Vrenz Bleijenbergh: The Importance of Supplementary Offensive Skills

Written by David

Vrenz Bleijenbergh may be 6’10”, but his skill set isn't that of a forward. In the continuous refinement and expansion of traditional positional roles, Vrenz’s playmaking and handle for his size give him creation upside matched by few in this year’s draft class. Across 41 games this season in the Belgian Super League and Eurocup, Vrenz put up rather pedestrian numbers, but watching just one game of his is enough to see his immense talent. In the following piece, I outline what I believe to be the three key components of Vrenz’s offensive game, as well as a description of his shooting and defense and how those, too, contribute to his upside. 

Ball Handling, Passing, and Finishing

Despite frequently handling the ball in pick and roll action and transition, Vrenz’s high handle and severe right hand dominance limits his ability to attack the paint. He consistently dribbles well above his hip and is subsequently susceptible to turnovers from digs and pokes at the ball. When given space to build up momentum, Vrenz avoids using his left hand and will attempt to take difficult angles to turn the corner by dribbling to his right rather than changing directions to his left with a crossover or counter move. The few occasions of him changing direction are calculated and stiff, which bar him from maximizing his playmaking abilities in both transition and the half-court. This rigid movement and decision making with his left gives defenders time to recover or prevent him from generating optimal passing windows. 

Vrenz’s efforts to avoid using his left hand pay off in the end as he gets his teammate an open look, but he’ll need to become more comfortable with his left hand in the NBA to execute similar plays.

Although he loves taking contested three pointers off the catch, he could better capitalize on these advantages by attacking closeouts using fakes or simply taking his defender off the dribble. Despite his advantageous positional size and already relatively quick release speed, contesting closeouts do sometimes speed up his release and alter his shot. Tightening his handle might make him more comfortable to attack closeouts, which, as discussed, should be a situation he should seek out more often given his size and passing chops. 

Vrenz's limited handle also decreases the quality of the passing angles he generates in the pick and roll and limits his ability to attack downhill off of screens. Demonstrative of his current inability to consistently look to play at different speeds, Vrenz rarely waits for the screener to be set before he takes off in the direction of where the gap should be had the screener already set the screen. He frequently opts to pick up his dribble and throw passes over the defense to the roller, which, although he completes more often than not, sometimes fly above the catch radius or are intercepted. Other times, he will only take one or two dribbles within the arc before making a pass, when instead continuing his foray could create more opportunities for himself to score and higher quality shots for his teammates. When he does maneuver in towards the paint, he does not consistently act in response to the defense. Instead, he seems to wait for passing windows to develop. He displays no floater or midrange game, nor an ability to put his defender in jail. His decision-making sometimes seems pre-determined, leading to situations where he passes up open lanes to the rim or forces passes through tight windows. 

Vrenz’s somewhat loose handle—most apparent with his left—holds him back from being more aggressive as a slasher or otherwise attacking the paint.

When coming off screens near the elbow, his stride lengths should theoretically allow him to easily turn the corner into the paint, but instead he often picks up his dribble to kick it back out to the perimeter. Both his poor handle and lack of burst contribute to this; even still, the space he creates and the clear angles to the rim he has should allow him to use these situations to get downhill, even with his limitations. 

Vrenz’s lack of confidence in his left hand causes him to pick up his dribble.

Still, much of his pick and roll brilliance is a product of his court vision and the touch he puts on his passes. At his best, he takes care to wait until he draws two defenders to himself or forces the help defender to guard two players before firing a perfect pass right into the shooting pocket or hands of a teammate at the rim for a dunk. At 6’10”, his size enables him to pass above defenders and at a velocity that most guards could not achieve. Despite lacking the top-tier live dribble passing chops of wing-forwards like Deni Avdija and Franz Wagner, Vrenz makes use of jump passes and uses his size to collect the ball with two hands before making a pass.

PnR Maestro Vrenz, three ways.

While he is not much of a threat to score in transition, he covers ground quickly and is able to make every type of pass in the open court. Some of his most visually impressive passes are perfectly-weighted 30 foot lobs over defenders to a rim-running center, which are indicative of both his sublime touch and aggressive playmaking. Although, due to Vrenz’s tendency to throw passes early in transition, even his passes are occasionally intercepted or fly out of bounds.

