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Antoine Diot

Antoine Diot profile
Height: 6'4" (193 cm)
Weight: 189 lbs (86 kg)
Position: PG
Hometown: Bourg-en-Bresse, France
Current Team: Roanne
Win - Loss: 0 - 1

Articles

2009 U-20 European Championship Review: Guards

DraftExpress
DraftExpress
Sep 17, 2009, 06:45 pm
A reasonably athletic point guard with a nice frame, good size and speed, who displays great range on his shot and a quick and high release. He’s also able to create his own shots off the dribble, but unlike his teammate Edwin Jackson, he lacks better shot selection, which diminishes his efficiency. Actually during this tournament he took more shots from beyond the arc, and at a slightly higher percentage (44.4%), than 2-point field goals (43.6%). Diot is able to slash and finish successfully at the rim, but mostly stops halfway to shoot. He is also a very good passer, taking advantage of his good court vision and ball handling skills. Nonetheless he doesn’t seem to be able to control the game and organize a decent team offense on a regular basis, as he seems to be playing continuously in overdrive.

Even though he had several strong games, his offensive contribution wasn’t always that consistent. On the other hand he contributed quite consistently in rebounding, catching an average of 6 rebounds per game. As well as dishing out 5 assists per game. Also defensively he’s quite aggressive and intense, as he has decent lateral footspeed and also quick hands going for steals (averaged 2.4 a game).

Diot may have some NBA potential, as big point guards are always en vogue. The way the game is played in the NBA might actually suit better his style of play. He’ll have to deliver at the senior level first, though, playing for Le Mans.

Blogging Through Europe (Part 7: France)

Jonathan Givony
Jonathan Givony
Dec 10, 2007, 04:41 am
This seems like a really good moment to stop and talk about 18-year old French guard Antoine Diot. He came off the bench at the end of the first quarter, and instantly became a key cog in the successful eventual comeback that his team made, primarily through his toughness and smarts.

Rather than stand around and let his team get pummeled on the offensive glass for the second straight game in a row (16-4 was the count in the Milan game) like was already happening, Diot went and helped his post players out, boxing out bigger players than him and coming up with 4 big rebounds in the process, helping set the tone for his team along the way.

The 1989-born Diot is still a very inexperienced kid at this level, but the intangibles he already shows cannot be ignored. Every single time his team calls a timeout, Diot is always the first one out to greet his teammates from the bench and encourage them. When things heated up late in the game and the refs needed someone to talk to about Sam Clancy (who was complaining just a little too much), it was Diot who promptly made peace and calmed his much older teammate down.

He did more than just being mature beyond his years, though. Diot also had an excellent game, playing solid defense, getting in the passing lanes, pushing the ball up the floor, and also doing a terrific job running the offense, something his team has sorely been lacking from what we’ve seen. Diot very calmly moved the ball around, doing an outstanding job in particular on the pick and roll, coming up with a game high 6 assists in 26 minutes. He’s a fairly athletic player with great size for the point (6-4) and a nice frame for a guy his age, although his inconsistent perimeter stroke is a real hindrance if he’s to develop into a serious NBA prospect over the next few years. Diot sometimes has problems with his decision making in the half-court, but on this particular evening, he was as cool and calm an 18-year old as you’ll find anywhere on the continent.

U-18 European Championship: The Playmakers

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Sep 08, 2007, 07:49 am
Pretty much in the line with what he had shown in the U-19 Worlds, although perhaps a bit more tired, Diot stayed pretty consistent with his virtues and flaws. He was again the same old aggressive playmaker to speed-up the game’s tempo, a very active guy in many departments of the game, able to slash, shoot, defend and even rebound. At the same time, he failed again to emerge as a heady organizer, struggling in the set offense despite his ability to eventually come up with excellent passes, still showing a very average left hand and remaining inconsistent with his perimeter stroke.

