Mohamed Dabone

[Sign5]

The next Dabone

He's about to turn 12
This is getting out of hand

[UcanUwill]

i just want to say that we need to be careful about this. People dragged thon maker, ibaka and biyombo their whole careers. 2/3 played long enough that it wouldnt make sense for them to be the ages that people were alleging them to be when they were 19(thon probably was lying). just because someone doesnt have documentation, theyre from africa and they are huge. doesnt mean they are lying. They may genuinely not know, or be telling the truth. I saw jalen duren in person at 16 and he looked like a man as well.

Mike Tyson at age 13 and Lee Priest at 16 are examples that come to mind. I agree that these guys are not necessarily lying, it could be that their documented age is wrong or that they are sincerely physical freaks.

Just remember it is not the prospects who lying, but rather the clubs. I mean players are on a lie, but its those Spanish clubs who fabricate things first. And I just want to point out that it is not just African prospects and its not just racism. I remember Turks had few scandals pf faking player ages, and at a time, a lot believed Enes Kanter's age was a lie and he is actually older. I believe Biymbo and Kanter both had those bone tests or smth during combine, to determine was their age true, and I mean Kanter had a Swiss passport, he was born in Switzerland, still tho, you never know with some of these euro federations and teams.

At least those age tests exist, I am not sure how accurate it is, but it hopefully can tell if the guys really 18 and not 13, because thats a huge difference.

[sisibilio]

Just remember it is not the prospects who lying, but rather the clubs. I mean players are on a lie, but its those Spanish clubs who fabricate things first.

It's actually the agents that bring these kids/men to Spain who are behind the scheme, clubs would say they didn't know, although they know if they have eyes.

[lambchop]

The next Dabone

He's about to turn 12
This is getting out of hand

This is another reason why Spanish clubs dominate youth basketball. It's also amusing to watch when they play against other kids and those teams from other countries are clueless when they enter the paint and have to finish against these bigs.

Later, when they're all grown up, players understand how to score and these kind of bigs end up stuck in some smaller leagues anyways.

Barcelona actually recently moved its B team to a fully amateur league. Sad times for Spanish youth basketball development continue.

But that's not these big guys' fault. Regardless of Dabone's age, if they were truly interested in maximising his potential, they would work on every aspect of his game, including ball handling, shooting and finesse. Instead they are grooming him into an elite pogo stick finisher. This usually has underwhelming outcomes at the pro level.

[sisibilio]

It's not just spanish clubs. Some of them end up being good players, like Adem Bona or Biyombo.

[sisibilio]

Barcelona actually recently moved its B team to a fully amateur league. Sad times for Spanish youth basketball development continue.

But that's not these big guys' fault. Regardless of Dabone's age, if they were truly interested in maximising his potential, they would work on every aspect of his game, including ball handling, shooting and finesse. Instead they are grooming him into an elite pogo stick finisher. This usually has underwhelming outcomes at the pro level.

They are working on all that with Dabone, cause he actually has the potencial.
BTW the Barcelona B team has technocally dissapeared since they're joining a neely U22 national league that might be more competitive that the pone they used to play in.

[bonita_the_frog]

I never trust the tallest people anyway, their bodies fall apart.

Steve is that you?

I'm guessing someone named Steve doesn't like the tallest people either, but don't know who its, Steve Bannon?

[BernteB]

The next Dabone

He's about to turn 12
This is getting out of hand

context? names?

[gavran]

The next Dabone

He's about to turn 12
This is getting out of hand

context? names?

His name is Moussa Balla Traore, will be 12 in October. He has 1 adult kid.

[peZt]

It's not just spanish clubs. Some of them end up being good players, like Adem Bona or Biyombo.

I've followed Adem since he was 16. He looked every bit 16 back then, especially in the face. Also his game and body developed a lot since then.
I know that we Turks are guilty of age faking a lot, a recent example is Ege Demir or even the non-african ones like Kenan Sipahi, Ercan Osmani. But Adem I actually believe. If anything he is max 1 year older.
He was worse than Usman Garuba when they were both 16. Now he is better. I dont think with his game and phyiscal development he woul've been 18 back then already

[sisibilio]

Bona is not better than Garuba, just more useful as s defensive specialist in the NBA.

