European Prospects

The website of the French Espoirs League has published recently an article about the 5 former Espoirs players to follow this season. I took the freedom to translate the article into English and tell you about the 5 players that want to confirm their potential this year.

Kevin Séraphin (2m05 – PF/C – 1989 – Cholet Basket)

Kevin Séraphin is without any doubt one of the most promising players of the French ProA League, he is the symbol of the 1989 generation that has won the Silver Medal this summer at the U20 European Championship in Greece. After having integrated Cholet Basket in 2006, Séraphin has improved every year and is now at the edge of having an impact on the professional level. He finished the Espoirs League with 15.8ppg and 8.3rpg last year and led them to the National Championship in his age category.

Séraphin has a tremendous physical presence for a player of his age. He knows how to use it and took profit out of in the different youth championships. However, when he will play against professional players, this advantage has gone. He needs to polish his inside game in order to have different scoring options. Right now, he mostly scores on jump hooks, coming of both hands. In the season opener for Cholet last weekend, Séraphin did not play though.

Steeve Ho You Fat (2mo1 – Forward – 1988 – Antibes)

Ho You Fat played together with Séraphin in Cholet last season but he decided to leave his team on loan to the ProB squad of Olympique Antibes. The athletic and versatile PF made this choice in order to get playing time, become stronger and to confirm his talent. He is an excellent shot blocker, has a good touch in the paint and can also score from mid range. He started his season nicely with an average of 21 minutes per game. During the time on the court, Ho You Fat managed to scored 8.0ppg and grab 3.7rpg so far.

Seidou N’Joya (1m89 – Guard – 1989 – SLUC Nancy)

The Espoirs League 1st team member Seidou N’Joya is now ready to make the next step and get minutes with SLUC Nancy. He has so far been blocked by his nationality as he occupied one of the foreigner spots being from Cameroon. But this season, the SLUC staff decided to bring him as 2nd PG of the team. He has dominated in the Espoirs League where he finished the season with 12.4ppg (65.2% FG), 5.9apg, 2.1spg and 6.6rpg which are huge statistics for a PG. His season opener with the professionals was however not crowned with success as N’Joya could not avoid the defeat at home and played only 7 minutes for 1 point.

Nobel Boungou-Colo (2m02 – Forward – 1988 – Hyères-Toulon)

Nobel Boungou-Colo was the reason why Orléans had a nice season in the Espoirs League and finished the Trophée du Futur at the second place. The highly athletic wing finished his season with 15.7ppg, 8.6rpg and a stunning 4.2spg. Boungou-Colo lives essentially from his physical abilities and his speed which gives him the possibility to beat his opponents on the drive and finish close to the basket. He absolutely needs to develop his outside shot to become a player on the professional level. But he has all the tools to become a high-level defender and the move to sign with HTV is certainly a good decision even if he had only 4 minutes in the opening game of the ProA League.

Bangaly Fofana  (2m12 – Center – 1989 – ASVEL)

Probably the biggest long-term potential of this group of players is the 2m12 tall Bangaly Fofana. Displaying extraordinary athletic abilities, Fofana will already earn minutes in the plethoric ASVEL roster this season and gain in experience for the future. His basketball technique is not yet developed because of his only recent integration of high level basketball but players with his combination of size and athleticism are rare and attract observers from all levels. He will play both Espoirs and professional team with ASVEL this season and after the excellent opening at the “Match des Champions” where he scored 10pts in 19 minutes, Fofana was calmer once the regular tipped off two weeks ago. However, he is the only one of all these five guys to play on the highest European level as he will be a member of the ASVEL Euroleague roster.