Sometimes when I'm watching film on a prospect that I had previously not watched much of, I find myself thinking, "How is this guy not in serious conversations to be drafted this year?" That just so happened to be the exact thought that raced through my head as I studied Anthony Dell'Orso and his sophomore season at Campbell University. A shooting guard with great size who can find his offense from anywhere on the floor and knock down shots with the best of 'em, Dell'Orso thoroughly impressed me from start to finish. On a Campbell team that really didn't have any other high-level collegiate contributors, Dell'Orso was given the green light to carry the Camels and he did just that. He put up fantastic numbers on impressive efficiency, and I think that his playstyle will allow him to translate that output to the power five level and eventually the NBA. Let me tell you why I came to that conclusion.
pc: Campbell University Athletics
Player Profile:
Anthony Dell'Orso, a native of Melbourne, Australia, is a 6'6" and 190lb shooting guard who has spent the first two seasons of his collegiate career at Campbell University. He's a true sophomore who turns 21 in July, so no worries about him being an older prospect. He was a stud in his prep-school days in Australia, racking up a ton of accolades at that level and getting the chance to play high-level hoops across his home country. In his two years as a fighting camel, Dell'Orso put together quite the resume. He was the top freshman in the Big South in his first season, and then in this past season he was named to the CAA second team, making him the youngest player on either the first or second team. He averaged 19.5 points per game, 6.5 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.6 steals, and .5 blocks on splits of 49.2% from the field, 38% from three, and 80.9% from the free-throw line. These stats were good enough to catch the attention of a ton of power five programs and allowed Dell'Orso to test the draft waters and get some feedback before returning to school. He decided on Arizona, a program that has been uber-successful under the leadership of 2022 AP Coach of the Year Tommy Lloyd.
Offense:
His pure offensive output and how he creates it is what makes Dell'Orso the player and prospect that he is. He's likely coveted as an outside shooter more than anything, but I was impressed by his ability to also operate inside the arc. In fact, the large majority of his offense comes inside the arc and is then further supplemented by his excellent outside shooting. It's his soft touch and tough shot making around the rim, it's his ability to pull-up in the mid-range in a variety of ways, and it's his ability to operate on and off-ball beyond the arc. His offensive game is incredibly translatable to every level of the sport, because he can simply score in any way that you want him to. Add to this an excellent feel for the game that allows him to be a capable secondary playmaker and you have a guy who is a true do-it-all player on this end of the floor.
Let's work from the inside out and start by breaking down Dell'Orso's ability to score near the basket. Firstly, and this is something to keep in mind throughout this article, Campbell did not have any above average playmakers surrounding Dell'Orso. Therefore, while I do believe that he is a solid off-ball operator, the majority of his offense is self-created. This definitely isn't a bad thing, but I don't want anyone to get the impression that he's only useful when he's a high usage player. That said, the large majority of his rim pressure is generated by him breaking down defenders in isolation or by moving up the floor quickly in transition. He has an impressive arsenal of dribble moves that when combined with elite footwork allow him to create easy shots for himself inside. When a shot isn't so easy he's able to utilize his tough shot making acumen to still convert his looks. So, while I do believe he's capable of moving off-ball for these opportunities, I see nothing wrong with how he has been able to put points on the board from this area of the floor.
All four of those clips are examples of Dell'Orso attacking the rim in the half-court, whether it be via isolation or set up by a screen. There are a few things that I want to point out regarding these clips. In the first clip you see him finish with his left incredibly easily through traffic despite being right-handed. Being able to finish with both hands isn't uncommon at this level, but the ability to do so with such ease is what stood out to me. Then of course you have to look at how he's getting to the rim. I'm not going to break down every individual dribble move, but just by watching these clips you can tell how in control of his handle Dell'Orso is. This is a shooting guarding dicing through multiple defenders without having an incredibly quick first step or elite change of pace. He breaks through the defense using pure manipulation of the ball and his body, and once he gets into the air, he's great at contorting through rim protectors to get an easier look. Finally, you have to recognize the shot difficulty. As I mentioned, he finishes with his off-hand, but he also hits layups high off the backboard, and hits floaters over outstretched arms using his elite touch.
