Bilal Coulibaly is the Spurs' trade-up target hiding in plain sight

Bilal Coulibaly could return top-10 value for the Spurs

Putting roster fit to the side for a moment, in a vacuum, Bilal Coulibaly has likely shown enough with Metropolitans 92 to warrant him being selected in the lottery. As he was unable to attend the NBA Draft Combine due to the French League playoffs, he conducted anthropological and athletic tests independently with his team, where he measured 6-foot-8 in shoes and 194 pounds with a 7-foot-2 wingspan.

As you can probably tell from his highlights alone, Coulibaly is a superb athlete with a quick first step, good lateral quickness on the perimeter, the ability to fight through screens well, and deceivingly impressive bounce. On the Spurs, he'd have a case to be the most complete athlete on the team beginning day one, and he could conceivably grow into his frame even more and become one of the NBA's premier athletes as he's still only 18 years old.

While his hyper-athletic dunks obviously showcase that athleticism, it's easiest to see on the defensive end of the floor where Coulibaly has impressed the most coming into the draft. The combination of his relentless motor, lateral quickness, and length make him one of the more polished perimeter defenders in his class, and he managed to prove that while defending professionals in Europe, many of whom are former NBA or NBA G-League players. Even in his raw state, this is what will get Coulibaly early NBA minutes off the bench.

Coulibaly's offense is nothing to scoff at, though, as he proved that he could stay on the floor despite still having limited creation abilities. He uses his vertical athleticism to beat defenders for rebounds and finish put-back dunks, makes timely, strong cuts to the rim for easy points, and can even attack some closeouts with his straight-line speed.