Moving into the Top Ten or Lottery

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No, Bilal is not going to become a superstar and he isn’t going top 10. Holy . This is the only place with these ridiculous claims. He’s barely had any impact in today’s game. Dude plays like another Keldon Johnson.

Y bet remainson the table Dejounte.

His offense will surprise people. His coach said it was easy for him to score 40. And of course his defensive IQ and abilities are unique.

[Mr. Body]

There are some teams that don't have FRPs next year or are likely to have to convey theirs. Might be some interest in trading for either the Charlotte or Toronto pick next year.

- Brooklyn has 21 and 22, might value getting a pick next year for one of them.
- Los Angeles owes next year's to Pelicans outright, although Pels can opt to wait a year. I think they'll want to use their #17 this year, though.
- Golden State has big cap and player decisions to make. They owe their pick to Memphis next year, top 4 protected. They may trade their #19.
- Toronto has big questions this offseason. They owe the Spurs their pick next year, top 6 protected. They may be willing to reacquire it for the #13, if they get something else.
- Utah owes their pick next year to OKC, top 10 protected. Also don't have their 2024 SRP. But word is they may want to use the #16 with their lottery pick to move up.

The Toronto pick appears more valuable since it's more likely to convey.

If the Spurs want to move up, trying something like this might be one approach. Dallas might be more willing to give up their #10 if they're trading for the #17, for example, and still getting something out of this draft.

[Ariel]

Y bet remainson the table Dejounte.

His offense will surprise people. His coach said it was easy for him to score 40. And of course his defensive IQ and abilities are unique.

That's obviously inaccurate. No player finds scoring 40 or 50 a game easy in any compe ive league anywhere. Which leads me to question anything his coach may say about him.

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That's obviously inaccurate. No player finds scoring 40 or 50 a game easy in any compe ive league anywhere. Which leads me to question anything his coach may say about him.

I just took it to mean the coach thinks hes offensively gifted, a natural scorer. Which if true, underscores that he's not just special on defense. And all you gotta do is look at his stats this year to back that up. He scored in the 30s on several occasions, topping out at 37. And had he not been the clear #2 behind Wembanyama, i suspect he could have scored in the 40s or 50s.

All that article is saying is he's a 3 level scorer, and an elite defender. Forget about the coach blowing smoke up our ass. He's legit.

[Mr. Body]

Every article says players are three-level scorers. It's become a meaningless phrase.

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Every article says players are three-level scorers. It's become a meaningless phrase.

I agree...but the stats bear it out. He's obviously very athletic and plays above the rim. His 3pt% was over 40% over his like last 20 games. And his TS% and some highlights shows he's good FT extended.

I should get paid royalties for pimping my man on this board.

[Ariel]

I just took it to mean the coach thinks hes offensively gifted, a natural scorer. Which if true, underscores that he's not just special on defense. And all you gotta do is look at his stats this year to back that up. He scored in the 30s on several occasions, topping out at 37. And had he not been the clear #2 behind Wembanyama, i suspect he could have scored in the 40s or 50s.

All that article is saying is he's a 3 level scorer, and an elite defender. Forget about the coach blowing smoke up our ass. He's legit.

I agree...but the stats bear it out. He's obviously very athletic and plays above the rim. His 3pt% was over 40% over his like last 20 games. And his TS% and some highlights shows he's good FT extended.

I should get paid royalties for pimping my man on this board.

Aren't these his stats?
https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Bilal-Coulibaly/622815


Am I missing something?

[Ariel]

For reference, these are Hugo Besson's (58th pick in 2022) stats: https://basketball.eurobasket.com/pl...-Besson/441430

Besson is averaging 12.6 points in 24 minutes, on 63% from 2, 35.6% from 3, and 85.5% from the line
Coulibaly is averaging 4.9 points in 18 minutes, on 57.1% from 2, 45.2% from 3, and 59.5% from the line
(notice the inconsistency between 3P% and FT%, and the small sample from 3 of just 31 attempts)

[exstatic]

Every article says players are three-level scorers. It's become a meaningless phrase.

