Tiktekno: clip summarizing today's events in sport, 31.1/Sport1
Washington has looked a little better since firing Wes Anseld Jr. and replacing him with assistant Brian Keefe, and one of the reasons for that is the improved contribution of Bilal Koulibaly.
The intriguing rookie of the Wizards, chosen by the Wizards with the 7th pick in the last draft, has been showing impressive ability lately and tonight (between Wednesday and Thursday) he recorded perhaps his best game in the NBA, with 19 points in a 125:109 loss to the Clippers.
Koulibaly started in the five for only the second time this season in light of the absence of Jordan Paul, and showed that he is able to play well together with Danny Abedia, a combination that so far the Wizards have mostly avoided him.
Each of them received a different defensive task: Koulibaly was placed most of the minutes on James Harden, and Avdia will be entrusted part of the time on Kawhi Leonard.
In the first half it worked well.
"Danny made a great effort in defense, but in the third quarter Kawhi was unstoppable. When he is in the zone, very few guards in the league are able to limit him," they wrote on the "BulletsForever" blog.
"When Washington starts a rebuilding process, it must start with Bilal and Danny," they said this morning on the "Locked On Wizards" podcast.
"Both have proven to be very promising defensive and offensive players, and they deserve the opportunity."
Perfect match?
Avdia and Coulibaly/GettyImages, Mitchell Leff
In the last few days, Koulibaly was informed that he was selected to participate in the youth All-Star game later this year.
Avdia, who was also chosen to participate in the game as a rookie, cheers.
"I remember myself coming to the NBA and doing the same role that Bilal is doing now. To be honest, I think he does that role better than I did. He fit in really quickly," said Avdia, whose minutes Coulibaly has recently been biting a bit.
"For some reason people think that Avdia and Koulibaly come at the expense of each other. The truth is that they should be Washington's next great pair," they concluded in "Locked On Wizards".
More on the same topic:
Danny Avdia
Washington Wizards