{"id":97075,"date":"2024-09-23T00:42:40","date_gmt":"2024-09-23T04:42:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=97075"},"modified":"2024-09-23T00:42:40","modified_gmt":"2024-09-23T04:42:40","slug":"wizards-will-dawkins-looks-lottery-pick-bilal-coulibaly-next-steps","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/09\/23\/wizards-will-dawkins-looks-lottery-pick-bilal-coulibaly-next-steps\/","title":{"rendered":"Wizards General Manager Looks At Lottery Pick\u2019s Next Steps"},"content":{"rendered":"

Washington Wizards wing Bilal Coulibaly<\/a> is like a ball of clay. Well, one with an incredible defensive foundation<\/a>, as the 2023 No. 7 pick looks like he\u2019ll be one of the league\u2019s best perimeter defenders for years to come. He even showed his gumption in the Paris Olympics gold medal game.<\/p>\n

Interestingly, Wizards general manager Will Dawkins tells Sports Junkies<\/em> that he was watching the young wing<\/a> play for the French national team in-person during the Olympics. Though he didn\u2019t delve into his the full extent of his takeaways, he seemed content with what he saw.<\/p>\n

Wizards General Manager Will Dawkins Looks At Bilal Coulibaly\u2019s Next Steps<\/h2>\n

\u201cHe’s had a great summer,\u201d Dawkins says of Coulibaly. \u201cPhysically, when you guys see him he’s filled out. But the experience he had playing for France, winning the silver medal and going over there and getting those opportunities [was great].\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think he’s still figuring (his offense) out, too,\u201d he says candidly. \u201cHe’s young, he’s 19. But the progress for him, we knew he was going to be a defensive player first, but you’ll see him with the ball a little bit more, getting downhill and physically once his shoulders grow into that contact, I think he’ll be able to add more to the scoreboard, too,\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf he didn\u2019t have that wrist injury (in 2023-24), I think those last 16 games would\u2019ve been huge for him in terms of just making plays, seeing a little bit more on the offensive end.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Offense Is Behind The Defense<\/h3>\n

Coulibaly\u2019s first dip in the NBA was somewhat disappointing, culminating with his failure to secure an All-Rookie selection. From a statistical standpoint, it was certainly underwhelming, at least offensively.<\/p>\n

In 63 games, he averaged 8.4 points per contest, shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 34.6 percent from 3. To make matters worse, his efficiency fell off a cliff after the All-Star break. The youngster shot 44.4 percent from the field and 36.3 percent from 3 prior to the league\u2019s annual interlude, but 39.5 percent from the field and 28.2 percent from 3-point range.<\/p>\n

Numbers aside, Coulibaly played a limited role.<\/p>\n

Prior to the draft, he was an on-ball scorer and playmaker who attacked the rim regularly. He had a preference for how he played; a natural play style. However, with the Wizards, he was often spotting up in the corner. Indeed, 48.1 percent of his 3-point attempts were corner 3s last season.<\/p>\n

How Can He Improve?<\/h3>\n

Coulibaly\u2019s role and struggles both revolved around his need to get stronger. Dawkins alluded to that when discussing how he\u2019s filled out his frame. On drives, he turned the ball over 10.6 percent of the time, underscoring his issues maintaining ball security after absorbing contact.<\/p>\n

Yet, a more advanced ball-handling package would\u2019ve helped as well. Coulibaly himself has said one of his offseason focuses is \u201cbeing able to dribble the ball a little bit more and better<\/a>\u201d so he can improve as a shot-creator. He doesn\u2019t need to be the next Kyrie Irving<\/a>. Nonetheless, he\u2019ll be able to better leverage his physical tools if he can escape ball-pressure.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just about having the moves though. Coulibaly has to be quick-witted and sharp. He has to be able to read or anticipate his man when he\u2019s on offense like he does when he\u2019s on defense.<\/p>\n

Development is hardly a stepwise process though and rapid results aren\u2019t guaranteed. The most important part is getting the reps \u2014the opportunity \u2014to explore his offensive game. There\u2019s merit to not having him bite off more than he can chew, especially early. Still, the Wizards have to take the kiddie gloves off eventually.<\/p>\n

Only then can they see what he\u2019s really made of.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Washington Wizards wing Bilal Coulibaly is like a ball of clay. Well, one with an incredible defensive foundation, as the 2023 No. 7 pick looks like he\u2019ll be one of the league\u2019s best perimeter defenders for years to come. He even showed his gumption in the Paris Olympics gold medal game. Interestingly, Wizards general manager […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":97092,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18,1608,62,556],"tags":[4769,49110],"class_list":["post-97075","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-wizards","category-basketball","category-nba","category-nba-draft","tag-bilal-coulibaly","tag-will-dawkins"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97075","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=97075"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/97075\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97092"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=97075"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=97075"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=97075"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}