Amida Brimah – 2018-19 G-League Player Profile

June 20th, 2019

Amida Brimah

C – 6’10, 230lbs – Born 11th February 1994

   Austin Spurs   

After four years at UConn, the book on Brimah was written a long time ago. Long, athletic shot blocker, looks smooth, limited offensively, prone to fouling. Given the prolific nature of his shot blocking ability, the question was whether he could iron out the kinks over time and maximise the value of this one unteachable skill. The answer thus far:….sort of.

Having completed his second consecutive season with Austin, there are small improvements to be found between Brimah’s numbers this year and last year. His scoring is up to 8.8 points per game from 6.6, his rebounding is up to 8.2 per game to 7.4 (with almost all of those extra ones coming offensively), his assists per game nearly doubled from 0.7 per game last season, and even the blocks are up from 2.6 per game. This comes in almost exactly the same minute share; Brimah played two more total minutes this season in one less game. There are incremental improvements, then, and while Brimah’s foul rates are still very high (thus capping the minute share he can receive), that is not too big of a problem from an NBA point of view considering that the role he would be looked at to fill would be small anyway.

The biggest problem is the free throw percentage. It has completely gone to the point that one in particular briefly went viral. A player who hit 82.4% of his free throws as a junior (admittedly on a small sample size) is now hacked with every touch in the paint, because to do so is the most efficient strategy available. And thus instead of developing offensively, Brimah has in fact regressed.

The blocking (forsaking position to overhelp be damned) and rebounding win possessions. The speed in transition opens up a new dimension. The incredibly long limbs get everywhere. The lob is always on. The offensive developments (short hook shot and face-up jumper) have been made over the years. So too has the core strength. Yet if Brimah is to be so porous at the line as to not be able to touch the ball in the half-court offence any longer, a lot of it gets negated.

– 20th June, 2019

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