Bilal Coulibaly

[closg00]

I see a slight change for the better in his shot mechanics.
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/7VNMuzH_kVY

He went 5 of 6 from 3-point range in the two prep games for France.

If he can do this w/o hesitation against NBA defenders , this would be a game-changer for him, and the team.

[Chocolate City Jordanaire]

Hating on Bilal is the new glazing Avdija

Somethings never change

Never heard of "glazing" before. Learned something new.
Speaking of Avdija, now that we're drafting Peterson, looks like we traded an all-star for a 2nd string PG. But we did get Brogden!

I miss the Avdija thread.

I hadn't either. However, without referencing the Urban Dictionary, I envisioned a glazed donut. What does that outside part look like, the glaze?

The extreme reverence of one player over another can be considered the climax of fanboy activity, thus, the glazing.

I am getting old. I feel like Hubie Brown trying to describe NBA plays.

(Even mentioning the Urban Dictionary is old with Siri, Alexa, and Gemini/Chat GPT around)

i probably went way too far with that. it is simply sucking up.

[leswizards]

I don’t think anyone hates or has been hating on Bilal.

In fact, my guess is almost all wizards fans desperately want him to succeed.

If you are bothered by people offering honest assessments of how bad Bilal and all the wizards have been the past 2 seasons, that says more about you and your ability to read conflicting opinions than it says about the person who “hates” Bilal.

[doclinkin]

I don’t think anyone hates or has been hating on Bilal.

In fact, my guess is almost all wizards fans desperately want him to succeed.

If you are bothered by people offering honest assessments of how bad Bilal and all the wizards have been the past 2 seasons, that says more about you and your ability to read conflicting opinions than it says about the person who “hates” Bilal.

Fair.

But and but I also think there’s a tendency for fans to back themselves into a position where they end up invested in a player’s failure in order to justify an earlier assessment.

It’s reasonable to want the team to win and be frustrated with the early results. One can extrapolate from there to cast doubt on the front office and their ability to assess talent.

The position of Bilal’s supporters, and by extension the front office, is that super young players commonly are not very good early. Even eventual HOFers like Kobe started out meh as a teen.

Not saying Bilal is guaranteed to be great. Just that is early to tell. And there are signs of a good player. First on defense. Then on raw athleticism. Somewhat on progression in comparison to other young players.

So it may be jumping the gun to judge too quickly. Especially when it benefits us to lose. Losing has to be part of the actual strategy. It is smart.

Therefore it’s probably early to entrench yourself into the position that we should drop Bilal. Or not renew his contract. Since you believe he’s terrible and likely not to improve.

Signs suggest he’ll prove you wrong. He made the 12 player final roster on the French NT. Has started for them. Won their last friendly with his effort in the 3rd quarter against Spain. His three is looking more confident and quick. Good form good arc. His defense looks legit and will only get better with reps. His handle is improved. Athleticism intact.

It is unlikely the Team agrees with you that we are better off calling it quits early on him.

So you might do some work on figuring out the best way to say you were wrong when he turns out to be a decent player. Or learning to be patient with his development when the team inevitably extends him.

It’s uncomfortable to take a visible stance and then be forced to back off from it. But you earn respect in being able to say “hey I was wrong” instead of digging for faults to try to shore up an earlier position.

Personally I’ve learned a ton by being loudly wrong then corrected by bright folk with better information. Learned a ton about stats on this board. Had me searching elsewhere for better info. I think it was here I learned what a crap stat Win Shares is. Pretty sure Nate pointed it out so I learned to read what the formula is for each of these roll up stats.

But no shame in bringing strong opinions and defending them. Makes the board stronger and more vibrant. I’m a fan of irrational haters in this context. If we didn’t like competition we wouldn’t be watching team sports. We’d be on a knitting or crocheting message board or whatever.

[payitforward]

I don’t think anyone hates or has been hating on Bilal.

Agree 100% -- just looking at his play on the court & assessing the numbers he's put up. They have not been good

...my guess is almost all wizards fans desperately want him to succeed....

For sure! & I don't even see why the "almost" is needed. Why would anyone NOT want him to succeed.

...If you are bothered by people offering honest assessments of how bad Bilal and all the wizards have been the past 2 seasons, that says more about you and your ability to read conflicting opinions than it says about the person who “hates” Bilal.