The next two clips show how he attacks in transition. In one he creates the look for himself after bringing the ball up the court, in the other he receives a pass at the three-point line as he streaks down the floor. Notice his ability to convert these attempts in transition without using elite foot speed. In one he uses a single inside-out crossover to disable his man and end up with an easy layup, and in the other he glides around a defender attempting to take a charge for another uncontested look. This is what you call high IQ finishing and this ability to make offense easy for himself is a trait that he'll maintain at any level.
Finally, I have one last clip of Dell'Orso finishing around the rim. In this clip he is acting as an off-ball option, and he receives the pass after cutting baseline toward the basket. He gets cut off and stuck under the backboard with multiple defenders on his back. Despite this, he's still able to get his arm up and around the rim to finish the layup. One thing I am curious about regarding Dell'Orso is his wingspan, as in this clip and in a few others, he looks to have a seriously positive wingspan. If that is the case that makes him much more versatile on both ends of the floor, and it has not seemed to affect his shooting prowess. With that said, here's the clip.
Now onto his mid-range game, which may be the most enticing aspect of Dell'Orso's scoring arsenal. Why? Because there are a ton of guys who can finish around the rim at an elite level, and there are a ton of elite outside shooters, but there are not nearly as many guys who are holding onto the in-between game. Sure, they exist, but a lot of times they don't supplement their mid-range shooting with other forms of scoring. Not only does Dell'Orso supplement his mid-range scoring and in the process strengthen it, but the mid-range scoring itself is the supplement for his other forms of scoring. If his primary form of scoring was the mid-range game I would be somewhat concerned, as this region of the floor is still the least efficient part of the offensive game. Instead, Dell'Orso uses this aspect of his game as an advantage, as defenders must stick to him from the three to the rim and cannot leave him at any point in-between. This makes him an incredibly dangerous and versatile scorer.
The first two clips here are slightly different than the third and fourth. In the first two you see Dell'Orso use the space that is given to him to get up his mid-range jumper. In the first the opposing big remains low expecting the drive, of course this drive never comes as Dell'Orso raises up for his mid-range shot. In the second the big moves laterally in the paint, once again expecting the drive. He doesn't move towards Dell'Orso, allowing enough space for him to get the shot off. In the third and fourth clips he is creating his own space. In the third he uses a push-off and step-back to create a ton of space, and in the fourth he completely stops his forward acceleration, uses a slight push-off, and then steps back to create enough space to get his shot off. In these clips you see his quick decision making when he sees that the defense is letting him take the mid-range jumper. You also see his ability to create his own offense in the mid-range. The ability to do both is super important, as it shows that more often than not his shots from this area are going to be highly efficient looks that he has seen a million times before.
Finally, we get to his outside shooting. As I mentioned, I believe this is his most important trait. A lot of guards with the positional size and length of Dell'Orso struggle to consistently knock down the three. Longer arms and lankier builds just do not translate as well in this department. Dell'Orso is an exception to that rule, as he combines his length, shot creation abilities, and shot making acumen to create good looks for himself from beyond the arc. This is also where I think he is most comfortable working off the ball. Now, he still creates the majority of his own offense from the three, but he has shown that he's comfortable on catch-and-shoot looks from just about every spot around the perimeter. I'm going to show the off-ball shots first, because there is less of them, and then show you how he creates his own shot from deep.
The first clip above shows Dell'Orso's ability to convert on catch-and-shoot looks from deep. He doesn't have the fastest mechanics or quickest release, but because he's so far beyond the arc this really doesn't matter. When he wants to get his shot off quickly, he can, and you can see this in the second clip. After setting a screen, he backpedals to the corner, collects the bounce pass, and gets his shot off over his defender while on the move. There's a good chance that Dell'Orso does not shoulder nearly as much of the shot creation load at Arizona as he did at Campbell. Because of this, his ability to play off-ball and remain a productive scorer is vital.
