Spurs Prospect Preview: Tidjane Salaun

Indulge me in a baseball reference, if you’ll. The San Antonio Spurs discover themselves forward within the depend. Stepping as much as the plate to rebuild their roster, they took ball one, with one of many higher observe information of growing younger gamers and a legendary head coach. Then they drafted a generational large man who’s extra “alien” than “unicorn.” Ball two. Victor Wembanyama lived as much as the hype in his rookie season, however the group went 22-60. Strike one. The Spurs land two picks within the prime 10 of the 2024 NBA Draft. Ball three.

It’s a 3-1 hitters depend and the Spurs are staring down an important “pitch” for his or her rebuild. Do they take a swing for the fences, or simply attempt to get on base?

That’s the important thing query for Brian Wright, Gregg Popovich and the remainder of the Spurs entrance workplace. With two alternatives to draft gamers that may praise Wembanyama long run, they’ve the room to pick out a participant who might not be prepared instantly, however might develop into a long-term starter.

With that in thoughts, it is sensible that Tidjane Salaun has been closely linked to the Spurs early within the draft course of. For the second consecutive ESPN Mock Draft, Jonathan Givony has San Antonio choosing Salaun with the eighth general decide. Rival executives have linked the French wing to the Spurs all through the draft course of.

Salaun is an extended, athletic wing at 6-foot-9 who can shoot the ball from deep. Whereas he’s nonetheless uncooked, the 18-year-old has steadily improved over the course of the 2023-24 season with Cholet Basket within the LNB Professional A (the identical league Wembanyama performed in earlier than being drafted.) Salaun has freakish upside, however will probably want a while to develop earlier than he can contribute to an NBA rotation. If the Spurs are prepared to play the lengthy sport, they might have one other core Frenchman after choosing Salaun.

Tidjane Salaun, 6-foot-9 Wing, Cholet

2023-2024 stats: 9.0 factors, 4.0 rebounds, 1.2 steals, 37.3% FG, 32.9% 3PT, 76.7% FT

Participant comparability: Rui Hachimura

Strengths

A lot of Salaun’s draft inventory relies within the theoretical. At 6-foot-9 with a muscular construct and flashes of high-level taking pictures and athleticism, it’s simple to speak your self into his upside. Particularly when he’s enjoying like this in a playoff sport at simply 18 years outdated:

There’s a night time and day distinction between Salaun at the start of this season versus the top. First, he’s noticeably crammed out his body in just some months. He nonetheless has loads of muscle to placed on, nevertheless it bodes effectively that he’s rising at such a speedy charge proper now. It’s probably that Salaun has but to succeed in his ultimate peak and weight. The potential for him changing into a 6-foot-10+, bruising wing raises his ceiling considerably.

He has an elite motor to go together with his body. Salaun runs all over the place. Within the fourth quarter, he’s sprinting finish to finish to get again on protection or leak out in transition. He doesn’t have nice rebounding instincts but, however he works his tail off to seize boards across the basket. He’s frenetic defensively, shifting round in chaotic however aggressive bursts that may generally harm him greater than it helps. He performs with numerous fireplace, all the time fist pumping and yelling after a powerful play. When it’s all clicking for Salaun, he’s actually enjoyable to look at.

What takes him from merely an vitality man to a possible lottery decide is his taking pictures capacity. Salaun has a easy launch that he’ll pull from deep vary. He was scorching earlier this season however his percentages have fallen to sub 33% in latest months. Nonetheless, the mechanics are sound and when he has time to catch and shoot the ball sometimes goes in. He’s not a lot of a shooter off the dribble or flying off screens in the mean time. There are indicators of superior shot making from deep. he’ll pull out the occasional side-step three or step again, though it’s uncommon. He might want to enhance his footwork on the subsequent stage. Proper now he has a behavior of hopping into his shot AFTER he catches the ball, which has slowed down his launch.

