Mouhamed Faye Scouting Report
A high-tier combination of physical tools and athleticism allows Faye to excel in the NBA as a rim-running interior defender. But there's more to his game and potential. Here's why:
Introduction
Faye is making a name for himself as one of the youngest starting centers in Europe. More impressively, he’s carved out a good role in the national league and the Basketball Champions League, the third-tier division of international basketball in Europe. While averaging over nine points and seven rebounds per game, Faye’s making the most out of his close to 22 minutes per contest. But for the NBA, the numbers aren’t relevant and it’s all about contextualizing the role and responsibilities to what’s feasible for an NBA floor. That’s the emphasis of this scouting report.
Physical Profile
At 6-foot-10, Faye has a long and strong build. He has an elite length with his unofficial 7-foot-5 wingspan. His ability to switch to the perimeter while showing elite mobility puts him on NBA radars. He has incredibly fluid hips, which boosts his mobility even more. He’s a good athlete with good verticality, helping him to consistently protect the rim.
The impressive part about his physical profile is the consistent motor. Faye is built to play long stretches of minutes and thus offers a solution for teams who need a rim-running multi-positional defender for their five. Faye has good hands, adding value to the play-finishing high-energy aspect of his game. That comforts NBA teams who can continue to add more value to their physical tools and carve out a feasible role for the NBA level.
Offense
Putbacks
One of Faye’s best intangibles is his feel for the game regarding his positioning underneath the basket. His strong frame and good core strength allow him to play physically and bump opponents away from the rim when he’s battling in offensive box-outs. It’s an impressive part of his profile, considering his composure and his young age. Therefore, I expect him to be used as an offensive rebounder to solidify a team’s rebounding rate. The first play below shows an example of Faye battling without fouling for room underneath the basket, where his patience and footwork opened up a good angle for the putback make.
In the second play below, Faye’s starting to box out his assignment after his teammate’s dribble penetration, opening up the angle in the middle and immediately putting his teammate in a favorable mismatch against the opposing big. Hereafter, Faye banks on the lack of distance between the rim and the opposing five to attack the glass hard and convert the putback. In a faster-paced NBA, teams often are hesitant to crash the offensive glass to avoid giving up transition offense, but this possession shows the good decision-making Faye has, benefitting his team’s offensive rating.
Faye misses the bunny in the third possession, but his process makes sense as he’s positioning himself backward and uses a gentle push to ensure enough of an angle to secure the offensive rebound. He’s rushing his play finishes after bringing the ball down. For the NBA, Faye has to work on putting a Gasol-esque layer to his rebounding, where he’s best to keep the ball high after the catch at all times. That helps him to avoid getting fouled when powering back up while being forced to play through contact again by giving defenses time to recover. The fourth play below shows an example, but he often forces the finishes with too much power, leaving a few points per game on the boards.
Passing and playmaking
At 8 assists to 30 turnovers, Faye hasn’t been showcasing his passing and playmaking reads as much as he should have this season. Most of his assists aren’t executing self-created passing reads but mostly finding shooters off handoffs while focusing on his ball-moving duties, with the first two plays showing examples. Faye’s mostly using his handoffs to place a ball screen before diving hard to the rim to battle for the offensive rebound. That’s a signature style of how his team uses him. Considering his mobility, NBA teams can afford to gamble on offensive boards without giving up transition offense.
In the third play, we see important flashes of Faye’s passing skillset. He’s stuck underneath the basket and keeps his composure, where he impressively finds the corner shooter while out of balance. His strength level and good hand-eye coordination help Faye to successfully land difficult passes, with the quarterback pass in the fourth possession below being another example. This makes it more feasible for him to execute passing reads in the future. However, the sample size is subpar to have a feasibility test. The fifth play shows good and quick execution after securing the offensive rebound. Regardless, ball-moving should be a must-have skillset for Faye in the next few seasons.
Pick-and-roll
Faye’s offensive contributions will solely be as a play-finisher. As the chart above shows, Faye doesn’t shoot threes or midrange jumpers, making his touch around the rim more vital to support a team’s offensive rating. For NBA scouts, it's essential to put the context behind a non-existent three-second rule in European basketball in correlation to a lower finishing rate at the rim. This is because teams can plant their fives underneath the basket, and thus Faye is forced to finish against the double team or with help defenders close to him.
