Eye of the Tiger: The Tidjane Salaun Thread

[JustBuzzin]

Forget offense for a second, my thing with him is how good of a defender can become early in his career. I can't remember who it was maybe... Vecenie, who said when he talked to French teams they said Salaun was someone they game planned for because with his size, length he could wreck some of their game plans. He isn't a real rim protector but his length is really good at getting into passing lanes. I think his best fit right now is the 4 on both defense and offense.

Offensively, I think you keep it simple for him early in his career. Shoot open 3s, run in transition, crash boards and 1 or 2 times a game you get a wild card possession to do your thing. He seems like a good cutter out of the corner, which fits well with LaMelo getting to the backline of the defense and being able to throw him some baseline floaters for dunks.

I don't see much on ball creation with him, so he is going to mainly need to be fed by LaMelo and Miller.

This pick isn't as bad as people think. I see a 19yr old kid who has legit shooting range as a catch n shoot player and he plays hard and can run the floor well. That's the type of stretch pf you want running the break with Melo.

I think a less athletic John Collins is his ceiling. Hopefully he ends up better than that.

The pick is worse than people think. Not only did we throw away our pick, we lit 24 million dollars on fire. He will not be here after 3 years. This team is not patient enough to wait on a project to develop and this guy is not prepared to succeed any time during the next 3 years.

Should have took Edey right?

[EmpireFalls]

Drafted an 18 year old that was a contributor to a competitive professional team in a seemingly competitive international league.

You should really watch the video. It's agonizing. He does basically everything wrong you can possibly do wrong on a basketball court.

Maybe I'm missing something, but I really feel like you need to adjust yours lens on this guy.

In the first two minutes I saw him:

(1) attack the boards and generate multiple offensive rebounds
(2) finish a contested drive
(3) shoot multiple long C&S 3s with no hesitation
(4) hit 2 free throws (the only ones he took)
(5) twice back down defenders from the perimeter and finish over them in the paint
(6) attack a close out then dish to the opposite perimeter for a 3

I like him more after watching the first 2 minutes of that video. Guess I'll watch the rest and see what pops out.

ETA: finished the video. Yeah he's rough dribbling in transition and a couple times had questionable rotations or left his feet to contest a shot when he should have stayed down, but I was very impressed with his ability to rebound and his energy in defensive rotations. He did not give me the deer in headlights look I was expecting based on how you described that video.

I don’t get it, you’ve never seen a guy have a poor shooting night from 3?

The footwork he plays with is laughable. Every defensive possession is like he's shot out of a cannon. He bites on every single pump fake. Moreover he has a really weird center of gravity issue where he seems to lose his balance just taking normal steps.

It legitimately looks like the tall neighborhood kid who got thrown into a middle school game for the first time. One of the rawest players to ever be selected in the lottery much less the top 10.

[JMAC3]

The footwork he plays with is laughable. Every defensive possession is like he's shot out of a cannon. He bites on every single pump fake. Moreover he has a really weird center of gravity issue where he seems to lose his balance just taking normal steps.

It legitimately looks like the tall neighborhood kid who got thrown into a middle school game for the first time. One of the rawest players to ever be selected in the lottery much less the top 10.

Yes, he is the youngest guy drafted in the first round, if you are expecting him to also be one of the most polished then you don't really understand basketball development. Especially when he was playing against grown men, not 19 and 20 yr olds like most of the college prospects.

I would suggest quit nitpicking the minor things like falling for pumpfakes, bad closeouts etc...

Worry more about his frame, shooting mechanics, effort, feel for the game, athleticism.

[yosemiteben]

In case anyone is looking for something to get excited about, this is a fun video:

Watch on YouTube

[Lwcasu]

https://youtu.be/wt8h4sp1W7g?si=DnQ3Uzu_dwo777Ld

hahahahahahaha

Just watch this **** guys. What have we done.

I don’t get it, you’ve never seen a guy have a poor shooting night from 3?

There are three things this kid does well.

1. He’s tall
2. He’s athletic and can throw down a lob.
3. He can shoot

But I’ll add one part to number 3, he doesn’t shoot well yet.