Anthony Dell'Orso generates his self-created threes in two primary ways. He sprinkles in some other looks here and there to remain versatile and difficult to predict, but for the most part he has two methods of shot creation that he prefers. These are the step-back/side-step three and a step-in three where he almost runs into his shot. The clips above are examples of the step-back, with the first clip being more of a step-back/side-step hybrid. In my opinion, taking and making shots like these is a legitimate star quality. Even most of the best outside shooters don't have this level of shot creation on the perimeter. It's even more rare for a slight shooting guard to have these abilities. Making almost 40% of your threes when you're taking shots with this caliber of difficulty is incredibly impressive. Let's look at a couple of Dell'Orso's run-in threes.
This is an uber-interesting shot, because it's not one that you see super often. The first name that pops into my head when I think of a shooter who almost runs into their shot is Donovan Mitchell, a hyper-athletic short and stocky shooting guard who seems so different to someone like Dell'Orso. I don't know exactly what that connection means for Dell'Orso, but the fact that this shot is so rare supports his versatility from the three-point line. He also shows how quick he can get his shot off on these looks, as he seemingly speeds up every part of his mechanics without losing his accuracy. It really doesn't get much more interesting than this shot and his ability to replicate it.
If there is a third type of three that Dell'Orso likes to take, I would say it's a simple three set up by a screen. Similar to how he takes his mid-range shot when he's given space, when he's given space off of a screen, he's liable to pull-up from deep. Similar to his off-ball shooting, this is another example of something that will likely be asked of him at a higher level more than his elite step-back shot creation, so his ability to knock these down is very important.
I'd argue that the most underrated aspect of Dell'Orso's game is his passing and playmaking. He only averaged 1.9 assists per game this season, which would lead you to believe he isn't a fantastic passer. However, a huge reason for that low number is the lack of shot making that was surrounding him. When you actually watch him play you quickly learn that he makes a ton of impressive passes that simply aren't converted to assists or aren't converted at all. Most of these are on kickouts after he has driven into the paint, but some of them are more than your average kickout. It's hard to make a kickout flashy, but Dell'Orso has figured it out.
In those first two clips he does something interesting, he purposefully drives out of bounds. A lot of players refuse to use this part of the court to their advantage, but Dell'Orso feels comfortable here. When you're that deep in the court you tend to collapse the defense, and when you collapse the defense, you will have open teammates around the perimeter. Well, when you make the kickout pass as you jump out of bounds, you ensure that you don't risk turning the ball over as long as your teammate is where they're supposed to be. Why? Because no defender is standing out of bounds to intercept that pass. Some of the best playmakers in basketball do this a lot. Who comes to mind first? Luka Doncic. Now, I once again don't think Dell'Orso is anywhere near a player like Doncic, but the fact that a passer of his caliber also uses this tactic should tell you all you need to know about Dell'Orso's playmaking IQ.
I have two other passing clips, and I'm going to go ahead and talk about them now. To be honest, the allure of the first clip is that it's just cool. That's a highlight pass if I've ever seen one. It's not overly difficult, but if you wanted to point out one thing of note I would point out that the opposing team felt the need to send two defenders to contest Dell'Orso's shot. That speaks more to his scoring ability, but when you combine heads-up passing with elite scoring you will see more moments like this. The second clip is far more important, as Dell'Orso easily dissects the pick-and-roll. If you want to be considered an elite playmaker you have to be able to set up a roller on the pick-and-roll. Not only does he display that here, but he does so in a really impressive way. He fakes the pass over the top, gets the defender in the air, before delivering the bounce pass on a dime.
