On July 1, Paris NN announced the signing of American defender Zach Nutall. For the 24-year-old legionnaire, the upcoming season will be only the second in his professional career. Last season he played for the Bosnian club Siroki. “Championate” talks about a newcomer to the Nizhny Novgorod team.
Zach Nutall was born on December 16, 1999 in Texas. There he began his basketball career, playing for Bryan School. Zach was not a great prospect and accepted an NCAA offer from the modest Sam Houston University, which at the same time played in the first division of the Southland Conference. In three seasons he went from being a reserve to being the main leader of the team, averaging 19.3 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists and 1.0 steals per game.
Zach Nutall
Photo: AAC conference press service
After the 2020/2021 season, Nutall was promoted and moved to SMU from the more prestigious AAC conference. In his first year with the new team, Nutall started 29 of 32 games, but averaged only 6.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.5 assists. After the team’s leading scorer left in his final college season, Zach became the second offensive option, averaging 13.2 points, 2.9 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.1 steals per game. There was no need to talk about the prospects of entering the NBA, so Nutall set off to conquer Europe.
The first professional club in the American’s career was Bosnian club Siroki. In total, Nutall played 26 games in the national championship and the second division of the Adriatic League, where he averaged 19.1 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.0 assists. Zach did not finish the season in Bosnia and left the team in March. In an official statement, the club indicated that the basketball player returned to the United States for family reasons. “Siroki” stressed that they express support and understanding to the player.
Three months later, Nutall became a Paris NN player. So, what is the 24-year-old American like?
Zach Nutall is a classic shooting guard, focused solely on scoring points. His strengths can be called one-on-one play: he often finishes attacks in “isolation”, knows how to organize space to score points, including thanks to good dribbling, and is not afraid to go out on the street. He also uses pick-and-rolls quite effectively for himself, and not as a “discount” for the “big man”.
Zach Nutall
Photo: SMU Press Service
The American also executes quick attacks well. In most cases, he will choose to attack on his own rather than pass to a free teammate. Nutall is a good three-point shooter, especially the catch-and-shoot one. He shot 35.1% from beyond the arc in the Bosnian League and 37.8% in the second division of the Adriatic League. Zach can shoot both off the dribble and from the receiving end, forcing opponents to guard him throughout the attack. In addition, Nutall can also use “cats”, who often run behind the defensive line players.
Zach can’t be called a great defender, but he can’t be blamed for his reluctance to defend either. He stays on the defensive and tries to create as much disruption as possible. It’s worth noting that Nutall often imposes losses on his opponents.
We can conclude that Zach Nutall is a pretty good attacking player with potential, because the upcoming season will be only the second in his professional career. However, we should not forget that in the Balkans the speed of basketball is much slower than in the United League. In the new league for the American there will not be so much space in attack and much more difficult in defense. But both in the NCAA and in Europe, Nutall managed to prove that he quickly adapts to the circumstances and raising the level of basketball should not be a problem for him.
More of the author’s opinions can be found on his Telegram channel: “Black on Orange”.
