Posted December 6 2023
Sing like bilal
Bilal Coulibaly isn’t a household name, and may never be. But the entire league will at the least know his name soon.
The third-youngest player to take the court this season is already making noise, if you’re paying attention.
As I’m writing this, the Wizards lost by five to the 76ers and the first thing you’re going to notice is the reigning MVP dropping 50 points. Look a bit deeper and you’ll see Bilal with 14 points, 3 assists and 3 steals off the bench.
Not exactly headline worthy, I know. The headlines will come soon enough.
The raw numbers aren’t eye-popping (8.5 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists a game) but put into context they should get some excitement out of even the most pessimistic DC fan.
The shooting splits are positive enough at 52.5% from the field and 41.2% from 3, but still too early to draw conclusions there.
Bilal’s potential shows when you start to look at his impact off the bench this year. His ranks out of all rookies in games coming off the bench this season:
3rd in Points
1st in Rebounds
3rd in Assists
1st in Steals
1st in Blocks
Impressive considering how strong this draft class has looked as a whole this year.
Even with the low volume numbers, he’s in line to be put into impressive company as a rookie. There’s only been 11 players under 20 years old that have averaged 8+ points, 1+ steal, and 1+ three pointer made per game. The closets statistical comparison from that list: Eric Gordon, a 16 sesason-and-still-going pro and former 6th man of the year.
There’s still a long way to go but already you can see why the Wizards took a swing on the young Frenchman.
