Sidy Cissoko can be an experimental, new-age Boris Diaw for the Spurs

The San Antonio Spurs' draft night two weeks ago was nearly universally considered a major success by local and national pundits alike, obviously headlined by the team selecting Victor Wembanyama--who is set to make his Summer League debut this Friday--1st overall. And for many, including the majority of the crowd at the Spurs' draft party at the AT&T Center, the night more or less ended after that 1st overall pick.

While rumors swirled that the Spurs were interested in moving up in the draft for a second 1st round pick after Wembanyama, that didn't end up coming to fruition. The Spurs' 33rd overall pick in the 2nd round, who ended up being G League Ignite forward Leonard Miller, was moved to the Minnesota Timberwolves for two future 2nd round picks; a move that felt wholeheartedly vanilla compared to most of the rumors.

If you ask me, though, the Spurs hit it out of the park with their pick at 44th overall: G League Ignite guard/wing Sidy Cissoko. If you don't take my word for it quite yet, though, Victor Wembanyama has already vouched for Cissoko himself, saying that he's played against him since they were just 10 years old and that he was always one of the top players in their age group.

We're going to dive into more specifics here, however, including some of Cissoko's strengths and areas for improvement, what his long-term ceiling could look like, and the developmental path the Spurs will lead him on to get there.

The bad & the ugly

Sidy Cissoko has been on Air Alamo's radar for some time now, dating all the way back to his time playing for Iraurgi in the Spanish LEB Oro, but he solidified himself as a worthy Spurs draft target at the 2022 Nike Hoop Summit. While Cissoko only put up 3 points in that game, he did just about everything else to affect the game in a meaningful way, also having racked up 7 rebounds, 4 assists, and 3 steals (along with some flashy highlight plays below) in his 23 minutes on the court.

After a bit more detective work, it became clear that Cissoko would be a more-than-draftable player heading into the 2023 NBA Draft cycle. For that reason, he was featured over some big names on our preseason Spurs big board from this past October. Being that he would be playing for the G League Ignite next to Scoot Henderson, however, the big question for him was always what he would be able to do away from the ball on offense. We noted that if he shot the ball well, he had a chance to be selected much higher than many thought he would be at the time.

While Cissoko certainly didn't shoot the lights out of the Dollar Loan Center, having only hit 30% of his three-point shots and 65% of his free throws, I think these numbers portray his jump shot quite a bit worse than it actually is. Despite flashes of good shooting range in Spain, the form on his shot was quite segmented with a slightly lower-than-optimal release point, as highlighted in a close-up look from the Nike Hoop Summit.

These issues are a product of nitpicking, though, and they smoothed out quite a bit over the course of Cissoko's G League Ignite tenure. And as those upper-body mechanics improved, the numbers did as well. He knocked down roughly 33% of his catch-and-shoot threes overall and hit 36% of those shots over a two-month span from mid-January to mid-March. Had he not gone through a big shooting slump to end the Ignite's season--perhaps at least partially due to Scoot Henderson cutting his season short--his overall numbers may have looked even better.

Cissoko's jump shot will be important in his development, which is why we're taking the time to dive so deeply into it here, but the main point that should be taken away is that there is reason for optimism long term. His jump shot is far from being broken, and with some adjustments to his lower body mechanics, he could improve rapidly if given enough in-game reps. So, while we'd put Cissoko's jump shot in the bad/needs improvement category for now, I'm comfortable with projecting a league-average jumper at the very least.

While the "good" generally comes before the "bad and ugly" if we're going by the classic Sergio Leone film, if you've read my content before, you'll know that I like to touch on the bad and the ugly first when it comes to scouting reports. And with that, we'll brifly touch on where I think could cause Cissoko the most issues early on in the league.

While less-than-optimal shooting isn't necessarily the end of the world for a wing prospect like Cissoko, especially considering the ancillary skills he brings to the table, an inability to stay on the floor could really hurt early on and prevent a Sochan-esque 'trial by fire' approach from being as effective in Cissoko's development. The Box and One's Adam Spinella sums up Cissoko's foul proneness quite well with examples, but I'll give a tl;dr below.

Cissoko is an incredibly smart basketball player, but his physical, hyper-aggressive brand of defense tended to earn him many preventable fouls, particularly when attacking the ball-handler. The Spurs will be focused on winning games as they always are, and having a player on the floor that will rack up team fouls quickly have to be subbed out likely won't align with that goal early on. As a result, don't be surprised if Cissoko is sent to Austin early and often to play through those issues before seeing regular playing time in San Antonio.

The good & the best-possible outcome

Despite the shooting and fouling woes, you won't find many people higher on Sidy Cissoko's potential than I am, being that I had him graded as a late-lottery-level prospect in his draft class. Purely from a value perspective, selecting him at 44th overall without having to trade up and gaining more draft assets for the 33rd overall pick should be viewed as a homerun.

There are plenty of reasons to like Sidy Cissoko, some of which have already been discussed at length by my colleagues. Our site expert, Noah Magaro-George, put together an in-depth look at why Cissoko could be a mismatch nightmare down the line in the NBA and summarizes why I'm ultimately so high on his potential. Players with good positional size that can dribble, pass, and shoot tend to stick in the NBA in a meaningful way, and at only 19 years old, Cissoko already has an incredibly developed foundation to build upon in two of those three areas.

Cissoko is quietly one of the most talented passers in his class and may have even more upside in that area to spare if he's given reps as a primary ball-handler. While I highly doubt he'll get many of those reps in San Antonio in the midst of Tre Jones, Blake Wesley, Devonte Graham, and Jeremy Sochan, if he plays significant time in Austin, I would not be surprised if the team experimented with him at the point guard position. His handles are functional enough to have confidence in him putting the ball on the floor, and the combo of his size and playmaking abilities could allow him to create real advantages for his teammates with more refinement.

Even if the Cissoko point guard experiment doesn't work out, however, I have enough confidence that he can improve his jump shot to the point that he can become an off-ball connector and/or offensive hub that can defend multiple positions on the other end of the floor. While he'll need to work on his proneness to fouling, he has the requisite size, length, and feel for the game to be an effective on-ball defender against at least three, if not four positions. Off-ball, he's proven himself to be one of the best help-defending and shot-blocking wing players in his class as well.

Noah made a callback to Boris Diaw in his analysis of Cissoko, and while I generally avoid player comparisons, I think Diaw is a very realistic archetype for him on offense. But I think Cissoko could bring a new-age flare to that comparison right off the bat with his strong, hyper-athletic frame and general defensive aptitude. He has a ways to go as a decision-maker on both ends of the floor, but that isn't an uncommon flaw for a 19-year-old.

But if Cissoko can put all the pieces of the puzzle together and reach his top-end outcome, he could project as an off-ball, two-way wing with guard skills, above-average athleticism, and good-enough spot-up shooting to remain effective in the half-court away from the ball. That is a recipe for a player that is worth far, far more than a second-round pick, and being that he'll have the opportunity to grow next to a generational talent and fellow Frenchman in Victor Wembanyama for years to come, the Spurs may have placed him in an incredibly advantageous position to succeed.