The route to impact at the NBA level is usually a multi-year process that slowly climbs, stagnates, climbs, then starts to descend. A career in basketball, as it were. Some rookies, however, start impacting things in a positive fashion right away. Christian Koloko just so happens to be one of those young guns who continues to win minutes and make plays. Louis Zatzman and I did a deep dive on both sides of his game. For Louis, it’s the offense. For myself, the defense. Let’s get into it.
I got to sit down with Christian and watch and discuss defensive film with him, so stay tuned for that. I also re-watched every pick n’ roll possession he’s defended to prepare for this, so stay tuned for that as well.
The long and short of it is that Koloko moves well for a big man, is really tall, and has really long arms. The collection of those things is almost guaranteed to lead to some positive outcomes on defense, and it’s been all that and more because he’s really talented and hard working. When he’s on the floor teams are shooting much worse than they do when he’s off of it, the Raptors force more turnovers, and they flat out allow a lot fewer points.
His instincts as a help defender have been elite, as he’s repeatedly shown a willingness to throw himself at anyone who approaches the Raptors rim. He fouls a lot, but that’s part and parcel of any young big man figuring out how to guard at the NBA level. You sort out the timing and physicality by contesting and crashing around. For reference, the rookie year foul-percentage of Rudy Gobert, Jaren Jackson Jr., Rob Williams and Koloko was: 5.8%, 5.9%, 5.9%, and 6.2%. This isn’t to say Koloko is going to be a DPOY finalist anytime soon, just that the fouls are kind of whatever.
Of his 33 blocks on the season, 22 have come in help-side and 11 have come as an on-ball defender or as part of the primary action. He’s getting to a lot of shots and has one of the highest block-percentages among all big men in the league. He can punctuate a defensive possession, and even though the Raptors like to flurry all over the court, Koloko is capable of covering ground from the 3-point line to the basket. He’s blown expectations out of the water, quite frankly.
Let’s take a break to watch some film with Christian:
Samson: Just for background for everyone, what is your history with coverages? From Sierra Canyon to Arizona.
Christian: Sierra Canyon? I don’t even remember what I did in high school, to be honest. But, I know at Arizona I played under 2 different coaches, and we did a lot of different things defensively. We did jumping the ball screens, we did high drop, we did drop, switching, so I think we did a lot of different coverages. And last year it was high or deep drop most of the time, and some switching when I was playing the 4.
Samson: Where do you feel most comfortable?
Christian: I don’t really know. I feel kinda comfortable doing all of it. This year, I think it was a little bit different because the NBA style of play is different. But this year with the Toronto Raptors we’re running a high drop, so I’m getting more comfortable as the games go along.
Christian: In that game especially, I know it was a big ‘no roller behind’ game because Trae Young and Clint Capela, they’re really good in the pick n roll connection. So, I knew most of the time, when Trae’s gonna drive like that he’s going to try and look for Capela first, and then he’s going to look for his shot. So, I was waiting for the last moment to see what decision he made and I saw he was going for the floater, and that’s when I went for the ball.
Samson: You had both Juancho and Malachi come over to tag in this one, how much does having a tag in these actions help?
Christian: Yeah. It definitely makes you more comfortable when you have the tag. You can be more aggressive in the pick n’ roll because when there’s no tag it’s like, man, it’s Trae and Clint, and Clint can really jump so even if you play good defense, sometimes Trae just throws the ball up and he’s gonna get it sometimes. And when you have someone behind you that has your back it’s more helpful.
Samson: You step up and they move off the action obviously, but I just liked your motion in this one.
Christian: Yeah. My role afterwards is just to get back to my man first, depending on who I’m guarding. Here with Claxton, he’s a non-shooter, so for me it’s just helping as much as I can, being that rim presence. Make the other team fear driving to the basket. If I’m guarding somebody who can shoot? It’s gonna be a little different, I’m gonna be a little more up and maybe more aware of my help. But here, it’s a non-shooting big so I just gotta make sure that somebody will help me if I go for a blocked shot, or to contest, so somebody will track my man while I get the rebound.
Samson: You’re navigating a lot here as a big man and still coming out on top. Switch the pick n’ roll, switch the DHO, all of it on the perimeter. How hard is that?
Christian: It’s difficult because NBA players are really good. It’s not easy. But, that’s why I’m here. I feel like I’m capable of doing that, I feel like I can do an even better job. So, I’m going to continue to learn and improve at that aspect.