In the end, Diot couldn’t reproduce the go-to mentality he offered two years ago playing with and against the same generation at the U-16 stage. Enjoying a much lesser degree of physical dominance, his flaws were more difficult to overcome, and neither the lack of reliable team players around him helped the French and his case.

U-19 World Championship Review: Guards

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Aug 19, 2007, 09:00 am
Even if he doesn’t seem to have improved much over the past two years, Diot was a key piece on the French team, the guy who constantly pushed the ball to provide that fast pace that France loves to play at, and the high-character player to take important shots and make big plays down the stretch.

Featuring good size, long arms, nice strength, and being fairly quick, even if he doesn’t enjoy the same physical dominance he exhibited at the U-16 category, Diot enjoys very good tools to play the point. He’s a very aggressive player with the ball in his hands, always ready to attack his rivals, always thinking about gaining an advantage in transition by outrunning his opponents. Antoine still struggles dribbling with his left hand, and usually prefers to go right. Sometimes he forces too much trying to beat his opponents off the dribble, and ends up without a decent angle to release the layup. When rushing into transition with coast-to-coast plays, he loves to finish himself, usually with a short jumper if there’s anybody waiting for him under the basket. His jumper is still a double-edged sword. He can knock down very difficult shots, even wild three pointers off the dribble, showing nice ability to create his own shot. But at the same time, he’s not a reliable shooter, showing aggressive mechanics that don’t help him to get hot from the field. Regardless of whether he’s open or not, he virtually always gets unbalanced in the air while shooting the ball.

Not the most creative guy around, Diot is a nice passer who likes to drive and dish, but who also looks for entry passes or tries to give fluidity to the ball movement. Still, he feels more comfortable in transition rather than working in the set offense. Anyway, he’s a leading-type of player.

Next season he will join Nicolas Batum in Le Mans. It was about time for him to move up to a pro team and face some strong competition.

Douai Tournament, Gearing Up for Summer Competitions

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Jun 09, 2007, 10:34 am
Antoine Diot was a much more noticeable presence, but that's what you should expect from a point guard. He provided some offensive aggressiveness and rythm as usual. His jumper was falling with remarkable consistency considering the complicated nature of many of his shots. He tried some very complicated off the dribble jumpers, even from behind the three-point line. He's quite quick executing these situations, displaying a rather violent sequence of moves very difficult to stop and unexpectedly effective. On the other hand, he wasn't particularly brilliant in the set offense flow, with some eventual bad passes, still having a very clear tendency to go to his right when attacking the basket, while his lateral mobility eventually got slightly exposed against quicker opponents. Still, he was one of the youngest guys in the tournament and he's certainly a very good player.

U-18 European Championship Prospects: Point Guards

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Sep 11, 2006, 11:32 am
Perhaps Diot didn’t deliver the most impressive performance in this tournament, especially considering his imperial showing last year in the U-16 stage, but we should never forget that he has been, not simply the starting point guard of France, but also the heart and soul, the true floor general of the champion. As Janavicius, we should also take into account that the guy is a first-year junior. The only game he didn’t play resulted in an embarrassing loss against… Iceland. Enough said.

Antoine Diot is mostly about physical gifts and mental toughness. He enjoys a terrific -also rather mature- body for a point guard. He has very nice size and strength, but still keeps a long frame, not being that much of a bulky guy despite his rather developed body. He’s also quite athletic, a quick guy who loves to run the court. That combination of quickness and strength has been really hard to stop in the tournament.

Run, keep running, and after that, run again. With an athletic and deep roster, that has been the credo for France in these championships, and it’s been perfectly executed by Diot. He’s a playmaker who feels more comfortable in transition play, pushing the ball tempo, looking for easy baskets with the defense still not properly set. It comes extremely natural for him; whenever the ball comes to him, he decides in a blink of an eye whether to start running or to throw a long pass to some teammate already at the other end of the court. In motion, Diot is extremely hard to stop, because of his excellent ball-handling with his right hand (improvable with his left), quickness, body control and his own strength. He shows nice decision making here; he usually can finish himself easily given his physical gifts, but he can also dish the ball effectively.

