The Washington Wizards are entering the 2023-24 NBA season with minimal expectations. For the first time in a while, the goal isn’t to chase the playoffs. It is going to be a season of development and rebuilding. More important than the wins is how the young players are playing. And among these young players, Bilal Coulibaly is the one all eyes will be on.
The 7th overall selection in the 2023 NBA Draft, Coulibaly is not only the highest-drafted Wizard on the roster, but he also has the highest upside of anyone on the team. At the same time, he just turned 19 last week and has minimal high-level basketball experience. It will take time for him.
However, he has shown enough flashes in Las Vegas Summer League to intrigue and excite the Wizards fans. And that’s what his rookie season will be about: showing enough flashes of the player the Wizards are hoping he will become five years from now. This is what the Wizards fans should be hoping to see in Coulibaly’s rookie season.
Rim protection
Bilal Coulibaly was a monster on the defensive end in the Summer League, showing impressive rim protection ability. So far, that is his most NBA-ready skill. For his position, he is an excellent help defender, regularly making plays at the rim.
It would be encouraging if he is able to translate that skill to the NBA level. The thing to watch out for is his weakside rotation and being able to challenge shots without fouling. For many rookies, there is an adjustment period to the pace and space of the NBA game. There is no doubt about Coulibaly’s athleticism but how long it takes for him to adapt to the speed and talent of the NBA remains a question.
Watching his development in this area and tracking his blocks and opponent fg% at the rim throughout his rookie season will be fun.
Aggressiveness
Adaptation to the NBA is extremely difficult for any newcomer. But especially for a 19-year-old international player, it will be even harder. For all rookies, certain things are inevitable: they will make mistakes, they will play badly in a lot of games, and they will lose playing time. Those things you can’t control.
What you can control is how you respond to adversity. The best response to it is to maintain your aggressiveness and keep playing the way you are used to. This will be one of the most important things to watch for in Coulibaly’s rookie season.
Sometimes, what makes the difference between players in the NBA is not their talent level. Every NBA player is incredibly skilled and athletic. The ones that differentiate themselves are the ones who are aggressive and have the drive. Coulibaly needs to show he has that.
He needs to be unafraid to take shots, drive to the rim, and handle the ball. While doing all this, he will miss a lot of shots and turn the ball over quite a bit. Almost no rookie is efficient. That is to be expected. But passing up shots, settling for mid-rangers instead of trying to get to the rim, or not making off-ball cuts is a bad sign for a rookie.
For Coulibaly in his rookie season, it will be much better to take four three-pointers and miss all of them, rather than taking zero in a game. Not losing his confidence and staying aggressive will be one of the most important qualities Coulibaly can demonstrate early on.
Improved shooting stroke
Bilal Coulibaly is not going to be a knockdown shooter overnight. Between him growing into his body, adapting to the NBA three-point line distance, and everything else he needs to work on, shooting will take time. No one should expect him to be an average shooter in his rookie year.
What the Wizards fans would like to see, however, is an improvement, especially in free throws and catch-and-shoot jumpers.
Last season, between the French League regular season and playoffs, Coulibaly hit 39 of 64 free throws, a mark around 61%. Obviously, this is a small sample, but a perimeter player needs to be at least over 70%, ideally higher. His three-point shooting was better, as he hit 36.5% on 52 attempts. However, his Summer League accuracy from three showed that there was more work to be done with his shooting as he only hit 2 of his 11 three-pointers. The fact that some of his misses in Las Vegas were not close suggests that his shooting stroke needs to get more consistent.
This can easily be achieved. Considering that Coulibaly was a late bloomer as he grew from 5’10 to 6’7 in the last two years, he needs time to perfect his shooting mechanics. How quickly he rose in the prospect rankings after not even being on the roster for his professional team in France at the beginning of the 2022-23 season suggests he will figure it out fast.
Until he does, we will be watching for minor but gradual improvements in his shot.
Strength
Bilal Coulibaly already has impressive physical and athletic tools. He has a massive 7-foot-2 wingspan, long strides, and a quick bounce. He has all the physical building blocks to be a dominant athlete in the NBA.
He can still use a few pounds of muscle.
Coulibaly currently has a slight and lanky build. This can be an advantage as he is quick and fast thanks to being light on his feet. He shouldn’t be losing that edge either. So, the balance between getting stronger without getting bulky needs to be struck.
Coulibaly already projects to be a high-end defender. He can currently defend guards and some small forwards. However, in order to really be an elite multi-positional defender, he needs to add some core and upper body strength to guard bigger players. If he wants to become a defender who can switch onto bigger players, he needs to be able to guard post players. And NBA big men are extremely strong in the post. In order to deal with their size and strength, Coulibaly will have to live in the weight room in the first few years of his career.
Filling out his body and finding his optimal physique will be a work in progress for Coulibaly. He will likely grow taller in the next couple of seasons as well. So he needs to add muscle accordingly.
This will be something to watch not only in his first year but also for a few seasons after that. How well he can stay in front of bigger and stronger players throughout his rookie season will be telling for what the future holds for Coulibaly.
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