Spurs' Sidy Cissoko Impresses Beyond The Stats in Summer League Debut vs. Hornets
With Victor Wembanyama not quite ready for his first NBA action, the San Antonio Spurs took the floor against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night for the start of their summer league tour at the California Classic inside the Golden 1 Center.
But the absence of the French phenom meant that much of the attention immediately went toward Hornets rookie Brandon Miller, who went No. 2 overall to Charlotte after Wembanyama was off the board.
However, eyeballs were then consequently directed to another French rookie when Miller and the rest of the Hornets offense struggled throughout the first half of what turned into a dominant 98-77 win for the Spurs.
To the fans unable to watch, the performance of San Antonio's second-round French rookie forward Sidy Cissoko might seem like nothing to talk about when looking at the box score. But his game film will tell a different story.
Though he finished with just three points, four rebounds and just one turnover in 24 minutes of action, he put on an impressive defensive display against Miller, who had just five points in the first half.
"Phenomenal job," Spurs forward Dominick Barlow said of Cissoko. "I think (Sidy) looks at it how we all look at it. (Miller) is the number two pick, he's gonna get a lot of the attention in Summer League. So we're gonna go out and try and compete against him."
Cissoko did so while also showing off his underrated athleticism, aggressiveness on defense and confidence as a play-maker. He'll have to cut down the fouls a bit (finished with four) but that's the result of playing some tough-nosed defense, likely a a major reason why the Spurs were so high on him.
"That's his mentality," Spurs Summer League coach Matt Nielsen said. "He takes pride in the defense & I think that showed tonight. He took the biggest challenge & did such a good job with it.
Despite what the final score might say, San Antonio's first win of the summer was far from easy. The Hornets were stacked with guys that were notable talents at the college level, with the obvious of course being Miller. Yet Cissoko appeared to have little trouble with this due to his G League Ignite experience.
Even when Miller or other Hornets scored or were fouled, Cissoko never seemed to lack hustle on his lateral movements to stay in front of the defender or perform an all-out jump at the rim to contest the shot. Not all of his solid defensive play resulted in missed shots, blocks, or steals but the tenacity on that end was clearly there.
Right before halftime, he got his hands in the passing lane to snag a steal before immediately throwing the outlet pass to help create the fastbreak. The Spurs didn't score right off the turnover, but Cissoko staying active despite foul trouble and created an extra possession to help balloon San Antonio's lead. For whatever reason, Cissoko was not credited with a steal that he clearly made.
And in the second half, he stayed in with four fouls and used the big lead as an opportunity to show off his skill as a passer, though a handful of his passes were assists-to-be that ended up resulting in nothing due to a missed shot.
He nearly connected with Julian Champagnie for the highlight of the night. Cissoko threw a cutting Champagnie a no-look dish from the wing, which the second-year Spur nearly threw down for a vicious poster. The ball bounced off the rim during the dunk process but the crowd had gotten on its feet from the exciting sequence.
Cissoko also showed tons of confidence with a few one-handed passes that sailed down the court with power and accuracy. In time, this will likely result in some easy fast-break buckets for his teammates once they get used to his vision.
The offense will come for Cissoko. But it doesn't necessarily need to at this stage, as he's already showing that his impact can be felt in multiple ways aside from putting the ball in the bucket.
He'll look to stay in stride when the Spurs close out their trip to the California Classic on Wednesday against the Los Angeles Lakers.
You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7
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