New NC State center signee Paul Mbiya’s has great highlights, but there’s more to basketball than flashy plays.
I was able to watch Mbiya and Espoirs Lyon-Vlleurbanne U21 lose 82-70 at Espoirs Monaco U21 on March 22. Mbiya went 9 of 12 from the field for 21 points, plus 10 rebounds, one assists, two steals, two blocks and one assist.
To set the scene, there probably was less than 100 people in attendance, so playing in front of big rowdy crowds could be a new experience for Mbiya. The other difference compared to college basketball was the pace in how the game is played. It’s a subtle thing, but when play stops due to a foul call or the ball going out of bounds, the officials get the ball back and the action gets going. At least with this game, there was no urgency in having the flow of the game be quicker. A foul was called and 36 seconds later, a free-throw got attempted. Substitutions slowed the game down. Maybe this was a one off, but Mbiya will see a quicker flow of the game in the U.S. His stamina is good and he played 37 of 40 minutes in this game.
I would call the two teams the equivalent of low-level Division I. Mbiya and small forward teammate Rayan-Preston Mendy are high-major talents, and that’s the only reason I wouldn’t say Division II. Leading scorer Yohann Sissoko didn’t play for Espoirs Lyon-Villeurbanne.
The one thing that was good about Mbiya’s competition is that they were tall, with two post players at least 6-9. Espoirs Monaco center was Soumaila Koita, who is a 7-footer about to turn 20 years old, and finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. So, Mbiya wasn’t going against 6-7 guys.
Here are four thoughts I had on watching Mbiya:
1. It is my understanding that Mbiya’s mentor is also Mohamed Diarra’s mentor. The previous NC State staff had also previously known about him, and while Diarra’s decision to go pro hurt the Wolfpack in the short-term, Mbiya’s arrival could help make up for that. On a side note, if Diarra had known he’d get a year of eligibility for playing junior college basketball and if he knew the salaries of the players would skyrocket this offseason, maybe he would have stayed.
Diarra was gifted in moving his feet and switching on players defensively, liked to shoot his three-point shot and was a strong rebounder. Diarra didn’t really have a post game and he could have a poor turnover here and there.
Mbiya isn’t as good moving laterally on defense as Diarra, who was pretty high level at that, and can be a little stiff, but is a far superior shot-blocker to Diarra. He uses his 6-10 height and 7-7 wingspan to be a great shot-blocker, so he’ll want to hang around the paint and help out rather than chase along the perimeter.
2. Sometimes players are just very obvious with who they are.
Mbiya has a soft touch inside with one-handed runners from 5-7 feet out, but he’s not going to be a threat past 15 feet, and he knows it. He doesn’t even pretend to be a three-point threat, missing his three attempts on the season. What he’ll do along the perimeter is set strong picks.
In essence, Mbiya wants to dunk anything he can. He arrives to the rim with nasty intentions and good power. He can finish layups through contact. He tried 188 field-goal attempts this season and 149 were at the rim — 56 dunk attempts (making 55) and he was 63 of 90 on layups. He went 5 of 17 on hook shots and went 1 of 14 on jumpers.
Defenses are going to have to respect him because if they don’t, he’ll get power dunks as a result. He will absolutely need to work on his free-throw shooting, going 3 of 9 in this game and 52.2 percent on the season (59 of 113). He shot isn’t broke and with good coaching and repitition, he should improve.
Mbiya showed good vision on one pass, but he’s not going to be an assist guy. He had 11 assists and 60 turnovers on the season.
3. The Triangle just had one center from Africa come through, and it’s going to be interesting to see if Mbiya can match Duke freshman center Khaman Maluach’s statistics this season.
Maluach averaged 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 21.3 minutes per game this season. He shot 71.2 percent from the field (so many lob dunks at the rim) and 76.6 percent on free throws.
To put that in perspective, for per 40 minutes, Maluach averaged 16.2 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
There are some similarities between the two of them, but while Mbiya has really good length, Maluach is one of a kind at 7-2 and I’m guessing an extraordinary wingspan. I do think Mbiya has smoother post moves, but has a better shot.
If Mbiya can play 30 minutes per game, I could see him averaging 10 points, 6-7 rebounds and two blocks per game for the Wolfpack.
