athleticism and motor: 21 points (9-11 FGA), four blocks, two assists and one steal. By season’s end, Ndongo started 29 games and finished as an ACC All-Rookie Team selection.

He was one of only three high-major freshmen to record 10 percent offensive rebound rate, 20 percent defensive rebound rate and three percent block rate — along with Owen Freeman (Iowa) and Alex Condon (Florida).

Ndongo is older for a sophomore; he’ll turn 22 in January. However, there’s a lot to like about his game and how it can grow from here. The physical traits are there. He’s an impressive mover with good vertical pop and a motor that runs hot. At the G League Elite Camp this spring, he measured at 6-foot-9.5 with a 7-foot-3 wingspan and a 9-foot reach.

Moreover, Ndongo has some impressive processing skills that he’s able to blend with his physical profile, which speaks to his upside — not only as an impact player for Georgia Tech but also as an NBA prospect.

Digging into the lineup data

As much as the Yellow Jackets struggled to win games, Tech’s most played lineup — which featured Naithan George, Miles Kelly, Kowacie Reeves, Tafara Gapare and Ndongo — was +8 in 131 minutes last season (+13 in 43 minutes in Quad 1 games), according to CBB Analytics. Opponents barely scored over 1.0 points per possession with that five-man group on the floor for GT, though some of that defensive efficiency can be attributed to poor 3-point shooting in a relatively small sample (opponent 28.2 3P%).

Still, Tech was frisky in Damon Stoudamire’s debut season, including five wins over teams that ended the season inside KenPom’s Top 35 of adjusted efficiency margin, three of which made it to the Sweet 16: Duke (7), UNC (9), Clemson (19), Wake Forest (28) and Mississippi State (34).

Ndongo was a major piece of these early successes. For Georgia Tech to next the next steps and develop a more efficient offense, though, Ndongo must continue to evolve as a frontcourt playmaker. There are reasons to believe in Ndongo.

Pick-Pocket

For a half-court offense to function efficiently it must be able to build and maintain advantages: finding ways to bend a set defense and score off the advantage. The most straightforward way of creating advantage is to get two defenders on the ball, thus opening up passing opportunities to teammates: kick-out 3s, rolls to the rim, cut finishes.

In the simplest form, this is achieved with ball screens or handoff exchange; however, off-ball screening actions and movement, along with post-ups, can work as well.

In the pick-and-roll game, there’s obvious value for screen-and-dive players who can pressure the rim; let them roll uncontested to the hoop and it’ll produce a dunk or a layup. Ngdongo can be a pressure point on the rim in this regard — using his foot speed to dive quickly and his athleticism to finish above the rim.

Here’s the first play of the game at Hawaii: Tech runs “Ram Spain” pick-and-roll. This is a screen-the-screener (Ram) stack pick-and-roll set; Kelly sets a screen for Ndongo before the center lifts to set the initial ball screen for George, followed by another back pick from Kelly as Ndongo dives for the lob finish.

Hawaii is in drop coverage and tries to guard this set of screen 3-on-3; however, the stack action works, and Ndongo takes advantage of the free run to the rim.

During his freshman season, Ndongo shot 65.9 percent at the rim in the half court and scored 1.17 points per possession (65.8 FG%) when he rolled or slipped to the rim, according to Synergy Sports.

George assisted Ndongo on 38 field goals last season, per CBB Analytics, the most of any combo on Tech’s roster. Georgia Tech scored 0.91 points per pick-and-roll possession last season with George as the ball handler — a Top 50 number nationally among players with 400+ possessions. Ndongo, of course, was the screen partner on a lot of these possessions.

Even if the roller doesn’t receive a pass for an immediate finish, they can still force defensive rotations and pull help defenders into the paint with hard rim runs, diving with force, which opens up skip passes to shooters on the weak side. If defense must respect the roller, it creates opportunities for players on the second side of the floor — spot-up 3s or catch-and-go drives.

To start the game against Georgia Tech, Virginia’s Ryan Dunn, defending Ndongo, guards this screen for Kelly up at the level, which puts two defenders on the ball — Dunn and guard Reece Beekman.

As Ndongo dives, though, Andrew Rohde, the low man defender on the left side of the floor, must comes off the corner to tag the diving big man, Ndongo, which leaves Reeves open for a 3. Kelly uses his eyes to help lull Rohde off the corner and delivers a nice pass, too.

That said, as defenses become more sophisticated and committed to keeping the ball in front and out of rotation, or pinned on one side of the floor through no-middle/Ice coverages, or by hard hedging and placing two defenders on the ball handler, the screener may need to do more than dive to the rim, though.

