After spending the past few seasons bouncing around the Spanish LEB, Matias Nocedal has landed in LegaDue with Aurora Basket Jesi on loan from Caja Laboral Baskonia. Having seemingly been on the radar of scouts forever, Nocedal has certainly made the rounds as a European prospect. The Argentinian point guard has played at the Nike Hoop Summit, the Adidas Eurocamp in Treviso, a host of junior championships, and has even seen a few minutes in the Euroleague.
Averaging 8.8 points per-game this season next to former Georgia Tech wing B.J. Elder, Nocedal has been extremely efficient shooting from the perimeter in spot-up situations and scoring off the bounce when going one-on-one, but hasn't been functioning as Jesi's primary ball-handler. He's spent the vast majority of his minutes at the two spot since he is better at using his creativity to score than pass, gets a bit out of control at times, and is simply looking to score first when he attacks. Nocedal has improved his shot considerably over the years, but still likes to put his head down and attack the rim with reckless abandon. Though his forays into the paint sometimes results in a savvy pass to a cutting big man, more often than not, Nocedal attempts to finish his drives himself with an array of scoops and floaters.
An extremely active defender, Nocedal is limited on both ends of the floor by his skinny frame, and while he shows very good quickness, he lacks the physical profile and explosiveness to effectively play the shooting guard spot at the NBA level making his lack of experience as a lead guard that much more significant. There's no doubting Nocedal's potential in the European game, and consistent minutes in Lega Due should be a nice stepping stone for him, but he has yet to emerge as the NBA caliber prospect some expected him to develop into earlier on in his career, and at this point, it's unlikely that he will.
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