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Moussa Badiane

Any respectable two on two workout or training session wouldn’t be complete without a long and athletic big man to step into the lane and force the guards into changing their shots on the defensive end, while presenting a big target in the paint on pick and roll and transition drills on offense. This one was no exception.



Badiane is a 6-11 (measured in front of my eyes), extremely quick and mobile big man who hails from Eastern Carolina in Conference USA. The Senegalese native arrived in the States via France, where his parents still live and he owns a very valuable passport from. His biggest claim to fame is breaking Kenyon Martin’s all-time shot blocking record in the conference, despite the fact that he was played pretty sporadically over his NCAA career and never averaged more than 30 minutes per game in any of his four seasons at ECU. He averaged 3.6 blocks per game as a freshman in 23 mpg, 2.3 as a sophomore in just under 22 mpg, 3.3 as a junior in 26 mpg, and then 2.8 blocks per game as a senior in 29.7 mpg. Foul trouble has always been an issue for Badiane in his attempt to stay on the court for long enough to help his team come away with wins, and up until this season he struggled to score consistently in double digits on the offensive end.

Badiane is a guy who is extremely intriguing to watch in drills, as he’s mobile and agile enough that you’re afraid to take your eyes off him for too long in fear that you’ll miss one of his trademark dunks from outside the paint. This guy is really athletic, and compared with the tapes I saw of his from his junior year, a little more bulky than I expected.

It’s not hard to tell that Moussa is a smart player on the court, and talking to him off the court leaves little doubt about just how intelligent and well spoken this guy is. That, along with his work ethic, size and athleticism should be enough to say that the guy has at least a decent upside as far as the NBA is concerned. Watching him elevate for blocked shots, thanks to some good timing, further confirms that notion.



His mid-range jumper looked decent enough in the drills to make you think that it has potential to become a solid tool, and indeed in the games he was stepping out nicely and hitting mid-range jumpers from 16-18 feet out, showing nice mechanics in the process.

All in all it’s not hard to tell that Badiane is still a pretty raw player at this point, who needs to continue to be coached and brought along by someone patient and diligent like Coach Thorpe to teach him the fundamentals of the game and correct him when he makes mistakes. Badiane looks to be ready and willing to soak up everything that he’s being taught, but unfortunately it didn’t look like he got too much of that at the NCAA level.

Watching tapes of Eastern Carolina, it’s not hard to tell that no one on his team had any idea about how to throw a proper post entry pass or run the pick and pop, and that’s probably why Badiane lacks the offensive skills he shows on the defensive end..

Training with a player like Dametri Hill has to be helpful for a guy like Badiane. He has the strength, polish and experience that Badiane is sorely lacking. If he can help this young French center develop a little bit more of a mean streak as he approaches his private workouts, then he would be in great shape. In most years he would be an interesting player to nab in the 2nd round and stash overseas for a year or two (his French passport would come in handy here), but this year’s 2nd round might be a little crowded depending on how many players pull out at the deadline. Regardless of what happens, NBA teams will have to keep track on Badiane’s progress over the next few years. Guys with his physical attributes don’t exactly grow on trees in the States. He needs to continue to add strength to his frame and work on developing a little bit more of a killer instinct (he hesitates a bit sometimes, but the upside is clearly there.