Mbaye Ndiaye

Also featured in the Pro B division is 2021 draft dark horse Mbaye N’diaye.  He will be one to pay close attention to, developing the last three seasons in JL Bourg in U21.  The Senegalese forward boast a great NBA Frame (long arms, wide shoulders), and can defend 1 through 4.  Already a highflyer in the open court on the offensive side, Ndiaye’s  motor and energy on the defensive end show his willingness to be a complete player.  Signing a 3-year deal with ADA Blois in Pro B, the hope is that his potential can intrigue an NBA franchise enough to possibly draft and stash allowing him to grow.

Mbaye Ndiaye (SF/PF, 6’8, 1999, Senegal, Bourg)

Game scouted: LNB Espoirs,  Bourg at Le Mans, 29.02.2020

Senegalese comboforward passes eye test of an NBA scout. He has a wide frame which got toned nicely and still looks improvable. He is lengthy, agile and light on his feet. It allows him to excel as a defender. He is able to check pretty much all the players on the court, maybe except some dominant inside 5 man. Mbaye disrupts passing lanes, takes pride in challenging attempts vertically around the rim which he has good timing in, lowers his hips notably well, slides laterally quickly and has a very active hands. He may be less impactful defending guards in pnr action without switching as he is used to covering ground so easily when he doesn’t get screened on that it develops a habit of taking small step back and not being able to go over on time but this is small flaw fixable with repetitions and better communication.

Another selling point could perhaps be his versatility on offensive end. It’s super rare and attractive to see a guy with this size & length operating from hand-offs or trying to initiate plays as PnR ball handler. However despite filling the statline, Ndiaye’s dribbling is not polished by any means and his facilitating skills doesn’t seem overly translatable. Truth, to a high degree is that he is a 21 years OLD player stuck in pretty bad level of competition. Good thing about it is that he doesn’t really need to excel in this particular skill as a pro. He still has good enough profile to take a power forward role as much as SF or primarly if it fits the concept better or situation forces that. It’s more than enough if he makes simple stationary extra pass or sprints with the ball after grabbing the rebound and is capable of delivering it to the teammate in fast break. And it already belongs to his assets.

In fact he is predicted to spend much more time off the ball. His motor is not always red hot (may be the lack of incentive in U21 league) but he happens to be quite instinctive of when to speed up in order to grab a put back or free himself on the rim cuts. Also he displays solid potential to attack the closeouts given being coordinated in catch & go actions, decent explosiveness, body control and extension he gets thanks to lengthy limbs. Spot up jumper is definitely biggest flaw. He is changing proportions of 3s and 2s he takes but still has a very long way to go and it seems unlikely whether he becomes acceptable shooter. 

Mbaye shows glimpses of nice face up abilities, brings to the table highly intriguing mix of measurements and untapped defensive potential but time is not only running out for him but it almost run out already. He needs badly to take the next step and get some pro experience on loan in Pro B if there is still no room for consistent playing time in Bourg for him.

https://www.instagram.com/p/B99qW6PBUqw/