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Projecting WVU center Konate when it comes to the NBA Draft

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While West Virginia awaits word on a decision from center Sagaba Konate on whether he’ll remain in the NBA Draft or return for his junior season, WVSports.com caught up with Sam Vecenie of The Athletic to see where his stock is currently at, who he compares to and what teams could be interest.

Vecenie covers the NBA Draft for The Fieldhouse and offered his thoughts on the Mali native and his prospects for this year and the future.

First it’s hard to project Konate in large part because he is such a unique player given the fact that he stands only 6-foot-7 with a 7-foot wing span and is one of the nation’s top shot blockers.

His size would make him more of a four at the next level but he obviously would make his hay in the NBA as a rim protector. The issue there though is that given the style of plat he would need to make adjustments to his game from what he does at West Virginia.

“You have to be able to move on the perimeter, shut down pick and roll coverages and be put on an island against guards in isolation situations. I’m a little bit hesitant about that when it comes to his overall footspeed,” Vecenie said. “I think he does a reasonable job at West Virginia going against more athletic players but I think it’s going to be tougher for him once he gets to the NBA.”

On the offensive side of the floor, the upside with Konate lies in how much he can continue to progress his jump shot and be able to consistently step out and hit 18-footers.

While he’s a good free throw shooter for a big man at this stage, he has to be able to show more consistency on the offensive end with that jump shot if he wants to become an NBA player.

One of the comparisons thrown around commonly with Konate is to Ben Wallace and Vecenie can see the reasons for that but he believes he isn’t quite as athletic as Wallace was. He believes that he could fit in as a better rim protecting Brandon Bass if things go right.

As far as when he could be selected in the draft, after his performance at the NBA combine he projects him as a late second round pick or undrafted.

However, he could be highly valued by European clubs and could work his way up as he attempts to improve his jump shot and becoming more consistent.

That also could be done with another year at the college level where he can become a more polished shooter as well as improve his averages on the year. The only problem is that his measurements aren’t likely to change so that could limit him in the future to a late first round or early second round pick.

If he would elect to stay in the current draft and was selected in the late second round the thinking at that stage of the process is to take the best players available regardless of fit.

Still, if he does fall into that range Vecenie projects that teams such as Houston because of their reliance on analytics and rim protection as well as Philadelphia could end up being fits.

Konate has until May 30 to withdraw or keep his name in the NBA Draft.

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