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On Sunday, the Vilnius Rytas team invited a well-known player from Europe, 28 years old and 206 cm tall, to their ranks. Maurice Ndoura.
The Senegalese basketball player’s path began in a very unusual way: he played basketball and soccer as a child, but as a teenager he went to study in Japan, where he received a scholarship. On the Yokohama high school team, Ndour was a true star and leader.
After graduating from high school, M. Ndour already chose the traditional path: he went to study in the United States (USA), where he spent two years at Monroe College, and then moved to Ohio University. He played the best of the season in his senior year of study, with the NCAA scoring 15.9 points in 35 minutes, bouncing 8.3 balls and making 1.7 assists.
M. Ndour was not on the radars of the National Basketball Association (NBA) clubs, so he did not hear his name in the rookie exchange. The Dallas Mavericks invited the African to play in the Summer League, but did not let loose on the floor in the preseason game and terminated the contract.
Real Madrid needed reinforcements on the front line, so they signed with Ndour until the end of the season. However, Pablo Laso did not give the rookie a serious opportunity to appear in his great rotation: he played only 6 games in the Euroleague and registered an average of 1.7 points in 8 minutes. In the Spanish championships, he also appeared on the floor in just 12 games and recorded an average of 2.3 points.
Much to his surprise, M. Ndour received an invitation from the New York Knicks in the summer of 2016 and was joined by Mindaugas Kuzminskas, who also debuted on this team. The season was bad for this Eastern Conference team, and M. Ndour had a chance to appear in Game 32 and scored 3.1 points and bounced 2 balls in 10 minutes. M. Ndouras played the best game of his career in the NBA championship against Memfio “Grizzlies”, when he scored 15 points in 29 minutes, bounced 7 balls and blocked 3 shots from opponents.
2017 In November, without getting another chance in the NBA, Ndour returned to Europe and signed a contract with the Kazan club Unics, where he stayed for two seasons. For the first time in the European Cup, M. Ndouras played very weakly in attack: in 18 minutes he scored only 5.1 points and 6.6 utility points. He did much better in the second season, when Unics reached the semifinals of the tournament, and the athlete himself already had 9.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 11.5 utility points in 21 minutes.
He then set a career record when he scored 29 points in the season opener against Bar Mornar and scored as many as 41 utility points. In the Unics group, he tested his strength with “Rytas” twice: at home M. Ndouras scored 6 points, scored 4 fouls and scored only 1 utility point, and in the 35 minutes he scored 9 points, 4 fouls and 8 points of efficiency. M. Ndour capped his performance at Unics with the award for best defending player in the United League. In these championships, the athlete scored 11.1 points, grabbed 4.4 balls, took 0.9 balls, blocked 1.2 balls, and scored 13.3 utility points. Unics displayed the best defense in the league – they allowed their opponents to score 74.8 points per game.
It was because of his good defense in defense that M. Ndour was invited to join the ranks of Valencia. In a duel of minutes on the pitch, the Senegalese completely defeated the former Brock Motum of Žalgiris, who rubbed the bench and did not have the full confidence of Jaume Ponsarnau, while M. Ndour was able to appear in the Euroleague at The 15 minutes accumulated 7 utility points each.
Let’s look at the skills of M. Ndour. First, we must distinguish the length of the arms of this forward, which reaches 223 cm, when his height is 206 cm. Long hands give this player the opportunity to work perfectly on defense both when taking over the balls and blocking shots. Thus he stole 1 ball in just 15 minutes during the Euroleague game last season.
With M. Ndour on the floor, “Rytas” will be able to boldly swap defenders and use the player in at least two positions and, if necessary, three, adding a “third number.”
Last year, in the first match of the World Cup, the Lithuanian team met Senegal and Benas Matkevičius, who was interviewed before the match Krepsinis.net, highlighted the versatility and advantages of M. Ndour to play with an advantage light.
