[Ava Wallace] Bilal Coulibaly is a rare NBA rookie with the wisdom of a veteran
February 16, 2024
[Ava Wallace] Bilal Coulibaly is a rare NBA rookie with the wisdom of a veteran
1 comment
Great, great article with lots of details about Bilal. I liked the ending too:
>Gill is impressed by the opposite, by how little the teenager has changed since he became an NBA player. As much as the organization is happy to let Coulibaly grow without the pressure of winning, pressure does exist — pressure to play the right way, to forge a new era for the Wizards, to represent his country, to fit in culturally in the league.
>“Even through the coaching change, even through the losing, he is consistently him, every single day,” Gill said. “And that’s one of the things that we talk about, like: You’re going to be a part of this organization in the future. It’s going to be what you make it. If you see something negative that you don’t want, you don’t like, don’t be about that. Make a change for the better, so that way in two years from now, three years from now, you can tell a rookie, like, ‘Hey, this is how we do it here.’ He doesn’t cave to peer pressure or the pressure of the game.”
>It’s easy for Coulibaly to feel light at the moment, to float past the disappointment of getting scored on and cope with the pain of losing. His ability to see the big picture is rooted in one thing.
>For now, at least, Coulibaly is still a kid playing a game.
>“I have a lot of goals in the league, in my life. My first year, I just want to be better every day. As a group, as a team, I just want us to be better, too, win a little bit more.” he said. “But I’m having so much fun, you don’t even know.”
1 comment
Great, great article with lots of details about Bilal. I liked the ending too:
>Gill is impressed by the opposite, by how little the teenager has changed since he became an NBA player. As much as the organization is happy to let Coulibaly grow without the pressure of winning, pressure does exist — pressure to play the right way, to forge a new era for the Wizards, to represent his country, to fit in culturally in the league.
>“Even through the coaching change, even through the losing, he is consistently him, every single day,” Gill said. “And that’s one of the things that we talk about, like: You’re going to be a part of this organization in the future. It’s going to be what you make it. If you see something negative that you don’t want, you don’t like, don’t be about that. Make a change for the better, so that way in two years from now, three years from now, you can tell a rookie, like, ‘Hey, this is how we do it here.’ He doesn’t cave to peer pressure or the pressure of the game.”
>It’s easy for Coulibaly to feel light at the moment, to float past the disappointment of getting scored on and cope with the pain of losing. His ability to see the big picture is rooted in one thing.
>For now, at least, Coulibaly is still a kid playing a game.
>“I have a lot of goals in the league, in my life. My first year, I just want to be better every day. As a group, as a team, I just want us to be better, too, win a little bit more.” he said. “But I’m having so much fun, you don’t even know.”