To fully optimize an offense, screeners must be able to either pick-and-pop, forcing extra rotations and greater ground coverage to prevent an open catch-and-shoot 3, or make plays in the pockets of space on the short roll, which requires quick decision-making against a rotating defense.

While Ndongo showed only hints of a 3-pointer at this stage of his career (4-12 3PA), there’s a lot to like with his ability to make plays on the short rolls.

Pass the dish

Ndongo recorded only 28 assists as a freshman, but he was rather adept as a short-roll passer, taking the initial advantage and helping build upon it. During these possessions, Ndongo acts as a funnel — with the ball redirecting through him, changing sides of the floor, and finding its way into the hands of open teammates.

Wake Forest tries to “weak” this George-Ndongo spread pick-and-roll. Cameron Hildreth positions himself between George and Ndongo’s screen — pushing George to the left side of the floor and his weaker hand. Efton Reid comes very high up the floor, too.

Instead of repositioning himself for another screen, Ndongo releases and turns into an outlet on the short roll. George lobs a pass to Ndongo, who catches in space in the middle of the floor. This is where Wake Forest’s defense breaks down.

With the lob pass buying him some time, Reid recovers back to Ndongo. Sallis, however, gambles and tries to get a steal, leaving Kelly open on the wing, while Andrew Carr rotates over in low-man/help responsibilities. Carr’s rotation leaves Gapare unattended. Gapare isn’t much of a shooter, so he cuts from the corner, behind the rotation. Here, Ndongo showcases his quick processing skills — hitting his teammates for a cut dunk, just before Carr (an excellent rim protector) can recover.

Ndongo assisted Gapare five times last season, per CBB Analytics.

Here’s a similar setup against Duke, albeit with the Blue Devils using a different coverage. Duke switches most 1-4 exchanges; as this George and Ndongo (playing the 4 in this lineup) screen-roll takes place, the expectation would be for Mark Mitchell to switch out on the guard while Jaylen Blakes scrambles to the roll man. Instead, Ndongo slips the screen, Blakes and Mitchell miscommunicate/misread the coverage and, all of a sudden, Tech has a 4-on-3 scenario with Ndongo open in the middle of the play.

Filipowski comes off Tyzhaun Claude to help on Ndongo, Claude corner cuts and Ndongo hits him for a layup with an acrobatic pass.

Notre Dame’s defense finished the season as a Top 50 unit in the country, thanks in large part to a young team playing hard and executing Micah Shrewsberry’s scheme at a high level. From the ACC Tournament: Notre Dame tries to “weak” this middle screen-roll with George and Ndongo — Markus Burton positions himself to push George left, with Kebba Njie up at the level but slowly dropping closer to the paint. George counters with a pocket pass to Ndongo and, once again, it’s another 4-on-3 situation. Patiently, Ndongo reads the rotations and kicks out for an open 3-point attempt.

That’s good process.

A little earlier in the same game: it’s an empty-side screen-roll possession between George and Ndongo — with Notre Dame trying to “Ice” the action and keep the ball on the right side of the floor. Burton angles himself parallel with the sideline, between George and Ndongo’s screen, with Njie out at the 3-point line. As Ndongo slides into the pocket and receives the pass, Carey Booth rotates over to Ndongo, which forces Logan Imes to leave Kelly and come down to help in the paint on Gapare. Ndongo sees this and, in traffic, makes a quick skip pass to Kelly for an open 3.

Clemson switches this pick-and-roll possession as Ndongo short rolls to a semi-post-up catch at the nail. This doesn’t directly result in points, but he makes a good read under pressure — as Clemson floods extra defenders into his space.

Short Roll Scoring

One of the reasons defenses must rotate to Ndongo in these short-roll situations — and leave other players momentarily open — is because of his ability to score the ball. Ndongo (56.9 2P%) is comfortable either scoring in the midrange or putting the ball on floor once or twice and getting to the rim. If there isn’t any help, or the help arrives too late, Ndongo will look to score.

Late in this possession vs. Notre Dame, Georgia Tech flows into George-Ndongo screen-roll with an empty corner. Burton isn’t able to get in front of this screen, which means he must fight over the top — with Njie below the level of the screen but still pretty high up the floor (above the arc). Ndongo makes contact and creates separation with his screen, and George has a window to hit him with a pocket pass. It’s another 4-on-3, but this time Booth fails to peel in and show early help. As a result, Ndongo catches the ball in space and is able to get right to the rim for a layup off one dribble.

Braeden Shrewsberry is there to help, but at 6-foot-3 he doesn’t have the length to apply a good contest at the rim. If Shrewsberry isn’t able to take a charge here, this is always going to be a layup.

Ndongo is so slippery when he’s able to work as a step-up screener with these empty-side pick-and-rolls. His speed and fluidity can cause problems. Even for mobile defenders, like Filipowski, can lose him in space.

