RealGM

First of all don't call me crazy. I've been watching a lot of Euroball(both Mega Leks and Limoges) and I just can't understand why some of you are so high on Sekou(Yes you could call me a hater ). On the other hand some of you don't even have Goga Bitadze in their mocks..

Let me start with some hot takes. Goga will be a steal if he ends up in the second round. And Sekou will be considered a bust if he ends up in the lottery.

Goga is just superior to him in almost every way. He started to shoot 3s(and he is good at it, he really improved his footwork, he actually improved in every segment of the game)
While I haven't seen much improvement from Sekou

Here are their stats:
Goga ABA league: https://www.aba-liga.com/player.php?id=2518
Sekou Eurocup: http://www.eurocupbasketball.com/eurocup/competition/players/showplayer?pcode=006834&seasoncode=U2018
They played the first game against Cedevita and look at his stats for example(Mega also played against Cedevita)
Sekou LNB: https://www.lnb.fr/fr/pro-a/statistiques-joueur-40.html?player=A68566

Let me also add, that ABA league is also better than the French LNB league.

Interested in them from the perspective that Kentucky killed them and people suggested mega was having a down year. Looks like that was incorrect but against Kentucky he was very underwhelming

Justwar wrote:Interested in them from the perspective that Kentucky killed them and people suggested mega was having a down year. Looks like that was incorrect but against Kentucky he was very underwhelming

They played without 2 starters, and as far as I can remeber Goga got injured in the 1st half..
And they really started to play better since the season started.

Style of play would be the obvious answer. He's a big who can't shoot threes or defend on the perimeter, and it's not like he's some exceptionally dominating interior presence to make up for that. How is Bitazde any better than someone like Ante Zizic?

I read just after I replied he was shooting the 3 pretty good

nolang1 wrote:Style of play would be the obvious answer. He's a big who can't shoot threes or defend on the perimeter, and it's not like he's some exceptionally dominating interior presence to make up for that. How is Bitazde any better than someone like Ante Zizic?

He is not really similar to Zizic who is much more athletic, Bitazde is more of a mix of Nurkic and Jokic, or homeless man's Jokic really

I think he can be a solid starting big in the league, that plays 20min for you and helps with rebounding, verticality, passing and eventually shooting a bit, not that sexy but useful

Sekou has higher upside but if he completely fails he could be worse than Goga I guess

Goba is a year and a half older. Does really have much upside or enticing NBA skills

Sekou only has better athleticism.. Goga is far more skilled.

juanc wrote:Sekou only has better athleticism.. Goga is far more skilled.

well that's too simplistic, I am not high on Sekou but he has a profile that is much more useful if he pans out than Goga's, who probably is the better player, he is older too btw, but has nowhere near the upside

it's hard to me to project Goga as anything better than an okay Center, and those are just not that valuable

Sekou is a prototypical athlete for a 4-man in today's NBA, somewhat comparable to a Pascal Siakam. He shows the ability to run the floor, hit some open shots and defend multiple position. He's also very young.

Sekou is better in every way. Sekou's a top 3 prospect.

clyde21 wrote:Sekou is better in every way. Sekou's a top 3 prospect.

Ehhhh...that's REALLY pushing it. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but I've seen almost every game from Synergy and have watched every single clip of his. He has many issues.

Catchall wrote:Sekou is a prototypical athlete for a 4-man in today's NBA, somewhat comparable to a Pascal Siakam. He shows the ability to run the floor, hit some open shots and defend multiple position. He's also very young.

I've heard Pascal, I think Aminu with better offense. Here's his Synergy profile (offense) for those interested - https://www.scribd.com/document/394696139/Sekou

His handle is weak, can't finish, jumper is incredibly streaky, needs to overhelp or his team/help defense is usually off, isn't strong enough to defend the post and isn't quick enough for most perimeter players, etc. His athleticism is also incredibly overrated.

He has many warts, but, sure, he has potential - he has potential to be a versatile defender, shot has potential (but needs a lot of work, including form work), has nice ability to recover if he's been dribbled past, he's awesome attacking bad closeouts, and more.

I'm curious if people who are higher on Sekou are stuck watching his YouTube films or if they've actually seen games.



**His potential in today's NBA though is way better than Goga. Goga's footwork and lack of athleticism is a HUGE Issue. I've done a few threads on him on Twitter, actually. The added three is nice, but his offense was never the issue - defense was, and continues to be, the major hindrance in his potential NBA transition.

Bitadze with super impressive euroleague debut : 17 points, 7 rebounds, 4 blocks.

Knickstape1214 wrote:

clyde21 wrote:Sekou is better in every way. Sekou's a top 3 prospect.

Ehhhh...that's REALLY pushing it. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but I've seen almost every game from Synergy and have watched every single clip of his. He has many issues.

Catchall wrote:Sekou is a prototypical athlete for a 4-man in today's NBA, somewhat comparable to a Pascal Siakam. He shows the ability to run the floor, hit some open shots and defend multiple position. He's also very young.

I've heard Pascal, I think Aminu with better offense. Here's his Synergy profile (offense) for those interested - https://www.scribd.com/document/394696139/Sekou

His handle is weak, can't finish, jumper is incredibly streaky, needs to overhelp or his team/help defense is usually off, isn't strong enough to defend the post and isn't quick enough for most perimeter players, etc. His athleticism is also incredibly overrated.

