All about Usman Garuba, the newest Warrior two-way contract

Apricot has not yet declared state of irrational good feeling; will await the first video of Garuba making a 3 in practice

Sep 20, 2023

The news

Shams Charania reports on Sep 15 2023:

Free agent center Usman Garuba has agreed to a two-way NBA contract with the Golden State Warriors, sources tell me and @anthonyVslater
The former Rockets first-round pick is coming off averaging 8.2 points and 4 rebounds for Spain in the FIBA World Cup.

Anthony Slater adds:

The Warriors have also agreed to bring Usman Garuba to training camp on one of their remaining two-way contracts, per league sources. Garuba is a former first-rounder with some defensive chops. He got caught in a numbers game with the Houston Rockets and Oklahoma City Thunder and remained one of the more intriguing younger options on the market.

That leaves one more open Two-Way contract, with Garuba and Lester Quinones currently holding the other two spots. Keep in mind that it is very cheap for a team to waive a Two-Way, so these spots can easily change.

Who the heck is Garuba?

Apricot says: Garuba was very high up on my 2021 Draft Board (so you could argue I was very high to put him there, but anyway), so I am thrilled that he’ll be getting a second chance with the Warriors.

He was one of Perks’s top choices for a Two-Way contract:

Usman Garuba (C, 21, 6’8): A recent casualty of the Oklahoma City Thunder’s bloated roster, the Spaniard who is only two years removed from being a late first-round pick finds himself on the free agent market. In his short career so far, Garuba has struggled to carve out a role in the NBA. He spent years in the Euroleague developing with the prestigious Real Madrid and molded his game after Warriors’ stalwart Draymond Green. While short for his position, much like Draymond, his size, strength, athleticism, and rangy wingspan more than makes up for his height. He’s a high-energy, hustle player who’s a versatile Swiss army knife defensively and has flashed some playmaking ability. Given his youth (two years younger than newly drafted Trayce Jackson-Davis), Garuba would be a very worthy low-risk, high-reward addition on a two-way that the Warriors could develop long-term as he learns behind the very man he modeled his playstyle after.

Did Garuba flop with the Houston Rockets?

Apricot says: Okay, every booster of a young player is going to say HE NEVER GOT A FAIR CHANCE. But… he never got a fair chance.

He came in as a strong Euroleague defender and as an undersized center with good passing skills and court sense. He landed on a very immature and young Rockets team and was buried behind Christian Wood, Daniel Theis, Alperen Sengun in the rotation. He fought for the crumbs of time with Bruno Fernando. Come on, what a waste of a good draft pick.

Despite this cruel and unusual punishment, in his rookie year, he actually managed to have a positive Defensive Box Plus Minus of +0.9, which LED THE ROCKETS.

Then in his second year, 2022-23, HOU lost Wood and Theis, but elevated Sengun’s minutes and brought in giants Frank Kaminsky and Boban Marjanovic and kept Fernando, creating another four-way dog fight for the backup minutes at C. Why not play him at PF? First, his jumper is questionable and second, HOU just drafted #3 pick Jabari Smith, Jr. who should really be playing PF.

Despite all this, Garuba pulled out another positive Defensive BPM of +0.6 (#1 on the team for anyone with more than 400 minutes played). He also earned the most minutes out of that four center traffic jam, more than the other three combined, but that still cut into his few development minutes as backup behind Sengun.

So… DBPM isn’t everything and there are many reasons that a team might not give minutes to a player. But given the disaster that has been the Rockets, it’s also easy to imagine there is untapped potential. HOU ran out a bunch of talented super-young pass-last on-ball guards (Kevin Porter Jr, Jalen Green, Daishen Nix, Josh Christopher) that would not bring the most out of a Draymond Green type like Garuba.

On Jul 8 2023, HOU traded Garuba to OKC — the only team in the league where he would be FURTHER down the depth chart. As of Sep 15, OKC is rostering a stupendous 7 players taller than Garuba’s 6-8.

OKC mercifully cut Garuba, leading us to the signing today.

Finally, let me again remind people that he’s still 21 years old, just three months older than Moses Moody. Plenty of room for dreaming.

A few Garuba highlights

Usman Garuba’s Draft Scouting Report

NBA Draft Room Comp: faster Tristan Thompson [gah - Eric]

Sam Vecenie, The Athletic: Defense, defense, defense. Garuba is already one of the best defenders in Europe as a teenager and profiles as a potential All-Defense Team guy in the NBA by the time he’s 25. He can really defend on the interior, with terrific fundamentals for verticality and weak-side shot blocking. His ability to slide his feet and drop his hips laterally is ridiculous, and his instincts as a pick-and-roll defender are terrific. The problems come on offense. He’s still not a particularly effective player on that end, but there have been signs of progress. He had two games last week against Anadolu Efes in EuroLeague play that were positive signs, including a ridiculous 24-point, 12-rebound performance. He also has been making more 3s recently, but it’s going to take some time.

Kevin O’Connor, The Ringer: SHADES OF OG Anunoby, Kenneth Faried

Hyper defender who always makes the extra effort but needs to define an offensive role.

On-Ball Defense
Hustle

PLUSES

Plays with elite defensive effort and intelligence. He’s always locked in and flies around the floor for blocked shots, steals, and deflections.
Switchable defender with the bulk to handle bigger players and the agility to match up against quicker wings and even guards. He’s aware and does a good job of using his hands to shut passing windows.
Skilled passer who immediately finds the open man and delivers the ball with precision. If his scoring improves, he could facilitate in the half court using dribble handoffs and his solid handle.
A strong rebounder and a threat to push the ball on the break if he’s not outleting it to a sprinting teammate.

MINUSES

He doesn’t have a big vertical, which hurts him as a finisher around the rim.
Struggles shooting the ball. He has a poor percentage from the line and hasn’t shown much touch away from the rim. Past opponents left him wide open behind the arc, just as they will in the NBA.

Hollinger, The Athletic: My rule of thumb, as ever: Guys who play in high-level European leagues as teenagers hold their own and don’t fail. Garuba played a total of 86 games (!) for Real Madrid this year as a rotation big at the age of 18, showed fairly steady improvement as the year went on and probably can be an NBA-caliber defender from Day 1 as either a four or a smallball five.

However, I can’t put him any higher than this because of the potential limitations on the offensive side. He’s a good athlete but not a freak, and he’s undersized at the five. So where is his advantage? At 6-foot-8 without elite shot-blocking or rebounding numbers on his resume, he’s going to have a hard time carving out a role as a full-time center, even in a downsized NBA. Adding enough skill to play some minutes next to a true five is going to be his pathway to becoming a starting-caliber player.

On that front, Garuba remains a work in progress. He flies up and down the court in transition and has started to steady his 3-point shot from the corners (31.6 percent this year). He also actually shows some ball skills when his team lets him paint outside the lines. That said, Garuba isn’t a great finisher around the basket.

Ultimately, I see a potential comparison for Garuba as a bigger version of Toronto’s OG Anunoby. He can guard on the perimeter, and his switchability means he won’t get played off the floor. At least on defense. He needs the shooting to come around to have starter value, and that’s why he’s just outside the lottery on my board.