Bilal Coulibaly

Height: 6'7"

Weight: 194

Wingspan: 7'3"

Position: SG/SF

Draft Age: 18.9

League: LNB Pro A

Team Name: Metropolitans 92

Advanced

Efficiency

2P%: .571

3P%: .452

FT%: .595

FG%: .532

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Strengths & Development Areas:

Great Hand Speed

Fluidity/Bending

Lateral Speed

Defensive Rotations

Navigating Screens

Shoot Off The Dribble

Model Output:

Original

8.2

No Impact

5.71

Positional

8.95

Humble

7.43

Pos Humble

8.98

Average

7.85

Model View:

Like Amen and Ausaur Thompson, Coulibaly deserves a bit of a caveat. He split time this year between two leagues: Jeep Elite and LNB Espoirs. Jeep Elite is the top tier French league that Wembanyama played in and LNB Espoirs is a junior league with significantly worse competition. For next year, I need to start only taking the numbers from the upper tier leagues where possible, but Coulibaly’s data in the model is a blend of the two.

That said, Coulibaly is another player where the model ranked him right around his projected draft range (as high as 11 and as low as 18) with scores ranging from 5.7 to 9.0, ranging from a Potentially Solid Bench Contributor to a Plus Starter with All Star Potential.

What did the more optimistic models like: They liked his age and impact (and yes, his impact stats were nice even just in Jeep Elite). They also liked Coulibaly’s high steals per foul, steals + blocks + oboards per 40, and the SOS of the Metropolitans 92’s.

The less bullish models did not like: Coulibaly’s high turnover rate (and lower assists), his lower usage, low FT%, lower minutes played, and lower pounds per inch

Film View:

Coulibaly is an interesting case in that he has a good base of skills and was a bit of a Jekyll & Hyde where he was very aggressive and showed more creation and passing instinct in the junior league and then was a lot more passive in Jeep Elite. Now, that’s expected both because the competition is better and it’s not a surprise that Coulibaly couldn’t execute at the same level as an 18 year old in a top tier league. But also because the Metropolitans 92s were competing for a title and were led by a fringe prospect named Victor Wembanyama, so it’s also natural that when Coulibaly joined at midseason he sought to fit in.

With that context, offensively, we saw a very mixed bag from Coulibaly offensively. He has decent handles for a wing, but they are fairly loose. In LNB Espoirs, they let him run a lot of P&R on his possession to try to help free him up. At his best, Coulibaly could use his quick and long strides to get to the hoop quickly and convert. But when the defense recovered or he had to create for himself, he had a decent first step, but his moves were basically a quick straight line drive or pretty rudimentary crossover or behind the back move that didn’t prove to be very elusive. It doesn’t help that Coulibaly’s shot is also still very inconsistent. In rhythm, Bilal is a pretty solid shooter. The release on his jumper can be a little long and funky, but he can convert. However, he is not at a movement shooter yet at all and really struggles off the dribble, even airballing multiple shots that didn’t appear heavily contested. When Coulibaly did get free, he was a mixed bag around the rim when there was any congestion. Bilal has strong fluidity, long arms, and good hang time. When his body and brain were in sync, he had some impressive finishes. Other times, he looked like a bit of a flailing mess tossing up wild shots. Basically, he has good physical tools, but doesn’t yet know how to use them and at times seems to jump into traffic and hope for the best. Coulibaly is decently active without the ball, relocating along the perimeter and cutting inside when there is a seam. He is a good lob target and his tools seem well suited to scoring in space or with a light contest in these more simplified situations. Same with crashing the glass, where Bilal’s fluidity and body control allowed for some highly acrobatic put backs and dunks. Coulibaly shows some upside as a passer, he had more of an opportunity in LNB Espoirs, but he could struggle with even fairly basic entry passes and just had too many sloppy turnovers even on basic swings around the perimeter and on inbound passes. He needs some real improvement to his awareness.

Defense is a very similar story. Mostly great tools, but mixed understanding. Coulibaly has long arms that help him contest shots inside and out and to create some congestion around the rim. He has a solid motor and will hustle back on the break where his open court speed and long arms help make him a nuisance around the hoop. And he can use his quick hands and long arms to get into passing lanes or pick ball handlers. He has good physical tools for defense, his long arms, good closing speed, and good lateral speed can help him contest shots on the perimeter in rotation and make him strong defending in isolation, where he has a good ability to change direction and can jump quickly, allowing him to stay in front of ball handlers and contest counters like step backs. But again, the awareness at this stage seems low and he overhelps and leaves his man for threes, gets caught in no man’s land hurting the defense, struggles to navigate screens and takes poor angles. There were a couple of screens where Coulibaly just reflexively goes around it and his man rejects the screen and pops to the corner and Bilal is just looking around completely lost. He’s also not the most physical player and doesn’t show much fight around screens, either getting caught up or even just stopping. Now he does try. he does rotate. He does tag rollers and dive into the key to help. He just loses his man in the process and doesn’t always use sound judgement. This is pretty much the pattern, I could keep listing the good (he closes out on shooters) and they are all a bit offset by poor awareness or inexperience (he runs at them and is very vulnerable to fakes). More than anything, the question is if he can learn and get the game to slow down.