It has a meaning, it’s probably just being misused.

[Bruno]

Am I missing something?

The coach who said he was able to score 40 or 50 points on his team was his coach when he was 10 to 13 years old.
He is just saying that he was able to do it as a 10 to 13 years old kid against kids of the same age of his area.

He is for sure a long term project and I have no idea if he's worth a first round pick. French players drafted in the first round this past decade have been disappointments after disappointments.

[duncan2150]

The coach who said he was able to score 40 or 50 points on his team was his coach when he was 10 to 13 years old.
He is just saying that he was able to do it as a 10 to 13 years old kid against kids of the same age of his area.

He is for sure a long term project and I have no idea if he's worth a first round pick. French players drafted in the first round this past decade have been disappointments after disappointments.

Agreed

watching coulibaly in person, you see the potential but more the athletic one, defensively, he doesn't appear to be a futur big scorer.
He's still young but i wouldn' draft him with a lottery pick at the moment.

[mo7888]

I 'almost' hope we don't take Bilal Coulibaly. We set an unreasonably high bar for the kid here that he's not likely to reach. Unless we temper our expectations it might be better that he goes to a team in the late 20's without such lofty expectations.

[Spursfanfromafar]

The coach who said he was able to score 40 or 50 points on his team was his coach when he was 10 to 13 years old.
He is just saying that he was able to do it as a 10 to 13 years old kid against kids of the same age of his area.

He is for sure a long term project and I have no idea if he's worth a first round pick. French players drafted in the first round this past decade have been disappointments after disappointments.

Indeed .. Livio Jean-Charles is the latest example for the Spurs. Very small sample size but the Cholet game didn't feature him much. Wemby was literally high above his teammates in talent and performance.

[Ariel]

The coach who said he was able to score 40 or 50 points on his team was his coach when he was 10 to 13 years old.
He is just saying that he was able to do it as a 10 to 13 years old kid against kids of the same age of his area.

He is for sure a long term project and I have no idea if he's worth a first round pick. French players drafted in the first round this past decade have been disappointments after disappointments.

Thanks. So we're getting worked up because he'd score a lot among 10 year olds?
Anyway, France for sure is one of the better sources of basketball talent outside the US, but also it seems every project even somewhat interesting from France gets 10x the hype than other international players get. In this case I think both Rupert and Coulibaly have size, athletic traits and defensive tools that really catch your eye, but also there's plenty of question marks for both and that makes the lottery talk way too optimistic. If they can be had with our 2nd rounder (#33) or a pick in the mid to late 20s, they could be a reasonable gamble, but more than that seems too pricey for my liking. Not my lottery targets.

[Ariel]

Dallas at 10 increasingly seems like the right target. If they need to dump Hardaway, he might be exactly the kind of low-key vet contributor to add to the team (I actually think Josh Richardson would have been perfect for this). I don't know much about his personality though and he probably still views himself as a key piece on a contender.

#10 + Hardaway for the CHA Pick and #44? What's the right deal here? I'm sure people want #10 to just come free attached to Hardaway but I don't see that as realistic.

I think if we were to take away a few contracts from them, it'd have to be JaVale McGee (2 years, 12M) and Bertans (2 years, 33M). But Dallas probably can get more value out of #10 than that. Maybe if we added Zach Collins or Tre Jones, or give back a pick (Charlotte, multiple seconds, etc) but I don't think the path to a 2 way deal with Dallas is too easy, neither would I overpay for #10 unless I was sure we could land someone I really liked there (Taylor Hendricks, Anthony Black, etc.). More likely we get involved in a multiple team deal that lands us some smaller assets.

