Guest Of the Super Moscato Show this Monday on RMC, Bilal Coulibaly, the back of the Washington Wizards, took stock of his first season in the NBA. Injured in the wrist at the beginning of March, the 19-year-old player is now looking towards the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. With the desire to bring down the American stars in the capital.
His season came to an abrupt end in early March. Victim of a broken right wrist, Bilal Coulibaly was deprived of the last matches of Washington, which finished penultimate in the Eastern Conference with a horrible record of 15 victories and 67 defeats. But the Wizards’ poor results did not tarnish his good debut in the NBA. The 19-year-old guard, praised in particular for his defensive qualities, played 63 games in a team in great difficulty, averaging 27 minutes, 8.5 points, 4 rebounds, 1.7 assists.
“I’m happy with what I did. I had the chance to express myself. I still played a lot of minutes for a rookie. It was a good season”, reacted Bilal Coulibaly this Monday in the Super Moscato Show. While passing through Paris, the native of Hauts-de-Seine came to our premises to chat with Vincent Moscato and his team. The opportunity to give news from his wrist. “It was broken, it’s already well recovered. I’m supposed to resume rehabilitation within a week. I’m really going to resume basketball in two weeks. And within three weeks, it will be fine,” assured the one who was drafted seventh last year by Indiana, before being sent to Washington.
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In the American capital, Bilal Coulibaly quickly found his feet, taking the time to familiarize himself with his new environment and daring to speak without embarrassment in English. Now accustomed to the habits of the NBA, he hopes to take a step forward next season. “I’m already looking to improve offensively, to work on my dribbling to be much more comfortable, my shot creation to be able to get up at any time, score when I want, have the ball in my hands often. that I gain the confidence of the coach”, summarizes the former prospect of Boulogne-Levallois, who has grown four centimeters since his arrival across the Atlantic.
While waiting to return to the elite of US basketball, Bilal Coulibaly is now focused on the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. An event to which the kid from 92, who has never yet worn the jersey of the French team, intends to do well. participate. “I already hope to be at the training camp. And by being there, I will give everything to be taken. Yes, I really intend to make my place to go to the Games”, confirms the person concerned, who exploded under the orders of Vincent Collet at the Metropolitans. He is also in regular contact with the Blues coach: “I spoke a lot with him during the season. He was happy with what I was doing. He told me: ‘Continue doing what you’re doing and we’ll see what he expects from you.”
“Wembanyama really deserves it”
Very close to Victor Wembanyama, with whom he reached the Betclic Elite final last year in the Mets jersey (defeat against Monaco), Bilal Coulibaly is delighted to see his friend from Yvelines (six months his senior) do so much damage in San Antonio: “He’s someone I’ve played with since I was little. We know each other very well. He’s really my friend. I’m happy for him, because he really deserves it. He proves it in the stats, no one can say that he had a bad season.”
If he is one of the twelve French people called up for the Paris Olympics, Bilal Coulibaly will present himself with enormous ambitions in Villeneuve-d’Ascq (where the first part of the basketball tournament will be played), before the great thrills at the Accor Arena in Bercy (where the final phase will take place): “We have great potential. We have more and more NBA players, big Euroleague players, so there really is something to do.”
Team USA “doesn’t scare” him
The Wizards player is even convinced that France can beat the United States this summer, despite the host of stars who will make up the US team, around LeBron James, Stephen Curry, Jayson Tatum, Kevin Durant and Joël Embiid. “If I think we’re going to beat them? Yes. We have very good players. I know the opposing players. Evan (Fournier), Nicolas (Batum) know them too. We’re used to it after a while. A moment. They don’t scare me? No (…) Of course, we talk about it. We’ll talk about it this summer.
