'G-League isn't intramurals': Detroit Pistons rookie Sekou Doumbouya learning the hard way

Vince Ellis | Detroit Free Press

Show Caption Hide Caption Sekou Doumbouya after igniting big run for Grand Rapids: 'We woke up' Pistons first-round pick Sekou Doumbouya on scoring 13 points during Grand Rapids Drive’s 24-0 run: ‘We woke up.’ Filmed Dec. 6, 2019.

WALKER — Things weren’t going well for the Grand Rapids Drive.

On the way to a 16-point loss to the Canton Charge early in the Gatorade League season, the frustration was mounting for Detroit Pistons rookie Sekou Doumbouya.

He only recently had returned to consistent action after a summer dealing with injuries.

He was away from the franchise that used the 15th pick of the first round to get him.

He wasn’t starting. He wasn’t playing well.

At 8:15 of the fourth quarter, he had enough.

A shot went up and Doumbouya moved to stop a Charge player from getting an offensive rebound.

It was more like an open-chest shove, which sent the player sprawling to the floor.

A Charge player ran over and gave Doumbouya a one-handed shove.

The youngest player in the G-League shoved back, but teammate Louis King quickly got between Doumbouya and angry members of the Charge.

He was ejected from the game for the first time in his young career.

Doumbouya told the Free Press on Friday: “That not me, but I was mad."

Grand Rapids teammate Donta Hall could see it coming.

“Just knowing him, his temper sometimes is kind of quick,” Hall said with a giggle. “He just ain’t going to let anybody make him feel small. He’s not going to let you feel like you bigger than him. That’s just how his mentality is.

“When it was happening, me and Lou already knew, so that’s why Lou went and grabbed him to tell those guys to chill out. That’s something he’s got to learn coming here.”

Nearly a month later, Doumbouya is all smiles.

The native of Guinea who was a prize prospect playing in France has grown to love his first-season assignment with the Grand Rapids Drive, the G-League affiliate of the Pistons. He has connected with coach Donnie Tyndall and his teammates; he has grown close to Hall and King.

And he’s thriving — evidenced by his 13-point outburst in less than three minutes in the third quarter of a 116-100 victory Friday over the College Park (Ga.) Skyhawks.

He scored 20 of 27 points in the second half to ignite the DeltaPlex Arena.

grinding on assignment 💪 @sekou_doums



27 PTS | 8 REB | 3 STL | 10-17 FGM | 5 👌@DetroitPistons ➡️ @grdrive pic.twitter.com/YlLF6h2x0a — NBA G League (@nbagleague) December 7, 2019

After every 3-pointer or score, he would nod — his way of showing that this is what he expects.

“He wants to win, whether it’s in a practice scrimmage or whether it’s a shooting game or whether it’s in a real game,” Tyndall said. “He does want to win, and he plays to win.”

Natural scoring ability

The sound of hip-hop artist Rich The Kid blared from the DeltaPlex loudspeakers a couple of hours before tipoff.

Doumbouya, who turns 19 in a few weeks, moved along to the beat as he warmed up.

It was “Star Wars” night, and light sabers waved in the dark as the Drive starters were announced.

Doumbouya went last. Before the tip, he went over to fist-bump members of the scoring crew.

He started slowly, missing a first shot that barely grazed iron. He got on the board with a layup, but his second shot was blocked near the rim. He did a solid job challenging the roll man after a screen-and-roll to prevent a score.

But it was a mostly uneventful first half; he had seven points on 2-for-8 shooting.

The Drive were listless early in the third quarter, and the Skyhawks held a 73-56 lead.

The Drive and Doumbouya awoke.

He hit two 3-pointers. After a Hall dunk, Doumbouya hit another 3.

After a Jordan Bone layup, Doumbouya scored consecutive buckets in traffic, tying the game at 73.

“We just wake up,” he said. “We were sleeping. We weren’t doing enough. We were lazy. We turned it over in the first half. We just figured it out.”

He added eight rebounds and three steals. He was 5-for-10 from 3-point range and 10-for-17 from the field.

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Teammates weren’t surprised, because Doumbouya has excelled since a slow start to the season.

“Sekou got us rolling,” King said. “The energy from the bench led into the game so he just took over from there.”

Doumbouya trails only Bone in scoring, averaging 17.7 points per game. He is shooting 60.4% from the field and 40% from 3-point range, good for an excellent true shooting percentage of 66.4%.

Happy to be playing

The plan from Day 1 was for Doumbouya to get G-League seasoning.

He is an upside play because two-way wings with size and athleticism are desired. The Pistons don’t have anyone with Doumbouya’s skill set in a 6-foot-9, 230-pound package.

“We don’t have anybody like him in the organization,” Pistons senior advisor Ed Stefanski said. “We didn’t have — and you need more than just one — a 6-8, 6-9 wing with a good body and very athletic with length. We’re missing guys like that and we got to keep adding that.”

Pistons coach Dwane Casey is an advocate for the development league. He saw the benefits as former coach of the Toronto Raptors, where Pascal Siakam and Fred VanVleet have grown into productive players.

But it’s not part of the NBA dream.

Doumbouya suffered health setbacks: a hamstring injury that limited offseason workouts, and a concussion that forced him to miss preseason games.

By the time he joined the Drive for training camp in late October, it had been five months since he played in a game that counted, with French League club Limoges CSP.

Doumbouya admits he wasn’t happy.

Tyndall let him keep to himself for several days before challenging him to snap out of it.

“It was good because I did it in front of the rest of the team,” Tyndall said. “It wasn’t to belittle him or talk down to him, but he had to understand there’s 10 other guys in this room that are coming to work every day, trying to grow and get better.

“Not that he wasn’t coming to work, but they were embracing it and they had a positive vibe and they were encouraging each other, and he was a little bit by himself.”

The talk helped.

The regular basketball games helped more.

“I’m just happy right now because I’m playing,” Doumbouya said. "I’m getting playing time. It feels good to play.”

The Pistons keep a developmental assistant coach with Doumbouya while he’s on assignment. Assistant Bryston Williams spent the past week with the Drive.

Tyndall personally instructs Doumbouya after games when they review video.

Tyndall also had a message after the ejection against the Canton Charge: Use that physicality in productive ways, not for meaningless technical fouls.

“The G-League isn’t intramurals,” Tyndall said. “These are grown men that have been in the NBA or that’s close to making it.

“He understands this is real basketball. I don’t think he had any iota of how that was going to be before he came here.”

A message of thanks

The Pistons recalled Doumbouya early last week when the Drive took a two-game western trip.

It set off speculation, with expectations that Doumbouya would get playing time for the floundering Pistons.

He did, but it was at the end of blowout victories over the San Antonio Spurs and Cleveland Cavaliers.

It was significant for Doumbouya, however, who scored the first points of his NBA career in the fourth quarter against the Spurs.

Tyndall sent Doumbouya a text of congratulations and his love.

Within two minutes, he received a response.

" 'I love you too, coach. Thank you,' " Tyndall recalled.

Doumbouya added something else.

He had played poorly in the G-League game before the callup, and he couldn’t wait to get back to Grand Rapids to get better.

“This dude had just scored his first NBA buckets and he was hitting me back how he know he didn’t play well the game before he left,” Tyndall said.

He thought back to when Doumbouya first arrived in Grand Rapids.

“He’s coachable,” Tyndall said. “He will look you in the eye when he’s talking to you. He doesn’t cop an attitude or have bad body language. He gets disappointed in himself a little bit, he’s pretty hard on himself.

"He’s a quiet kid by nature so maybe you won’t understand that until you get to know him, but he puts some pressure on himself to make the right play, do the right things and to play well."

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