SCOUTING REPORT: Justin Bean, Alba Berlin
New episode of Eurodevotion's scouting report over Euroleague rookies for the upcoming season.
In this new article, we will analyze Justin Bean's profile, new power forward of Alba Berlin. Here the link for the two previous reports about Ismael Kamagate and Devontae Cacok.
Justin Bean was announced by the German team on July, 19th and is expected to play in the starting five at the 4 for Alba Berlin.
JUSTIN BEAN: THE PROFILE
Justin Bean is a 26 year-old power forward that has recently played in the NBA G-League for the Memphis Hustle after going undrafted in the 2022 Nba Draft. He had been offcially signed by the Memphis Grizzlies back in September 2022, but has then been waived and made his debut in the NBA.
Bean stands at 201cm tall with a wingspan of 213cm and weights 95kg.
Despite having a tough beginning of his professional career, Bean can be considered to have a solid reputation as a player, having received a mention in the Second Team All-Mountain West as a senior while at Utah State in 2022.
Bean also took part at the PIT (Portsmouth Invitational Tournament) during the same year, and it was there that the interest of many European clubs was manifested.
JUSTIN BEAN: STRENGHTS
Justin Bean mainly bases his game on his ability to punish the defense in many different ways: he is a good low post player and can finish both back to the rim or front-attacking his opponent, but he also knows how to run the floor efficiently and can be a threat in transition.
In addition to that, he developed a sufficiently reliable shot from behind the arch over his 4-year stint at Utah State and thus became very tough to guard for the other teams, as Bean can now beat his defender from the dribble or punish him from the long range depending on the type of opponent that he is facing.
Especially for being a power forward, the Oklahoma native turns out to be quite a decent scorer, again thanks to the incredible variety of solutions that he has on the offensive end, which is something absolutely necessary when playing at a Euroleague level. If you are not at the very top level in one fundamental, you absolutely need to be able to adapt yourself to the needs of the team, i.e. being an overall player, and he can definitely do it.
Always related to this aspect, it must be said that Bean's main skill is probably his off-ball movement: the native of Moore, Oklahoma, is excellent at playing back doors and cuts in the middle of the paint when on the weak side, but also when his teammates have troubles with their defenders pressing them intensely.
Overall, it is safe to say that Bean might not be a force of nature in any aspect of the game, but his ability to make himself efficient and useful even when he has difficulties in putting points to the board is what defines this player.
JUSTIN BEAN: WEAKNESSES
If the offensive end is certainly not a problem for Bean, different story is the defensive end.
He can definitely help his team under the boards thanks to his rebounding ability, but suffers more athletic opponents off the ball due to his lack of athleticism and has a tremendous weakness in his on-ball defense, especially after a switch on a smaller opponent.
This can cause an imbalance to the overall defense of the team and one way to avoid such a situation is to not expose him to a direct switch right after a pick and roll and to pair him with an athletic five that can fill this gap.
Another aspect that he needs to work on is turnovers, as the player has committed several sloppy ones during his college career, but this goes more into a general need of increased focus that all rookies have when arriving to Euroleague.