It’s another late-clock possession, this time vs. Duke, and the Yellow Jackets flow into angled screen-roll with Ndongo and George. Ndongo chases his pass to George to set a screen on Caleb Foster. Before the step-up screen is set, though, Ndongo spins and slips into space.

George hits Ndongo with the pocket pass when his left foot is still outside the elbow; however, Ndongo is able to take a long slide and then launch himself at the rim for a finish around Ryan Young. This is really impressive athleticism from Ndongo.

Even when help did arrive, Ndongo showed flashes off midrange touch as he threw in jumpers, runners and hook shots from a tricky distance on the floor.

Wake Forest is in drop coverage on this possession, and Efton Reid is able to get back to Ndongo on the short roll. Ndongo is still able to hit a tough fadeaway jumper, though.

Here’s another spread ball screen possession between George and Ndongo — this time against Virginia’s hard hedge, which puts two defenders on the ball and creates the short roll opportunity for Ndongo. Dunn was arguably the best weak-side rim protector in the country last season. He rotates over, but Ndongo moves quickly and lofts a soft runner right over the top of Dunn’s contest.

According to Bart Torvik’s data, Ndongo shot 45.9 percent on long 2-point attempts last season. He was one of only nine ACC players to shoot above 45 percent on long 2s with a minimum of 100 attempts, along with Hunter Sallis, DJ Burns and Bub Carrington.

On these short roll possessions, Ndongo does well to not force things. Instead, he simply takes what the defense gives him. That type of push shot is such an important thing to have in your bag if you’re operating in the short roll. It’s an automatic against certain coverages.

From a different matchup vs. UVA: Georgia Tech runs “21 Chase” action as a part of its hurry-up offense. This is “Pistol” action — Reeves slipping the guard-guard screen for George — followed by an empty-side screen from Ndongo. Jordan Minor hard hedges and Ndongo slips into space. Jake Groves does a nice job meeting Ndongo on the catch, but he takes a power dribble and displaces Groves while finishing through contact.

Here, Tech runs another Spain/stack pick-and-roll set — this time from its Horns series. Ndongo does a nice job screening Burton, which allows George to turn the corner; Njie is below the level of the screen but must come over to help, leaving Ndongo open on the roll, with only a marginal tag from Imes. George lobs to Ndongo, trusting his big man’s ability to win a contested catch over Tae Davis.

Davis doesn’t even try to compete for the lob to Ndongo as Njie recovers back. Njie is flat on his feet as Ndongo quickly second jumps and is back in the air to loft in a little half-hook push shot.

Ndongo will also go to work in these pockets against drop coverage — when the screen defender drops several feet below the level of the screen as the defense tries to guard the pick-and-roll 2-on-2.

Hawaii’s in drop coverage as Ndongo sets another angled screen with an empty corner. The ball handler is contained, the rim is closed off and Hawaii’s help defenders are glued to the three GT shooters, all located above the arc. Kyle Sturdivant draws the screener defender over and throws a late pass back to Ndongo, who has to gather himself before finishing through contact and over a contest with a tough lefty hook shot.

This combination of skills is just so useful for a pick-and-roll offense. Ndongo will make tough, contested catches in traffic, and he has the touch to score from the short midrange even when the rim is walled off and there are no obvious passing options.

Again, Hawaii is in drop coverage against this angled Tech ball screen — this time coming from the slot, just off the middle of the floor. Kelly throws Ndongo the pocket pass, but everything is pretty well defended by Hawaii; the ball is in front of the defense and all three help defenders are glued to GT shooters. This is where one of basketball’s great axioms comes into play: good offense beats good defense. Ndongo catches the ball at the nail, faces up and then unlocks his inner Dirk Nowitzki with a one-legged fadeaway jumper.

Obviously, it’d be a big deal for Ndongo to add in a reliable 3-point shot. With that at his disposal, he could really threaten to score and make plays from every level of the floor. That said, even without the deep jumper, this type of in-between game is still a really useful tool.

Post Game

During his freshman season, Ndongo scored 0.73 points per possession on post-ups and isolation opportunities, combined. Drilling down, he scored under 0.70 points per post-up possession — despite shooting 46 percent on post-up field goal attempts, which is a good number. The reason for the lack of overall efficiency on these post-up possessions can be attributed to turnovers; according to Synergy, Ndongo posted a turnover rate of 27.8 percent on the post-up possessions he used, the second worst rate among ACC players with 25+ post-ups. (Duke’s Ryan Young was the worst with a 29.6 percent turnover rate on post-ups.)

In general, Ndongo needs to cut down the turnovers. He recorded 74 turnovers in just over 800 minutes last season: 3.7 turnovers per 40 minutes and 5.4 turnovers per 100 possessions.