4. Mbiya is in the NBA Draft and has until June 15 to make his final decision.
Mbiya will have a big showcase event May 30-June 2 in Treviso, Italy. He’s a good example of how the business of basketball has changed.
In the pre-NIL era, NC State fans saw how hard it was to get Omer Yurtseven of Turkey eligible in 2016-2017. He was zapped with a 8-game suspension by the NCAA and the vibe back then was it was pretty amazing he was allowed to even play college basketball, hence why most schools didn’t recruit him.
Now add in that, in theory, NC State can pay Mbiya more than what he’d get as a second-round draft pick and what his team in France can pay. Italian Dame Sarr plays for the legendary FC Barcelona pro squad with former Duke star and former NBA player Jabari Parker (and six other former NBA players), and I’ll take a safe guess he isn’t a “amateur,” but some lucky college could be adding him at small forward this month (think shorter Luol Deng, but not as good on defense). It’s just different now in 2025.
It’s easy to think of Mbiya as a freshman because he’s new, but he’s already 20 years old. Five years ago, I think the NBA would have loved to draft in the second round, and then stash him in either the G-League or an International league. He still might go that route, but the money in college can be strong and he’ll always end up playing professionally in Europe if he’s not an eventual NBA player. I’m sure they are thinking of Raleigh as a two-year scenario at worst, but there are so many variables left to be determined.
UCLA center Adem Bona went No. 41 to the Philadelphia 76ers and he’s maybe the best comparison in recent drafts. He made the squad and averaged 5.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game as a rookie, proving to be a second-round steal. He signed a reported 4-year, $7.895 million deal with $2,134,842 guaranteed.
Bona averaged 12.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 26.5 minutes per game his sophomore year at UCLA, with his scoring improving from 7.7 points per game as a freshman. The 6-10, 235-pounder is originally from Lagos, Nigeria, and made the move to Turkey at age 13 to play club basketball. Unlike Mbiya, Bona did play at Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif.
Due to his explosiveness around the rim, enough power and potentially really good shot-blocking abilities, Mbiya could track as a second-round pick. The ball will be in his court on what he wants to do.
I was able to watch Mbiya and Espoirs Lyon-Vlleurbanne U21 lose 82-70 at Espoirs Monaco U21 on March 22. Mbiya went 9 of 12 from the field for 21 points, plus 10 rebounds, one assists, two steals, two blocks and one assist.
To set the scene, there probably was less than 100 people in attendance, so playing in front of big rowdy crowds could be a new experience for Mbiya. The other difference compared to college basketball was the pace in how the game is played. It’s a subtle thing, but when play stops due to a foul call or the ball going out of bounds, the officials get the ball back and the action gets going. At least with this game, there was no urgency in having the flow of the game be quicker. A foul was called and 36 seconds later, a free-throw got attempted. Substitutions slowed the game down. Maybe this was a one off, but Mbiya will see a quicker flow of the game in the U.S. His stamina is good and he played 37 of 40 minutes in this game.
I would call the two teams the equivalent of low-level Division I. Mbiya and small forward teammate Rayan-Preston Mendy are high-major talents, and that’s the only reason I wouldn’t say Division II. Leading scorer Yohann Sissoko didn’t play for Espoirs Lyon-Villeurbanne.
The one thing that was good about Mbiya’s competition is that they were tall, with two post players at least 6-9. Espoirs Monaco center was Soumaila Koita, who is a 7-footer about to turn 20 years old, and finished with 11 points and eight rebounds. So, Mbiya wasn’t going against 6-7 guys.
Here are four thoughts I had on watching Mbiya:
1. It is my understanding that Mbiya’s mentor is also Mohamed Diarra’s mentor. The previous NC State staff had also previously known about him, and while Diarra’s decision to go pro hurt the Wolfpack in the short-term, Mbiya’s arrival could help make up for that. On a side note, if Diarra had known he’d get a year of eligibility for playing junior college basketball and if he knew the salaries of the players would skyrocket this offseason, maybe he would have stayed.
Diarra was gifted in moving his feet and switching on players defensively, liked to shoot his three-point shot and was a strong rebounder. Diarra didn’t really have a post game and he could have a poor turnover here and there.
