2016 NBA Draft: The Rockets select Chinanu Onuaku, Center, Louisville - SCACCHoops.com

2016 NBA Draft: The Rockets select Chinanu Onuaku, Center, Louisville

by Card Chronicle

Posted: 6/24/2016 5:23:55 AM


Nanu to the Rockets.

With the 37th pick of the 2016 NBA draft, the Houston Rockets select University of Louisville center Chinanu Onuaku. Onuaku was predicted to be selected 38th overall to the Milwaukee Bucks, according to Draft Express.

Onuaku is widely regarded as someone who is going to contribute on the defensive side of the ball early on in his career. Standing at 6'9", he has a 7'3" wingspan to go along with a 9'1" standing reach. With these measurements, it's no surprise that Onuaku has improved his rebound average to 14.2 per game last season (per 40 minutes). He also finished out the season with blocking 3.4 shots and getting 1.3 steals per 40 minutes. Offensivley, Onuaku did his damage in close proximity to the basket by using his big frame in the low post. He will need to work on his offensive development to really carve himself a niche in the league.

Onuaku is a very intriguing NBA draft prospect, as he is just 19 years old. He has some exposure to the NBA draft process as his older brother, Arinze, left Syracuse early for hopes of making it to the league. He came to Louisville from Lanham, Maryland. He showed much improvement from his freshman year to his sophomore year, finishing out the season averaging 9.9 PPG, 8.5 RPG, and 1.6 APG.

It came to no surprise that Onuaku decided to test the NBA waters with the new rule in place that allows potential draft prospects to get a feel for where they would fall in the draft. His decision to either leave or come back really heated up has he quite literally waited until the last minute to decide. On the day of the deadline to make a decision, Rick Pitino came out and said that Onuaku had decided to leave for the NBA. Later, Onuaku posted on Instagram that he had made no decisions yet. However, it became official that Nanu was going to head to the NBA just a couple of hours left to decide.

 

This article was originally published at http://www.CardChronicle.com (an SB Nation blog). If you are interested in sharing your website's content with SCACCHoops.com, Contact Us.

 


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