We are legit banking on the following: He further develops consistency shooting, he develops his dribble, he develops other interior offensive skills, he develops his entire defensive game. So basically we drafted ab athlete that we have to teach basketball too.

This tells me a few things. The FO either had really really bad workouts with Knecht and Buz, the FO doesn’t expect us to compete for the play in for the next couple years, or a combination of the two.

A legit better strategy might just be to sign anyone the Thunder cut. It’s hard to get excited because in order to even think about the play ins not just playoffs, we have to hope and pray that Ball doesn’t get hurt and we need Miller to make the leap this year. If not our backup strategy is just to swing for the fences every draft? We could have actually drafted a guy who can shoot, dribble, score from all three levels and compared to we drafted at least kind of understands defense.

[MPM]

In case anyone is looking for something to get excited about, this is a fun video:

Watch on YouTube

Where's the fun in hope and excitement? It's reassuring to know that, like the swallows of San Juan Capistrano, every year I can count on the inevitable return of the post draft Grieve-a-Thon - where the sweet sounds of hyperbolic ranting serenade as fans gaze into their crystal balls and predict the demise of anyone who isn't 'their guy.'

[JMAC3]

Giannis played in the Greek 2nd division which is a wayyyyy worse league than French league Salaun played in.

Giannis averaged 22.5 mpg, 9.5 ppg, 5 rpg, 1.4 assists, 1 bpg on 46/31/72 splits
Salaun averaged 22.7 mpg, 9 ppg, 4 rpg, 1 apg, 1.2 spg on 37/33/77 splits

Giannis his rookie year played 24.6 mpg, 6.8 ppg, 4 rpg, 1.9 apg on 41/35/66 splits.

........if you really want to compare the Greek 2nd divison, it is probably the French U21 league. Where as a 17 yr old
Salaun averaged 27 mpg, 13.7 ppg 6.0 rpg 1.5 apg on 52/34/61 splits /

[EmpireFalls]

The footwork he plays with is laughable. Every defensive possession is like he's shot out of a cannon. He bites on every single pump fake. Moreover he has a really weird center of gravity issue where he seems to lose his balance just taking normal steps.

It legitimately looks like the tall neighborhood kid who got thrown into a middle school game for the first time. One of the rawest players to ever be selected in the lottery much less the top 10.

Yes, he is the youngest guy drafted in the first round, if you are expecting him to also be one of the most polished then you don't really understand basketball development. Especially when he was playing against grown men, not 19 and 20 yr olds like most of the college prospects.

I would suggest quit nitpicking the minor things like falling for pumpfakes, bad closeouts etc...

Worry more about his frame, shooting mechanics, effort, feel for the game, athleticism.

You talk about feel for the game, I see almost no feel for the game except some rudimentary off ball cuts.

We are basically going to have to teach him the entire game of basketball from the ground up.

I don't think people here fully grasp what an undertaking that is. He has no defensive instincts to speak of. He cannot dribble, his hands do not manipulate a basketball the way a professional wing's can. He will have to learn a pull up game, a post game, a mid range game, and everything in between from scratch. He has no base of ball handling or on ball defense to build upon.

Yes, in 2026, we might have something on our hands... We also might just have a 21 year old who is still raw and athletic energy guy. I don't think you can be viewed to have a high ceiling if you don't have at least a base of footwork, handling, and pull up shooting. I look at rookie PJ and he was eons ahead development-wise.

[dmutombo321]

As I recall, Milwaukee also took their flier on Gianni's in the teens. Had they miffed and he turned out to be Kai Jones instead, they wouldn't have potentially thrown away a top 6 pick like we're risking.

As empire points out, giannis also had a foundational understanding of the game of basketball

Sent from my motorola edge (2021) using RealGM mobile app

[yosemiteben]

The footwork he plays with is laughable. Every defensive possession is like he's shot out of a cannon. He bites on every single pump fake. Moreover he has a really weird center of gravity issue where he seems to lose his balance just taking normal steps.

It legitimately looks like the tall neighborhood kid who got thrown into a middle school game for the first time. One of the rawest players to ever be selected in the lottery much less the top 10.

Yes, he is the youngest guy drafted in the first round, if you are expecting him to also be one of the most polished then you don't really understand basketball development. Especially when he was playing against grown men, not 19 and 20 yr olds like most of the college prospects.

