More on Djurisic and Sidy Cissoko
My rankings of Djurisic and Cissoko are a lot higher than consensus
It’s been a few weeks since I’ve last updated, and frankly, NBA draft information in regards to workout footage and players declaring is just now coming out.
I’ve changed my Spotrac Big Board, only slightly, and added a few names. I haven’t refined it much past pick #45. Perhaps it would be surprising to see Kobe Bufkin ranked #12 and Jett Howard at #13. Well, at least it surprised me. Both players, in other drafts, I would likely have #15 and later, but as draft classes go, the late lottery seems “thin,” while the tier of players after that seems quite large.
I came across this tweet on my timeline, which asked for what 3 prospects I was higher than consensus and what 3 prospects I was lower than consensus.
Nikoja Djurisic
Sidy Cissoko
Kevin McCullar
Jalen Slawson
Ricky Council IV
Keyonte George
Dariq Whitehead
GG Jackson
Here’s why.
(each timestamp is a direct link to the play being described)
Nikola Djurisic
Nikola Djurisic is a player that lines up with my draft philosophy. This will be a more specific breakdown of his skill level.
The timestamp will be linked to the beginning of each play. I would open another tab for YouTube so you can watch and freeze frame as necessary.
0:00 to 0:07- Pick and roll rescreen, goes left, defense goes behind the screen, and he pulls up with zero hesitation and nails the shot.
0:07 to 0:11 - Attack with the off-hand, lead dribble (where the dribble is ahead of the player’s immediate range, so it’s easier to accelerate towards the hoop), and finishes with the strong hand dunk.
0:13 to 0:19 - Isolation situation, attacks off the dribble, gets some change of direction with the behind-the-back dribble, and does a pull-up jumpshot, on balance, great verticality, and follow through.
0:34 to 0:39 - One of my favorite plays. People that have followed me for awhile through Substack, Twitter, or even LakersGround, know this is a signature move I look to. While he doesn’t initially shake the first defender because the defender is screened off, the timing of the change of direction on the help defender allows him to blow by and finish with the dunk.
Through these four plays alone, we see a 6’8” player that is comfortable with his handle, runs pick-and-roll for his team, and has three-level shot diversity. He may not have the crazy blow-by step of elite athletes, but the modern game is more about skill and strength than ever. This is the same relative “formula” that had me ranking Austin Reaves in the first round and Jalen Williams in the edge lottery.
As it turned out, both were early to late lottery pick values to date.
In the prior post, I mentioned how he reminded me of Bogdan Bogdanovic. Bogdan gets similar play looks, without as much usage, and is a three-level scorer himself. While I think Bogdan is more decisive off-the-catch, Nikola is making similar, more advanced decisions with the ball, with the skillset to take advantage of what the defense gives him, and puts points on the board. This is lottery-level/1st-round skill and size combination; a triple threat player that can exploit defenses through the most common NBA play-type at wing size. His primary athletic traits are his strength and decelerative movements.
Now, Nikola Djurisic doesn’t have the best statistical lines for the season. For KK Mega Bemax and Mega Leks U16 in the ‘22-’23 season, he shot 42.6% from the field, 20% 3-point, on 13.5 points per game, 3.1 rebounds per game, 4.1 assists per game, 1 steal per game and 0.14 blocks per game on 3.2 turnovers per game in just over 28 minutes per game. He shot 4.64 free throw attempts on 11.14 field goal attempts, for a free throw rate of .416(!) with a shooting accuracy of 69.2%.
My understanding is, it’s tougher score assists internationally. His league has the relative physicality of the G-League and some extent, the NCAA level, so I believe the skill set to be more translatable.
Unlike most others that follow the draft, I’m not as concerned about the 3-point shooting ability. That’s the kind of thing that can be developed with time, especially when he shows tremendous balance and height on contests mid-range shots and has no problem knocking those shots down. If anything, I think it’s unfair for a 19 year old playing in professional leagues that shows more diverse skill, to also happen to be a 33% or better arc shooter, when their game isn’t solely based on perimeter shooting accuracy.
Defensively, I don’t expect him to be a one-on-one stopper. I do however, tend to be more confident about players that can make offensive reads. Chances are, if they can read defenses, then, it’s easier to develop defensive awareness and how to react off-the-ball as well. He has the size and the strength to defend the 3/4 spots depending on the match up, but frankly, I didn’t even expect Austin Reaves to be as good of a defender as he is now. Reaves was a lead playmaker for Oklahoma, wasn’t known as some tremendous defensive stopper, but never seemed to be out of the play. This is the kind of defender I hope Djurisic will become.
Sidy Cissoko
What if I said there was a guy that had NBA wing size, prior experience as a point guard, but mostly played 3-and-D and was equally effective on both sides of the floor? What if I said he was a very good athlete but also, very competitive? Wouldn’t that already warrant a lottery pick too?
This is Sidy Cissoko. He’s roughly listed at 6’8” 200lbs., but in some ways, he plays bigger than that. I currently have him ranked #14 on my board.
0:00 to 0:11 - Check out this end-to-end play, where he fronts the post, gets a steal, drives hard in transition, uses a Euro-step, and still finishes the play emphatically.
Like Djurisic, his first step is decent, but more importantly, he initiates contact at the hoop and absorbs the contact well. He’s able to make plays through the contact.
0:22 to 0:30 - You can see it on his drive to the hoop here. He sees that his defender is late recovering, attacks left with a left handed lead dribble, and even flashes a bit of that point guard vision and playmaking with the behind the back pass after drawing contact.
