Tidjane Salaun has all of the tools to be an extremely successful NBA player. His athletic tools are the main selling point on him, and they give him massive upside. He is very quick and fast. He’s 6’9, but he has incredible speed. He can go from stopped to top speed so quickly, it makes him an incredible transition player. Tidjane has a great vertical leap as well, he gets off the ground very quickly. He also has a great wingspan. He’s 6’9 with a 7’0 wingspan, and it might be even longer than that. His wingspan combined with his vertical jump gives him great tools to be an effective shot blocker in the pros. On top of that, he’s also a very fluid mover, moving gracefully and light on his feet. He has all the athletic tools I would want of someone his height outside of maybe more strength.
Salaun’s jumper looks really good. He has a really fluid release and he clearly has great touch when you see him shoot. He also has a very high release point. However, he might not have a lot of shot versatility or footwork, he had sloppy footwork and only shot threes off the catch and shoot when I was watching. His shooting stats look good, he’s 40% from 3 and 79% from the free throw line. I would project Tidjane Salaun to be a very good shooter at the next level. Where a lot of young international players struggle to shoot threes efficiently, Tidjane has already shown the ability to knock them down consistently.
His speed gives him a big advantage when it comes to rim pressure. If he catches his defender out of position, he has such a quick first step he can already get to the rim. He also has very long stride lengths which should be an advantage when it comes to getting to the rim. While he’s not being put in position to get to the rim much in their offense, I believe this’ll be a part of his role as a versatile wing in the NBA. When Salaun gets to the rim, he can sometimes struggle to finish. I think his touch around the rim is fine, but he doesn’t have very good body control or balance and can get thrown off by contact easily. He’s not very crafty with his finishes and finishing is definitely something he needs to work on.
His passing is a place where his outlook gets murky. His assist to turnover ratio is awful, it’s almost 2 turnovers for every assist. He makes the basic one more passes but misses better, high leverage passes. I saw him go for the high leverage pass once, and the cut was there for a layup, but he didn’t see it in time and instead threw it too late and ultimately they had to just kick it out. I do believe his assist numbers don’t do his passing justice because his team is a terrible 3 point shooting team. Multiple times he found an open guy out around the 3 point line, but they bricked the three. His passing is a big weakness of his, but he can improve it with time, and it’s not as bad as the stats say.
Salaun’s defense makes him a super interesting prospect. His rim protection tools, as I’ve already touched on, are incredible, but he hasn’t been in the right position to get many blocks in their defense. Instead of acting like an anchor, like he probably could in a small ball lineup, he’s been a perimeter defender, which he might be better at. His lateral quickness and long wingspan help him be a very strong on ball defender, even on small guards. He’s always on his toes, and he reacts really quickly and well to what’s happening on the court. However, his screen navigation isn’t very good and he can get lost on screens frequently. Tidjane’s off ball defense is very good, though. He’s always ready to make a play off the ball and get a steal. He’s displayed a nice feel for the game in knowing where to be off the ball. He sometimes gives up on the play too early, and often I wish he would be more aggressive on and off ball, but I’ve liked what I’ve seen from him for the most part on defense.
Overall, Tidjane Salaun is a player with a massive amount of upside. He has so many athletic tools, mainly his lightning quick speed, and his shot looks incredible. He’s a good defender but his passing, rebounding, and finishing leave something to be desired at the moment.
