Azuolas Tubelis 2023 NBA Draft Profile

Azuolas Tubelis is a Lithuanian power forward who had a productive three-year collegiate career at The University of Arizona. Tubelis had a breakout junior season and was among the best college basketball players last year.

Azuolas Tubelis 2023 NBA Draft Profile

College Career

Although he made a big jump this past year, Tubelis was still very productive as an underclassman. As a freshman, he made the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team. He averaged 12.2 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.2 assists, and 0.6 steals on 50/31/69 shooting splits.

Tubelis steadily improved in his sophomore season, making the first of two First-team All-Pac 12 appearances (2022 and 2023). In his sophomore year, Tubelis averaged 13.9 points, 6.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.1 steals on 54/26/67 shooting splits.

As a junior, Tubelis averaged 19.8 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.0 assists, and 1.0 steals on 57/31/76 shooting splits. His stellar play earned him second-team All-American honors.

Strengths

Tubelis has good size as a 6-foot-11 power forward. He has a skill set to take advantage of any matchup mismatch. He can post up smaller forwards and has a soft touch. His efficient 57 percent shooting from the field last season evidenced his ability to finish around the rim.

Tubelis can also use his ball handling and relative quickness to get by bigs if needed; this should translate well in the pick-and-roll-heavy NBA with many switches and mismatch opportunities. He’s a good playmaker who sees the floor well for his position.

Tubelis is a solid rebounder on both sides of the court and uses his frame well to position himself.

With his ball-handling, Tubelis can get the rebound and go. If not in transition, he can also get the ball to initiate the half-court offense with dribble handoffs.

Tubelis should help any team offensively with his versatile game. With his rebounding and playmaking to accompany his scoring and rim-running, he could be a spark plug off the bench to boost any offense.

Weaknesses

Tubelis will likely fall in the draft because of a couple of weaknesses. The most glaring issue is his lack of rim protection. As a power forward, Tubelis only averaged 0.7 blocks in his college career. He also isn’t a good floor spacer, shooting only 31 percent from three last season. The ways Tubelis scored, particularly in the paint, may not be available for him in the NBA. He’s good at creating angles to get his shot off, but it will be much more difficult for Tubelis to rely on his size to score. Today’s style of play in the NBA doesn’t utilize a traditional power forward. The power forward these days is typically a 3-and-D type player that can provide defense and floor spacing. Therefore, Tubelis might have some difficulty fitting into the style of play. He could be someone that needs to be put into the right system and style of play to succeed. He either needs to improve his rim protection or his shooting. If not, Tubelis might not provide enough as a two-way player to be considered a valuable NBA player. One more weakness is Tubelis’ age. He’s 21 and likely doesn’t have the same potential as some younger, less-developed players. While it’s encouraging that he’s progressed so well during his time at the University of Arizona, it also may be a sign that he doesn’t have as much untapped potential remaining.

NBA Player Comparison

Domantas Sabonis-lite. In his sophomore season at Gonzaga, Sabonis posted similar numbers to Tubelis’ junior year. Sabonis averaged 17.6 points, 11.8 rebounds, 1.8 assists, and 0.9 blocks on 61/36/77 shooting splits. He’s also a similar build at 7-foot-1.

Sabonis isn’t a great rim protector, especially since he’s played the center position for Sacramento. But he’s a great scorer, rebounder, and playmaker for his position.

Sabonis is a great player regardless of what system he’s in, but the Kings have done a great job of building their scheme around him as a playmaker. This past season with Sacramento, he averaged 19.1 points, 12.3 rebounds, and 7.3 steals, making his third NBA All-Star appearance.

They also did a great job building their team identity around Sabonis’ strengths and weaknesses as a team that loves to run in transition. They use him as someone who can both rim-run and bring the ball up in transition after he grabs the rebound.

Tubelis may need to be put into the right system and style of play to succeed in the NBA. He could thrive if they correctly utilize him similarly to how Sabonis’ is used and focus on his strengths.

NBA Draft Projection

Late second round.

Highlights