Detroit Pistons: Setting realistic expectations for Sekou Doumbouya

Defense right now

Defense will be a struggle for him. Very few, if any, 19-year-olds are good defenders from the get-go. Even Bruce Brown, who is considered a great defender by most fans, struggled. Biting on pump fakes, overreacting to dribble moves and over-fouling was a common theme for him last year despite the fact that he was 22 years old. Of course, he managed to make up for his rookie mistakes with his freak athleticism.

And that’s the hope for Doumbouya as well. There’s no doubt he’ll make mistakes. That’s why you shouldn’t expect him to come in and guard starting-caliber forwards right away. But he can be a  big body on defense that can use his high energy and physical tools to disrupt shots and passing lanes.

Look at the next two plays. First of all, it seems that he should be icing those screens. That basically means forcing the ball handler to go baseline. Due to bad communication or positioning, his guy gets middle both time.

Of course, the center is responsible for calling the coverage which reminds me that English not being Sekou’s native language could hinder his ability to communicate. That could lead to a lot of screw-ups and we should all be prepared.

The biggest problem in the clips above though is the way he handled the screens. To quickly go over a screen as fast as possible, a player must extend and plant his outside foot over the screener. Doumbouya did none of that. This is the right way to do it:

In the clip above, Doumbouya sees the screens before it happens and has time to use the proper footwork. In the NBA that won’t be the case often.

Getting around multiple screens is a struggle for most rookies as it requires awareness, quick reactions and proper footwork. Brown had all those down, which allowed him to guard NBA starters. Doumbouya is not there yet.

But against second units, his physical profile alone could be useful even if his positioning and footwork are often off.

Not having a perimeter defender that can effectively tag the roller was a big problem for the Pistons defense after Stanley Johnson was traded. Doumbouya has the tools and awareness to bother people down there. Hopefully, he can provide some help-side defense, and make Thon Maker redundant.

HIs quick feet and motor allow him to somewhat keep up with guards but his technique is too bad for him to be effective right away. His stance is not low enough and he overreacts to everything. His closeouts are also pretty bad.

Do expect him to show flashes as a switch defender though. Especially against bigger players. Even at that age, he has shown that he can handle it.