Analyzing Matteo Spagnolo's Defense And What Should Be Next For Him
Dakota Schmidt finishes off his evaluation on Matteo Spagnolo by breaking down his defense and what should be next for the young Italian
Note: For full transparency, I watched full games of Vanoli Cremona going against Carese on October 17th, Pesaro on November 21st, Derthona Tortona on January 15th, and Venezia on January 23rd. In addition to that, I went through his defensive possessions on Synergy.
In my last piece that broke down Matteo Spagnolo’s work on the offensive end, I noted that I was high on his work on that end despite his struggles with creating separation from defenders on drive and times he becomes a bit too sure of himself and becomes careless with the ball. In spite those flaws, that optimism comes through his court vision, poise, and how he is able to utilize screens to create opportunities for both himself and his teammates.
Spagnolo’s poise and confidence also becomes evident on the other end of the floor. In his role as an off-ball guard for Vanoli Cremona, the teenager is regularly put to the task of having to navigate off-ball screens in order to stay on his man that is slaloming through screens in order to get to his position. In those challenges, he’s come away looking good more times than not.
An example of that is evident in the play below as he does a great job of keeping pace with his man as they move from paint to perimeter. While he is faced with the challenge of screen when his man receives a dribble handoff, the 19-year-old goes through quick enough to force his assignment to dish it off.
The above play mixed with other instances of him sticking with his man as they’re navigating the murky waters of a half-court offense shows that the young guard already has quick feet, balance, and endurance that someone needs to be a capable off-ball defender against motion offenses like you see above.
Another area where his quick feet and balance come in handy is through on-ball defense. In this realm, Spagnolo acts like annoying knat to the ball-handler through how he’s applies ball pressure to keep his man stationed on the perimeter. Some of the time, that pressure persists when he’s met with screens as our subject has shown an ability to work around them to stay in the ball-handler’s face.
Going back to the film, the clip below is a good example of that as his mix of excellent footwork and balance come in handy to stay in the face of a ball-handler that he’s switched on to despite how they try to use screens, movement, and dribble moves to shake him off. The fact that Spagnolo is able to keep his feet set and maintain his position is impressive to see.
Despite the positives that I’ve pointed out, the Italian guard still has a lot of room to grow on the defensive end. The biggest growth area that became prevalent as I went through his film is that opponents can get an easy advantage on him from pump faking, jab stepping, or even moving the ball away before making a drive. His willingness to bite on all of those moves both forced him to have to play catch up on closeouts and created easy opportunities for the opposition.
An unfortunate example is evident in the play below. After doing a good job of staying with the Pesaro guard on their drive to the rim, the Italian phenom still leaps at the first sign of an upfake. That move gives the ball-handler an open look at the rim, which ended up with an easy two points for the opponent.
If you want another example of that issue and how easy it is for an opponent to take advantage, I feel like there’s no other example of what you see below. After Spagnolo sets his feet and faces his body towards his man, the Sassari ball-handler brings the ball low and moves it towards the left before driving. That brief motion from the opponent catches the attention of the 19-year-old, who pivots his feet and hips towards that direction. While he did a good job of recovering, that brief motion had the Cremona guard playing having to play catchup on the drive. This ultimately led to him having to foul the ball-handler before he was able to make a clean finish around the rim.
The fear that comes from his issues with biting on pump fakes are raised with how he’s struggled with forcing turnovers. Currently, he’s maintaining a 1.3% Steal Percentage, which places him 27th of 34 players that are listed at point guard in the Italian Serie A league.
Despite how solid he is at navigating screens and applying pressure while guarding on-ball, those frequent lapses in judgement combined with his low steal numbers makes me believe that he’s a flawed defender. While that fact might concern some, those drawbacks definitely seem to be fixable if he gets added to an organization with a coaching staff that will be patient with him.
Patience when it comes to player develpment is why that I want to see Spagnolo both enter this year’s NBA Draft and transfer over to the United States once he gets selected. If he were to return to Real madrid for the 2022-23 Euroleague season, he would be put in a position where he’d need to produce on both ends or risk being benched. That extreme nature is prevalent throughout European basketball due to the risk of relegation and promotion. What that isn’t a worry for Real Madrid, they still have a tremendous reputation to maintain due to winning 10 EuroLeague titles and 35 Spanish Championships over the course of the club’s history.
Meanwhile if he were picked by an NBA team in the late 1st or early 2nd round, he’d have an opportunity to develop with the organization and go to the G League without an overwhelming amount of pressure being placed on his shoulders. Honestly, the G League would be perfect for him.
First off, the motion offenses would be great for his skill set as he can make an impact as an off-the-dribble threat while the spacing needed to really show off his passing prowess. Most importantly, he’d also have a chance to work on those defensive growth areas against the talented guards and wings that are splattered throughout the G League. Being within that type of environment should both challenge Spagnolo while allowing him to work on his craft without dealing with the distractions and pressure that comes from being on an European basketball powerhouse.
For an NBA organization, they honestly should make a pick that would both give him a guaranteed deal while also taking the financial hit that will come from reaching a buy-out agreement with Real Madrid. While all of that is a tremendous risk, his status as a 6’5 guard that can create his own shot, find his teammates, make magic in the pick-and-roll, and navigate screens on defense allows Matteo Spagnolo to be a player that can help your guard or wing rotation for years to come.