Talents from Spain #3: El Hadji Doudou Diahame & Paul Ater Maker Bol
I’m Kuzey, 19. I’ve been writing about basketball since I was 9. I have been working in Eurosport Turkey for the last 1,5 years. I have written on various sites and magazines before. I’ve been working as a freelance scout for three years. I worked as a consultant. I have interviewed dozens of prospects such as Theo Maledon, Deni Avdija, Henri Drell, Aleksej Pokusevski, Arturs Kurucs, Yves Pons, and dozens of notable basketball people such as Luis Scola, Xavi Pascual, Jonathan Givony, Dimitris Itoudis, Sasa Obradovic, Joan Plaza, Sarunas Jasikevicius, Derrick Williams. I write an article every day. I live in Turkey, I go to all the Euroleague and Youth League games. My main areas are all of age group in Africa and from U12 to U20 European and NCAA. MY BIGGEST GOAL IS SCOUTING! Anyway, don’t forget to follow me on Twitter and feel free to DM!
I think Spain has the best pool outside the US to watch prospects. France and Lithuania raising players and giving players a chance, but I think Spain is the best. Because while very talented Spanish prospects are being raised there, many prospects from other countries come to Spain to play basketball (Yannick Nzosa, Jean Montero, Khalia Diop, Vit Krejci, Luka Doncic, etc) Also, many of the players get the chance to play in ACB at an early age. I have not yet determined how many chapters it will consist of, and I will write a prospect in each part of my series. These reviews will be different. Detailed reports on players born between 2000 and 2003; short reports consisting of several sections for players born between 2004 and 2007. Because it is not right to say “certain” things for the second age group for my basketball vision.
- You can find all games on YouTube*
El Hadji Doudou Diahame
El Hadji Doudou Diahame was born in 2006. Attended the 2020 Minicopa as a guest of Cenor Obradoiro CAB. About El Hadji Doudou Diahame, José Freijeiro, head coach of Cenor Obradoiro, “We were very impressed when we scout El Hadji as a team. This kid is only 14 years old but there is nothing he cannot do in his class. He can shoot, dribble, pass, he can get rebounds, he is an excellent rim protector” said.
Physical tools & Approach
Standing 6-foot-4 with a promising frame in terms of filling area, El Hadji Doudou Diahame has pretty nice length for his age in my opinion. Long arms that allow him a lot of blocks and rebounds, long legs, wide shoulders (for his age), hollow chest, quick hips.
Basketball Abilities
El Hadji Doudou Diahame is a major difference maker on both ends at his level. Despite he can do a little bit of everything on the offensive end, El Hadji Doudou Diahame primarily serves as a complementary defensive option.
He is a limitless rim protector for his age in my opinion. He can block shots and while doing a block, he uses his game instincts, vertical pop, quick hands (can make a block with both hands) and length very well. He coordinates his body to avoid the foul while try to make a block- two hands up, one hand down when he tries to block but not too close and hard, smart shot blocker. Besides blocks, he also can protect the rim with his gravity effect. Can runs to his team’s court in transition situations and makes pressure on ballhandlers. He is not someone who jumps to all attempts but sometimes biting by the offense’s pump fakes.
Quick on his feet, knows how to use his feet with his hand to contest shots. Hands are always up and out, active, quick. Active on the glass, factor in the passing lines. Also, he can stay under control, so, avoid foul trouble. El Hadji Doudou Diahame also does good job on closeouts and pick-and-roll coverage. Runs against shooter after perimeter sliding quickly, hands going up, pop shows his explosiveness and has great anticipation. Diahame has not any switchability yet but when his team uses drop to coverage pick-and-roll EHDD does pretty good job on timing, stance movement and talks with his team’s guard.
On the offensive, he makes his money inside the arc. El Hadji is not a major self creator but when he takes the ball inside the arc, he can attack the basket using his change direction ability, soft second step, nice body control, pump fakes, ability to uses the glass to increase the momentum of the ball and two feet, inside hand finishing ability. EHDD on occasion shows some advanced moves: Reverse spin, up and under, euro step, turnaround short jumpers, backpedal and quick flipping.
