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Only playing organized basketball at his native Cameroon for the past three years, Mabari plans to
bring his game to Le Chatellone at France next year to showcase his raw skills which have all kinds of NBA scouts drooling
with what sort of potential he has.
First of all, Mabari, who is born roughly at 1989, and at 6-8 and 215 lbs., possesses all the physical
tools which have scouts dreaming about what kind of prospect he might just turn out to be. Although 6-8 and playing center
for his severely undersized Cameroonian team, Mabari hones a 7-2 and a half wingspan with freakishly long arms which always
seems to be within the defenders' peripheral vision. In the few games he showcased his talents against upper level competition
in the EuroCamps, many European shooters fell way below their averages simply by the fact that Mabari was always there, even
just sticking an arm up just to simply alter their shot. Not to mention that Mabari is a superb shotblocker as well, mostly
due to his wingspan and reflexes. He knows how to play the ball, and not the man, and rarely gets into foul trouble, in fact
often finishing with more blocks than fouls although against lower competition. His rebounding skills are impressive even
though he doesn't box out, which is a more a testament to his natural physical tools. He can get rebounds over defenders even
if they are trying to box him out. Mabari also possesses great lateral quickness especially on defense (although not so much
on offense) and he shows vast potential in guarding what could be all five spots in the NBA. He alters everyone's shots from
bigs to smalls simply due to his wingspan and movements. Lastly, Mabari is EXTREMELY athletic, and this cannot be emphasized
any further. Combine that with his wingspan and speed, he hones a 40' inch vertical. He doesn't do anything flashy currently
with his raw ability, but he high-rises often with power dunks, blocks and rebounds. He uses his vert as more of an intimidation
asset. All in all he simply displays very intimidating characteristics on the court.
As for Mabari's weaknesses, most of them revolve around his raw ability. Mabari shows very little
in terms of offensive game, rarely being able to do anything besides lay the ball up (which even sometimes misses) or dunk.
He needs to be a few feet away from the basket, but even so, his ballhandling skills and coordination with offensive moves
are so unrefined and unskilled that he is extremely turnover prone whenever he takes a few dribbles or when he faces pressure
defense. When he releases free throws (he doesn't take jumpshots), the shot comes out extremely flat and misses badly, showing
that he lacks touch although this part of his game can be adjusted. To emphasize, he rarely gets more points than blocks,
a testament to his poor scoring ability or great shotblocking skills, either one. Mabari even sometimes looks lost out there,
not looking fully concentrated or understanding the playbook, sometimes just being out there to do things out of his own accord.
To boot, despite his youth, he plays very much like a center right now in what would seem to be a small forward's body. He
lacks many small forward skills and what would seem to be a power forward's as well. He may need to adjust his game especially
if he doesn't grow any further.
Overall, Mabari is simply an interesting prospect and certainly fits the prototype especially when
concerning "athletes." Unfortunately with athletes many of them come as raw players, especially those that are big man, so
that is nothing new. Nonetheless, with his tools and potential, many scouts can afford the wait and certainly will be charting
him for the next 4-5 years.
--Devitrius Demopoulos and Buthel Dunlap, reporting from Yaounde, Cameroon
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