What is going on in France? Our collaborator Valentin Le Clezio inform us about some interesting points related to prospects in this country. Pays attention on Mam Jaiteh, without forgetting names such as Axel Bouteille, Cyril Eliezer-Vanerot and others.
Jaiteh: new responsibilities but same expectations:
Last season Mouhammadou Jaiteh was a no show for a major part of the year. It took him a year and 55 games to adapt to a new division, a new club and level of competition. An afterthought in Pascal Donnadieu’s offensive system, Jaiteh has now turned into a major element in a system based on inside-and-out alternation which gets him plenty of touches and new welcomed responsibilities (11 points and 6 rebounds in 21 minutes a game).
2013/2014 season: a learning experience
Last year was a learning exprience for Jaiteh. Coming off an MVP season in ProB, he was joining a Euroleague team and was raising major expectations with his new status and contract (over 100K per season). Busting heads with his coach on a regular basis and seeing irregular minutes on the court behind veterans in the rotation (Passave-Ducteil, Daniels) Jaiteh started only 3 of Nanterre’s 51 games. Because of the ectic schedule Nanterre had to face, the very rare practices he could put under his belt were not enough to accelerate its integration process.
Mismanaged off the court when it came to the NBA draft process, Jaiteh followed up a tough summer with a disappointing season in NAnterre. Just enough to put him back under the NBA radar and get rid of the pressure on his shoulders.
Following a busy summer (Eurocamp, U20 European Championship) Jaiteh came back to Paris with a totally different cast of players surrounding him. Coach Donnadieu had taken the decision to make him his starting center.
In all 6 games this season, Jaiteh was a starter. His minutes have gone up (15 to 21) but more importantly, his usage has exponentially increased as well. Jaiteh is now a major cog in Nanterre’s offense and you will rarely see an offensive possession without the ball going through his hands in the low block. Jaiteh’s usage rate has gone from 19 to 25% this season.
If he still not much of a threat off the pick and roll, Jaiteh is slowly developing a 17 foot jump-shot which he now uses from time to time on pick-and-pop situations.
Jaiteh is in the middle of Nanterre’s renewed offense and is also much more efficient than last season (62% eFG, 22,3 PER) as he matures and understands his need to focus on what he does best: running the floor in transition, rebounding the ball and finishing close to the rim on cuts to the basket. Nanterre possesses explosive and unselfish wings players (Mykal Riley being the best example) who will keep finding him in good positions.
Nanterre has looked terrific so far this season and a lot of credit needs to go to Jaiteh. It doesn’t change his NBA ceiling though.
Jaiteh is what he is at this point:
Even though it is difficult to say of a player who has yet to turn 20 that he is nearing his ceiling, in the case of Jaiteh it may not be a reach.
Jaiteh is a big, long and physical stiff with good horizontal quickness and the ablity to finish around the rim with an efficient right-handed hook. Weighing at 240 pounds, Jaiteh won’t add much strength to his mature frame, he is stilll has limited lateral quickness and struggle to hedge out on pick and roll situations or to guard smaller players after switches. Lastly, Jaiteh has yet to put into memory two different back to the basket moves which calls into question his basketball IQ. His footwork, causes him to still be turnover prone when isolated on the low block and he can seem completely lost when catching the ball outside of his comfort zone. His left-hand is still a work in progress and even though he has starting to develop some range on his jump-shot, his release is so slow he will be more and more limited as he gets to play against stiffer competition.
As he has repeated multiple times this season, Jaiteh will be at the Nba Draft this summer. He may go late in the first round but will most likely be a low-risk, low-ceiling project for a team in the second round.
Bullets:
Axel Bouteille (’95) had his best game as a pro this week-end in the loss of Chalon at Boulogne (7 points, valuation of 9 in only 11 minutes). He has yet to find his role in a team who has gone through important roster rotations the past two summers.
Cyril Eliezer-Vanerot (’96) is having a nice start to his season with Paris-Levallois in the espoir league, averaging 17 points on 50% shooting and 45% from 3. Shooting and efficiency have usually been an issue for the Paris native and it’s nice to see him work on his weaknesses as he is expected to take the next step in his young career.
In a league that clearly lacks top-level talent this season, the arrival of Ibrahima Faye(’97) in Chalon was the most intriguing move of the off-season. After missig a big chunk of the preparation, Faye has now found his rythm averaging 9 points and 7 boards for Chalon. We should see those numbers significantly improve over the next few weeks.
Finally, Isaia Cordinier (’96), probably the most exciting prospect playing pro basketball in France, seems to finally have gotten healthy and may make his debut with Evreux (ProB) this week.
-Photo: sportsnord.fr
-Twitter of the author: @BBFromLA