Regardless, Faye’s screen-and-dive process makes lots of sense. His good core strength and fluid hips help him to move easily after ball screens where he’s locating driving lanes very well, as shown in the first play below. Faye does well by using his decent footwork to keep in balance and find the finishing angle against two opponents. Faye also has decent hands. In the second possession, he handled a tough pass after the roll decently but he struggled to control the ball without correcting it with his hands. Thus, it forced him to bring the ball down. Hereafter he had to look for another angle before the hook finished.
The third play shows an area of improvement as Faye did well to screen a stone hard wall, whereafter he’s slick in sliding between the defender and going over the screen by effectively popping to the rim. However, he didn’t position his cut at the right angle to stay within the passer’s vision at all times. That’s for NBA scouts to add to his developmental plan, as on a better-spaced NBA floor, angles for roll men are much better to utilize to help the pick-and-roll passer out by staying within a good passing angle at all times. The fourth possession below shows a good example, regardless of the missed finishing attempt against two defenders at the rim.
Post-ups
It’s becoming rare to see an NBA interior-defending rim-running energy fives asked to score via post-ups. Regardless, it’s a good feasibility test to see where a prospect is physically compared to his peers. Faye has decent creativity out of post-ups, mostly relying on his hook shots or baby hooks after spin moves when creating his scoring angle. Despite his young age, he’s comfortable playing physically against older European centers. The first play below shows a good example. Faye gets the ball in the low-post area and battles for a better angle closer through the middle, whereafter he hides the ball well before the hook finishes.
In the second play, his shoulder strength to the chest makes the defender give up lots of room, whereafter Faye gets two feet inside the painted area. However, instead of finishing the play, looking for the extra pass after help defense arrives should be the main focus for him. NBA teams will prefer open threes after extra passes over a contested finish at the rim via post-ups. Therefore, I don’t expect Faye to serve as a scorer but use his gravity to hunt mismatches inside the lane. Hereafter, he can post up opponents to keep the ball moving as a ball mover, rather than a face-up or post-up scorer.
The third play shows an example where Faye forces the finish rather than keeping the ball moving, and in the fourth possession below, Faye battles underneath the basket in isolation after the good entry pass, whereafter he draws the foul. The issue in Faye’s profile is his 51.9% free-throw shooting on over two attempts per game. That keeps him off the floor in game-closing situations, being one of the areas of his profile that might keep him outside of the first round.
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Defense
Pick-and-roll
Faye’s ability to switch to the perimeter and take on both ball handler duties with his quickness and mobility while defending roll men with his physicality and size fits the need for today’s fives. Especially considering more teams running four or even five-out schemes. This puts more weight into the five’s defense, which has to ensure stability inside the arc, but also shows the ability to switch out without leaving too big of a mismatch inside the arc.
In the first play below, Faye drops his coverage but does well to chase the ball handler by forcing him to beat him off the dribble. His decent footwork, but more importantly, his fluid hips help him to stay attached to the scorer, eventually effectively denying access to the paint, whereafter the ball handler settled for a midrange jumper, successfully contested by Faye.
Faye goes over the screen in the second play below and chases the ball handler, who switches sides before Faye gets over the ball screen. Regardless, he keeps well-attached to the ball handler, effectively disrupting his balance before the floating finish, which Faye blocks thanks to his good vertical pop. In the third play, Faye again goes over the screen and switches to the ball handler. Hereafter, a late rotation from his teammate opened up the wide-open passing angle in the middle, resulting in the bounce pass and wide-open dunk.
Whenever Faye defends in the second line of the pick-and-roll, he’s much more able to use his fluid hips to spin and rotate after extra dropoff passes, as shown in the fourth play below. That’s an important part of his evaluation, as not every team looks to use their fives to switch to the perimeter while fearing which mismatch they will potentially give up near the rim. Therefore, playing traditional drop coverage on top of going over screens will serve him well on an NBA floor, with the fifth play giving an example.