[BruttoNostra]

The next Dabone

He's about to turn 12
This is getting out of hand

context? names?

https://www.realmadrid.com/es-ES/baloncesto/cantera/infantil-a/moussa-balla-traore

I mean... Giannis, a superstar who we call a (Greek) Freak, was looking like a kid at his age-19 rookie season in the NBA vs that "yet to be 12yo" Real Madrid prodigy



I mean, look at that Traore guy. If I told you he's a former NCAA player that went undrafted a few years ago and now is heading to his 4th Euro team in as many years at the age of 25 or 26 - it would sound more reasonable than him being 11yo at this moment.

PS: The last one I can blame is the kid/the guy himself. He might have come from a difficult background, so whatever those dirty agents gave him and his family is worth it.

[peZt]

There was a similiar case in Football with Yousouffa Moukoko. He was probably the most dominant 11-14 year old in Football history and the hype was crazy. Except, basically everyone who wasn't completely ignorant knew he was 2-4 years older. But one mention of that and you were called racist
Well now Moukoko is 21 and the greatest teenager in Football history is now playing for FC Copenhagen, a mediocre club from Denmark. Also, he barely grew from age 13 to now

A german TV team actually tried to dig into the matter and do some research. Because the only argument from the german authorities and his club was always "His age is real because he has a real birth certificate from Cameroon that was verified by the german authorities. So any other claim is racist"

Well, this journalist went to his hometown in Cameroon, literally just asked a guy in front of the german embassy if its possible to get a fake birth certificate. And 1 hour later the guy returned with an officiall birth certificate for a made up kid that didnt exist. Thats how much value those birth certifiacates have.

Also the cameroonian football federation recently banned 60 of their own U17 players for faking their age.

So this kind of thing is extremely common in sports. I just dont understand what benefeit the teams have. I mean everybody at Real Madrid must know that this dude is at least 18 years old. Why would you sign him knowing you are blocking other maybe more talented kids path with this adult man? Doesnt make any sense to me. Winning medals at the youth stage is completely worthless for a club like Real Madrid, their priority is producing top talent. So no clue why they do this

[lambchop]

Barcelona actually recently moved its B team to a fully amateur league. Sad times for Spanish youth basketball development continue.

But that's not these big guys' fault. Regardless of Dabone's age, if they were truly interested in maximising his potential, they would work on every aspect of his game, including ball handling, shooting and finesse. Instead they are grooming him into an elite pogo stick finisher. This usually has underwhelming outcomes at the pro level.

They are working on all that with Dabone, cause he actually has the potencial.
BTW the Barcelona B team has technocally dissapeared since they're joining a neely U22 national league that might be more competitive that the pone they used to play in.

But it's not reflected in his play. He's mainly being used as a finisher. Just have a look at how Giannis was playing when he was a teenager. He was bringing the ball up the court, attacking from the perimeter, shooting, step backs etc. That's the best way to maximise a player's potential. Even Wembanyama was doing the same thing, despite being freakishly tall. Amare Stoudemire is probably the closest comparison to Dabone in terms of elite explosiveness. Yet even Amare was given the freedom to attack from the perimeter and dribble in traffic.

This is the Giannis video:

Watch on YouTube

That said, the Spanish youth game is essentially perfect. They make very few mistakes and everyone plays to their strengths. There's no room for experiments. The type of stuff Giannis was doing as a teenager would land him on the bench. He would have been used as a finisher and dunker exclusively.

Regarding the U22 league, I personally think it doesn't make much sense. Elite 19, 20 and 21 year olds don't play youth basketball anyway. At that age you should either be in the NCAA or in the good but not great European leagues, like the German league, ABA liga, Italian league. Those players should be playing actual games against guys with Euroleague, Eurocup, NCAA, NBA or Eurobasket experience, shot making ability and physicality. They can't get that playing against other dudes their age.

But, I agree that this U22 thing could be more competitive than EBA. Barcelona hardly ever lost games and most were 20 to 40 point blowouts.

