Mark Pope compares Mo Dioubate to Draymond Green: "He is tailor-made for what we do"

Mark Pope didn’t need to do a ton of scouting on Mo Dioubate while recruiting him from the transfer portal. The former Alabama forward excelled in his games against Kentucky this past season, scoring 13 points in the Crimson Tide’s win in the SEC Tournament and holding Otega Oweh to just two when the Cats came to Tuscaloosa. Pope went as far as to compare Dioubate’s skills on defense to NBA All-Star Draymond Green‘s during Wednesday’s interview with Jon Rothstein.

“He punished us,” Pope said of Dioubate. “I don’t like to say it, but, man, he punished us three straight games this season; it was not a happy time for us. He shot the ball at a ridiculous clip on low volume. He’s a 46% three-point shooter on low volume, but where he was most dangerous, clearly, he’s an elite-level defender, one through five. Very much a Draymond Green feel defensively.

“But this young man, his ball screen-derived offense on limited possessions, just less than 20 possessions, his ball screen-derived offense is in the top 2% in the country as the pick and roll ball handler. His decision-making and his ability there are terrifying — it’s joyful for me as a coach, terrifying for the opponent.”

In his second season at Alabama, Dioubate averaged 7.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists while shooting 61.7 percent from the field, 46.2 percent from three-point range (12-26 overall), and 60.9 percent from the free-throw line. The 6’7″ 215 lbs. forward totaled 42 assists last season, a figure that will likely go up in Pope’s system. In the press release announcing the addition, Pope said he envisions using Dioubate as a point forward.

“He is a guy who can really stir the drink for us,” Pope told Rothstein. “The way we invert the game, and we have our bigs carrying such a load as decision makers on offense, he is tailor-made for what we do. And then he’s got these big shoulders that he just rams through your chest. His physicality is elite, both on offense and defense. So, he’s a gamer.”

Dioubate’s talent on the court is obvious, but Pope started by raving about his character off it. The Queens, New York native brought his father with him on his official visit to Lexington last weekend. Pope said watching the two interact was a highlight for him.

“Man, I’m so excited about Mo. Mo, like, I want to talk about him as a person first. He’s an incredible young man, incredibly faithful. He’s got just the most awesome family. They grew up in Queens, and all the things that you know are surrounded with that with a big family. He has so much love for his family.

“It was incredible to watch him with his dad here. Like, it was really special, actually, to watch him take care of his dad while he was here. So I love every bit of him there. The more I talked to him on the phone, the more I fell in love with this human being. He’s really special that way.”

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