Samson: Your numbers in switches are really great, would you want to do more of that?
Christian: I don’t know about that. I just do whatever the team needs from me. If I need to switch, I’ll switch. I think I’ve done enough switching, for me, on those dribble hand-offs, sometimes on ball screens. But, you know, it just depends on the game plan. We got a different game plan for every game, so it depends.
Samson: You’re being asked to blitz DeMar in these plays and find your way back. What are your responsibilities here?
Christian: As a big man and a shot blocker your first instinct when you get into a trap or anything: you gotta recover to the rim. It doesn’t matter who you’re guarding, the first thing is to recover to the rim. Because, most of the time it’s a guard that’s helping, a guard that’s covering the rim and you don’t want a guard to be covering the rim. So, the first instinct is to kick the guard out of the post and go there. And these plays worked out well, because by the time I was going to make the rotation the guy was driving so it was the right moment.
Samson: Does it ever become about finding a man instead of recovering to the paint?
Christian: Yeah, I mean sometimes that happens. But, most of the time, like I said, the first reflex is to go back to the rim. Because most of the time I know there’s a little dude there. Sometimes it might be a guy like Chris or like Pascal or Scottie and I’m just going to tell them to stay because I know they can guard a big man, and I’m gonna go find my man. But, most of the time my defensive reflex is to go back.
Samson: Can I just say, this is an insane block, man.
Christian: Yeah. I was guarding Joel Embiid so I was in my gap and trying to help on James Harden. And then I saw Tyrese Maxey driving to the rim and I was like: ‘there’s no way he’s going to be able to pass this ball to Joel Embiid’ and I just went for the block. The only thing that could happen is if Joel Embiid was cutting to the rim that would be different, but I saw he was just standing out there and I was like: ‘he’s not gonna cut, so I got a chance to go get a block.’
Samson: How have you adjusted to timing your rotations on a bigger court and with better players?
Christian: It’s been pretty smooth. It was very hard at the beginning, but I feel like as the game goes, like I keep saying, I continue to get better at that aspect. I’ll continue to make my presence known and know where I’m at on the court and be aware of everything that’s going on.
Samson: Thanks for watching this stuff with me man, I really appreciate it.
Christian: You got it. You got it.
*dap ensues*
Samson: I’ll see ya brother.
So, that’s film with Christian. Thanks to him for being so gracious and sitting down with me for that. We talked about more stuff, but we’ll table all that for this piece. His favorite NBA city to travel to so far has been Miami, though.
However, we aren’t done. I re-watched every single one of Koloko’s defensive pick n’ roll possessions, hundreds and hundreds of them, hours of film; and I want to talk about that.
So, before we get into the film, Koloko’s numbers are pretty bad in any type of screen defense that isn’t switch. High drop, drop – anything like that and the Raptors are allowing between 1.1 and 1.2 points per chance with him defending the screener. He’s also defended the screener in pick n’ roll more than any other player on the team. These aren’t good numbers. However, if we pay attention to just the last handful of games, and we will, things have improved a lot. Below .900 points per chance as the screener defender over the last eight. As far as I can tell, it’s because Koloko is playing higher, and the Raptors are more liberally helping at the point of attack. Instead of hoping for the bottom tag to save them in possessions, they’re pinching in hard and making things claustrophobic for the ball handler.
Okay, to the film, and we’ll start with the best stuff – and that’s switching + hedging + blitzing:
Samson: How do you feel about your ability to move with guards and wings?
Christian: That was always one of my strengths, but I mean coming to the NBA the guards are better than they were in college so it’s gonna be different, but I’m just trying to hold my man on the corner when I’m switching onto guards. I mean, sometimes I know they’re gonna score, but I’m just trying to do my best every time I can and make it harder for them to score.
Hedge and recover after stonewalling KPJ, get Sengun on the block once you’re back in the play. Switch onto LeVert and stick him the whole way before the miss. Blitz Harden, get back in the play, blitz him again (!), get back in the play. Jump Harden for a switch, play as the first guy in blitz, then filter to the corner for a closeout. SO, so good.
Jump Danuel House Jr., force the ball to move elsewhere. Hedge on Maxey to force the ball out, dig on the following drive, and team defense gets the turnover. Blitz Harden, save the ball out of bounds with hustle. Switch to blitz, rotate back for the steal. Hedge and recover on Jalen Green and provide a great contest on Jabari Smith Jr. – and finally, switch onto Donovan Mitchell to kill the dribble and move the ball on.
