The Suns took Gani Lawal in the second round with the 46th pick in the 2010 NBA Draft.  Entering the draft the same year that teammate Derrick Favors did, Lawal was “the other guy” and he saw his stock drop off (mainly because teams thought he was undersized at 6′8″ and 233 lbs).  However, he has really impressed while playing for the Suns during the Las Vegas Summer League, proving he has the skills to make it in the NBA.

The Good

Physicality

Despite being undersized (in terms of weight) when going up against opposing power forwards and centers, Gani Lawal shows a physicality that is needed to excel when matching up against bigger opponents.  This willingness to bang bodies helps Lawal on both sides of the court:

Here, Lawal gets the ball in the post with a taller defender covering him.  Lawal simply drops his shoulder and drives it into the bigger defender, pushing him back a few steps.  Lawal gets to where he wants to be on the court and attempts his shot (though he gets fouled).

And here, Lawal gets his hands on the ball and rips it out of the defender’s hands (and sends him off balance, almost making him fall).  He then takes a dribble, turns his butt into the help defender (keeping him away from the basketball), and then he completes the spin with a strong dunk.

On the defensive end, Lawal’s willingness to bang helps him when defending taller defenders on the inside.  Here, Jordan Hill makes the catch on the post, with Lawal defending him.  Hill tries to force his way to a comfortable spot on the court, but Lawal pushes right back, not letting Hill move.  Hill has to settle for a hook farther away from the basket then he would like and misses it.

Free Throw Rate

A direct result of Gani Lawal knowing how (and being willing) to use his body is that he was able to get himself to the foul line a ton during Summer League.  Lawal got himself to the line 41 times and amassed a free throw rate (Free Throw Attempts/Field Goal Attempts) of .695 over the course of five games (this isn’t something that just happened either, last year at Georgia Tech, Lawal was ranked 57th in the country with a FTR of .683).  To put some perspective to the number, the average free throw rate for PFs who played more than 25+ minutes a game (which is what Lawal averaged in Summer League) was .330 and the average free throw rate for Centers who played more than 25+ minutes a game was .374.  So how does he get himself to the line so often?  He knows how to use his body, and leads with it more often than not when making moves in the post:

Lawal is also strong enough in the lower body that defenders need to use their hands when trying to defend him in the post. This is what allows Lawal to pick up a couple more fouls on defenders over the course of the game.

Fits The Suns System

When looking at Gani Lawal, you don’t really see a player who can fits in the Suns’ run and gun/pick and roll system.  I mean, he is a big and physical guy who likes to bang.  However, looks can be deceiving.  Throughout Summer League, Gani Lawal has shown an ability to be effective in the pick and roll and when running the court:

The clip above shows you how strong Lawal looks when running the pick and roll. In the pick and roll, Gani Lawal’s wide body is what you are looking for in a screen setter. Lawal is also able to disengage from the contact on the screen and find the open spots on the roll. He then is able to finish strong at the rim.

In the two clips above, Gani Lawal shows you exactly how a big man should run the floor. Once he sees his team has secured the basketball, he puts his down and sprints as fast as he can to the opposite end of the court, and as soon as he reaches the lane he picks his head up and looks for the ball handler running the break. He locates the ball, makes the catch, and finishes strong at the rim.

Defending On The Outside

I think that Lawal’s is better suited to play Power Forward rather than center in the NBA. This means that he will find himself defending “stretch 4s” a good amount of the time. Despite being a banger, Lawal has shown during Summer League that he has no problem stepping outside and defending on the perimeter:

The Bad

I know what you are thinking, if Gani Lawal is so good, how come he dropped all the way to the middle of the second round?  Well he does have some flaws to his game.

Free Throw Shooting

One of the things that really impressed me about Lawal was his ability to get to the line.  This is only a positive attribute if you can make your  free throws, and Gani Lawal can’t do that.  Out of the 41 times Lawal got himself to the line, he only made 19 of them (46.4%), essentially giving away 22 possible points.  This is definitely a trend and not summer league nerves because in college last season Lawal shot around 57% from the line.  So why does he shoot so poorly from the line?  It all has to do with his shooting form:

On his foul shots, Lawal takes two bounces and bends his knees.  Now, you are supposed to bend your knees when taking foul shots but when Lawal does it he is much too stiff and mechanical.  There is no “bounce” when he bends his knees, and this throws the rest of his shot off.  He rises up too early and shoots it after he stands up straight.  The hurky-jerky motion means that his shots end up being all wrist, and that isn’t what you want.  You want to be in rhythm when shooting foul shots and have your whole body be rising up when he is releasing the basketball.

Outside Shooting

Kind of an extension from the foul shooting is the fact that Lawal has no outside game (in terms of an outside jumper) at all.  In fact, I can’t even show you a clip of a Gani Lawal jumper because I don’t even think he took one throughout the five games.  While this is a good thing (he seems to know his limitations), it also hurts him.  Part of what made the Suns’ pick and roll so effective is that Amar’e Stoudemire had an ability to pop out and be a legitimate threat to hit a jumper.  With Lawal probably playing more PF than Center he is going to need to have to be a threat to hit a jumper to be effective in the Suns offense.  He simply does not have that right now.

Fouls

The final flaw that I see in Gani Lawal’s game right now is that he fouls way too much.  In fact, during one Summer League game against the D-League Select team he picked up the infamous Summer League Triple Double (15 points, 11 rebounds, and 10 fouls).  Some of it had to do with the tight game the refs were calling (refs are trying to make the league too, and they are reffing the games like it), but there are two other reasons he picks up a good amount of fouls.  He tends to jump out instead of straight up and his style of play allows him to pick up a ton of fouls:

In the NBA, you are allowed to jump with your hands up and make contact with the player attacking the basket.  The only rule is that you need to have everything (including the hands) be straight up and vertical.  The minute you jump out towards the man attacking the rim and you make contact, it is a foul.  Lawal has a problem where he jumps out instead of up, and the above clip shows you what can happen.

In the above clip Gani Lawal picks up a foul fighting for position on a rebound.  This is Lawal’s style leading to a foul on him.  Lawal simply isn’t big enough to just get in front of his man when boxing out and use his body to hold his position on rebounds.  He is a guy who needs to bang and use his hands to get position, and this will eventually lead to a few fouls getting called on him on boxouts.

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In my opinion, Gani Lawal’s performance during the Las Vegas Summer League should guarantee him a roster spot, especially with the Suns looking to replace the production of Amar’e Stoudemire. There is a lot to like about Gani Lawal’s game, but he does need to improve his outside shot before he can truly be a factor for the Phoenix Suns. Even with that iffy jumper, I can see him being a spark guy coming off the bench and giving good and physical minutes in spurts.