“They learned to play alongside Ndour as a lightweight forward. The heights will be really high: more than 2 meters there will be four out of five players who will be on the floor. It will be very important to see who will cover Ndoura and he will have to learn to defend the players on our perimeter, because he will have unusual leg work, ”said B. Matkevičius, team assistant.
Rytas is unlikely to need much help from M. Ndour in the light advantage position, where he has Arnas Butkevičius, Gytis Radzevičius and Lukas Uleckas, but the option is interesting if you want to compete in an extremely high lineup and, for example, close the penalty area.
M. Ndour has problems in the defense of the team when the coaches demand that he defend himself stepoutu. The African often attacks the opposing defender too aggressively and does not return to his man after making this pass. Also in the “two against two” defense, it is difficult for M. Ndour to stop the opponent’s defender, who pushes towards the basket. Thanks to the long hands, the striker can be a little further away from the rival and thus save the penalty area, and when the ball goes to his direct opponent, he manages to jump and raise his hand so that there is no free kick.
In attack, M. Ndour likes to play picenrole. In the Euroleague, he scored 1,069 points per attack, which is “average” according to Synergy. Not bad at all, M. Ndour realizes his chances after shooting from static positions, throwing a middle pitch or a triple. This was the element that the East needed, because neither Martynas Echodas nor Rokas Gustys are the centers that would expand the attack.
By far, M. Ndour is not a sniper and many 3s are not worth expecting from him. In the teams played so far, the Senegalese have attacked from afar very rarely. Last year, in the Euroleague, they only fired 10 distance shots in 26 games (they hit 4), while in the Spanish championship, of 16 shots (19 games), only 3 were scored (18.8%). It is obvious that M. Ndour is not a sniper and teams can take a chance against him when the opponent stays to protect the penalty area, giving Rytas’ representative a shot from the perimeter.
Ndour knows how to play the basket, which last season had 1.24 points per attack in the Euroleague, which is “excellent” on the Synergy scale. This forward likes to execute quick attacks and is also a player who has a sense of smell for good cuts under the basket; then all you need to do is get a pass from the defender on time and earn easy points.
With M. Ndour on the floor, “Rytas” will definitely not give up on opponents in the fight under the baskets, because he fights perfectly for the balls and is aggressive “climbing the board” in attack, which Donald Kairys loves very much. .
In terms of character, Ndour has never had a discipline problem during his career and is seen as a good teammate who does not cause problems in the locker room. He even speaks five languages: French, English, Japanese, Wolof, and Serer. The last two are used in certain regions of Africa.
conclusion. Rytas chose between James Gist, Adreian Payne and M. Ndour and bought the best option. J.Gist is already a veteran surviving his career downturn, and A. Payne, according to Krepsinis.net, turned down 20,000. monthly salary offer in euros. Meanwhile, M. Ndour agreed to play for 19,000. euros per month and according to the salary will fall only for Arnas Butkevičius.
D. Kairys indicated that a center forward is being sought, so M. Ndour is visible in this position. Of course, he will be able to help in the position of a forward with a lot of advantage and it will be an interesting tandem with M. Echod or Chris Mccullough. Especially since in big battles it is much more reliable to rotate M. Ndour into two positions than to allow Christian Kitsing to compete in the “fourth number”, whose performance depends largely on the accuracy of three points.
Rytas has acquired another player who has the highest level of gaming experience. The fact that he played in the Euroleague last season and played a role in a good team there says a lot about Senegalese dominance. In the summer, “Rytas” negotiated with M. Ndour, but then his price reached 25 thousand. per month. Surprisingly, no team in the European Cup has signed a contract with this player and he was left without a club until mid-October. Ndour is still at the peak of his career and will be full of motivation to show a good game and sign a solid contract next year, and he has a lot of potential to do so.
The arrival of M. Ndour will cement the defense and provide even more options in attack. In general, Rytas currently has a very strong line-up, which the capital’s team has not had for many years. We can see what this combination of players and coach can do next month, when the newcomer is greeted, M. Echod will recover and Vilnius residents will face strong opponents, not the last team in the LKL tournament table.
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