Koloko is at his best in motion. It’s still not very high usage for him, but the returns have been really great.
Okay, onto the more conservative stuff.
The deepest drop possible, and a wide-open triple. This isn’t even Koloko’s fault really, just the team trying something that was doomed to fail. We get drop next, and given where Siakam is and how hard Banton digs in, Koloko really misplays this one by getting too high and opening up the lob. Now that the Nets know the Raptors are playing drop with Koloko, they’re going to run the pick n’ roll as a decoy action to set up Harris off the screen – play drop, less ball pressure, all that stuff. Second time they try to run it, Trent Jr. forces middle and Koloko keeps the play in front of him for a turnover. Kyrie says *no, don’t bring Precious over here, give me Koloko* and he gets that, plus a triple. Against Herro, if Koloko is going to be jumping like that, Trent Jr. can’t let him cross back over – breakdown, triple. Against Vincent, Koloko just allows too straight a lane to the bucket. And against Herro, they get the empty-side to avoid the tag, and Koloko can’t find the middle ground to defend the lob.
Next game against Miami and there’s just no resistance here. He’s trying to protect the lob, but gives Herro a red carpet. Next one, Koloko does fine, but that tag leads to an open triple. We get a poorly played angle from Koloko that Kyle Lowry sniffs out, we get a jump-y Anunoby at the POA, we get Koloko completely lost and confused after a hedge, but a missed shot nonetheless. And finally, against the Hawks we get poor angles against Capela, low hands against Dejounte Murray, and a pretty slick pass to Okongwu.
Samson: What are you looking to improve in drop defense?
Christian: It’s more my positioning. Positioning, be at the level of the screen and be able to not let my man roll behind me. Like always saying ‘no roller behind’ and just putting my hands up. At the beginning of the year, a lot of the experienced guards got me when my hands were down, and that’s something that I kind of adjusted as the season goes. I feel like I’ve seen a lot of improvements doing it on that side, but I’m really wanting to get better.
It’s cool to see Koloko acknowledge how important the hands are. I was talking to a terrific scout, Josh Codinera, about what he looks for in a drop defender and we got this great little nugget: “The ideal drop defender is able to use hands/length quickly – able to anticipate when to put their hands in positions to contest or block passing lanes, and making the ball handler second guess.” Josh has a million other insights, so go follow him.
We see a few different outcomes here, and against the inexperienced ball handlers the Spurs were playing, everything worked. We get drop, we get switch, we get Boucher coming all the way over from the weak-side and a wide-open corner three. These plays work out for the Raptors because of length and presence forcing the Spurs to deal with their lack of shot-making. Against Dallas, though? Spain pnr eats them alive, and that same heavy tag from the weak-side allows the wide-open three, only this one goes in. We even get the Raptors next-ing to drop Koloko extremely deep, only Barnes is toothless in rotation and Trent Jr. is late on his rotation so we get a triple. Against the Bulls? A switch that works out well, and high drop that contains the play and forces a Vucevic travel. And lastly? A bad angle taken by Koloko to split the difference against Sengun.
At this point it seems clear that Koloko is overextended, right? Drop defense is really hard, and the Raptors POA defense has been too inconsistent for Koloko to find a comfortable role as a dropper, or deep dropper. Let’s see how it’s been lately.
As you can see against the Lakers here, he’s definitely playing higher, and when able the guys up top are pinching in really hard. When he’s playing a little deeper it’s against limited shooters, and even though Wagner gets a step on him, he recovers for a good contest at the top. On the last play he plays the middle really well, and with all the help there his size is overwhelming.
Plays good positional defense against Fultz, but gets taken to the weight room – which will change over time. That improved positioning shows up later on as well. Even though the switch onto Zion resulted in a corner three, Dyson Daniels is shooting 22 percent from there this year, so still good process. Got those hands up early vs. Alvarado and LeVert. And with Cam Thomas and Claxton he keeps maintaining the defense until they have to commit to a mediocre option.
Things are getting much better. It’s partially the team doing things to help Koloko more, but it’s also his awareness and positioning that’s improving. We’ll see how this looks after a full season. Let’s look at a couple special plays before we move on.
The last thing is the rebounding, and that’s a pretty short blurb. He contests everything which puts him out of position for rebounds. (Chris Boucher was the same when he came into the league, and now he’s sacrificed some blocks and is a much better defender and defensive rebounder. Players can improve at this stuff, especially ones with so much length.) Koloko is giving up weight to most of the matchups he plays against, and he still has to sort out all the intricacies of boxing out and all that. The team is much worse at rebounding with him on the floor. That will get better, though.
