Joan Beringer: The Young Pupil With Tools

Let me take you back about a year. It is July 27th, 2024. It is hot outside, the Olympics just started the day prior, the U18 Eurobasket competition just began, and Nolan Traore is top 3 on my big board. Going into watch France’s games in the junior competition, the names to look out for were the aforementioned Traore, a consensus top 5 prospect in that summer, and Noa Essengue, a toolsy forward who didn’t yet have a roadmap for productive adult play. But on the third offensive possession of France’s tournament in their opening game against Greece and Neoklis Avdalas, Nolan Traore would run a pick and roll with a relatively unknown French big man, which resulted in a bucket. Over the next 10 months, that big would have one of the most fascinating trajectories of any prospect I have seen in my time scouting.

Joan Beringer was a young kid in France who grew up in Strasbourg in Eastern France and had dreams of playing soccer his entire life. At around 15, Beringer had gotten so big that he could no longer find soccer spikes in his own size, and after being pushed to try basketball due to his size, he ended up picking up his first basketball in the summer of 2021. After stints in a junior program in his hometown, playing with the club Saint-Joeseph, where he was so far behind developmentally that he would practice with the 11 year old team, Beringer eventually got the call up to that French U18 National Team, and after signing with Cedevita Olimpija in Slovenia to be a member of their U19 team in the ABA, Beringer found himself to be the starter for a team with a winning record in both the Adriadic League and Eurocup, Europe’s 2nd best international club competition.

Beringer eventually found himself in draft talks, projected to be a 1st round pick on Rookie Scale’s Consensus Big Board. But who is Beringer as a player, and what is his outlook in the NBA?

Length Is a Weapon

Beringer is a large human. Listed at anywhere between 6’9” and 6’10”, I think it is safe to say that Beringer is at least 6’10” in shoes, with a wingspan unofficially reported to be 7’4”, and it is clear when you watch the tape. He looks significantly longer than his competition in both ABA and Eurocup, and passes the simple “that guy standing there looks kinda like an NBA player” test, which, while not meaning anything substantial, is still important, and something that can be relied on against non-NBA pros who don’t pass that test.

When defending, it is clear that Beringer has good coordination to block shots. Some of his swats are outright comical, having vertical pop that dwarfs that of some ground-bound ABA bigs. The ability to pogo stick up and down is also there, and the tools are salivating. He is able to contest shots at the rim as both an on-the-ball defender and a helper without fouling, and has a clear developmental path to that of a quality rim protector.

His length and hand activity can pop up in other places as well. Doing a good job of having active hands in pick and roll, and having some flashes of jumping passing lanes. While he is a late arrival to basketball, the idea of jumping for a pass in soccer is the same, and I don’t doubt that Beringer has honed that skill throughout his life. He has very good hand placement in pick and roll, and can interrupt pocket passes and create quick turnovers.

His pick and roll process can sometimes leave something to be desired, as he can sometimes struggle to keep the proper distance between himself and the roller, and allow bigs to easily roll to the rim. He also routinely gets cooked in pick and pop sets, sometimes forgetting that the popping big man exists.

Beringer also rebounds at a high level, using his pop and length to go up over defenders. His box-out motor is good, but sometimes he can be pushed out of the spot as his technique isn’t quite there yet. He already has some broad shoulders, and when he gets the rep right, he really gets it right, and looks like he could be a dominant rebounder, a la a Clint Capela type of player, in the future.

The most impressive part of Beringer’s defensive profile is his foot speed. Normally, bigs with his physical profile don’t have elite footspeed. When you think of an elite footspeed big, you think of skinnier, almost guard-like big men like Chet Holmgren and Evan Mobley, or smaller bigs like Draymond Green and Jonathan Mogbo. While Beringer isn’t quite NBA big man strong, he has clear strength and footspeed on the defensive end. His ability to slide his feet and compete with guards while containing with his length is very intriguing, and he already has some reps being used in more exotic pick and roll coverages. These reps are a bit rarer as the ABA and Eurocup games don’t require it, but an NBA coaching staff with a game plan could absolutely use Beringer in a setting where he plays at the level or even blitzes ball handlers, using his length to cause havoc and make plays.

Overall, Beringer has the ceiling to be an anchor of an elite defense, and while I don’t see true top 10 defender in the league potential, I think his median outcome lies closer to someone like Myles Turner or Isaiah Hartenstein on the defensive side of the ball.

