NBA Draft: Thunder Should Be Wary of Taking Swing on Bilal Coulibaly
Assuming the Oklahoma City Thunder elect to either keep the No. 12 pick or maneuver their way into a higher or slightly lower selection, the front office would do well to take a hard look at Bilal Coulibaly's fit with OKC. There could be better options available.
Coulibaly’s name has been generating a lot of buzz and hype over the past week or so after rumors started circulating about the 18-year-old French wing having already received a promise from an undisclosed team to be taken in the lottery. Some have speculated that it might be the Thunder; others, the Toronto Raptors.
Whatever the case, Coulibaly, who has largely gained recognition due to playing alongside the presumed number one pick and 7-foot-4 wonder, Victor Wembanyama, just doesn’t have a strong case to be selected in the lottery. Yes, he’s 6-foot-6 with a rumored 7-foot-3 wingspan and possesses strong athletic traits, but his actual skill level at this stage of his career is concerning.
In 50 games this season, the long arms and strides of Coulibaly combined with his competitiveness have helped him find a lot of success on the defensive side of the floor — where he derives most of his value as a prospect — and is evidenced by an impressive 3.2 steal percentage on top of a 2.1 block percentage. He’s displayed real ability to both cover a ton of ground and stay with and make life tough on his assignments.
But offensively, Coulibaly has his work cut out for him.
He did post an impressive true shooting percentage of 62.1, but digging deeper reveals the vast majority of his points came from the free throw line and at the rim where his athleticism, not to mention Wembanyama’s gravity, gave him a massive advantage — one that will shrink in the NBA — due to the level of competition in leagues like the French Jeep Elite and LNB Espoirs.
Outside of that, Coulibaly really struggles as an outside shooter, ball-handler and shows little in the way of passing. The form on his 3-point shot is extremely rigid, segmented and will likely require a lot of work before it can be a practical weapon at the next level. Coulibaly’s handle is also rather elementary; he doesn’t stay in control of the ball and even often turns it over due to poor ball security, evidenced by a 15.3% turnover rate.
Now, that’s not to say that Coulibaly won’t ever develop into a good offensive player. If he fixes his jumper and improves his handle, whatever team drafts him might be staring at a strong “three-and-D” wing that can hit shots, attack closeouts and play defense. But the pathway for Coulibaly to reach that point would likely require a lot of time, patience and a lot of opportunity.
And while the Thunder could, in theory, provide that developmental runway for the Frenchman via the OKC Blue and shuffling around minutes on the active roster, picking Coulibaly would represent somewhat of a departure relative to their recent draft selections who have all mostly shown that they can shoot a little, handle the ball well and make plays for others. And those recent choices — Josh Giddey, Aleksej Pokusevski, Jalen Williams, etc. — have worked out well so far, so why change?
Finally, there will probably be too much offensive talent on the board when it comes time for the Thunder to make their pick to feel good about taking a massive swing on Coulibaly.
While we obviously don’t know who will be available and if the Thunder will even keep the twelfth overall pick, it is likely that they will position themselves to be in the range of selecting more offensively mature wing prospects such as Keyonte George, Anthony Black, Nick Smith, Jordan Hawkins, etc. And given how it’s been historically difficult for the Thunder to find offensive talent outside of the very top of the draft, they shouldn’t pass up on the opportunity to add one.
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