September 13, 2024
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Does Guerschon Yabusele have what it takes to make an impact at the NBA level?
Welcome to our Sixers player preview series! Between now and Sixers Media Day on Sep. 30, we will preview each one of the 14 players on the team's standard roster, posing two critical questions that will help determine their fate in 2024-25 before making a prediction about the player's season to come.
Next up is another newcomer: Guerschon Yabusele, who starred for Team France in the 2024 Olympics before making a bet on himself and returning to the NBA on a one-year, veteran's minimum deal with the Sixers after blossoming into a quality player overseas.
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In his first stint in the NBA — a two-year run with the Boston Celtics — Yabusele made 21 total threes. But after signing with Real Madrid in advance of the 2021-22 season, the French forward displayed a shooting stroke that is vastly improved. During his time with Real Madrid, Yabusele shot a combined 41.1 percent from beyond the arc on about three long-range tries per game. Yabusele also became a much stronger free throw shooter during that time, an indication that the progression in that aspect of his game is legitimate.
But, for the vast majority of role players joining a team like the Sixers that features a trio of ball-dominant All-Stars in Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey and Paul George, the main question will be whether the new supporting cast member is able to knock down spot-up threes when their featured teammates draw double-teams.
There is no doubt that Yabusele's shooting numbers with Real Madrid are massively encouraging, but there are reasons to have some level of concern.
The NBA's three-point line is not as close to the basket as what Yabusele has become used to, though his prior experience with the league's arc could help ease that transition. What gives me pause a bit more is the sample size: for example, in 2023-24 Yabusele attempted just 123 triples. 251 NBA players surpassed that total last season. This is not as much of a knock on Yabusele — who played far fewer games than the average NBA player — as it is a warning that his shooting numbers, as gaudy as they are, might not be ironclad.
At the very least, Yabusele should be a decent spot-up three-point shooter for the Sixers, and that is a good starting point. But how much he can expand beyond that surface level will be critical in the determination of whether his second attempt at becoming an NBA mainstay turns into a success or a failure.
Yabusele has a unique physical build — he stands at 6-foot-8, and various sources list his weight as anywhere between 260 and 275 pounds. Yabusele has always won with power and strength, not finesse and athleticism, but his foot speed has improved tremendously in recent years — this was on full display during the Olympics.
The significant strides Yabusele has made in terms of mobility also appeared to play a major role in renewed NBA interest, but it is not as if he has become Usain Bolt. This is still a player who will prefer a slugfest to a track meet, for better or worse.
So, the question becomes: as Yabusele enters a league with faster and more skilled players at every position, who all operate with far superior floor spacing, has Yabusele's mobility improved enough that he will not be a liability when attacked in space in one-on-one defensive situations? Make no mistake, opposing teams are going to test him there early on.
If Yabusele proves too slow to keep up with a significant portion of the NBA population, he will top out as a situational piece for Sixers head coach Nick Nurse — a frontcourt option who can only last against certain archetypes of opposing lineups (and many of those archetypes have gone out of style in recent years).
But, if he shows enough defensive versatility to be trusted in those situations, it is hard to see him not being at least a fringe rotation-caliber player in the regular season.
The Sixers eventually make an upgrade at power forward that prevents Yabusele from being a rotation regular, but he shows enough ability that the team shows interest in re-signing him next offseason.
Entering 2024-25, the Sixers are loaded with trade assets to make upgrades to their roster, and are nearly set at every single position other than power forward. It makes too much sense for them to eventually cash in some of their draft picks to add someone who can handle a significant workload at the four, even if it derails the progress if someone like Yabusele.
Adding a starting-caliber power forward could enable newcomer Caleb Martin to play primarily on the perimeter where he is at his best, while filling in at the four in a pinch. This could theoretically allow the Sixers to shift Kelly Oubre Jr. to the bench, where he has the ability to serve as one of the best reserves in the NBA and would be afforded more scoring opportunities.
So, this is less of an endorsement of replacing Yabusele and more of a suggestion of how the Sixers can make a trade that helps them maximize their personnel. I believe Yabusele will shoot well enough, even if not above 40 percent, and that his foot speed will prove to be at least competent. Those are the makings of a player who can convince the Sixers to keep him around moving forward.
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