I have gone on LONG ENOUGH! Time for Louis to talk about offense.
Offense is in some ways harder for a player like Koloko to impact as a rookie. He’s low-usage, which means it’s harder to benefit the team on that end and requires more subtlety — a big ask for a rookie. And his size is less of a quick fix than it is on the defensive end. And on top of that, Koloko is just a better defensive player than offensive. That’s pretty normal for Raptors rookies, historically; it doesn’t mean Koloko doesn’t both have impact on the offensive end and a broad path to being a very good offensive player.
There are a huge number of ways for a big to offer value on the NBA court. In some ways, he’s already productive, while in others he limits the team offense.
Koloko has much to recommend him out of the pick and roll. Let’s walk through from the beginning of a pick. Because he’s so athletic, with great acceleration, he bursts out of picks like a cannonball, meaning there are almost always open windows of opportunity for his ballhandler to pass to the roller. Over the entire league, a pass to the roller is significantly more efficient than either a shot from the ballhandler or a pass elsewhere on the court, so it’s an excellent skill that Koloko creates open passing lanes after setting the screen. And even if Koloko doesn’t get the ball, he forces defenders to react — boom! An advantage gained, just by being big and fast. That’s good.
(And outside of the pick and roll, Koloko’s athletic bursts are still tremendous advantages. He makes himself open as a cutter with much more frequency than you’d expect for a center — he has the highest frequency of possessions used out of cuts on the Raptors. He is great as a trailer in transition, creating lots of free throws and dunks, and his acceleration lets him form up off of teammates’ postups, whether from the dunker spot or with 45 cuts from above the break, without killing the spacing.)
Sometimes, of course, he’s so exuberant about getting open that he doesn’t always set screens. Chalk it up to youthful excitement there, but he gets caught sometimes between slipping and screening, and he ends up losing the benefits of either. He neither makes contact nor leaves early enough to sow confusion with a slip. That’s small stuff, but it ties into a larger theme: Koloko’s screening is — not always, but sometimes — more beneficial for himself as a roller than his ballhandler. He sometimes doesn’t smash guys and create open driving lanes for his guard. (It hurts that he doesn’t play with any guards who burst through driving lanes with aplomb.) He doesn’t use angles to force defenders out of the play. He doesn’t seal before he rolls. He at times lets players get through his screen that are supposed to be forced to one side or the other.
That’s all craft, or lack thereof. And — this might be burying the lede here — Koloko has shown the tools for Advanced Screening 101. Switching pivot feet in his screen, and shifting his weight back to force the ball defender out of the play, before jetting into the lane to set a screen on his own man to open the layup for his ballhander, is all elite stuff. If he can do it here and there, it should mean he’ll be able to do it more consistently down the road.
But mostly right now, Koloko is surviving on athleticism alone. It’s very valuable that he has that, but it’s important for players to become aware of all the other requirements. Think of the best screener — Sabonis, perhaps, or Jokic. They don’t need to touch the ball or even move very quickly at all to completely demolish a defense with a ball screen. If Koloko moves slowly and doesn’t catch the ball, what is he adding?
When he sets good contact, he’s a solid screener. He is thin, but he’s big enough to inhibit defenders, and that’s enough at the point of attack to create an advantage. He doesn’t (yet) have a lot of variations in his bag like re-screening, short rolling, changing rolling speeds and directions, picking versus popping, or Gortat screening in the lane. But what he does offer can work well if he doesn’t stray from the formula. He is Toronto’s most efficient screening big outside of Anunoby, and he has established especially workable chemistry with Fred VanVleet and Scottie Barnes.
Okay, that’s what happens during the screen and immediately after. If Koloko catches the ball in the air, good things usually happen. Koloko has developed great lob chemistry with VanVleet, and he has a monster catch radius. It’s a low bar, but he’s the best vertical threat on the team, and that’s important for the Raptors. He gets good jumps and finishes well when he doesn’t have to create for himself.
When he has had to create for himself — if he catches on the ground rather than in the air — Koloko has shown little ability. He turns to touch far more often than force, but he doesn’t have the requisite touch to actually finish plays. He doesn’t use his size or athleticism and often opens up the ball to shot blockers. Such an approach can be fixed over time, but it’s worthwhile to note that his natural inclination is to shy away from contact. It’s most likely just being unused to the size and speed of the NBA.