Things change in the set offense. Diot is not the best distributor around, although he does a decent job trying to create good scoring options for his team. He can penetrate, usually going right, using a good first step and quickness in the drive, to dish the ball or finish himself. Again, he’s a decent passer in these situations, but not great, as he’s not automatic finding the best open man at the exact moment, but he usually comes up with a nice solution. He can finish near the rim with his right hand, while he doesn’t feel comfortable at all using his left. He sometimes relies on running shots or elevated layups against opposition, but he usually tries to take advantage of his explosiveness to get the job done.

Shooting is an area where Diot shows some remarkable skills, but where there’s room for improvement too. It especially deserves mentioning how he can release his jumper against opposition, in off-the-dribble fashion, with surprising accuracy (considering how complicated this play is) behind the arc. However, his reliability doesn’t grow as much as desired when he’s fully open. He tends to get unbalanced while executing his jumper in the air, somehow as he does in the aforementioned off-the-dribble shots.

Diot does an excellent job on the defensive glass, smart smelling where the rebounding opportunity might be, but also alert and active to actually get them. If Diot gets the rebound, it usually means an easier release of the fastbreak. Stealing balls was usually another great way for him to help his team to run, but in these championships he was surprisingly less prolific. Of course, he’s facing now older and better competition, but he has looked perhaps a bit less active on the defensive end.

We can say that, unlike Janavicius, Diot has suffered the change of categories coming from the U-16 championships last summer. He doesn’t have the same physical superiority and sometimes has struggled in certain areas. But his leadership and impressive winning character has been always there (and likely will always be there).

2006 Albert Schweitzer Tournament: Top Prospects

DraftExpress
DraftExpress
May 08, 2006, 03:13 pm
One of the best point guards in the tournament, and that’s very surprising being one year younger than most (being born in 1989). We could say that another Antoine Rigaudeau has been born for French basketball: big, great game director, leadership ability, good shot and a notable slasher. He’s very close to the already retired French genius. I stress leadership: with his character, he’s going to be a hell of a leader.

Physical and Mental Characteristics:

Physically, he’s a developed player. It looks incredible that this point guard, with the size he enjoys, being 17 years old, is already developed and has the necessary bulk to play elite basketball. He has powerful legs, and an upper-body that has been worked on by lifting weights. A big point guard, but strong and really coordinated. Mentally, he’s extremely tough. He enjoys the most clear leadership ability seen in Mannheim. A player with a lot of character, he looks also very developed mental-wise, because he cheered when it was needed to raise spirits, and he didn’t shy away from demanding more aggressiveness from his teammates. A natural-born leader.

Virtues::

He’s a pure point guard, a floor-general type who knows how to give orders. He enjoys very good ball-handling skills with either hand, and he’s a good perimeter shooter. He can also penetrate with confidence and energy, using both hands to finish near the basket, not forcing his shot or losing his balance. But above all, his ability leading and carrying his teammates with his enthusiasm.

Flaws:

A very glaring one, and that will give him headaches: his inconsistency passing the ball. It could be more a lack of concentration rather than a skill issue, but sometimes –more than he would like-, he surprises us by passing into the stands. It usually happens when he delivers one-handed passes. But again, it looks more a matter of concentration. His assist/turnover ratio, as it stands today, is very low, as they almost go hand by hand.

Offense:

Tremendously complete player, he directs pretty well, has good perimeter shot and he’s a good pick-and-roll player. On the break, he feels very comfortable, just as almost all his teammates. He has good court vision –and vision of the play, being so big-, and he’s quite reliable with the entry pass to the big men; not quite like when it comes to feeding the cutting wings going outside, which is the usual aforementioned situation when he does not complete his passes.

