Sidy Cissoko

[The-Power]

Good time to make a thread for him after his last performance.

Watch on YouTube

(of course they don't care for his 6 AST)

He's still flirting with being a lottery pick for me personally. I just wish his motor was running a bit higher. But if he can be a consistent hustle guy and maximize his natural physical tools while not being a non-shooter, he'll be an awesome role player in the NBA and still has the upside to be a bit more than that.

[SeattleJazzFan]

i'm bullish on him. excellent athlete and length, and while he's not much of a shooter at this point, i really like his mechanics. but i do agree about the motor - it seems like he can be so much more. if you can get him late teens/early 20s, you absolutely take that. maybe late lottery, but i'm not there yet.

[The-Power]

Okay, I caught up on some G-League games and I think I seriously underestimated his creation upside. I think you can legit run offense through him especially through the high post but even in the PnR. He's so strong on his drives and he's just 18 years old, and I believe he'll be one of the better passing 4s in the NBA from day one (and could be one of the best down the road). That changes his profile from a switch-defender with connective passing ability to something clearly more than that and should make him a lot more appealing to teams than he already is. He's catapulting up my board right now.

[CptCrunch]

Just going to point out that there is an inconsistency with his birth location, which is a huge deal.

Registered as being born in Bafoulabe, Mali for European Championship U18 team for France

https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Sidy-Cissoko/586108

Now he claims to have been born in Paris, France:

Watch on YouTube

Listed as Saint-Maurice, which is part of Paris: https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Sidy-Cissoko/Summary/175693

[The-Power]

I can only recommend to everyone to watch the games vs. Memphis last night. Here's the YouTube-Link:

Watch on YouTube

Here's a quick breakdown of all good plays that he had with time-stamps to save you some time in case you're interested in his performance but not in the entire game. But I must warn you: there were a TON of good plays from him!

Spoiler:

2:54 – excellent help defense to protect the rim with a steal against the big, and then shows his ability to grab-and-go even though he missed the lay-up eventually

7:32 – handles the ball in transition and throws a perfectly timed bounce pass between two defenders for the easy lay-up

12:03 – isolation in the high post against a similar-sized defender but he just completes overpowers his defender on the drive to the rim and draws the shooting foul

13:36 – isolated on the perimeter, drives into the defender who once again just bounces off him as Sissoko tries to draw the foul (no call), but then relocates to the corner for an and-1 3

17:28 – gets the ball on the perimeter, drives and collapses the defense (Scoot’s defender cheats off him to help out), touches the paint and has a nice kick-out pass to Scoot who drives the open lane and hits the floater

32:04 – a high-post touch turns into a PnR where Sissoko nicely changes directions, draws the attention of three defenders around the rim and has a very nice no-look dump-off to the big who blows the finish

32:21 – heads-up semi-transition play off a made basket where he hits the Guard with a quick and easy pass for an open midrange ****

32:56 – another high post touch, where he muscles himself into the paint and draws help defense but doesn’t have an easy finish, so he nicely dumps it off last second to the big for a floater that he misses

34:13 – sees an opportunity to pick up steam in semi-transition and bullies himself to the rim through two defenders but misses the lay-up through contact

34:54 – receives the ball open on the perimeter where his defender closes out and he fakes a shot, drives by the defender and dunks it with only one dribble

36:00 – rebounds and goes, and finds an open shooter on the wing in transition who misses the shot

40:11 – receives the ball in the corner in isolation, drives his defender into the paint and draws another shooting foul

41:58 – good help defense in transition that forces a missed lay-up (looked like he blocked it)

44:32 – receives the ball on the perimeter in transition playing 3 vs 3, he drives into the paint and puts up a nice floater with the left hand for another and-1

45:13 – defends Ziaire on the perimeter who gets a step on him but good recovery and contest to help force a miss on the floater

45:58 – banks in an open 3 from the top

1:10:40 – guards Lofton Jr. in the PnR and that is just excellent switching defense

1:11:59 – picks up the ball and runs the transition possession where he has another nice look-away pass to an open Scoot who should have taken it to the rim but instead missed the jumoer

1:13:47 – gets the ball in the high/mid-post area again where he draws a double-team from the weak side and makes a quick read to find the open corner shooter (great awareness!) who missed the shot

1:24:33 – gets the ball on the perimeter when he can immediately drives it, has an incredible behind-the-back dribble to get a lane to the paint, and finishes strong through contact for yet another and-1; that was an incredible move!

