Scottie Wilbekin's transfer grade: can he replace De Colo? / News - Basketnews.com

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Interestingly, we can consider Scottie Wilbekin'smove was long due at Fenerbahce Beko.

Scottie Wilbekin

Team:Maccabi Tel AvivPosition:SGAge:29Height:188 cmWeight:80 kgBirth place:United States of AmericaProfileNewsStatistics

Having a Turkish passport, he was rumored to join the club right after his stint with Darussafaka (where he led the team to the EuroCup glory) but ended up at Maccabi Tel Aviv.

Starting with some practicalities, his national team status will help Fenerbahce consolidate power in the domestic league team, aside from EuroLeague games with no restrictions for foreign players.

Replacing Nando De Colo

Replacing Nando De Colo with Scottie Wilbekin is going to have interesting consequences. Firstly, Wilbekin is less injury-prone than Nando, despite staying on the court for longer periods.

His minutes per game never fell below 25 both in the EuroLeague and the domestic competitions since the 2019-20 season.

Last season, Wilbekin played in 69 of 75 Maccabi games, and the season before, he missed just 10 games (68 out of 78).

In a wider picture, he just missed 3 out of 127 EuroLeague games in the last four seasons. That is quite a figure. Considering that Nando De Colo had to sit out nearly 45% of all games last season for Fenerbahce (and 35% the previous season), that is a significant upgrade on roster stability.

Enhancing Pick and Roll Capacity

Aside from the physical aspects and the longevity, Wilbekin's addition will definitely help Fenerbahce become more efficient from pick&roll ball handler plays, where Fenerbahce struggled last season.

As it is well known, Wilbekin was a top 5 pick&roll ball handler both in attempts (4.29 where Micic is at the top with 5.82) and points per play (1.94 where Micic is at the top with 2.82) in EuroLeague.

Scottie Wilbekin

MIN:28.98PTS:15.4 (52.11%)REB:2.11As:4.11ST:1.51BL:0TO:2GM:35ProfileEuroLeague2021/2022

Interestingly, Fenerbahce was quite poor on the court when it comes to pick&roll plays and scoring, lowest in pick&rolls attempted per game, being a member of the bottom five in pick&roll frequency success efficiency (40%).

Last season, Marko Guduric and Pierria Henry had to play much bigger roles with the ball in their hands in the absence of de Colo, both as a distributor and a finisher. They did not put a bad job in each aspect and forced their limits regarding the roles, but they were visibly hitting some ceilings in the decisive moments.

Wilbekin, who can create 20% of his shots in isolation (and 0.95 per possession scorer, not bad if we consider the high volume), will definitely relieve the pressure off Marko Guduric in that respect.

Finishing and decisions in clutch

With a backcourt furnished by players with sharp roles such as İsmet Akpinar, Melih Mahmutoglu, and Sehmus Hazer, he can bring elementary but also reliable offensive scenarios.

Wilbekin is definitely going to be Itoudis' no.1 choice as the go-to guy in crucial moments, and as a matter of fact, his best features are activated when he is given certain freedom on the court.

One coach to understand that really well was David Blatt, as it was observed in Wilbekin's Dacka days. Besides, Itoudis himself has a proven track record of establishing a good dialogue with players who have unique skill sets and making the most out of them. Like Nando De Colo, Will Clyburn, Daniel Hackett, and even Mike James.

One of the biggest concerns last season was the late game situations for Fenerbahce, where many crucial games were lost by one shot. In that regard, Wilbekin's decisions and shot-making at clutch are fairly questioned, with only 10 made shots out of 33 in the last 2 minutes last season. (but also 7/19 from 3-point range, which is not bad).

Also, some key turnovers that stalled Maccabi in the 4th did not look good. Many of those came out of dribble penetrations from the top, where he struggled to find his way in for a layup. However, 4.2 assists to 2 turnover rate overall (2.1) in the EuroLeague is not bad.

Conclusion and overall grade

One last aspect is Wilbekin's defensive contributions. In this department, his presence makes subtle yet, considerable enhancements to his team.

We discussed earlier that Wilbekin was the best EuroLeague's point-of-attack defender last season, according to various aspects. Is this something to be repeated this season, only time will tell, but he is better than De Colo in that department, that is for sure.

Overall, Scottie Wilbekin's addition is quite fitting for Fenerbahce Beko. He is going to work with a coach who gives freedom to star players, he is going to live in a city that he is accustomed to.

He will have good leadership responsibilities and a solid challenge ahead of himself. Finishing the games with his own decisions looked like a weaker link in his features, which also has something to do with the coaching and the team quality.

Overall grade: B+

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Fenerbahce Beko Istanbul

Position Player Status PG Scottie Wilbekin (story) Signed until 2025 PG Ismet Akpinar(story) Signed until 2023 SG Melih Mahmutoglu(story) Signed until 2024 SG Sehmus Hazer Signed until 2024 SF Marko Guduric Signeduntil 2023 SF Dyshawn Pierre Signeduntil 2023 +1 SF/PF Metecan Birsen Signed until 2023 + 1 PF Achille Polonara Signed until 2023 +1 PF/C Samet Geyik(story) Signed until 2023 C Devin Booker Signeduntil 2023 C Johnathan Motley(story) Signed until 2024 C Tonye Jekiri (story) Signed until 2023 +1 Coach Dimitris Itoudis(story) Expired contract Nando De Colo (will not return), Tarik Biberovic, Danilo Barthel (will not return), Jan Vesely (will not return), Ahmet Duverioglu (will not return), Jehyve Floyd (will not return), Markel Starks (will not return) Rumored to leave Aleksandar Djordjevic (will not return), Pierria Henry (will not return) Interested Nick Calathes (story), Nikola Milutinov, Nemanja Bjelica (story) Like what we are doing? You can express your gratitude here.