[mo7888]

I think if we were to take away a few contracts from them, it'd have to be JaVale McGee (2 years, 12M) and Bertans (2 years, 33M). But Dallas probably can get more value out of #10 than that. Maybe if we added Zach Collins or Tre Jones, or give back a pick (Charlotte, multiple seconds, etc) but I don't think the path to a 2 way deal with Dallas is too easy, neither would I overpay for #10 unless I was sure we could land someone I really liked there (Taylor Hendricks, Anthony Black, etc.). More likely we get involved in a multiple team deal that lands us some smaller assets.

Unless we are trading with Charlotte, I think any deal we might make would be on draft night when we know our target has fallen to the specific pick we're targeting.

[JPB]

The coach who said he was able to score 40 or 50 points on his team was his coach when he was 10 to 13 years old.
He is just saying that he was able to do it as a 10 to 13 years old kid against kids of the same age of his area.

He is for sure a long term project and I have no idea if he's worth a first round pick. French players drafted in the first round this past decade have been disappointments after disappointments.

Every player is different and his own thing. We can't use former french draftees to evaluate the following ones. They're just players, indifferently of here they come from. I mean, that Wemby guy ain''t that bad and he's from Bilal generation if you want to compare, just like Rupert who will be drafted in the first round too (like Bilal probably). Its all about potential, which I def see in Bilal, although I agree he's at least a 3-4 year project before producing, with SA as a nice place for him to develop without pressure. Pretty sure he was in NCAA, he would be projected 15-20 or higher... But like any prospect there's risks he doesn't pan out.

[The Truth #6]

The Ringer had Coulibaly at #15 but KOC is often very bad at his job. I’m still intrigued for a SRP.

[Mr. Body]

The Ringer had Coulibaly at #15 but KOC is often very bad at his job. I’m still intrigued for a SRP.

Doesn't he have that Klintman guy pretty high? Bobi Klintman?

[The Truth #6]

Doesn't he have that Klintman guy pretty high? Bobi Klintman?

Yes. So latest update is Klintman at 15 and Bilal at 17. He has Buffkin at 10, ahead of Cason Wallace.

[Mr. Body]

Yes. So latest update is Klintman at 15 and Bilal at 17. He has Buffkin at 10, ahead of Cason Wallace.

I don't mind Bufkin above Wallace. I think they're both very capable and which is a better prospect isn't clear. Having Klintman so high is a bit baffling.

[Ariel]

The Ringer had Coulibaly at #15 but KOC is often very bad at his job. I’m still intrigued for a SRP.

rascal > Kevin O'Connor

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For reference, these are Hugo Besson's (58th pick in 2022) stats: https://basketball.eurobasket.com/pl...-Besson/441430

Besson is averaging 12.6 points in 24 minutes, on 63% from 2, 35.6% from 3, and 85.5% from the line
Coulibaly is averaging 4.9 points in 18 minutes, on 57.1% from 2, 45.2% from 3, and 59.5% from the line
(notice the inconsistency between 3P% and FT%, and the small sample from 3 of just 31 attempts)

https://www.proballers.com/basketbal...oulibaly/games

Hmmm, I've been going off the stats from the linked website this entire time, Ariel. Not sure whats up quite frankly. If your numbers are correct then yeah, I'm less impressed than I've been.

Quite busy right now to do a deeper dive to see whats up...

[Ariel]

https://www.proballers.com/basketbal...oulibaly/games

Hmmm, I've been going off the stats from the linked website this entire time, Ariel. Not sure whats up quite frankly. If your numbers are correct then yeah, I'm less impressed than I've been.

Quite busy right now to do a deeper dive to see whats up...

I think you probably read the stats under the label "France-ProA U21", but that's an UNDER 21 team, not a professional basketball league... those aren't comparable to College or G-League, no one there is an NBA prospect.

[The Truth #6]

I don't mind Bufkin above Wallace. I think they're both very capable and which is a better prospect isn't clear. Having Klintman so high is a bit baffling.

Agreed. I like what I’ve seen of Buffkin.