1:38 to 1:48 - This is one of the best dribble sequence highlights of the season, by anyone. It’s worth rewatching to see it unfold. It demonstrates skill level and the ability to improvise depending on how the defense reacts. There’s a two screen sequence, the defender goes underneath the first screen anticipating the second screen, and Sidy does a right-handed in-and-out, then crosses over, as if to fake out a defender to use the second screen, then a left-to-right crossover on the second defender, then a spin move in the LeBron way to change direction again on the last defender and finish with touch with his left hand. This is a lottery move.
1:50 to 2:00 - Sidy treats this play like a pick-and-roll where the hedge defender is a guard, does a spin move to split the defense, and finishes with a dunk. Absurd.
It’s worth watching the entire video. We see his shooting ability, improvisation with the dribble, the combination of both footwork and handle to change direction, finishing with authority in the half-court.
G-League level defense isn’t the greatest in terms of outright pressure, but it’s a lot of edge NBA players competing with size and athleticism. While the defensive pressure isn’t as strong as other leagues, he already has the frame to dish out and absorb contact as well. I don’t foresee physicality being as much of an issue.
Fortunately, he’s also a more than capable defensive player as well. Adam Spinella of The Box-And-One did a great breakdown of his defense. He beats players to the spot laterally, absorbs the contact with his chest, and has the wingspan that distracts shots. Players try to go against him in the post, and he’s able to shut that down. The consistency of how he keeps his hands up makes him appear to be a more rangy defender for deflections. He’s incredibly underrated as a defender.
He’s simply more advanced by age on both ends of the floor than a ton of other NBA draft prospects.
Unfortunately, during the season, his jumpshot slowly fell apart. While it dropped down to 31% behind the arc, the speed of the shot, the footwork, and the release point started breaking down over time and became less consistent.
Over the course of an NBA season, especially for a rookie, this is what hitting a rookie wall looks like. Shooting 31% behind the arc isn’t bad for a 19 year old player. The percentage isn’t what bothers me. The lack of consistent shooting mechanics does. Admittedly, he has so much more advanced skill on-the-dribble and defensively, that I’m willing to forgive the shooting issue. I still think shooting is the easiest skill to improve, as lots of NBA players with limited range and no reputation for shooting can eventually become solid or even great NBA shooters.
I’ll chalk the shooting inconsistency to heavy minutes through 28 games and youth.
He’s also foul prone. He’s feisty. He plays so physically on both ends of the floor, that it’s tough to restrain that level of aggression. He does have an idea of discipline with the kind of defensive verticality at the rim and just making his arms look like parallel bars going straight up when contesting shots. From what I’ve seen, he’s gotten used to being stronger and more athletic than his competition and even plays like it. When he’s at the NBA level, there are going to be bigger players, more athletic players, and a little of both. It’s difficult to tell when a player eventually “gets it” and knows how to harness the discipline to stay on the floor and still be effective, and at the same time, step up another level when it’s playoff time. There’s no real stat for this outside of foul-per-48 minutes going down, but over 4 fouls per 48 is a touch high. Anything around 3 fouls per 48 for a wing player is solid; enough aggression to try and make plays, but enough discipline to stay on the floor and not be a defensive compromise.
The Guys I Like at #17
I’m surprised that the two guys I like the most are guys that are consistently mocked late-1st round to mid-2nd round. Whether it’s a community draft or a more commonly used mock draft, neither guy is ranked high, but until I see more information that says otherwise, I think both guys are worth that 1st round pick. They may not have the allure of supreme athleticism, bursty first-step, but there are NBA players that have that quality and don’t know what to do with it.
What’s tougher to find are physical NBA players that make reads on one or both sides of the floor. Well, here’s two of them. The grossly optimistic part of me wants to say Djurisic will become some Bogdan Bogdanovic/Turkoglu hybrid, while Sissoko uses all of that insane motor and physicality, learns triple threat moves from the mid-range area, and turns into Jimmy Butler? Those are grossly lofty, overly optimistic expectations, but those are the player styles I think of most. Both guys can create advantage, have shown signs of maintaining advantage, or finish the play. One is more of a natural playmaker. The other is more of a finisher. Both are capable of finishing with authority. Both are capable of making pick-and-roll reads.
Maybe I’m missing what everyone else is seeing in them two and ranking them appropriately lower. But, if I’m using the similar ideas linked in my draft philosophy in terms of ball-handling, reading the floor, the ability to create advantage off-the-dribble, and having other specific athletic traits with size, strength, and body control, maybe both of them will shoot up the draft. After all, there’s still a wealth of time until draft day.
Sidy right now is a better ballhandler/playmaker, and will soon be a way better defender than Colby Jones - and he's two years younger. Plus there's no reason to be pessimistic that he'll be an average shooter, his form looks smooth. Like you said, by age and competition level, Sidy does a lot of things better than his peers. It's rare to find a 19 year old that can hang physically with Gleaguers - thwarting them on D with his body and motor, too. Plus he's instinctive on that end. He's lowkey a Great defensive prospect.
Most forward prospects today have dreams of being a tertiary playmaker at the next level; Colby again for example.. But Sidy has the tighter handle and creates more advantages with his athleticism. I buy him becoming a solid semi frequent playmaker.. Scottie Barnes-lite playmaking. great defense. and solid jumpshot potential. He is a fringe lotto prospect.