Catch-and-drive
Against closeout attackers, Faye shows a good last step when he’s closing out to the perimeter. The first play below shows an example of him pivoting his right foot well, balancing himself well before using his lateral quickness to challenge the ball handler to the rim. However, at almost three personal fouls per game, Faye’s aggressiveness makes him a target on opposing scouting reports. Ball handlers look to attack him where he cannot be aggressive on all plays, leading to him playing passive, reactionary defense on the first play despite how well his movement looked.
Another area of development is his decision-making against creativity on the perimeter. The combination of the jab and fake caught Faye in the air, despite correcting himself well in the second play by using his length to catch the ball handler before the dribble and thus forcing the unbalanced shot.
However, NBA decision-makers will be intrigued by the combination of his footwork and speed, effectively disrupting offense at the perimeter and around the rim in the third and fourth plays below. The mobility matches the quickness of NBA-level scorers on top of Faye’s toughness around the rim, especially when he’s not defending against smaller guards or wings. That adds value to his defensive profile.
Catch-and-shoot
Faye’s defense against spot-up shooters on the perimeter and his long strides and elite length help him cover large amounts of space quickly. On a larger NBA floor compared to the FIBA-ruled floor, that gives Faye a clear advantage to add value to a team’s offensive rating. His mobility, verticality, and length give teams comfort in correcting mistakes by contesting wide-open threes, even after a team’s defense collapses. Those are the margins teams look for to add more win probability.
In the first play below, the defense collapses after the ball reversal, whereafter Faye’s fluid hips lead to the smooth spin move and immediate burst to heavily contest the elbow three. The very little time he needed to execute is the intrigue NBA decision-makers would like to further develop once he comes over to the association. There is a similar outcome in the second possession below, despite the made three. Faye’s motor and effort levels are top-notch.
Another positive is Faye’s active rotations on defense. He’s assertive and takes control of possessions by himself. When he recognizes a teammate skipping a rotation, he’s taking the matter into his own hands, as shown in the third play below. That’s a positive sign considering an NBA game with more motion and ball movement. Despite the made basket in the fourth play, Faye’s young age doesn’t show in his feel for the game. For his rotations, he’s constantly making the right decisions, giving more feasibility he can defend effectively against spot-up shooters on an NBA floor.
Cuts
To complete Faye’s defensive profile, his stops away from the ball add to his aforementioned feel for the game. In the first play below, he’s late to close the gap to the entry pass to the cutter near the rim. But he does well to correct his stance from behind. Hereafter, he uses his verticality and length to not allow the cutter to finish the play from close range. Consistent rotations are a big part of successfully defending away from the ball as a team defender.
For Faye, that’s one of the reasons he’s playing a big role at Pallacanestro Reggiana at such a young age. As a part of FIBA-ruled games, the center is usually asked to focus on defending the paint underneath the basket because of a non-existent defensive three-second rule. That’s part of the context when comparing it to getting stops against play-finishers at the dunker’s spot in the NBA because it’s harder for five-men to effectively be planted in the paint without getting three-second calls against them.
The second possession below shows a good reactionary speed to the entry pass to the paint. His length and disruptive toughness help Faye to use his athletic tools well while attacking a scorer’s balance to ensure a lower-quality finish and, thus, a better defensive rating for a team. In the third play, he stops the cutter well, but the last jump to contest the shot wasn’t there. It’s nit-picking at this moment, but despite the consistent motor, Faye is caught making minor mistakes like these. However, he compensates for it with well-educated guesses to influence passing lanes.
Usually, it’s not good for five-men to step outside the perimeter in transition defense. But seeing a gap near the rim, Faye did well to gamble on influencing the passing angle, knowing the offense tried to find someone at the rim with Faye so far away from the basket. Those instincts are what make him a potential plus-defender for the NBA.
NBA Draft Projection
Based on the strengths and areas of development mentioned in this scouting report, I project Mouhamed Faye to be a lock for the second round of the 2025 NBA Draft. There will be multiple suitors betting on his tantalizing defensive potential on top of the basic rim-running and play-finishing character of his offensive game. His offense is still raw compared to the defense, thus potentially leading to Faye being a stashed pick for the next few years. Regardless, there’s potential available for him to play NBA minutes in a few seasons from now.