I would suggest quit nitpicking the minor things like falling for pumpfakes, bad closeouts etc...

Worry more about his frame, shooting mechanics, effort, feel for the game, athleticism.

You talk about feel for the game, I see almost no feel for the game except some rudimentary off ball cuts.

I very strongly disagree and would point to the video you posted as evidence. He has solid defensive rotation, he moves the ball intelligently and makes quick decisions with the ball in his hands, he is excellent at positioning on the boards and using effort to extend possessions...

I don't see low BBIQ when I watch what I've seen so far. I do see a need for skill development, particularly his handle and finishing around the rim.

[yosemiteben]

Watch this and tell me this kid doesn't know how to play the game:

Watch on YouTube

I see intelligent spacing, ball movement, quick decision making with the ball, rarely out of control or out of position.

ETA: Look at the sequence starting at 3:25 - off ball rotation, on ball screen navigation, on ball steal, leads break, dish to a finisher. People that don't understand the game of basketball don't look like this.

[LofJ]

Love his shot release

Read on Twitter

[JDR720]

Read on Twitter

Didn't realize Boone was so tall.

[Braggins]

There was a guy out of .. Kansas I think? awhile back that looks just like this guy

Are you thinking of Kevin Knox from Kentucky?

Yes!

Let's hope Black Dalton is better though

Yeah, I basically only knew his name before last night, but after they drafted him I thought "great, a French Kevin Knox". I know thats probably a super lazy comparison, but they do look similar, have similar builds and physical tools, could kind of shoot, and seemed like they had absolutely no idea how to play basketball coming out, so it doesn't seem like the worst of the lazy comparisons that could be made. Hopefully hes got more to work with than that.

[JMAC3]

You talk about feel for the game, I see almost no feel for the game except some rudimentary off ball cuts.

We are basically going to have to teach him the entire game of basketball from the ground up.

I don't think people here fully grasp what an undertaking that is. He has no defensive instincts to speak of. He cannot dribble, his hands do not manipulate a basketball the way a professional wing's can. He will have to learn a pull up game, a post game, a mid range game, and everything in between from scratch. He has no base of ball handling or on ball defense to build upon.

Yes, in 2026, we might have something on our hands... We also might just have a 21 year old who is still raw and athletic energy guy. I don't think you can be viewed to have a high ceiling if you don't have at least a base of footwork, handling, and pull up shooting. I look at rookie PJ and he was eons ahead development-wise.

I don't think you understand how European basketball works. If he was this bad he would be playing in a much worse league, let alone starting for and being the 3rd leading scorer for a team that made the playoffs.

[Braggins]

That was under Mitch though.

I'd feel a lot better if Peterson had a good drafting record with the Nets. But he really doesn't.

Thats what worries me. On paper there is a lot to like with Peterson. However, the ATL front office was really bad when he was a part of it and they had a bunch of draft blunders. Impossible to say how much, if any, of that was on him, but its a little scary tbh.

[GoBobs]

That was under Mitch though.

I'd feel a lot better if Peterson had a good drafting record with the Nets. But he really doesn't.

Thats what worries me. On paper there is a lot to like with Peterson. However, the ATL front office was really bad when he was a part of it and they had a bunch of draft blunders. Impossible to say how much, if any, of that was on him, but its a little scary tbh.

What is the best pick he was linked to? Trae Young who also happens to be one of the greatest draft blunders of all time given the Luka trade?

[Lwcasu]

https://youtu.be/wt8h4sp1W7g?si=DnQ3Uzu_dwo777Ld

hahahahahahaha

Just watch this **** guys. What have we done.

Yup this is tough to watch. I just hope he develops but he’s got years in front of him.

[MPM]

All we really know is we don't yet know. Jeff's most recent 5-year stint wasn't that bad as 'Assistant' GM for the Nets - during that time they picked Clowney (21) and Whitehead (22) in '23, Cam Thomas (27) in '21, Bey (19) in '20, and Alexander-Walker (19) & Nic Claxton (31) in '19. Relative to draft position, I'd say they picked pretty wisely.

[GoBobs]

Watch on YouTube