Salaun is an effective off-ball defender. He’s not excellent, however he usually makes the precise play. He stays locked in even when the ball isn’t in entrance of him, one other signal of his excessive motor. What’s actually thrilling is his work within the passing lanes. Salaun has good instincts and anticipation of the place the ball goes and might get to steals together with his lengthy arms. He averaged 1.2 steals per sport regardless of not creating many turnovers together with his on-ball protection. He’s superior at rotating and contesting shooters as he’s in a position to shut numerous floor together with his body. As he refines his sport, he might develop into one of many higher weak facet defenders within the league.

Weaknesses

Bear in mind after I stated Salaun’s vitality can get him in hassle defensively? It’s a giant drawback on the ball. He nearly has completely happy ft when defending the ball. Salaun simply loses his stability when a ball-handler adjustments instructions. He defends with excessive hips and generally closes out far too carelessly, resulting in defenders blowing previous him. There are numerous holes in his on-ball protection that must be cleaned up to ensure that him to develop into a plus defender.

Regardless of his body and athleticism, he doesn’t present a lot as a shot blocker, both. In actual fact, Salaun’s inside protection is fairly suspect general. He can get bullied on the low block by greater offensive gamers. He’ll get thrown off-balance by sturdy bigs beneath the basket going for rebounds. As he provides power, his capacity to play large within the paint will probably be key to his improvement.

Salaun wants extra range to his offensive arsenal. As of now he’s just about solely a catch and shoot participant who can assault a closeout, or act as a lob menace. His flashes as a shot creator are few and much between. Salaun shot simply 8/40 from mid-range this season. He completed simply 58% of his makes an attempt on the rim. His deal with is excessive and unfastened. He’s going to wish fairly a bit extra improvement as a shot creator if he desires to be greater than a spot-up participant and cutter.

All that’s to say, Salaun remains to be extremely uncooked. He’s one of many youngest gamers within the draft class, not turning 19 till a month after the NBA Draft. He’s clearly nonetheless rising into his physique. Each as soon as in awhile he could have a “child deer” second the place he’s actually tripping over himself. Salaun must be drafted by a affected person group that lets him make errors and be taught from them. It might not shock me if he spent nearly all of his first season on a G League roster.

Spurs match

Deciding on Salaun will probably be predicated off what the Spurs do with their different first spherical choice. Taking a extra NBA prepared participant like Stephon Fort, Reed Sheppard or Rob Dillingham means they will take a swing on Salaun at 8. He looks as if a traditional Spurs challenge. A toolsy European participant who might develop into a distinction maker with a number of years to develop throughout the Spurs system. They’ve the observe document of turning these kinds of gamers into key contributors. If all the things goes proper for Salaun, he might be an superior NBA participant.

A Salaun choice might probably be a key second throughout the Wembanyama period. If he hits his potential and turns into a key contributor because the Spurs are beginning to contend, will probably be seen as certainly one of Wright’s smartest bets. If he can’t make good on his upside, it can appear like a waste of a top-10 choice, even in a weaker draft class.

It’s exhausting to think about Salaun cracking the rotation as a rookie. The Spurs have numerous wings/forwards they wish to give minutes to love Keldon Johnson, Jeremy Sochan, Julian Champagnie and Sidy Cissoko. That’s not even counting who they choose with their different first-round decide or a veteran addition this summer time. Salaun might be going to spend so much of time in Austin in his first yr to discover ways to modify to a sooner, extra expert NBA sport.

I consider in Salaun’s upside, particularly within the Spurs system. Even when he simply hits a medium consequence and turns into a tertiary piece who can knock down pictures and play good protection, that’s a win for San Antonio. Having large, sensible, athletic taking pictures wings subsequent to Wembanyama might make the Silver and Black dynamic on each ends. It could simply take a number of years for him to succeed in that stage. But, there will probably be different gamers accessible when the Spurs choose with greater flooring than Salaun.

A Salaun choice can be a transparent indicator that the Spurs are taking this rebuild slowly. With Wembanyama in place and a number of draft picks within the subsequent three drafts, they will afford to take a number of excessive upside swings right here and there. Salaun’s mixture of taking pictures, motor, body and athleticism make him a worthwhile upside swing on this draft, if that’s the path the Spurs intend to go.

Earlier Prospects:

Rob Dillingham

Reed Sheppard

Nikola Matter

Zaccharie Risacher

Stephon Fort