That has been compounded the few times Koloko catches on the short roll. He has good passing vision but doesn’t process events quickly enough to always choose the correct option. Sometimes he’ll throw a pass away, and sometimes he’ll miss a pass that’s available and opt for a difficult shot.
And on that note of passing in general, he has good passing ability and vision, as he’s shown here and there, but he doesn’t have the processing speed to actually use it in games. That bodes well for the future. The game will slow down for him once he’s seen everything the league has, multiple times, and can diagnose it faster. Schema learning, baby! And then he can make manipulative rather than reactive passes. His tools will be more valuable to the team the more experience he gains.
He has finishing issues outside of the pick and roll, as well. There are no rotation centers in the league shooting less efficiently than his 56 percent at the rim, which is just above VanVleet’s career accuracy mark there, as a point of comparison. He’s not efficient from anywhere on the floor, which means there’s no signature scoring option to which he can turn. In many ways, he has to work hard not to be a net negative on the offensive end simply because of his low-accuracy scoring from everywhere on the court. Khem Birch, for example, has much more screening craft — and makes great contact with his screens with more regularity — and has his push shot from the short midrange on which he can rely. But Birch has also faced being played off the floor on the offensive end because of his individual scoring limitations.
The biggest boost to Koloko’s offensive value is his offensive rebounding. He’s a phenomenal offensive rebounder, standing out even when surrounded by so many players with spectacular skills there on the Raptors. His 9.6-percent offensive rebounding percentage is third on the team behind only Chris Boucher and Thad Young, and he’s terrific at both grabbing boards out of his range and tapouts when he can’t get both mitts on the ball.
In fact, Koloko’s offensive rebounding is such a weapon that, statistically at least, it makes him a beneficial offensive player. Even though the Raptors shoot less efficiently from the floor with Koloko playing versus on the bench, and commit more turnovers, he still has a positive offensive on/off differential. His rebounding is that significant, and to a lesser extent his vertical ability in the pick and roll. He also draws the highest rate of shooting fouls on the team, but because he basically only shoots at the rim (and shoots 61.8 percent from the free throw line to boot), that’s less impactful than his offensive rebounding acumen.
In what areas can it be reasonable to expect Koloko to improve? Some players just get better at everything; don’t have that as a reasonable expectation. For most, improvement is piecemeal. It’s a guess at where Koloko can make strides, but we can make it an educated guess.
It would be reasonable to expect Koloko to become a significantly better pick-and-roll player. He has the athleticism to excel in all areas, and he has demonstrated ability at some of the most difficult components — making sure he’s open during the roll and finishing lobs. He has good balance and extraordinary length, so he should become better at finishing after catching on the bounce, as well. It’s a total guess as to whether players learn angles and timing — we’re guessing at others’ brains without inhabiting them and the abilities to process and internalize information, which is impossible for us to know — but if Koloko becomes more impactful at the actual screen, he could be an exceptional pick-and-roll screener.
Even if that doesn’t happen, he could be one of Toronto’s best pick-and-roll screeners. Koloko should become a solid finisher, and he has the tools to be a good short-roll decision maker. He just needs experience there, of which the Raptors are giving him plenty. Like rookie Pascal Siakam and sophomore Precious Achiuwa before him, the Raptors are playing Koloko through his mistakes. Simple experience improving his decision-making would already make him a plus. Anything extra, like good seals when bursting out of the screen, well-timed slips, re-screening in the lane, judicious flipping of screens, or even some work hitting jumpers on the pop would be cherries on top, making him the team’s best screening option by a mile.
(To that point, there’s probably no reason to expect Koloko to become a 3-point shooter. He hasn’t made one yet this season and is a relatively poor free-throw shooter. He very well might become a solid shooter, but it’s not a reasonable expectation at this point.)
But on its own, better pick-and-roll work would be the most helpful for Koloko. There is much to improve, and much of it is well within his reach. He has the tools to be great there.
“We’ve got big plans for Christian,” said Nick Nurse before the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers on Nov. 28.
He’s already winning minutes and impacting the court in a variety of ways, on both ends, despite several limitations that ought not to hold him back for too much longer. He’s already shedding some bad habits on both ends, and he’s doing it while playing against mostly other teams’ starters. Toronto should have big plans for Koloko. It’s seeming less and less of a pipe dream that he’ll fulfill them.
