2024 WNBA Draft Scouting Report: Nyadiew Puoch
Providing a summary of the Australian prospect's game
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Talented players from all across the world have been part of the WNBA since its inception. However, these players often seem undervalued on draft night for a variety of reasons, from legitimate concerns about unavailability, to the difficulties in projecting players drafted two or more years younger than their NCAA peers, to lack of familiarity with overseas leagues. However, quality players have been found from international leagues at every stage of the WNBA Draft, and there are even undrafted players who become quality WNBA players like Marine Johannès. As such, it remains important for teams and media members to scout them, and it can be fun even for more casual fans. We have previously covered Australian wing Isobel Borlase and are back to discuss another exciting young player eligible for the 2024 WNBA Draft, Nyadiew Puoch from Australia.
One of the most tantalizing prospects in this year’s draft class irrespective of origin, Puoch is a 6-foot-3 forward who plays for the Southside Flyers in the Australian WNBL alongside Seattle Storm center Mercedes Russell and former WNBA players Leilani Mitchell, Jasmine Dickey, and GOAT candidate Lauren Jackson. In fact, Puoch and Dickey occupy similar roles in the Flyers rotation as athletic wings who spend most of their time at the 3 position, and Puoch is the one who has been granted a starting spot and a larger share of the minutes. This is despite the fact that WNBL teams only have two spots to allot to players without citizenship in Oceania.
The first element that jumps out about Puoch’s game is her combination of length and athleticism. This really pops in transition on both offense…
https://www.youtube.com/live/W0zCvuiaasQ?si=jUI_z1KBTOLuj1So&t=4804
…and defense.
https://www.youtube.com/live/rmWCeFRV8xk?si=ZubjFi64XS9fPqG1&t=997
However, Puoch can still take advantage of her gifts in the halfcourt. On offense, she can manufacture open looks at the basket off her own dribble.
https://www.youtube.com/live/W0zCvuiaasQ?si=mjm8f6EebZW89Y2Q&t=4950
Being able to act quickly speaks well to her ability to serve as a complementary player, preserving advantages created by her teammates.
Meanwhile on defense, she can absolutely swallow up drivers.
https://www.youtube.com/live/rmWCeFRV8xk?si=UDo2rbCCT2e3PSAK&t=4099
Puoch also shows some ability as a passer, albeit mostly on reads that are relatively straightforward and/or scripted. For example, in this play she finds an open Mercedes Russell with a solid but straightforward entry pass after the center gets open on an off-ball screen.
https://www.youtube.com/live/0HQECxfyPyA?si=ugl0SAGmEvBexQq8&t=801
This play represents a relatively rare case where she is able to leverage her athleticism as a passer off the drive, collapsing the defense and sending a nice kickout pass to Leilani Mitchell.
https://www.youtube.com/live/sHXoW7mynSU?si=Fi3ZxkT3LQNIWs7w&t=1723
Even when she is not driving full speed, she can use her body to get to the basket, drawing this foul on the floor against former Buffalo point guard Stephanie Reid.
https://www.youtube.com/live/btDPZRACu44?si=A50e4NjjS9SVi2eX&t=3836
On the other hand, there are limits to Puoch’s driving ability. For example, here she gets stripped on a dig from rather far away as she picks up her dribble awkwardly.
https://www.youtube.com/live/btDPZRACu44?si=eA73SMJA7ezZcLKx&t=4857
Despite her length and quickness, Puoch still struggles finishing at the basket, making only 42.9% of her 2-point attempts despite not shooting frequently from mid-range. She currently lacks high-end coordination, and her layup attempts do not always hit their target, even on less heavily contested attempts. For example, Puoch gets a great first step on former Northern Illinois star Courtney Woods here but barely draws iron on this unbalanced attempt despite her stride getting her all the way to the restricted area.
https://www.youtube.com/live/0HQECxfyPyA?si=m9c-aBMu7yse3bD7&t=4458
She also rushes this finish at the end of the shot clock even though she has a wide-open look at the basket.
https://www.youtube.com/live/rmWCeFRV8xk?si=FxlhHTRpd-1ho7BI&t=991
This play demonstrates a lot of Puoch’s immense strengths and her current weaknesses. She does an excellent job of using her speed to break the press and seizes an opportunity to attack. However, she has to pick up her dribble when Sami Whitcomb digs and is moving too fast to survey the floor effectively. As a result, she puts up a wild finish an uncomfortable distance away from the basket, failing to even draw iron, ending the possession.
https://www.youtube.com/live/btDPZRACu44?si=CIRvRZg6MG23_SDr&t=1206
Puoch’s swing skill is her outside jump shot. As much as Puoch can do on the ball, she is still far away from being able to handle primary ballhandling responsibilities even at the WNBL level. So she needs to provide value off the ball. Shooting is a major part of that, and she has shown promise there.