When he takes his time, is protective of the ball and has space to work with, though, Ndongo can utilize his touch to find points. In those moments, Ndongo can leverage his strength to get himself closer to the paint and then spin off either shoulder from a more efficient distance.

Working against Dunn, a monster defender, Ndongo used two dribbles to get from the mid-post down to the right block — before spinning off for a righty hook shot.

Ndongo is so nimble for a post-up target. If he’s on balance, Ndongo can do some pretty cool stuff in terms of skill and footwork.

At Virginia: this “Horns Out” possession turns into George-Ndongo pick-and-roll and, eventually, another post-up vs. Dunn. Ndongo gets away with a pretty obvious hook here, but he’s still able to spin away from Dunn and score.

This empty-side ball screen turns into a mid-post opportunity. Ndongo uses his dribble to get a piece of the paint. He then pro hops (to create some separation) into a shot fake, which gets the defender off his feet. Ndongo keeps his pivot foot and spins back to his right for a finish off the glass.

Ndongo doesn’t need to rely on only his right hand, though. He can operate on the left side of the floor and spin away from the defense for some deft southpaw finishes, too.

On this screen-roll, Ndongo is able to get deep post position with Duke putting two defenders on the ball. Ndongo then quick finishes with a gorgeous lefty hook.

Ndongo can work as a passer out of the post, too. This is another empty-side ball screen that turns into a mid-post touch. As Ndongo takes Dillon Hunter deeper into the post, PJ Hall helps on a quick double team — coming from the baseline. Ndongo shows good feel here as he adjusts on the fly and throws a wraparound pass to Claude, right at the front of the rim.

QB Mode: 5-Out and Handoff Actions

Stoudamire and Georgia Tech played some 5-out last season, and with Ndongo back I could see the Yellow Jackets leaning into those sets with greater frequency.

Ndongo initiates this 5-out look at Hawaii, which flows into “Zoom” action for Reeves — coming out of the corner, off a down screen from George and into the dribble handoff with Ndongo.

If the player doesn’t have enough advantage to attack directly off the Zoom action, that’s fine. The offense can re-screen and flow into spread pick-and-roll — after having moved the defense around some, first.

Here’s a similar setup coming out of halftime against Notre Dame. On the left side of the floor, Kelly and Reeves run a little “Twirl” exchange, spinning around one another and ending back up in the spots they started in. Meanwhile, Ndongo operates in the middle as George comes off the pindown into the handoff with Ndongo. Burton gets clipped by the screens and George has an open 3.

This is another 5-out, after-timeout possession vs. Virginia — with Ndongo initiating. On the right side, Reeves and George exchange in splits cuts — running toward one another and then splitting off in different directions. Reeves clears all the way to the left corner. Kelly sets the pindown for Sturdivant, who flows into pick-and-roll with Ndongo. As Minor hard hedges, Ndongo is able to get a clean release into the paint and establish post position. UVA doesn’t send the post double and Ndongo goes to work 1-on-1, scoring off a nifty drop-step layup to his left hand.

When Tech spaces the floor with enough shooting, it opens up isolation opportunities for Ndongo. That’s where he can lean into his speed advantage, at times.

Kelly rejects the “Wide” screen from Ndongo to start the possession. After receiving the initiation pass, Ndongo surveys the floor as George and Reeves run another Twirl exchange. Eventually, all four off-ball players clear to the left side of the floor and allow Ndongo to attack Armando Bacot 1-on-1. Ndongo uses his speed and handle to turn the corner on Bacot — finishing with good craft at the rim. Ndongo goes with a reverse finish, shielding himself from the UNC defenders.

The stronger Ndongo gets, the more he’ll be able to withstand contact against bulkier frontcourt defenders, which will allow him to better leverage his speed and footwork advantages.

This Horns Out possession at Duke flows into Ndongo initiating 5-out from near the left slot. Kelly and George run split action on the right side of the floor, but Duke’s defense — Tyrese Proctor and Foster — stays honest. Late in the clock, Ndongo decides to attack Young 1-on-1. As Ndongo hops and deals with the bump from Young, he needs an extra step to gather himself and is whistled for a turnover.

Assuming he’s called upon to initiate more next season, Ndongo could really tap into fake dribble-handoff (“Keep”) actions. These fake handoff maneuvers can freeze defenders, who are unclear if they need to respond to a screening action, and work as a great counter to a switch defense.

Wake Forest isn’t switching in this scenario, but on the game-winning possession in Winston-Salem, Ndongo is able to leverage the threat of a handoff back to George — on this baseline out-of-bounds play — as he catches and quickly turns to corner on Reid.