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Mouhamed Faye Scouting Report

DOB: 05-02-2005

Nationality: Senegalese

Position: Center

Height: 6'10.5 with shoes

Wingspan: 7'5.5

Weight: Unknown

Team: Pallacanestro Reggiana

Pro Comp: Clint Capela as a prospect / James Nnaji

Draft range: Late second-round pick / 2025 NBA Draft

Strengths:
-High-activity player who makes himself available to be found in the paint
-Outstanding physical tools that are used with intelligence
-Elite PnR defender on blitz coverage
-Great touch to score at the rim

Weaknesses:
-A very poor free-throw shooter
-Difficult to project him developing any type of jumper to his skillset
-Senseless fouls put him in foul trouble sometimes. 

Question marks:
-Can his interior game be that dominant at the next level?
-Will he be able to defend bigger and more skilled players?

The Adidas Next Generation Tournament should be considered the biggest showcase for underlooked international prospects to get into the radar of NBA scouts. Mouhamed Faye, who played for the Next Generation teams in 2023, can be the next player discovered in this tournament to hear his name in the NBA Draft. This Senegalese center was selected for the All-Tournament team after scoring double digits in every game of the final phase of it, including games versus Real Madrid and Barcelona. Right after putting himself in the eyes of the world, Faye played an outstanding U18 African Tournament, including a 31PTS and 19REB game in the 66-56 win of Senegal over Guinea. 

Faye is a high-activity player all around. He wants to cover as much space as possible on defense, and have the best timing possible on offense to offer himself as an option of score. His mentality of getting open for his teammates, and not simply staying ready in the dunker sport or any other location waiting for his guard to create for him his shot, makes him an interesting prospect considering his notable defensive impact. Finishing at the rim is his strong suit since he has a very poisoned touch to score using the board and putting the right spin in the ball, making him very efficient shooting 76%FG on 10.4 FGA in the ANGT in 2023 and 64%FG on 5.7 FGA in his first professional season playing for Pallacanestro Reggiana.

A finesse player, he's more of a two-foot-on-the-floor player than one that will have crazy highlights for his athleticism or dunks. His footwork to attack the rim, the way he attacks the chest of his defender and puts away the ball from the blocking range it's something impressive that he does on a consistent basis around the game. Also, his quickness to think, make decisions, and execute is awesome, denying the chance for other players to serve as secondary defenders and contest his shot.

His hands work awesome, he's not the type of center that will fumble a good pass at any height it is thrown to him. The creation of mismatches and miscommunications to the opponent is something he's always looking to generate, especially when serving as a screener in pick-and-roll actions.

His pick-and-roll game is usually the foundation of his offensive game. He's a player who usually puts ghost screens, slips, or basically sets the screen with the only intention of generating a mismatch with the defender of the ball handler. Since he's used in most of the possessions as a screener, it creates some level of difficulty to predict which coverage will be the most appropriate to stop the PnR action, and he likes to punish teams that play blitz.

Ironically, he plays a heavy blitz coverage of pick-and-roll, usually tagging the ball-handler and forcing him to do a quick read. The upside of this is how fast he can recover to his original matchup and prevent the ball from arriving in his hands or contesting his shot. Can't statistically measure the impact of this type of coverage he plays in every team he plays for, but the eye test says this can be a valuable pick-and-roll tool for every team that plays this type of coverage.

As a rim defender, he's not the type of center who will aggressively look to block shots, he's actually showing a high understanding of how to affect angles and simply contest opponent's shots. A center that will stay on his feet to contest every opponent's hesitation is an interesting skill that multiple centers in the league fail to develop. 

A big weakness of his game is his free throw percentages. He's been unable to improve that aspect of his game, and he's probably still in the starting point if he's already putting heavy work on it. This season playing in the Lega A, the Italian league, he shot 36.2% from the free throw line in 2 attempts per game, which is the worst mark in that league for players that attempted more than 1.9 per game, being curiously followed by former second-round pick Ismael Kamagate, who shot 38.1%FT. NBA centers like DeAndre Jordan, Steven Adams, or Andre Drummond also had to start from zero in their training of free throws routine and reinvent it, and in this case, Faye will have to show NBA executives he's already showing signs of improvement during private workouts. 

Something that Faye has in common with the centers mentioned above is that he's also a relentless rebounder. Averages 10 rebounds per game per 36 minutes, including games that he played at still 18 years old in a grown men's league as the Italian. Almost half of his rebounds are offensive boards. Again, he's more cerebral than physical, as he's not the typical center who will jump with no intention during rebounds. His physical tools as his long 7'5.5 wingspan make him a potential great rebounder at the next level. 

There's simply not much chance of Faye ever becoming something more than an interior presence, since his upside in becoming a spacer is almost null. The most he can add to his game would be 15-footer wide-open jump shots later in his career, but the most urgent aspect has to be his free throw efficiency. That doesn't mean he's necessarily not improving his finishing and becomes an unstoppable force inside. Actually, when he gets to dribble the ball from the perimeter and attack to the rim, do these back-to-the-rim spins or is denied to get under the rim to get a layup and have to use the board, throw a floater or even a hook shot, he shows he has the upside to be a scorer at the highest of the levels.

In this aspect, Faye has shades of Pascal Siakam as a prospect coming off New Mexico. Obviously, Pascal back then was played at the four, his jump shot and free throw forms were way more polished, and there's a gap of size, being Siakam shorter. But his activity to get open, to tag opponents, to fight for rebounds, and his finesse to score in the paint are quite similar. Would be interesting if he didn't end up developing into a traditional backup center, and becomes a real offensive threat that has the size to play at the five on a consistent basis. 

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