He has many warts, but, sure, he has potential - he has potential to be a versatile defender, shot has potential (but needs a lot of work, including form work), has nice ability to recover if he's been dribbled past, he's awesome attacking bad closeouts, and more.

I'm curious if people who are higher on Sekou are stuck watching his YouTube films or if they've actually seen games.



**His potential in today's NBA though is way better than Goga. Goga's footwork and lack of athleticism is a HUGE Issue. I've done a few threads on him on Twitter, actually. The added three is nice, but his offense was never the issue - defense was, and continues to be, the major hindrance in his potential NBA transition.

Read on Twitter

Can you explain this KT? I'm not nearly as versed in Sekou as you are, but from everything I've read and seen (which admittedly has only really been highlights), he's one of the very best athletes in this class and that's one of his big selling points. Also, how would you compare him as a prospect to Little, who I think is kind of analogous in his struggles thus far. And is their any way to catch Sekou's games outside of having synergy?

Funcrusher wrote:

Knickstape1214 wrote:

clyde21 wrote:Sekou is better in every way. Sekou's a top 3 prospect.

Ehhhh...that's REALLY pushing it. I feel like I'm repeating myself, but I've seen almost every game from Synergy and have watched every single clip of his. He has many issues.

Catchall wrote:Sekou is a prototypical athlete for a 4-man in today's NBA, somewhat comparable to a Pascal Siakam. He shows the ability to run the floor, hit some open shots and defend multiple position. He's also very young.

I've heard Pascal, I think Aminu with better offense. Here's his Synergy profile (offense) for those interested - https://www.scribd.com/document/394696139/Sekou

His handle is weak, can't finish, jumper is incredibly streaky, needs to overhelp or his team/help defense is usually off, isn't strong enough to defend the post and isn't quick enough for most perimeter players, etc. His athleticism is also incredibly overrated.

He has many warts, but, sure, he has potential - he has potential to be a versatile defender, shot has potential (but needs a lot of work, including form work), has nice ability to recover if he's been dribbled past, he's awesome attacking bad closeouts, and more.

I'm curious if people who are higher on Sekou are stuck watching his YouTube films or if they've actually seen games.



**His potential in today's NBA though is way better than Goga. Goga's footwork and lack of athleticism is a HUGE Issue. I've done a few threads on him on Twitter, actually. The added three is nice, but his offense was never the issue - defense was, and continues to be, the major hindrance in his potential NBA transition.

Read on Twitter

Can you explain this KT? I'm not nearly as versed in Sekou as you are, but from everything I've read and seen (which admittedly has only really been highlights), he's one of the very best athletes in this class and that's one of his big selling points. Also, how would you compare him as a prospect to Little, who I think is kind of analogous in his struggles thus far. And is their any way to catch Sekou's games outside of having synergy?

I just don't think he is a great athlete by any means. He's fluid, sure, but he doesn't turn hips quickly and his lateral movement isn't great either - it's his closing speed that pops a bit, if anything. Vertically, not there either. I mean, he literally JUST turned 18 a few weeks ago, so chances are he's still growing (wouldn't surprise me if he hits 6'10), but right now, I don't think he's a + athlete.

His game is also very raw. His best offensive attribute is his ability to attack closeouts (really does a nice job here), but that's really it. Finishing has gotten better over the last few games (really bumped up his percentile around the basket), but I'm not sold there either. His jumper is...bad. Defensively he's a mess, too.

He is really quick to my eye for his size

There were 3 bigs in ABA league in last 10 years, who had simmilar production as Bitadze. Jokić, Šarić and Nurkić.

I would say that Goga is a far better and more suited for the NBA than Šarić and Nurkić were

juanc wrote:There were 3 bigs in ABA league in last 10 years, who had simmilar production as Bitadze. Jokić, Šarić and Nurkić.

I would say that Goga is a far better and more suited for the NBA than Šarić and Nurkić were

you are forgetting about Zizic

Nurkic is the better athlete, way better lateral mobility/feet, he was also more physically advanced (so Goga could improve in time) ditto for Saric, who isn't comparable and was always more of a play-making 4 type, Dario though is a weird case, was always super jacked for his age, but had super advanced feel, team oriented role and passion/drive, never felt like he was going to shoot it but the guy is just a baller and has improved to be passable there

I'd agree though that Goga's improvements physically this year and his shooting, change the discussion, and although Sekou probably has still him in terms of upside, they are neck and neck in terms of the top intl prospect this year (both top20 for me at the moment)

Goga is kinda the wrong mix of Nurkic and Jokic, has Nurkic's skillset kinda (worse passer than Jusuf but less volatile too) and Nikola's body/athleticism (although Goga's bigger, taller, stronger and in general tougher, Jokic was really raw physically at the same age)

Marc Gasol has an elite feel that Goga to me doesn't have, and is also bigger/longer than Bitadze, but Goga might be able to be a more low maintenance version of Nurkic that can shoot in time, and that's a really good big, borderline All Star

First time watching full Bitadze game last night. Unimpressed, even tho he finished with 27 PIR, which really surprised me. Strong points is that he is a rim protector, can block shots, surely has some value on defense, doesnt seem to be Enes Kanter or Okafor type of useless defender. But he doesn't seem to like moving off ball, barely set any screens and pick and rolled, he likes post up and demand the ball, or just move away and let his guard ISO. Lacks energy moving, reminded me of Dwight Howard in that aspect.

https://www.facebook.com/ABALiga.jtd/videos/392694544798891/

Is Goga really a bad athlete?