1:26:36 – gets the ball on the perimeter and tries to drive but gets cut off, so he pulls it out and turns it into a PnR that allows him to touch the paint but the floater is in-and-out; but he doesn’t give up on the play and Ignite retains possession

1:29:07 – runs a high-PnR with a double-pick and turns the corner, gets to the rim and draws a foul on the lay-up

1:31:17 – receives the ball on the perimeter, starts the drive and pulls of an insanely quick spin move that gives him an open lane to the rim and he dunks it; play of the game!

1:31:31 – great hustle trying to keep the ball in play after a fumbled rebounds by a teammate

1:32:13 – receives the ball in transition and just goes, drives to the paint and into a defender where he draws contact and gets yet another and-1 on his short floater

1:32:53 – that’s just a good communicative defensive possession from him with multiple; fights through the screen, then switches onto the big, gives his teammate instructions (who is late to rotate) and then tips the ball out on the rebound; he then gets the ball in transition, drives and has a nice short pass back to the trailing big who misses the lay-up

1:43:23 – gets the ball in the high post which they turn into a PnR, Sissoko gets into the paint and draws a foul on the lay-up

1:44:58 – he picks off a full court pass and is out on transition (4 on 2), and hits the trailing Guard for an easy lay-up

1:45:36 – good help defense awareness even though it ends up with a foul

1:46:51 – grabs the rebound and runs the floor in transition, and makes a really nice cross-court pass to the open man in the corner

1:47:18 – good post-defense holding his ground even though his opponent hits the tough fade-away jumper

His defense and hustle was a mixed bag and the shot was on-and-off, but what he displayed on offense that game was just insane. Strong drives, great passes, good touch on his floaters, good handles and just a variety of different possession types in which he was effective (transition, PnR ball handler, post-up, isolation, close-out). He is rising quickly and high!

[The-Power]

Watch on YouTube

Missed a couple easy lay-ups he created for himself but nonetheless another very strong game. 3rd 20+ PTS game in a row!

And then there's this ridiculousness...

Read on Twitter

[EvanZ]

That dunk seems overrated to me. He had halfcourt of runway, bobbles the ball on the way up, and honestly I'd rather have seen him eurostep around the defender.

[Jamaaliver]

Read on Twitter

[The-Power]

That dunk seems overrated to me. He had halfcourt of runway, bobbles the ball on the way up, and honestly I'd rather have seen him eurostep around the defender.

He had this runway only because he made an intuitive behind-the-back dribble the moment the defender reached, and then it's pretty impressive how much force he can produce when he has a lane. If you want to see Eurosteps, I think he created like 3 lay-up opportunities that way just last game. I'm happy he opted for the dunk here, if only because it puts him on the map among some people who haven't been paying much attention to him.

[reanimator]

Watch on YouTube

[916fan]

Just going to point out that there is an inconsistency with his birth location, which is a huge deal.

Registered as being born in Bafoulabe, Mali for European Championship U18 team for France

https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Sidy-Cissoko/586108

Now he claims to have been born in Paris, France:

Watch on YouTube

Listed as Saint-Maurice, which is part of Paris: https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Sidy-Cissoko/Summary/175693

Do yo have more info about this alleged inconsistency?

https://www.archysport.com/2022/06/sidy-cissoko-will-become-the-first-european-to-play-in-g-league-ignite/
This article stated,

Born in Essonne – in the Paris region – Sidy Cissoko started playing basketball very early. At the same time, aim for the family of basketball players: the dad is Yakia Cissoko, a member of the Senegalese basketball team at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. The brother? Boukhary Cissoko, brand new player from Kaysersberg (NM1). In other words, basketball is in their genes. Finally, all the same, if you had to “just” grow up in a family of basketball players to be a beast in the field, it would be known. Sidy has therefore worked a lot to get here.

This article collaborates what he said in that interview you posted. I haven't seen anything online about controversies regarding where he was born. Perhaps that Eurobasket website has his information incorrectly listed?

[Hal14]

That dunk seems overrated to me. He had halfcourt of runway, bobbles the ball on the way up, and honestly I'd rather have seen him eurostep around the defender.

you could say that about any time a dude dunks over another player and posterizes him. Did you want Vince Carter to eurostep around Frederick Vice? How about when Horford dunked on Giannis in the ECF last year? KJ should have euro-stepped around Hakeem? Kemp should have euro-stepped around Gatling? Pippen should have euro-stepped around Ewing? lol

[Hal14]

Sidy is up to 35% from 3 now for the season, on decent volume. We've now seen him make plenty of really impressive passes now. The frame, and athleticism check the box. One of the younger players in the class.

One of the classic cases we've seen of a guy who gets better and better as the season goes on that Ignite team. #20 on my board at the moment..