Defense:
While Dell'Orso isn't viewed as a lockdown defender by any means, he still makes an impact on this side of the floor. As I've said, he has solid positional size and length at the two. I also think that he appears far more athletic on the defensive end than he does on the offensive end. His 1.6 steals per game and .5 blocks as a guard would suggest that he is a solid defender, not to mention that he only averages 1.4 fouls a night.
So, here's the thing about Dell'Orso as a perimeter defender. I don't think he's quite strong or fast enough to be an elite point-of-attack defender, at least not yet. He is tall enough that he can still add quite a bit of muscle to his frame to strengthen that aspect of his game. That said, I think he's a really smart help defender with excellent defensive timing. The majority of those steals come via him jumping passing lanes. That IQ that so clearly presents itself on the offensive end seemingly translates to Dell'Orso's defensive game. In addition to that, we've already talked about how good he is scoring in transition, which is exactly what happens when he comes up with these passing lane interceptions.
I mentioned how I think he arguably looks more athletic on defense than he does on offense, and that's not only because of his quick-twitch reflexes on those steals. When he picks up the occasional block, it is usually in impressive fashion. He's not soaring through the air to come up with game stopping swats, but he's able to jump with opponents as they attack the rim. He's very good at getting vertical to contest shots, so even if he doesn't pick up a block, he makes an impact on contesting the easiest shots in basketball.
That's about it for his defensive break down. Dell'Orso isn't a defensive piece that you write home about, but he makes a big enough impact that you wouldn't ever consider him to be a weak spot. His offense is so fantastic that he could be a below average defender and you would still want him on the court, and he's definitely not a below average defender. He does his job, he doesn't foul, and he's a solid positional rebounder.
Summary:
Before I fully summarize Anthony Dell'Orso's game, I want to list out what I view to be his weaknesses. Every player has them, and it's important to be transparent when evaluating a prospect. Luckily for Dell'Orso, he has far less flaws than the majority of his peers.
While he does make his shots at an efficient clip, his shot selection is definitely a risky aspect of his game. Will he be able to convert on these shots at the same rate when he matches up against better defenders and team defenses?
He wasn't a great three-point shooter in his freshman season, knocking down only 32.2% of his outside looks. You always have to question if seasons such as this are an outlier instead of the norm.
I would love to see him add more strength to his frame. Not only would this strengthen his defensive versatility, but I think it would also support athletic growth.
That said, Dell'Orso isn't a spectacular athlete. His lack of vertical spacing is something worth noting, even though I don't think it's overly detrimental to his game.
While I am a fan of his foundation as a passer, I do find myself wishing he was a more willing passer at times. I do think that this will be engrained into his mentality once he makes it to Arizona and doesn't have to shoulder the same scoring load.
He has faced turnover issues at times, but I do think that these numbers are inflated due to his role. A player with his level of usage averaging 2.4 turnovers is far from unheard of, he just needs to increase his assist numbers as well to ensure a positive assist to turnover ratio.
To summarize Anthony Dell'Orso's game, I look at his offense. He is a true offensive specimen, and I think this is obvious when you watch him play. His scoring arsenal is almost perfect for the modern game, and he puts the ball in the hoop in such a versatile and translatable way. I think he can be the top dog in an offense, I think he can be a supplemental scorer and playmaker, and I think he can be the perfect offensive role player. His ability to fit into basically any offensive system makes him incredibly valuable. His ability to not only score, but also act as a secondary playmaker, further emphasizes his offensive flexibility. A lot of times guys like this will give up just as many points on the defensive end as they score on the offensive end, but this isn't the case with Anthony Dell'Orso. While he may not be a spectacular point-of-attack defender, his IQ and feel for the game carry him a long way as an impactful defender in help. He also does the little things that win basketball games. He never gets into foul trouble, he gets out into transition quickly, and he's a great positional rebounder. He's simply the type of guy that you want on your basketball team, no matter what your coaching philosophy looks like. I think that will reign true for not only Tommy Lloyd and Arizona, but also for whatever team ends up taking him in a future NBA Draft.
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