https://www.youtube.com/live/rmWCeFRV8xk?si=UeFS40o37BzGwKVr&t=4369
While her percentages from 3-point range have been good so far in her professional career, she does not take a tremendous number, shooting 40.9% on 1.8 attempts per game last season and 37.5% on 1.8 attempts per game this year. While there have been games where she has actively sought opportunities to get open from deep, like on this opportunity where she comes off a screen and fires right away despite the pass not quite hitting her in the shooting pocket…
https://www.youtube.com/live/sHXoW7mynSU?si=qsoF6qoLIBDl_ftZ&t=3143
…there have also been others where she seemed much more comfortable crashing the offensive glass, sometimes sneaking inside the arc even before the shot went up.
https://www.youtube.com/live/sHXoW7mynSU?si=DJQSPETCP7VQ6E5G&t=3443
On that play, Puoch likely would have been open in the corner if she had not started creeping inside with nine seconds left on the shot clock. Instead, former WNBA draft pick Carley Ernst’s pass has to come through a tight window, it gets deflected and is nearly intercepted, and then Puoch has to deal with an exceptionally crowded paint. Ultimately, she can only throw up an absolute prayer of a shot as the threat of a 24-second violation looms.
This play from earlier in the season is even more notable because she is simply spacing just inside the arc.
https://www.youtube.com/live/0HQECxfyPyA?si=ak8jr4btE2UGNOVt&t=502
In later games, this did not seem to be as much of a concern, but it is something to monitor if she falls into a shooting slump.
In some ways, Puoch’s tendency to mix it up as a rebounder is an encouraging sign. Last year, she only grabbed 1.4 rebounds per game despite playing 19.3 minutes per contest, a per-minute figure lower than even many point guards. This season, her per-minute rebounding rate has nearly tripled, averaging 5.0 rebounds in 25.2 minutes per game. While there is more to rebounding than the raw number of boards secured, it is important that she has grown from being an outright negative outlier for her size and position in this category. However, ensuring that she strikes an appropriate balance between spacing from 3-point range and crashing inside is critical, especially while she continues to struggle converting layup opportunities.
Defensively, Puoch has some great moments beyond the highlight-reel blocks. For example, here she stays with Jade Melbourne, who has been eviscerating WNBL defenses all season, when Melbourne refuses this screen and stays connected with her all the way to the basket, forcing a missed layup…
https://www.youtube.com/live/W0zCvuiaasQ?si=Xgj0wN7DXpfBDCLG&t=673
…and here she is completely walling off WNBA starting point guard Jordin Canada’s drive.
https://www.youtube.com/live/rmWCeFRV8xk?si=VX-gQ6E6hFKwUZ03&t=429
In general, Puoch’s ability to guard smaller players is impressive. Guarding a WNBA-level point guard like Melbourne while standing 6-foot-3 is no mean feat, even in spurts, and it is far from the only time that has asked Puoch to check the other team’s primary ballhandler. It certainly helps that, even when she does lose ground to quicker players, her length allows her to get back into plays and make an impact. While this recovery ability may be most obvious when Puoch is contesting layups, it also comes into play getting into passing lanes and into opponents’ handles. Take this example where Puoch is guarding Brooke Basham, listed seven inches shorter than Puoch, after getting around a screen.
https://www.youtube.com/live/sHXoW7mynSU?si=TthdDLksDr4bBcO7&t=4235
However, Puoch does not always navigate screens quite so well, and this can be a place where her size occasionally works against her.
https://www.youtube.com/live/sHXoW7mynSU?si=6uI8hBtfhHEAwwup&t=5117
On that play, Puoch may have struggled to get around that screen partly because of how far she was trailing behind Tayla Brazel’s off-ball movement, having been caught watching the ball too heavily. This gives Brazel time to set for a one-dribble free-throw line pullup jumper even after the help comes.