Mbiya isn’t as good moving laterally on defense as Diarra, who was pretty high level at that, and can be a little stiff, but is a far superior shot-blocker to Diarra. He uses his 6-10 height and 7-7 wingspan to be a great shot-blocker, so he’ll want to hang around the paint and help out rather than chase along the perimeter.
2. Sometimes players are just very obvious with who they are.
Mbiya has a soft touch inside with one-handed runners from 5-7 feet out, but he’s not going to be a threat past 15 feet, and he knows it. He doesn’t even pretend to be a three-point threat, missing his three attempts on the season. What he’ll do along the perimeter is set strong picks.
In essence, Mbiya wants to dunk anything he can. He arrives to the rim with nasty intentions and good power. He can finish layups through contact. He tried 188 field-goal attempts this season and 149 were at the rim — 56 dunk attempts (making 55) and he was 63 of 90 on layups. He went 5 of 17 on hook shots and went 1 of 14 on jumpers.
Defenses are going to have to respect him because if they don’t, he’ll get power dunks as a result. He will absolutely need to work on his free-throw shooting, going 3 of 9 in this game and 52.2 percent on the season (59 of 113). He shot isn’t broke and with good coaching and repitition, he should improve.
Mbiya showed good vision on one pass, but he’s not going to be an assist guy. He had 11 assists and 60 turnovers on the season.
3. The Triangle just had one center from Africa come through, and it’s going to be interesting to see if Mbiya can match Duke freshman center Khaman Maluach’s statistics this season.
Maluach averaged 8.6 points, 6.6 rebounds and 1.3 assists in 21.3 minutes per game this season. He shot 71.2 percent from the field (so many lob dunks at the rim) and 76.6 percent on free throws.
To put that in perspective, for per 40 minutes, Maluach averaged 16.2 points, 12.4 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game.
There are some similarities between the two of them, but while Mbiya has really good length, Maluach is one of a kind at 7-2 and I’m guessing an extraordinary wingspan. I do think Mbiya has smoother post moves, but has a better shot.
If Mbiya can play 30 minutes per game, I could see him averaging 10 points, 6-7 rebounds and two blocks per game for the Wolfpack.
4. Mbiya is in the NBA Draft and has until June 15 to make his final decision.
Mbiya will have a big showcase event May 30-June 2 in Treviso, Italy. He’s a good example of how the business of basketball has changed.
In the pre-NIL era, NC State fans saw how hard it was to get Omer Yurtseven of Turkey eligible in 2016-2017. He was zapped with a 8-game suspension by the NCAA and the vibe back then was it was pretty amazing he was allowed to even play college basketball, hence why most schools didn’t recruit him.
Now add in that, in theory, NC State can pay Mbiya more than what he’d get as a second-round draft pick and what his team in France can pay. Italian Dame Sarr plays for the legendary FC Barcelona pro squad with former Duke star and former NBA player Jabari Parker (and six other former NBA players), and I’ll take a safe guess he isn’t a “amateur,” but some lucky college could be adding him at small forward this month (think shorter Luol Deng, but not as good on defense). It’s just different now in 2025.
It’s easy to think of Mbiya as a freshman because he’s new, but he’s already 20 years old. Five years ago, I think the NBA would have loved to draft in the second round, and then stash him in either the G-League or an International league. He still might go that route, but the money in college can be strong and he’ll always end up playing professionally in Europe if he’s not an eventual NBA player. I’m sure they are thinking of Raleigh as a two-year scenario at worst, but there are so many variables left to be determined.
UCLA center Adem Bona went No. 41 to the Philadelphia 76ers and he’s maybe the best comparison in recent drafts. He made the squad and averaged 5.8 points, 4.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game as a rookie, proving to be a second-round steal. He signed a reported 4-year, $7.895 million deal with $2,134,842 guaranteed.
Bona averaged 12.4 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.8 blocks in 26.5 minutes per game his sophomore year at UCLA, with his scoring improving from 7.7 points per game as a freshman. The 6-10, 235-pounder is originally from Lagos, Nigeria, and made the move to Turkey at age 13 to play club basketball. Unlike Mbiya, Bona did play at Prolific Prep in Napa, Calif.
Due to his explosiveness around the rim, enough power and potentially really good shot-blocking abilities, Mbiya could track as a second-round pick. The ball will be in his court on what he wants to do.