For sure, at least in some cases. OTOH, no one has expected the Wizards to be any better than they've been! New mgt took a dead-end low-mediocre team & tore it apart right down to the studs with the goal of rebuilding from zero one player at a time (the only way possible given how little we had at the end of the '22-23 season).

Certainly, you don't question that decision? I hope not!

Of course, every choice we made in pursuit of that goal can be questioned. That's obvious.

E.g. it's fair to question the choice of Bilal in the '23 draft -- as you have, right?
After all, we could have had any one of the next 10 guys: Jarace Walker, Taylor Hendricks, Cason Wallace, Jett Howard, Dereck Lively, Gradey Dick, Jordan Hawkins, Kobe Bufkin, Keyonte George, or Jalen Hood-Schifino.

As it turned out, Lively has been good, & so has Wallace. Then again, looking at the first 17 picks, only 5 of them -- Wembenyana, Amen & Ausar Thompson, Wallace & Liveley can be said to have been better so far than Bilal taken at 7.

I guess if 2 of the next 10 guys taken after Bilal have been better so far (& at least one of the two is a couple of years older), I guess it's kind of hard to criticize the choice of Bilal.

Or do you disagree?

Especially since those same 2 guys have also been better than the #2 pick, the #3 pick, & the #6 pick -- as has Bilal btw.

Of course, I may have you wrong. You may actually think, correctly, that we handled the '23 draft pretty well.

Then there was Jaquez of course. I know you like him -- now, that is. You didn't say anything about him in '23. Any more than you did about Liveley.

Or do I have that wrong?
Jaquez was a graduating senior &, no surprise, has come along faster than most of the younger guys taken before him.

We didn't take him at #7 -- as (now not then) you wish we had. Of course the guy picking at 8 didn't take him either. Nor did the guy picking at 9. Nor did the guy picking at 10. Nor did the guy picking at 11. Nor did the guy picking at 12. Nor did the guy picking at 13. Nor did the guy picking at 14. Nor did the guy picking at 15. Nor did the guy picking at 16. Nor did the guy picking at 17.

What a bunch of dummies, huh? You sure are way ahead of all of them, huh? Unlike them, you know for sure that we should have picked... ummm... the guy that turned out best. So far.

Do I have that right? Have I misrepresented your desire to have picked Lively or Jaquez because, you know, ummm they're better? Right?

[PaulinVA]

Read on Twitter

[nate33]

Read on Twitter

[doclinkin]

Read on Twitter

Not possible. Must be AI. Im told he’s a terrible player we should quit on because he’ll never get better.

[AFM]

Deni Avdija would have blocked him 3 times

[doclinkin]

Well yeah. Deni dropped 20 on Iceland. Here. For all the gluttons for punishment and self flagellation:

Watch on YouTube

[closg00]

Well yeah. Deni dropped 20 on Iceland. Here. For all the gluttons for punishment and self flagellation:

Watch on YouTube

Wrong thread ?

[AFM]

Well yeah. Deni dropped 20 on Iceland. Here. For all the gluttons for punishment and self flagellation:

Watch on YouTube

I honestly thought you were being funny when you said "dropped 20 on iceland"

[nate33]

Well yeah. Deni dropped 20 on Iceland. Here. For all the gluttons for punishment and self flagellation:

Watch on YouTube

[nate33]

Well yeah. Deni dropped 20 on Iceland. Here. For all the gluttons for punishment and self flagellation:

Watch on YouTube

He shot 0-5 from the 3-point line but still managed 20 points on 5-12 shooting because he took 12 free throws. Also had 9 rebounds and 3 blocks.

[doclinkin]

Wrong thread ?

Yeah. Sorry. Lol. Just kicking the ants nest for entertainment.

[AFM]

I am once again calling for a total and complete shutdown of doclinkin's account until we can figure out what the hell is going on.

[doclinkin]

I am once again calling for a total and complete shutdown of doclinkin's account until we can figure out what the hell is going on.

Man, if we waited until you know whats happenin nobody could ever post again.

[doclinkin]

I will say this. France is super deep in talented youth, but it’s frustrating because they substitute Bilal out for Risacher who they like to play with Sarr. So we don’t get minutes with les Wizkids together.

I’m watching the 2nd half.