He gets into a post-up to draw defenders in and passes to the perimeter once EHDD sees the open man stationary passing. Has a respectable passing ability for a 14 years old big man in my opinion. Does not play gamble on advanced passes but shows a lot of good things on top of the key: seeing backdoor cuts, flashes, floppy and catch-and-shooters.
Solid finisher with good timing and draw the foul tricks. Uses his physical tools to bites the defensive line and draw foul. Can finish in tight spaces, not explosive and not good laterally but jumps very well. Can finish in the air with both hands. Has pretty strong touches.
Good rebounder on both sides of the court. Quick hands, nice pop and timing to grab the ball. Knows how to use his long arms.
Improvement Areas
Shooting is the most critical improvement area for El Hadji Doudou Diahame. His technique is not terrible but remains a work in progress. His hand looks like a catapult when shooting, his form is not comfortable at all. Elbow sets points well and consistently. But he can hardly get strength from shoulders and chests. He can give the ball little momentum. Sometimes he shoots with a very straight release, sometimes his release is like a rainbow. He doesn’t use mid-range, short hooks and floaters rarely.
Has to work on post-up games. Has some drop step abilities but his technique and decision-making mechanism are bad for now. Despite he is a not forces the game player generally, EDHH forces some post-up games. Does bad choices. From the technical side, nice drop to baseline, and quick hips but after step, he cannot shift his weight to go to the basket. And lack of elite soft touch hurt him here too.
Has not any pick-and-roll scoring ability. From the ballhandling and dribbling side, okay, El Hadji is not turnover prone and has some good flashes like handle the ball after strong hops when he attacks to the rim. However, he is not a good live driver and handler. I would like to see him more balanced here. Needs tons of work on off the ball scoring. Especially, on the catch-and-finishing side.
For now, he has just one thing on the defensive end in terms of improvement in my opinion: Off the ball. He is not a player who can chase his man around the screens due to lack of above the average lateral quickness. Also, struggles on the chest to chest fight on actions. Besides that, he looks like sleep in help-side defenses. Does wrong choices.
Paul Ater Maker Bol
Paul Ater Maker Bol was born in 2007 in Sudan. Although both Maker and Bol in his name, Paul is not related to Thon Maker or Bol Bol. This is just a beautiful coincidence. As with all teams in Spain, Manresa’s scouting team rummaged through Africa, and found Paul Ater found Maker Bol. His father is 6'8 and his mother is 6'1.
Physical tools & Approach
Standing 6-foot-5 with a lanky frame (naturally) and a wide wingspan (eye test), Paul Ater Maker Bol has excellent, exciting size for 13 years old basketball player in my opinion. Wide shoulders allow him to fill nicely in the future to pops out biceps and triceps.
Basketball Abilities
Paul Ater Maker Bol can shoot the ball. His hit rate is not glorious but as a 6-foot-5 center, he can shoot the ball, he can create his shots, has nice pull-up and catch-and-shoot abilities, also, his decisions are good generally. He is not a selfish shooter for now. He has the ability to stretch the floor, hitting threes off the catch, create his own shots both around the mid-range and behind the 3-pointers line, primarily off pick and pop actions. Two motions shooting mechanism.
Good interior scorer naturally because his length. After he takes the ball, sees the defensive line, turns and finish nicely. Can finish in traffic, absorb the contact, cannot finish with left hand but not a prone. Knows how to use the glass.
Good react and reacts passer who can fluid in sequences. Excellent rebounder. On the defensive side, he just does one thing good in my opinion: blocking the shot. He knows how to rotate his body under the basket, jumps well and makes a lot of blocks.
Improvement Areas
To be clear, I do not have detailed words to explain this part. Because he really has serious lacks fundamentally. No PnR, post-up flashes or switch, off the ball defense, etc.