Gorgui Dieng

[Carlos Danger]

He now has 16 games under his belt as a start this year (roughly 20% full season sample). Here's what he's averaging:

34.9 Minutes, 14.6 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals, 1.1 blocks.

His PER as a starter this year is 20.6

I recall Gorgui taking a ton of heat from many on this board at the start of the year. And many were also saying we should trade him. I've always liked this guy and hope they extend him. I'd be fine rolling out KAT and Gorgui as starters again next year. Dieng has been a very solid and durable player for us. We could do a lot worse. Obviously I'm all for bringing in competition. But watching our bigs go down with injuries year after year makes me appreciate a guy like Dieng even more. He stays healthy. He can play big minutes. And he's productive. Pay the man.

[Lipoli390]

I agree, Carlos. In addition to his impressive productivity, I love his intensity and all-out effort every minute he's on the court along with his serious attitude on the bench.

[Big O [enjin:13874644]]

Need to add a big body center - like a healthy Pek -for certain match ups but I like the Dieng KAT front court!

[bleedspeed]

I have been converted to a Dieng supporter. I look at this team and see why have 5 pieces for a playoff team. Dieng is one of them. I hope we can fill the others via player growth, the draft, or FA.

[Coolbreeze44]

He's extremely valuable to this team and he's made himself a quality NBA player. We've actually developed him and now we need to take advantage of the player he's become. He should definitely be signed, sooner rather than later.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

I'm still on the side of "he's a damn good big off the bench, but not someone you want starting for you" and I'd trade him for a more imposing defensive player at the snap of a finger.

[TeamRicky [enjin:6648771]]

I have always been a fan of G's game and do hope we can keep him here long term. We have two good bigs for the future. Now if we can only get a coach who sees the value of Zach starting every game next to Ricky and Wiggs. A good coach and some better defending rotation players is all that I think this team lacks.

[Q12543 [enjin:6621299]]

My issue with him as always been his defense in the paint. We were by far the worst defense last season and we're almost the worst defense this season. Bigs tend to have a pretty big influence on defense and he's been part of the problem.

However....Since he was inserted into the starting lineup with Towns, the other areas of his game have only gotten better: I suppose playing with a real PG in Ricky and having a couple of other offensive threats beside him in Towns and Wiggins has allowed him to flourish. He's become really efficient and versatile offensively.

The reason he is trade material is because of these very things he does well: Durability, offensive efficiency, decent rebounder. i.e. he could actually get us something really valuable in return.

But I like that this team is starting to develop an identity right now as a high-powered offense that prides itself on ball movement, attacking the basket, and fast break basketball. It's been fun and Gorgs has been a big part of it.

[Coolbreeze44]

My issue with him as always been his defense in the paint. We were by far the worst defense last season and we're almost the worst defense this season. Bigs tend to have a pretty big influence on defense and he's been part of the problem.

However....Since he was inserted into the starting lineup with Towns, the other areas of his game have only gotten better: I suppose playing with a real PG in Ricky and having a couple of other offensive threats beside him in Towns and Wiggins has allowed him to flourish. He's become really efficient and versatile offensively.

The reason he is trade material is because of these very things he does well: Durability, offensive efficiency, decent rebounder. i.e. he could actually get us something really valuable in return.

But I like that this team is starting to develop an identity right now as a high-powered offense that prides itself on ball movement, attacking the basket, and fast break basketball. It's been fun and Gorgs has been a big part of it.

But Q, isn't he really valuable himself? I'm sure other teams would love to have him for all the reasons stated in this thread. But I can't imagine him being worth any more to other organizations than he is to us. We need him badly right now. We don't have much depth up front and G with KAT has been better than good. If we can sign or draft a guy that would have G coming off the bench it would be fantastic. But for now we need him starting and playing 35 minutes per night.

[Camden [enjin:6601484]]

My issue with him as always been his defense in the paint. We were by far the worst defense last season and we're almost the worst defense this season. Bigs tend to have a pretty big influence on defense and he's been part of the problem.

However....Since he was inserted into the starting lineup with Towns, the other areas of his game have only gotten better: I suppose playing with a real PG in Ricky and having a couple of other offensive threats beside him in Towns and Wiggins has allowed him to flourish. He's become really efficient and versatile offensively.

The reason he is trade material is because of these very things he does well: Durability, offensive efficiency, decent rebounder. i.e. he could actually get us something really valuable in return.

But I like that this team is starting to develop an identity right now as a high-powered offense that prides itself on ball movement, attacking the basket, and fast break basketball. It's been fun and Gorgs has been a big part of it.

You know as well as I do that defense wins in this league more than offense does. I'd rather see a defense + rebounding big next to Towns in that starting lineup because we potentially have plenty of firepower there as is.