Vrenz drops a pass from behind half-court to his rim-running teammate.

Vrenz’s entry passes give confirmation of his passing touch and understanding of angles. He employs a variety of bounce passes and lobs of different speeds and arc angles to lead the post player in the direction of space that will allow them to either lay the ball in or begin working in the post in favorable locations. 

Vrenz’s perfectly placed entry pass leads his teammate toward the rim.

On the rare occasions Vrenz actually gets all the way to the rim, Vrenz’s right hand dominance and lack of verticality severely inhibit his ability to finish effectively around the rim. However, his size and length enable him to get high quality angles at the basket. Adding upper body strength to better finish through contact or developing a floater or in between game could help Vrenz become a more capable scoring threat in transition and the pick and roll. This would increase his scoring gravity by opening up passing angles and giving him the confidence to be more assertive on drives and not resort to making early kickouts. 

Vrenz elects to go with an awkward right hand scoop layup rather than finish more naturally with his left.

Shooting

Vrenz’s size, release speed, and movement abilities as a shooter provide yet another path of upside, but he will need to eliminate inconsistencies in his shooting mechanics to be most successful. A 43% three point shooter last season, Vrenz displayed the ability to hit shots on right-left motion and as a spot-up shooter off the catch. In addition, his size and fast release allow him to shoot over most contests and closeouts. His technique requires closer inspection, but he has a clear path to being an elite spacer. 

Mechanical issues and shooting upside (release point and speed) are both apparent here

Vrenz’s footwork in these types of sets varies between just a gather step or a full hop, but both processes allow him to build his shooting base quickly and get his shot off in rhythm. Still, eliminating one of these processes from his progression might help regulate his shooting rhythm. His feet after the shot are as inconsistent as his misses from deep; his right foot frequently crosses in front of his left, or his left crosses behind his right. His feet also do not land simultaneously. Vrenz’s follow-thru and upper body mechanics also need work, as evidenced by his 54% free throw percentage. His right hand snaps backwards after briefly holding a follow through, likely causing his shots to fall a bit short. He also has a chicken wing form, but his right elbow is usually more outwardly protruding than his left. 

Defense

Solid lateral quickness and recovery abilities make Vrenz a versatile on-ball defender, and while he has significant upside as an off-ball playmaker, too often he finds himself out of position and without the athletic ability or confidence to make plays following rotations. Even at 6’10, Vrenz is able to hang with smaller and faster wings on the perimeter. He slides his feet well and is able to recover when he gets beat. Still, he sometimes has trouble swiveling his hips quickly and falls for too many fakes, especially on closeouts. Vrenz would benefit from allowing more space between himself and smaller opponents on the wing, and to then use his length to contest those who try to shoot over him. 

Vrenz moves his feet to cut off angles to the rim, then uses his length to contest and force a miss.

Vrenz’s awareness and anticipation are quite good and he generally rotates well as a help defender. However, he sometimes follows the ball for too long and doesn’t fully recover after a show or tag, leaving his man wide open on the perimeter. When he does rotate into the paint, he too frequently keeps both feet on the ground and doesn’t make an effort to contest. Even though he lacks verticality, his size should be enough to contest shots at the rim more than he currently does. Vrenz could also improve at covering passing windows and disrupting drives from the perimeter with his length. When Vrenz was consistently aggressive with digs and stepping into passing lanes, it resulted in transition opportunities that he capitalized on at Antwerp. 

Conclusion

Any one of Vrenz’s shooting, passing, or defensive upside combined with the fact that he stands 6’10” should be enough to get him drafted, but all four make him a clear first round talent for me. Vrenz doesn’t need elite development in all of these areas to be a successful player, but bettering his handle would open up other aspects of his game more than anything else. He projects to guard mostly 3s and 4s on defense, but should eventually be able to exploit matchups on offense, even while drawing opposing teams’ best on-ball defenders. A team that thinks it could develop his handle—a notoriously hard-to-develop skill—and can afford to give him plenty of on-ball reps early in his rookie contract should consider how high that sort of player is worth taking. 

- Written by David (@ephelant48)