Bilal Coulibaly

Halcyon · Post #301 » by **Halcyon** » Wed Jan 3, 2024 8:19 pm

Need to trade Kuz to open up some opportunities for Bilal. Poole will still eat up some usage but it should help.

Kanyewest · Post #302 » by **Kanyewest** » Wed Jan 3, 2024 9:01 pm

From the game I saw on Sunday, Bilal could have been more aggressive in some of the lineups that he was in against Atlanta when he was playing with Wright, Deni, Muscala, and Kispert. He got to the rim a couple of times but couldn't finish and missed a corner 3. he needs to put it on himself to be more aggressive- only person who shot less than him was Delon Wright.

Post #303 » by **nate33** » Wed Jan 3, 2024 9:12 pm

Kanyewest wrote:From the game I saw on Sunday, Bilal could have been more aggressive in some of the lineups that he was in against Atlanta when he was playing with Wright, Deni, Muscala, and Kispert. He got to the rim a couple of times but couldn't finish and missed a corner 3. he needs to put it on himself to be more aggressive- only person who shot less than him was Delon Wright.

Good point. People talk as if Coulibaly is playing all of his minutes alongside Poole and Kuzma. That's not the case at all. He comes off the bench. He plays more minutes without these guys than with them.

Of his 806 total minutes played:
188 have been alongside both Kuzma and Poole
142 have been alongside Poole (without Kuzma)
208 have been alongside Kuzma (without Poole)
268 have been alongside neither

dckingsfan · Post #304 » by **dckingsfan** » Fri Jan 5, 2024 12:51 am

Halcyon wrote:Need to trade Kuz to open up some opportunities for Bilal. Poole will still eat up some usage but it should help.

Bilal is 5th in minutes played for the Wiz. He is playing starters minutes but without the pressure of starting. I oft whine about WUJ, but I can't here.

closg00 · Post #305 » by **closg00** » Fri Jan 5, 2024 3:17 pm

Bilal needs a fresh start with new teammates and a new coach, he is out-there on the floor, but he doesn't really have an offense game to speak of....

Post #306 » by **nate33** » Fri Jan 5, 2024 3:38 pm

closg00 wrote:Bilal needs a fresh start with new teammates and a new coach, he is out-there on the floor, but he doesn't really have an offense game to speak of....

The guy has played 800 minutes. He is fine.

There is no secret combination of coaching and player chemistry that is going to make a 19-year-old rookie magically become Paul George in 800 minutes. It's going to take time. Coulibaly has been given a role as a point-of-attack defender and he is doing that well. On offense, he is mostly a 3&D guy because that's mostly what he is capable of doing at this point. I'm sure he has the green light to attack closeouts, but I wouldn't want to do much more than that in terms of on-ball creation. You don't want him as the primary ball-handler in pick-and-roll against a set defense. He just isn't good enough for that, yet.

There is nothing wrong with the way Coulibaly is being developed.

tontoz · Post #307 » by **tontoz** » Fri Jan 5, 2024 5:47 pm

Last game was rough on offense but he had some really nice defensive plays. I am sure Tristan was like WTF when Bilal punked his dunk attempt.

tontoz · Post #308 » by **tontoz** » Sat Jan 6, 2024 2:55 pm

3 blocks in the first half last night. For some reason the YouTube button isn't working.

https://youtu.be/M9d3iAqI_xk?si=f4hCQfSsjFmX-1Nk

dobrojim · Post #309 » by **dobrojim** » Sat Jan 6, 2024 3:41 pm

He's getting plenty of minutes lately.

FAH1223 · Post #310 » by **FAH1223** » Sat Jan 6, 2024 5:05 pm

Read on Twitter

tontoz · Post #311 » by **tontoz** » Sat Jan 6, 2024 5:31 pm

Bilal is actually playing more minutes and getting more shots than giannis did in his rookie year. People need to chill.

When he tries to make moves off the dribble he does not have great awareness of the defenders around him which is typical for a 19 yr old

badinage · Post #312 » by **badinage** » Sat Jan 6, 2024 7:47 pm

^ Yeah. This is all kind of ridiculous. The guy has great promise, but in all honesty he can’t really play at the moment. Typical rookie in that way. I’m not disparaging. When I say he can’t really play, I mean: yes, he can hit a 3 here and there, and he can clean up, and get points in garbage time. But you can’t run plays for him yet. He’s not able to initiate consistently and get to the hoop. He loses the ball a lot.