Physically Similar NCAA Prospects:

(Based on Height / Wingspan / Weight, not on Playing Style / Skill / Ceiling)

Kelly OubreRobert CovingtonOtto Porter

Best Stats:

5.9 steals + blocks + oboards per 40 for a wing; 1:1 ration of Steals per foul; 60% on twos and 36% on threes; 15 FGA per game in LNB Espoirs 4.3 FGA in Jeep Elite

Yes, he need to improve his awareness, but it’s pretty crystal clear what Bilal’s NBA role is. And while his FGs per game in Jeep Elite will also show up on the bad stat list, it’s worth giving him credit for coming to the big club and seeking to fit in and doing it well enough to play a crucial role in the playoffs. He definitely put the team and winning over himself, even leading up to the NBA draft.

Worst Stats:

72% FT; 4.3 FGA per game in Jeep Elite; 12-6-2-1.8 per 40 in Jeep Elite

Credit to Coulibaly for subjugating his game in Jeep Elite and putting the team first. However, he also was clearly not able to operate as effectively there. Worth noting the more pedestrian per 40 numbers, that wouldn’t have scored as highly in the model.

To be a star or to hit their ceiling:

To be a star, he would need outlier development of his handles, shooting off the dribble, inside scoring in traffic, and overall awareness. I think it is technically possible with Bilal, but just a lower probability. To simply be a very good role player (say a plus start), he just needs to improve his awareness and clean up his shooting and ball handling. The tools and physical traits are all there.

Verdict:

Coulibaly is really the first of the mystery box prospects. You squint hard with one eye and you can see a young player with strong physical tools, nascent skills, an aggressive streak in the junior league (just like Giannis!), and who played a meaningful role for the Metropolitans 92s deep playoff run. Squint hard with the other eye and you see a raw prospect, who struggles with his overall awareness, doesn’t have any real NBA-ready skills, and who was carried by Wembanyama on the Metropolitans 92s and we make look back and realize Bilal played a role for the M92s like Boobie Gibson played for LeBron’s Cavs or Fabricio Oberto played for the Duncan, Ginobili, Parker Spurs – real roles, but also a lot of guys could have drove to the hoop or shot a wide open three while they were triple teamed.

And I think that if you watch only his highlights, it’s easy to become enamored with Coulibaly’s tantalizing mix of potential skills; but the more tape you watch the more it’s clear he has a lot to learn and lacks sound judgment on both ends of the court. It’s likely to take some time before he’s ready to be a consistent contributor.

I tend to favor savvy, skilled players over raw ones. But even I am intrigued by Coulibaly’s tools and skillset. He has a really clear path to “Three and D” success with his emerging shot, length, and lateral speed. He just struggles when required to do anything more and is going to be a developmental prospect. However, he seems like exactly the kind of player GMs like Presti and Hammond like grabbing to play a role and be disruptive around their stars.

This is a bit of an odd draft in that after the top 12 prospects, there are a lot of very flawed prospects who frankly strike me as nearly as much of a risk as Bilal. I feel like the last couple of years I would have had him closer to the 16-22 range (around where I had Ousmane Dieng last year). But as you start to push past 16, I am not sure I feel any better about guys like George, Clowney, Sasser, or Howard. So I think the risk becomes worth the reward for Coulibaly somewhere in the 14-16 range this year.

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Bilal Coulibaly Player Statistics

Per Game

Season	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	2P	2PA	2P%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2021-22		18.1	1.9	3.5	.532	0.5	1.1	.452	1.3	2.3	.571	0.8	1.4	.595	0.8	2.3	3.1	0.8	0.8	0.2	0.9	1.5	5.0

Totals

Season	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	2P	2PA	2P%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2021-22		488	50	94	.532	14	31	.452	36	63	.571	22	37	.595	22	61	83	22	21	6	25	41	136

Per 36 Minutes

Season	GS	MP	FG	FGA	FG%	3P	3PA	3P%	2P	2PA	2P%	FT	FTA	FT%	ORB	DRB	TRB	AST	STL	BLK	TOV	PF	PTS
2021-22		488	3.7	6.9	.532	1.0	2.3	.452	2.7	4.6	.571	1.6	2.7	.595	1.6	4.5	6.1	1.6	1.5	0.4	1.8	3.0	10.0

Advanced Stats

Season	G	MP	PER	TS%	eFG%	3PAr	FTr	ORB%	DRB%	TRB%	AST%	STL%	BLK%	TOV%	USG%	OWS	DWS	WS
2021-22

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Bilal Coulibaly

Bilal Coulibaly

Advanced

Efficiency

Strengths & Development Areas:

Model Output:

Original

No Impact

Positional

Humble

Pos Humble

Average

Film View:

Physically Similar NCAA Prospects:

Per Game

Totals

Per 36 Minutes

Advanced Stats

Hardwood Hoops: Bilal Coulibaly Film Session

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