The idea will have taken time to make its way into the head of Dwane Casey, the coach of the Detroit Pistons. “Playing in the NBA will require a huge adaptation. The game here is not the same as in Europe. He’s faster, more athletic, harder. He will have to familiarize himself with the difference in timings, speed. But he’s young, he’s talented, and he’s physically impressive ”, had developed Casey, at the start of the season, about the Frenchman, drafted in 15th position. And this analysis looked like a direct go to the G-League, which Doumbouya actually attended a lot, under the jersey of the Grand Rapid Drive (15 matches, 27 minutes and 16.5 pts and 5.3 rdbs on average). It took Blake Griffin not to be able to play, Thursday night (painful knee), against the Los Angeles Clippers (defeat 126-112) for Casey to finally dare to give the French a chance.
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The former Limoges CSP winger therefore experienced his first tenure in the Detroit major five after a few small entries into play during certain matches: two to four minutes, here and there, ten against Boston, for stats starving, necessarily (7m, 1.3 points, 36.4%, 0.6 rebound).
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Thursday evening, Doumbouya, holder, moved to position 4 (winger) on the floor of the Stapples Center, where very large customers, like Kawhi Leonard were waiting for him. The least we can say is that the French interior was not shy and displayed enormous energy, as evidenced by this interception and its first basket from the start. He finished with a double double (10 pts-11 rebounds), which seems auspicious, even if his shooting percentage is still very fallible (4/11), and that he was totally in check behind the award-winning line. (0/4).
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5 fouls in 27 minutes
On the other hand, undoubtedly carried away both by his intensity, and by a lack of adaptation to the NBA game, he committed too many mistakes and too quickly. He took his first three fouls in nine minutes in the first quarter, the last two awkwardly trying to counter double-step attempts from behind. He will take his fourth while trying to defend on a pass to Leonard, far from the basket and will finish five fouls in 27 minutes of play.
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But he showed virtues that are appreciated in Detroit: envy, harshness and aggressiveness. All that remains to be channeled even if the bad patch crossed by the Pistons (3 losses in a row) and the approximations of their collective are certainly not the ideal context to integrate and grow in the NBA game.
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Nothing says that Doumbouya is today definitively out of the tunnel that leads to the G-League. Is he better than Thon Maker (15 min, 10 pts, 3 rebounds against the Clippers) in Casey’s mind? We would like to believe it. One thing is certain, for his first appearance in the five major, the Franco-Guinean knew how to seize his chance.
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