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Bilal Coulibaly being left out of every top 10 rookie prospects so far is extremely surprising to me (alien.top)

submitted 11 months ago by DramaticSimple4315@alien.top to c/nba@nba.space

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The dude is only 19, played just 6 months of pro basketball back in France, has to adapt to a new culture and environment, witnesses wreckage after wreckage on the court every night enjoying the Jordan Poole black hole experience.

And so far, compared with the rest of the 2023 class https://www.basketball-reference.com/draft/NBA_2023.html :

6th in mpg with sizable game time down the stretch

10th in ppg at 8.2 but with a very efficient 61% at true shooting, and 43% from 3pt range which seems to indicate significant upside, and his offensive game was considered to be a project back in the draft.

9th in assists per game and 6th in rebounding, so already some glimpses of the ability to be a all-around wing.

Great defense, almost always has a positive impact on this end of the floor. Blocking abilities are also very exciting. Can arguably guard from 1 to 4 already.

So all the intriguing potential - athleticism, wing span, defense is there - but with also an offensive game that seems to be clearly in advance of schedule. Plus his behaviour is absolutely impeccable on the court, the guy is so composed.

How on earth this guy can be left out of all top 10 with such credentials? This guy clearly has the potential to at least earn a starting spot for the forseeable future, and might even be on his way to becoming a star.

And no inclusion on the ringer, ESPN, or the NBA ladder. Am I the only one to find this disconcerting, and almost smelling of classic euro-deprecation ?

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[–] MitchLGC@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I don't know about top 10, solely because I haven't watched enough of the other rookies to say.

But he had definitely looked quite good. I think he's going to be a very solid player. It's a shame he's on a roster with two basketball terrorists though.

[–] unbreaKwOw@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Bill Simmons did a "Top 15 rookie ranks" the other day with some supposed draft expert.. and he didn't even have Coulibaly in the top 15, lol.

Some of the names ahead of him:

Marcus Sasser
Anthony Black
Toumani Camara
Sasha Vezenkov
Amen Thompson

I'm pretty convinced that a lot of NBA 'experts' don't even watch basketball.

[–] whydoesgodhateus@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

The top 10 what from where?

[–] BayTerp@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Kuzma and Poole have been jacking up most of the shots. Once they’re gone by the trade deadline. I expect people to be shocked by how good he and Deni are.

[–] AashyLarry@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Wizards are trash so he gets little hype
Wizards have the worst coach in the league, so he doesn’t start and his minutes are inconsistent

[–] RayRomanoSuperFan@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

I was super skeptical on him in the draft. It really felt like he was riding Wemby’s coat-tails and in reality he was mostly bad besides the final 7/8 games in the French league which does not translate many non-bigs to the NBA.

All that being said, he looks a lot more like the final stretch of the year (defensive pest and passable shooter) than the beginning. Wiz fans should be pumped. Why he’s left out of such a ranking is though somewhat explainable — he looks far along for a 19 year old who was supposed to be a major project, but there are a lot of rookies contributing in more immediate ways to winning teams.

In general, who cares if he’s not getting buzz? The point of a prospect is not media coverage it’s to contribute to a team in the long run which it seems like he’ll do

[–] paperbuddha@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Wizards aren’t good enough for media to justify this guys abilities and cool name.

[–] GregEgg4President@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

And no inclusion on the ringer, ESPN, or the NBA ladder.

He's #9 on the NBA dot com rookie ladder

https://www.nba.com/news/kia-rookie-ladder-nov-15-2023-edition

You seem to feel slighted, but he's getting recognized despite the fact that the Wizards are a burning pile of trash

[–] tapk69@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Nobody is really watching the Wizards. Maybe later in the season if stats keep up he will start getting praise.

[–] Glass_Mango_229@alien.top 1 points 11 months ago

Uh the NBA rookie ladder which is the first one I looked at has him 9.