2023-06-23 12:31:02
Like Victor Wembanyama he was born in 2004. Like Victor Wembanyama, he played for the Metropolitans this season. And like Victor Wembanyama, he will play in the NBA next year. Bilal Coulibaly created the sensation on the night of Thursday to Friday by being drafted in seventh position by the Indiana Pacers. A remarkable performance which, without the Wemby phenomenon, would have been the best ever recorded by a Frenchman during a draft, tied with Killian Hayes.
Still unknown a few months ago, Bilal Coulibaly confirms his status as a rising star of French basketball. If he evolves in the shadow of his teammate of 2m22, he has established himself as an essential part of the Mets this season, he who was still evolving in the French Championship hopes eight months ago.
Born in Saint-Cloud (Hauts-de-Seine), Bilal Coulibaly is described as someone “humble”, “intelligent” and “smiling but reserved” by those close to him. On the pitch, the 2m01 young man defines himself as a “two-way player”, that is to say with appetites both in attack and in defense.
He almost quit at 16
However, it was not all easy. Undetected by Insep, the one who started basketball at the age of 9 has long been considered a player too small, with too fine a physique. But his former coach in Courbevoie, Manu de Carvalho, always believed in him. “You notice very quickly when a young person has something different. This was the case of Bilal. From the start, everything seemed easy with him, he understood everything. He had something,” he tells us.
After almost quitting at 16, the young man gained almost 20 cm in two years and took advantage of Victor Wembanyama’s world exposure during his last months in the Boulogne-Levallois jersey to shine and get spotted. From now on, it is his athletic abilities that impress, as shown by the videos of his dunks and his counters relayed en masse on social networks.
If the number 0 of the Mets finds himself drafted in seventh position, a few places behind Wemby, with whom he already played at 13 in the youth selections of western Paris, it is no coincidence. “Bilal Coulibaly is a player in whom the franchises have more and more interest”, indicated a few days ago Jonathan Givony, draft specialist at ESPN. The latter, who presents him as “a unique cocktail of size, length, scope and explosiveness”, knew he was capable of integrating the top 10 of the draft.
Went on Sportscenter this morning to talk about Bilal Coulibaly’s rise up draft boards and what makes him unique as a NBA prospect. pic.twitter.com/RnH9de0Cvv
— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) June 19, 2023
In addition, the winger, who was expected to be between the tenth and fifteenth draft pick, was able to benefit from the support of his pal Wemby at the beginning of June: “Now everyone knows that he deserves to be in the top 10 of the draft. But not enough people realize he deserves to be in the top 5,” the new Spurs player tweeted.
Already nicknamed “Baby Giannis Antetokounmpo” by scouts across the Atlantic, the training leader was immediately transferred to Washington by Indiana. Bilal Coulibaly, who “always enters the teams while respecting the hierarchy”, according to the head of the Mets training center Philippe Sudre, now has all the cards in hand to conquer America.
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