Strange autumn-winter break obliges, TrashTalk looks this year at… 74 individual profiles. Why 74? Oh, nothing to do with Haute-Savoie eh, despite the adoration of some for Sainte-Raclette, but rather because these analyzes will take us quietly towards 2021. Because yes, we can confirm it to you, this sordid year 2020 will soon affect its end, it was about time. Focus today on Sekou Doumbouya, one of the great reasons to smile for the French NBA fanbase.
Drafted in fifteenth position by the Pistons in June 2019, Sekou Doumbouya is a bit of our national freak, proportionately of course. A raw basketball player in an already incredible body, and the need now to work, work and work more in order to make this buffalo body a fatal in the NBA. There’s work to do, but we believe in it.
After stints in the nurseries of Poitiers and Limoges, Sekou Doumbouya landed sixteen months ago in the NBA with the status of baby to educate, but a baby with rather incredible measurements. Detroit seemed like the perfect nursery then, while rebuilding the Michigan franchise can be. A coach with real credentials, an exciting and disparate roster for the kid to have the chance to play quickly, and the presence of a veteran like Blake Griffin to have a direction in which to point. Unfortunately the start will actually be a false start, since Dwane Casey to quickly state that Sekou is not necessarily part of the franchise’s very short-term plans. It will therefore be necessary to prove oneself in G League, to be patient, to work and to make beautiful smiles in the corridors. Some months later ? Quartered in order, and Blake Griffin’s injury is as much bad news for the Pistons as it is good for the Frenchman. The Detroit season is over and we’re going into tanking mode, and what better way in these conditions than to let the young people on the roster flourish. Sekou is one of them, he is even the top of the list of the Pistons of tomorrow, and very quickly the efforts and the talent of the kid hit the mark. The month of January is phenomenal, Doumbouya becomes the holder and the hype gauge explodes. Unfortunately, it was too quick to heat up since the NVA was barely aware of his talent… Sekou saw his production and therefore his minutes dwindle, giving way to an end-of-season crush for Christian Wood in All- mode. Star before the arrival of COVID. Race result? An impressive heat stroke, 6.4 points and 3.1 rebounds on average, regrets about the last third of the season but overall a rookie season full of hope for the native of Conakry.
And now ?
And now, so it’s time to take the next step. We put away this phlegm which can sometimes pass for complacency, and we show our fangs. The Pistons are on for another year of transition and the spot looks perfect to cut your teeth for another year. Position 3 strong enough to evolve into 4, the profile ultimately resembles that of the Blake Griffin 3.0 but a man does not do everything and there will be space. Today ? The Pistons project is unclear, no one seems really irreplaceable and it is therefore time… well to become so. It goes through a real preparation if the health situation allows it, and through the rapid understanding of the role that can be his and the talent he has in his hands. Sekou can shoot, Sekou can drive, Sekou defends like hell but Sekou now has to do it every night until death. The positive side of it? Baby is not yet twenty years old and therefore has his whole life ahead of him. The less shiny aspect? Everything is going very quickly today and we know a few phenomena whose NBA careers ended before they even started, the fault of laziness, the fault of an entourage not always serious, the fault of life that goes too fast . So one goal: blinders, focus, basketball, basketball, basketball. A healthy mind in a healthy body, but the opposite also works.
- Hype gauge upon arrival in the League: 60%
- Current Hype Gauge: 60%
- Hall of Fame entry gauge: 0.01%
- The One He Would Like To Become: LeBron James
- The One He Hopes Not To Become: Michael Beasley
Barely 20 years old and already mountains of hope placed in our national Sekou. The challenges are as numerous as they are immense, from a successful NBA career to the upcoming Paris Games. The potential is there, and if it explodes we hope your bunker is solid.