[-Luke-]

There was a similiar case in Football with Yousouffa Moukoko. He was probably the most dominant 11-14 year old in Football history and the hype was crazy. Except, basically everyone who wasn't completely ignorant knew he was 2-4 years older. But one mention of that and you were called racist
Well now Moukoko is 21 and the greatest teenager in Football history is now playing for FC Copenhagen, a mediocre club from Denmark. Also, he barely grew from age 13 to now

A german TV team actually tried to dig into the matter and do some research. Because the only argument from the german authorities and his club was always "His age is real because he has a real birth certificate from Cameroon that was verified by the german authorities. So any other claim is racist"

Well, this journalist went to his hometown in Cameroon, literally just asked a guy in front of the german embassy if its possible to get a fake birth certificate. And 1 hour later the guy returned with an officiall birth certificate for a made up kid that didnt exist. Thats how much value those birth certifiacates have.

Also the cameroonian football federation recently banned 60 of their own U17 players for faking their age.

So this kind of thing is extremely common in sports. I just dont understand what benefeit the teams have. I mean everybody at Real Madrid must know that this dude is at least 18 years old. Why would you sign him knowing you are blocking other maybe more talented kids path with this adult man? Doesnt make any sense to me. Winning medals at the youth stage is completely worthless for a club like Real Madrid, their priority is producing top talent. So no clue why they do this

I was banned from a football forum because I mentioned the obvious. Remember when he had an 18-year old girlfriend at age "12"?

[sisibilio]

Regarding the U22 league, I personally think it doesn't make much sense. Elite 19, 20 and 21 year olds don't play youth basketball anyway. At that age you should either be in the NCAA or in the good but not great European leagues, like the German league, ABA liga, Italian league. Those players should be playing actual games against guys with Euroleague, Eurocup, NCAA, NBA or Eurobasket experience, shot making ability and physicality. They can't get that playing against other dudes their age.

But, I agree that this U22 thing could be more competitive than EBA. Barcelona hardly ever lost games and most were 20 to 40 point blowouts.

The top teams will be basically playing with their junior (u18) squads, with some 16/17 YO elite prospects and maybe 2 or 3 "veterans" with little upside to fill the gaps.

[peZt]

There was a similiar case in Football with Yousouffa Moukoko. He was probably the most dominant 11-14 year old in Football history and the hype was crazy. Except, basically everyone who wasn't completely ignorant knew he was 2-4 years older. But one mention of that and you were called racist
Well now Moukoko is 21 and the greatest teenager in Football history is now playing for FC Copenhagen, a mediocre club from Denmark. Also, he barely grew from age 13 to now

A german TV team actually tried to dig into the matter and do some research. Because the only argument from the german authorities and his club was always "His age is real because he has a real birth certificate from Cameroon that was verified by the german authorities. So any other claim is racist"

Well, this journalist went to his hometown in Cameroon, literally just asked a guy in front of the german embassy if its possible to get a fake birth certificate. And 1 hour later the guy returned with an officiall birth certificate for a made up kid that didnt exist. Thats how much value those birth certifiacates have.

Also the cameroonian football federation recently banned 60 of their own U17 players for faking their age.

So this kind of thing is extremely common in sports. I just dont understand what benefeit the teams have. I mean everybody at Real Madrid must know that this dude is at least 18 years old. Why would you sign him knowing you are blocking other maybe more talented kids path with this adult man? Doesnt make any sense to me. Winning medals at the youth stage is completely worthless for a club like Real Madrid, their priority is producing top talent. So no clue why they do this

I was banned from a football forum because I mentioned the obvious. Remember when he had an 18-year old girlfriend at age "12"?

Same haha. From Transfermarkt.de

[Black Jack]

I never trust the tallest people anyway, their bodies fall apart.

Steve is that you?

I'm guessing someone named Steve doesn't like the tallest people either, but don't know who its, Steve Bannon?

Kerr

[zimpy27]

What are they feeding these kids?

Spoiler:

lies

[Mirotic12]

Looks about at least 35.