Staying on the Floor Offensively

Beringer isn’t a prospect because of his offense. I hope I made it clear enough in the defense section that that is the reason he will be drafted in the first round, but that is not to say that Beringer doesn’t have skills on the offensive side of the ball that aren’t intriguing.

Beringer’s role on the offensive side of the ball is primarily that of a play finisher. I mentioned Clint Capela earlier in this report, and I think that is a reasonable outcome for Beringer to reach. He has the outright best hands in this class, catching everything inside his radius and frequently reaching outside his traditional catch radius to secure lobs, tight window passes, or just outright bad passes. He is also able to dunk at a high rate, and still finishes relatively well when he doesn’t dunk. His overall half-court rim FG% was 64% on 74% HC rim frequency, which is a good indicator for staying a positive finisher at the next level.

Beringer cuts with intent, setting great screens and finding his way to the rack with comfort. He does a good job at navigating through the crowded ABA paint, and I believe that in an NBA setting, he will have an easier time rolling to easy buckets. NBA passers are also just outright better than you average ABA passer, and there a quite a few lobs on Beringer’s tape that just were not thrown.

Beringer also is just incredibly fast for a big man. He runs the floor at a very high level in transition, and does a good job at filling up a lane and either getting an easy bucket or sealing off defenders. This is where a lot of his intruge comes from, as he could be more of an offensive positive than someone like Rudy Gobert due to transition.

Beringer has also shown some solid reads as a playmaker. There are some bad reads to go with it, but we have seen big men of similar archetypes to Beringer show zero passing whatsoever, so to be such a late arrival to basketball and have some semblance of court mapping is encouraging.

Most of Beringer’s reads come from offensive rebounds, and he does have a nose for the offensive glass, posting the 9th-best ORB% in Eurocup. His playmaking is limited due to his underdeveloped skill level. Beringer’s handle is borderline non-existent, and he has no semblance of self-creation. The odds that he turns into an Ivica Zubac-type of creator are close to zero.

He doesn't show the required bend despite the lack of a handle either. He doesn’t really attempt to initiate contact, and while his footwork looks acceptable at best in isolation, he doesn’t have elite touch for that to matter.

Beringer is not much of a shooter either, with minimal jumpers attempted on the season and poor FT percentage in addition. Shooting won’t be a part of his NBA role, but that isn’t an issue, as there are a plethora of non-shooting NBA big men who don’t take jumpers. Unlocking Beringer’s offensive ceiling is likely closer to mastering a floater, as he could roll into open space right in front of the free-throw line and score like Isaiah Hartenstein or Jarrett Allen.

Outlook and Projection

So, where will Joan Beringer go on draft night? In reality, nobody knows, but two spots that make a lot of sense are two teams actually drafting two picks back to back. The Atlanta Hawks and the Indiana Pacers pick at 22 and 23, and I find it pretty unlikely that Beringer makes it past both of them. The Hawks could look to swing Khaman Maluach earlier in the draft, but if he isn’t there for them with their pick at 13, I’d expect the Hawks to take Beringer, assuming they don’t fall in love with another big in the class. Beringer fits the Pacers exceptionally well, in my opinion, as Tyrese Haliburton and Co. love to create easy opportunities in their uptempo, ballscreen-heavy offense, and Beringer would have a simplified role there as a screen and roll big man who runs the floor in transition. The Pacers’ defensive identity has also gone underappreciated, and I don’t doubt that Head Coach Rick Carlisle would love a high-energy big with tools like the Frenchman.

I don’t think it is impossible that Beringer goes higher than this on draft night, but I do doubt he makes it outside of the first round. Beringer is the 3rd youngest player in this class, only behind Cooper Flagg and Noa Essengue, and it is rare to find players with tools this productive in a professional league at 18 years old, on a development trajectory so clearly trending upward.

Afterword and Housekeeping

Thanks for reading this article, and I hope I was able to either enlighten or entertain, and I would love to discuss Beringer or any potential fits either in the comment section or via Twitter. I know articles here had been non-existent, and for that I apologize, as two jobs and school had completely swallowed my life. I was still able to keep up on film, my notes, and the pod (as always check that out), and regular work will be continuing for the rest of the summer, and likely through the fall.

This summer, I am working on Puma and NXTPro’s AAU circuit for youth basketball as a Broadcast Director, but this also gives me access to players, coaches, and scouts, so there may be some work with people on our circuit coming soon, so be sure to stay tuned for that! As always thank you for reading, and happy scouting!