Now, the fact he can still contribute, given all this — that’s very encouraging.

dckingsfan · Post #313 » by **dckingsfan** » Sat Jan 6, 2024 10:41 pm

^ & ^^ & ^^^^ - agreed.

And he had a team high 36 minutes last night.

payitforward · Post #314 » by **payitforward** » Sun Jan 7, 2024 12:36 am

badinage wrote:...in all honesty he can’t really play at the moment.... I mean: yes, he can hit a 3 here and there, and he can clean up, and get points in garbage time. But you can’t run plays for him yet. He’s not able to initiate consistently and get to the hoop. He loses the ball a lot....

Bilal started out extraordinarily strong, but he's leveled off some. That is, the league has gotten a look at him. Duh.

Next step, presumably, is for him to figure out how to counter the league's counter -- how to add something to his game, IOW.
Normal. & I don't imagine anyone thinks he'll find it difficult to do exactly that, given how advanced he is for a kid who just turned 19.

But, "he can't really play at the moment" is a significant overstatement. He sure can.
He can't contribute at an above average level right now, but I'll be surprised if he doesn't return to that level later this season.

As it is, despite getting to the line less often than average for a wing, & shooting his free throws at a below averaage % for a wing, Bilal is still sporting a TS% of 59% -- above average for a wing.

He's also getting a better than average number of boards. He's also blocking more shots than average. His assists are a little low, but then his team's FG% is also low.

Frichuela · Post #315 » by **Frichuela** » Tue Jan 23, 2024 3:40 pm

Sam Vecenie of the Athletic on Bilal:

"Bilal Coulibaly has been in the Wizards’ rotation from Day One and looks like he belongs on an NBA court. He takes and makes open 3s, he finds easy cutting lanes and transition opportunities, and is energetic on defense. He’s just limited beyond that. The Wizards typically hide him in the corners on offense, and his handle isn’t quite tight enough yet unless he has real open space to attack. But I wasn’t expecting Coulibaly, who doesn’t turn 20 until July, to be able to hold up in real NBA minutes this season given his youth and inexperience. The fact that he doesn’t look out of place already is a remarkably good sign for the Wizards."

PaulinVA · Post #316 » by **PaulinVA** » Tue Jan 30, 2024 9:19 pm

Read on Twitter

Frichuela · Post #317 » by **Frichuela** » Tue Jan 30, 2024 10:05 pm

PaulinVA wrote:

Read on Twitter

Congrats Bilal!

Interesting to see that the Thompson bros and Black did not make it..

RinseRepeat · Post #318 » by **RinseRepeat** » Sat Feb 3, 2024 8:49 am

badinage wrote:^ Yeah. This is all kind of ridiculous. The guy has great promise, but in all honesty he can’t really play at the moment. Typical rookie in that way. I’m not disparaging. When I say he can’t really play, I mean: yes, he can hit a 3 here and there, and he can clean up, and get points in garbage time. But you can’t run plays for him yet. He’s not able to initiate consistently and get to the hoop. He loses the ball a lot.

Now, the fact he can still contribute, given all this — that’s very encouraging.

like you said, this is to be expected given his age and experience level. The kids will have their very first free off-season to work exclusively with professional trainers this Summer. No combine, team workouts, media obligations, drafts, etc to worry about. This is why young guys often take substantial leaps in their 2nd years. You can't teach his size, length, athleticism and defensive instincts. He'll be able to tinker with and settle on the mechanics of his shot and drill incessantly on his handle so he gets more comfortable with the ball in his hands in order to run sets for him.

I'm expecting him to follow a similar trajectory as Jaylen Brown. It's just going to take time. He should be a #4 next season. I expect him to be a #3 by 2026 with a chance to become a low-level #2 at his peak going forward.

tontoz · Post #319 » by **tontoz** » Sat Feb 10, 2024 2:31 pm

Bilal has had some struggles but one thing I noticed is that he seems unbothered by misses. He doesn't hang his head after he misses 3s.

Shrugging off misses is a big key to being a good 3 pt shooter since everyone misses more than they make. Last night he missed his first few. They were leaving him open so he just kept shooting and finished 4-12.

Lucky Once · Post #320 » by **Lucky Once** » Sat Feb 10, 2024 6:30 pm

tontoz wrote:Bilal has had some struggles but one thing I noticed is that he seems unbothered by misses. He doesn't hang his head after he misses 3s.

Shrugging off misses is a big key to being a good 3 pt shooter since everyone misses more than they make. Last night he missed his first few. They were leaving him open so he just kept shooting and finished 4-12.

I missed the second half of the game to know if they were good looks, but I was actually encouraged to see him firing away.