Transfer Player Spotlight: Lassina Traore (Xavier)

Sean Miller and Xavier have added yet another transfer to their already loaded transfer class. This time it is big man Lassina Traore. He is a 6-10 center from Long Beach State who only has one year of eligibility left. Last season he averaged 11.9 points and 10.3 rebounds while shooting over 52% from the field. He joins Jerome Hunter, Zach Freemantle, and John Hugley in the front court for Xavier. The big question for these front court pieces outside of Traore is health especially Jerome Hunter who is still actively recovering from a torn Achilles. If everyone is healthy and playing to the best of their abilities the starting lineup should include both Jerome Hunter and Zach Freemantle. However, if Jerome Hunter is not ready to go by the start of the season Traore is the most natural Big East center out of the group so he would most likely earn the starting spot over Jerome Hunter if he is not fully healthy to start the year. Either way he is going to play a big role on Xavier’s team this year whether that is starting or off the bench. His size, physicality, and offensive skill set are going to fit right into the Big East and Sean Miller’s system.  

Lassina Traore’s biggest strength as a basketball player is his offensive game, specifically his post-up game. The most impressive and impactful part of his post-up game is how in control and patient he is with the ball in his hands. A lot of big men when they get the ball in a designed post up are immediately looking to score and get to their spot without assessing the entire situation. Xavier fans saw a ton of this trait with Abou Ousmane last year and it does not lead to efficient offense. Traore is looking to make the right play every time he gets the ball rather than looking just to score. He is very capable of scoring but his passing and control out of the post are what truly make him a great offensive option. When he does decide to score, he has a deep bag of moves to get his own bucket. His go to moves are his turn around, hook shot, and a drop step. He loves to get to those moves in structured post ups but when he gets to those moves when it is not manufactured, he struggles a little bit more. Sean Miller is going to get very creative on how to get his big men the ball including Lassina Traore. One way that Miller often gets post touches from his big men is in high low sets. While Traore was not asked to do this much at Long Beach State, he is good at sealing off his man and his physicality is going to allow him to succeed in this role. With Zach Freemantle back in the fold these high low plays should become a regular part of Xavier’s offense than they were last year, and it should benefit Traore a ton to have manufactured post touches where he can use his strength. Arguably the most important part of Xavier’s offense is its transition game. Last season Long Beach State played at a faster pace than Xavier and Traore still played over 35 minutes a game, so he is well conditioned to play and excel in Xavier’s transition game. His cutting is one of his best offensive traits and it really shines through when he gets out in transition. Good high IQ cutting is not a common attribute for big men, but Traore excels at cutting and it can result in easy points for himself or others. One weakness of Traore’s offensive game is pick and rolls. He sets good hard picks, but he is not much of a scoring threat in the pick and roll. Aside from catching the ball and dunking, he cannot do much. He is a great decision maker in post up situations, but he is not going to be able to consistently catch the ball off pick and rolls in the middle of the paint and make good decisions or be able to get to his spots. Luckily, Xavier has other options to run pick and rolls with like Zach Freemantle or John Hugley. Overall Lassina Traore is going to have a wonderful year in Sean Miller’s offense, and he should really benefit from the copious amounts of outside shooting Xavier has added. 

Defensively just like most of this Xavier team Lassina Traore has some question marks. He is not a rim protector whatsoever and just does not provide any sort of help defense. On top of that he is extremely limited in what he can do defensively. He should never be asked to play on the perimeter. He gets blown by almost every time he is switched on to a guard. This also restricts what kind of pick and roll defense Xavier can play while he is on the court. He should exclusively be used in a drop coverage. Long Beach State tried to use him in different coverages, and it resulted in easy baskets for the ball handler most of the time. While he does have his weaknesses on defense, he is also one of the best rebounders in the nation. Last year he posted a defensive rebounding rate of 24.8 which ranked 55th nationally and first in the Big West. Xavier had some trouble finishing possessions with rebounds in a few games last season and it was a real point of exasperation for Sean Miller. Traore is going to come in and fix that problem almost immediately. When you combine that with a potential trio of him, Freemantle, and Dailyn Swain Xavier’s rebounding could quickly become one of the best in the nation. Aside from rebounding, Traore’s impact is going to come from just being a big physical body in the paint. He is going to be a good positional defender who can take up space in the paint and overall, just make sure that Xavier is not getting run out of the gym on defense. The larger picture is that Xavier is lacking any sort of rim protection and overall does not have that many plus defenders. Dailyn Swain, Dayvion Mcknight, Jerome Hunter, and Marcus Foster are the only plus defenders on this team. Plus, there is a real possibility that only one of these players is starting. Xavier has the potential to be one of the best and most explosive offenses in the nation, but the defense could hold this team back from reaching extremely high peaks. There is precedent of that working in Alabama or Illinois last season, but the offense must reach very high and consistent production for it to work. Xavier’s roster might be completed with this move. If that is the case Sean Miller has done more than enough for this to easily be a tournament team but anything further than that is dependent on the health of the front court and how well their defense can preform.