Defense:

Very aggressive. With the character he has, he never gives up and plays tremendously hard. A very intense and dangerous player in two-on-one situations; even if he doesn’t use his hands looking for the steal when trapping a rival, he does get almost every single loose ball when there are bad passes, or simply, when the rival loses the ball. He was seen yelling at the big men to be more aggressive defending the pick-and-roll without switching.

Evaluation:

Despite his youth, he will probably have a chance to play in the NBA. Considering how complete he is in almost all the departments of the game, he could have a place in the American League.

The European Cadet Championship: Final Report

Luis Fernández
Luis Fernández
Aug 09, 2005, 01:35 am
The MVP of the championship was honored with the award by being by far the most dominant player seen in Leon. Diot enjoys a physical set that made this possible, as he’s a rather tall point guard, with a good wingspan, that is very quick and explosive for his age. However, what sets him apart from the rest of players in the tourney, and virtually from every guy you can see in youth competitions, is his mental strength and leadership. It’s amazing to see a 16 year old kid who is so aware of his leading star role and at the same time, so responsible exercising it. Always respectful, in defeat he looked even majestic. We’ve been told that he’s a very good student, coming from an excellent family who are true educators that are worried about properly teaching and raising him. Watching Antoine, nobody could say otherwise.

Diot’s winning character is just outstanding, taking over games when things get ugly for his team. You would think that he just waits until the coach simply asks him to win the game for his teams and then he executes. We told you about the exhibition he had against Latvia, entering the game with France down by 19 points and coming away with the victory. But his most brilliant moment came in the semifinals against Lithuania, where he scored 14 points in the last quarter, including various clutch plays such as a complicated layup and a huge steal, in a thrilling game that sent France to the final after coming back from a double-digit deficit.

Of course, Diot is not perfect. You can find his biggest flaws at this moment are in his array of skills. He’s an average ball-handler that enjoys a nice slashing game thanks to his physical set and footwork, while showing good resources to deliver complicated layups with opposition. However, these slashing situations come in transition or semi-transition plays. For him it’s rather difficult to get by his man from a static position. His dribble, and overall game, is particularly concerning regarding his left hand, being seriously unpolished at the moment. When dribbling, he constantly looks for his right hand, using the left just in situations where it’s completely impossible not to, while he keeps the “right” trend also in regards to his layups, even if the play asks for him to make it with his left.

On the other hand, Diot is a pretty nice shooter, with good range and consistent accuracy even firing off the dribble, where he gets up quickly with rather nice mechanics, although he’s surprisingly erratic from the free-throw line.

Not a great passer, he distributes the ball rather well, although mostly looking for low-risk passes. We could say that he’s more of a scoring type point guard (being the fourth best scorer of the championship), although he comes without the baggage that these kind of players tends to carry, featuring, on the contrary, awesome decision making. From time to time, we have seen him deliver some great assists, but as the tournament advanced, it became more infrequent. He’s particularly quick and effective throwing passes in transition, always releasing the ball as soon as possible if someone is in a good position to attack the basket.

Defensively, he has been an important player for France, especially regarding his team approach. In the individual setting, he might eventually suffer against small and quicker point guards, although he did a nice job in the final against his speedy matchup. Also, he tends to choose to go underneath screens rather than hedging and going over them. However, I think it’s just part of his pattern of stressing team defense, being in a better position to help his teammates this way, while we also have to consider that there weren’t many players in the tournament capable of shooting off the dribble with good range and accuracy. Perhaps his best characteristic here is his ability to steal the ball, not only thanks to his wingspan and quick hands, but also due to the way he reads the passing lines. He finished the championship first in this department. His rebounding also deserves mentioning: he showed very good positioning, and his athleticism did the rest.

I personally think that he’s a very promising player. He might raise serious doubts because of his skills, having dominated because of his physical set. Indeed that’s what happened up to a certain extent. But he’s a player that is so focused on the game, so serious about what he does, that I think he will be able to sort out most of his skill limitations. At least, I trust him a lot more than other players who are more skilled but showed highly questionable attitudes.

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