Exceptional screeners and tightly-set picks can give Puoch serious trouble. Here, Puoch swerves to avoid Brianna Turner and has to rely on strong help (facilitated by snug opponent spacing) to get time to recover.
https://www.youtube.com/live/sHXoW7mynSU?si=xW8BfWeczZe5r6Gv&t=3873
She can also get fooled like on this play where small forward Alex Sharp uses a hesitation dribble to fake a hand-off and lose Puoch, gaining a wide-open lane.
https://www.youtube.com/live/W0zCvuiaasQ?si=OBN7sXIQNg9-IpeJ&t=2098
More off the ball, Puoch makes the right decisions to close out to the corner and then help on the drive here, but both are a bit late, and she helps so deep on the drive that she cannot really do anything other than foul.
https://www.youtube.com/live/btDPZRACu44?si=alGlXDj1iRe-ttcx&t=2097
There are also times when Puoch has difficulty determining her assignment. For example, after making a transition lay-up, Puoch runs through several calculations before ultimately finding her assignment just as an (unrelated) opening appears.
https://www.youtube.com/live/W0zCvuiaasQ?si=SxzJx61XtGjw6V-b&t=4812
While dealing with this maze of screens would be no picnic for anyone, it is also clear that Puoch spends most of this sequence scrambling as she keeps having to switch and recover, and this possession is saved by Adelaide’s lack of shooting threats (and Southside’s corresponding willingness to sag off the shooters that are spotting up).
https://www.youtube.com/live/sHXoW7mynSU?si=c7nEEn3dXp0w2ta8&t=3329
Puoch has also played spot minutes at the power forward position, and her length can still give her an advantage even against these bigger players. On this play, after tagging a rolling Amanda Zahui B., she switches back onto her original matchup, former WNBA draft pick and traditional power forward Mikaela Ruef. She then remains strong and patient and forces Ruef into an exceptionally difficult turnaround jumper, forcing her several feet away from the basket even before Ruef starts her move. While Ruef ultimately makes the shot, it feels almost miraculous.
https://www.youtube.com/live/btDPZRACu44?si=gQhcug1D4sASLy39&t=4869
She also fully contains this drive on a faked dribble hand-off before taking the ball the length of the court and making a nice corner kickout to an excellent shooter.
https://www.youtube.com/live/rmWCeFRV8xk?si=7XFlcYObVd2Ytw6s&t=616
This play, where she promptly helps after point guard Stephanie Reid takes the free lane that is allowed by ICE coverage, is also very promising, even if the play does end in a foul call.
https://www.youtube.com/live/0HQECxfyPyA?si=Yox3xyOKKvj2c5nB&t=424
Overall, Puoch shows a lot of promise defensively even if some parts of her game require polishing. The following play epitomizes both her great promise and how much room she has left to grow.
https://www.youtube.com/live/0HQECxfyPyA?si=Yg4NHgTDWKz_xDc-&t=944
Puoch does an excellent job getting around this screen against WNBA combo guard Sami Whitcomb. Unfortunately, she bites on a fake, conceding a significant driving lane. However, she recovers, reconnecting with Whitcomb before Whitcomb loses her handle. However, partly because of how far behind Puoch has been, Puoch’s teammate digs very deeply, surrendering a wide-open three. Puoch’s athleticism and budding skill guarding smaller players are excellent, but her inexperience can be exploited. Luckily, she plays alongside many experienced, knowledgeable veterans who can help her learn and adapt, as evidenced by Mercedes Russell pointing to ensure that Puoch switches to facilitate Russell’s recovery from hedging the pick-and-roll. (To her credit, Puoch seems to have recognized this herself.)
https://www.youtube.com/live/W0zCvuiaasQ?si=kF39PoD35mahzoJW&t=2344
In some ways, assessing Puoch as a prospect is perhaps most similar to the process of analyzing Awak Kuier before the 2021 draft. However, while Kuier was chosen No. 2 in a class that has yet to generate a true star player, Puoch’s draft ceiling would probably be somewhat lower even if she were not part of what seems to be a spectacular cohort. For one, Kuier being a post player and rim protector, however much skill she brings on the perimeter, helps to insulate the rawer parts of her game somewhat. The other factor is that Kuier’s so-called “unicorn” potential as a 3-point shooter and rim protector, even if not fully realized then or now, represent a higher ceiling outcome than what Puoch has demonstrated so far. On the other hand, Puoch being Australian means that she counts as a local player in one of the strongest leagues in the world, meaning that teams should remain invested in her continued development without having to push her into a role that is too big for her. A relatively high-end developmental outcome for Puoch may resemble DeWanna Bonner or a taller version of Kahleah Copper, but she could also easily become a much more conventional defense-first role player in the mold of how Nia Coffey played this season. Regardless, Puoch has flashed the ability to play three different positions, from shooting guard to power forward, and if she could replicate that at the WNBA level, she would attain a rare level of versatility even if her offensive game does not fully mature. Puoch’s potential is such that picking her in the back half of the first round is entirely reasonable, but she could conceivably slide into the second round because she still requires significant development.
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There is a significant difference between athleticism and skill, and though Puoch has athleticism, the skill of shooting is not part of her repertoire. And shooting is the hardest skill to teach, because it involves confidence.
Then again, third-round draft picks have almost zero value, so why not take her?
A key question, though: How do you pronounce her name?