[CptCrunch]

Just going to point out that there is an inconsistency with his birth location, which is a huge deal.

Registered as being born in Bafoulabe, Mali for European Championship U18 team for France

https://basketball.eurobasket.com/player/Sidy-Cissoko/586108

Now he claims to have been born in Paris, France:

Watch on YouTube

Listed as Saint-Maurice, which is part of Paris: https://basketball.realgm.com/player/Sidy-Cissoko/Summary/175693

Do yo have more info about this alleged inconsistency?

https://www.archysport.com/2022/06/sidy-cissoko-will-become-the-first-european-to-play-in-g-league-ignite/
This article stated,

Born in Essonne – in the Paris region – Sidy Cissoko started playing basketball very early. At the same time, aim for the family of basketball players: the dad is Yakia Cissoko, a member of the Senegalese basketball team at the Moscow Olympics in 1980. The brother? Boukhary Cissoko, brand new player from Kaysersberg (NM1). In other words, basketball is in their genes. Finally, all the same, if you had to “just” grow up in a family of basketball players to be a beast in the field, it would be known. Sidy has therefore worked a lot to get here.

This article collaborates what he said in that interview you posted. I haven't seen anything online about controversies regarding where he was born. Perhaps that Eurobasket website has his information incorrectly listed?

No, but typically teams (in this case France U18) provide a list of DOB/hometown to tourney organizers, this is a given for tourneys with age restirctions like a U18 tournament. I'm just assuming Eurobasket is getting that info from some physical/digital printout. There is no public info on the internet based on my search. I'm just pointing out the potential consistency.

It could be that Eurobasket just messed up or made up a birth location.

[EvanZ]

That dunk seems overrated to me. He had halfcourt of runway, bobbles the ball on the way up, and honestly I'd rather have seen him eurostep around the defender.

you could say that about any time a dude dunks over another player and posterizes him. Did you want Vince Carter to eurostep around Frederick Vice? How about when Horford dunked on Giannis in the ECF last year? KJ should have euro-stepped around Hakeem? Kemp should have euro-stepped around Gatling? Pippen should have euro-stepped around Ewing? lol

The thing is VC could actually dunk over anyone. In this case though, Sidy had plenty of time to see the defender and adjust if he was able to.

[Coeur]

I think he ends up a top 10 player from this class. His stuff will work. He is my dream Nugs second round pick. Though I think he goes in the 20’s or sooner.

[The-Power]

5th consecutive 20+ PTS game since his longer absence. His role has increased and he responds extraordinarily well. Especially when he gets a chance to create, good things happen for the team.

23/6/6/1/0 (4-6 on 2s, 5-9 on 3s, 0-1 on FTs) with 1 TO in 32 MIN, +6 (-8 without him)
24/6/4/1/1 (5-9 on 2s, 2-5 on 3s, 5-8 on FTs) with 1 TO in 30 MIN, -10 (-16 without him)
22/6/3/1/0 (4-10 on 2s, 4-7 on 3s, 1-2 on FTs) with 1 TO in 37 MIN, +11 (+4 without him)
22/2/5/4/1 (3-4 on 2s, 3-7 on 3s, 4-4 on FTs) with 5 TO in 32 MIN, +6 (+2 without him)
20/1/5/3/1 (6-10 on 2s, 0-3 on 3s, 4-5 on FTs) with 1 TO in 32 MIN, +2 (-14 without him)

Average: 22/4/5/2/1 with 2 TO on 56/45/70 shooting splits and +3.0.

Very consistent scoring on high efficiency. 23 Assists to only 9 Turnovers. During those games, there has been a consistent pattern of the team doing better with him on the court. In fact, his +3.0 net rating is not only highest on the team but every other starter is at -1.7 or below. Tiny sample, of course, but it may be the start of a pattern. Lack of rebounding continues to be a concern, though. He just doesn't care about it at all for the most part. Hopefully that can be drilled into him and he can pick it up when needed. Defense has been solid overall but he is not as consistently good as he could be despite some minor limitations.

[The-Power]

After a couple dud games, he finally had a more dominant performance again.

Watch on YouTube

The force he can develop with some runway is quite insane. The first and third play looked like a vanilla version of (overweight) Zion. I'll be looking for more consistency from him now that Scoot is shut down. He'll have even more opportunities – let's see what he can do with them, and if he can show enough for the broader interested public to notice.

As an aside: it feels like he would benefit from an NBA conditioning program over the summer (and beyond). He's always had a strong base and could look a bit slow in small spaces but it seems like he either put on too much muscle or he's not in top shape. Either way, I think he could improve if he slimmed down slightly and thereby increased his agility. He's always going to be strong regardless.