UCLA lands 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara from Spain: Why he’s a potential first-rounder
UCLA signed Aday Mara, a 7-foot-3 center from Spain on Thursday, the school announced. Here’s what you need to know:
- Mara is projected to be a potential lottery pick in the upcoming 2024 NBA Draft.
- During Spain’s second-place finish at the FIBA U18 European Championships in Serbia, Mara averaged 14.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 2.7 blocks.
- Mara becomes the seventh incoming player to join the Bruins’ program for the 2023-24 season, including six freshmen.
- UCLA finished 31-6 last season before falling to Gonzaga in the Sweet Sixteen.
The Athletic’s instant analysis:
Why is this such a big pick-up for UCLA?
Mara is one of the best young players in Europe right now. A 7-foot-3 center with tremendous touch and great footwork on the block, the 18-year-old profiles extremely well in a college basketball environment. He’ll have a significant size advantage over almost everyone in the Pac-12, and will be an awesome bail-out option for the Bruins to throw the ball down to him on the block and let him score.
From an experience perspective, Mara has already shown he can play at a level above college basketball, having earned a rotation spot in the Spanish ACB league last season with Zaragoza off the bench. He averaged 5.3 points and 3.3 rebounds while blocking about one shot in 11 minutes of action per game. Then, he went over to Serbia and played for Spain in the U18 European Championships and was one of the best players there, winning All-Tournament honors. Scouts who were at the event noted that Mara looked like a potential first-round pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. — Vecenie
How does he fit at UCLA?
This is the most fascinating part. Mara’s best skill is his ability to score on the block, but his second-best skill is actually his passing ability. Mara is an unbelievable passer for a big on the low block or in the mid-post, finding cutters and kickouts all over the place and using his length and creativity to find unique angles. Having said that, Bruins coach Mick Cronin has never actually had a big man that passes like this. He’s never had a center post anything over a 12 percent assist rate even going back to Cincinnati. The Bruins should be able to utilize Mara as a hub of their offense both with his scoring and passing ability, but it’s just not something Cronin has really done before.
Cronin doesn’t get nearly enough credit for playing to the personnel he has, so the best bet is on him figuring out how to utilize him on offense to his fullest potential. But it’ll be interesting to see how that actually plays out. The same goes on defense, where Mara’s feet aren’t exactly the fleetest at 7-foot-3. My bet is that we see UCLA end up playing a solid amount of zone defense this year around him in the 20-to-25 minutes he’s on the court. — Vecenie
Why is Mara a potential 2024 NBA Draft first-round pick?
Mara is a big man that doesn’t exactly have awesome quickness, which isn’t an archetype that NBA teams covet right now. So it should say something to you about how good the rest of his skill set is that Mara is still seen by NBA evaluators as a potential first-round pick. NBA teams love to find skilled bigs with real passing and playmaking ability. It can be a real marginal advantage for offenses, as guys like Domantas Sabonis and Nikola Jokić have shown.
Mara needs to get stronger and needs to keep improving his ability to move in space. But from a skill set perspective, there just is very little that he can’t do as a post player or as a short-roll option in ball-screens. He’s an extremely versatile offensive chess piece who is also a willing communicator on defense and a real impediment at the basket. — Vecenie
What’s next for UCLA?
Eyes will now turn to Berke Buyuktuncel, a Turkish wing/forward who I also have projected in the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft. Buyuktuncel is a 6-foot-9 skilled 4-man in college that can really dribble, pass and shoot. There are a lot of similarities to his game stylistically with Jaime Jaquez. Jaquez developed a little more juice off of the bounce than what Buyuktuncel has currently, but Buyuktuncel is an even more creative passer and playmaker. High-low attacks with Mara and Buyuktuncel would be devastating even as soon as next season in Westwood.
If the Bruins can get Buyuktuncel locked in this week, as expected, the Bruins should be considered a top-25 team in the country to start the season. Mara, Buyuktuncel and 6-foot-5 point guard Jan Vide are all ready to play from the jump, and should be significant impact players in the Pac-12. — Vecenie
