2023-06-21 16:45:00
France has incredible talents! She of course has Victor Wembanyama who might change the face of basketball. But not only: on the night of Thursday June 22 to Friday June 23, four other Blues presented themselves with him in the draft to play in the NBA next season. If “Wemby” is sure to be the number 1 choice, his former partner at the Mets 92 Bilal Coulibaly might be chosen for him in the Top 10 and Rayan Rupert in the Top 15. It would then be a historic vintage for the French basketball.
Bilal Coulibaly, the XXL revelation
At the start of the season, he did not enter the Mets 92 rotation. Vincent Collet knew he had a diamond available without assuming that the outbreak would be as rapid as it was spectacular. The Saint-Cloud native, who turns 19 in a month and will be one of the youngest draftees in history, is guaranteed to be drafted in the first round (Top 30), which means a guaranteed NBA contract. The latest predictions even make him a Top 10, which is exceptional. His mate Wemby believes that Coulibaly deserves to be drafted in the Top 5. Before this 2023 vintage, only three French people have been drafted in the top ten: Joakim Noah (9th, 2007), Frank Ntilikina (8th, 2017) and Killian Hayes ( 5th, 2020), who still holds the record. With Wemby and Coulibaly, this is the first time that a French club has presented two players able to be drafted in the first round.
Estimate: between 9th and 12th place. Possible franchises: Utah Jazz, New Orleans Pelicans, Oklahoma Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves.
Ryan Rupert, on behalf of the father
Brother of Iliana, who is currently competing in the Women’s Euro with Les Bleues, and son of former international Thierry who died in 2012, the former Le Mans hopeful has been playing for a year in the New Zealand championship with New Zealand. Breakers. Last year, this club sent Frenchman Ousmane Dieng to the 11th position in the draft, to Oklahoma. Officially invited to the “Green Room” of the draft, this means that he is guaranteed to be chosen in the first round, that is to say in the first 30 by a franchise that will make him its first choice. The US media announce it at the end of the round, around 20th place. The good news is that he can end up in a prestigious franchise.
Estimate: between 18th and 25th place. Possible franchises: Utah Jazz, Portland Trail blazers, Indiana Pacers
Sidy Cissoko, defense asset
He will have to wait and pray. The native of Saint-Maurice, who started playing at Draveil (Essonne) then at the Center Essonne club (Ris-Orangis and Brétigny), with a solid defender profile, is not announced in the first round. Settled in the United States for a year, following four seasons at the training center in Vitoria (Spain), he made a name for himself in the States. He is the first European to play in the “NBA G League Ignite”, the team that Wemby went to challenge last October and which launched the phenomenon. Sidy Cissoko thus evolves with Scoot Henderson, announced number 2 of this draft. He participated this winter in the Rising Stars Challenge during the All Star Game, the match of the best hopes. Once drafted, the hardest part will be to get a place, not guaranteed, in the NBA.
Estimate: between 30th and 39th place. Possible franchises: Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs (2nd pick), Charlotte Hornets (2nd pick)
Nadir Hifi, a surprise or nothing else
With great potential, the future player of Paris BasketBall, who took his first steps in the France A team in Los Angeles at the end of June, can only hope for a good surprise. Despite a very good season with Le Portel, a few training sessions with the Lakers, Milwaukee or Portland bis teams, he remains unknown in American basketball. He can be drafted at the end of the second round, without certainty. And especially without any assurance of playing one day in the NBA if he is drafted so low. The Franco-Algerian is only 20 years old and should be put in an incubator in the capital. Before perhaps the big leap.
Estimate: beyond 40th place. Possible franchises: LA Lakers (2nd choice), Dallas Mavericks (2nd choice)
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