kekgeek1 wrote:I think dieng can play minutes at the 4, but I do not think he can play 30+ minutes there, especially nowadays were most 4 can shoot, that would take dieng away from the basket and eliminate his best asset in shot blocking. Also I don't think Dieng is a good enough shooter (he is not bad) to play the 4 and that would ruin spacing when he and pek play together.
I agree that he wouldn't play 30+ minutes as a 4, but I could definitely see him starting at the 4 and then being subbed out or slid over to the 5 to make way for a smaller, more mobile 4. Lots of teams still start two legit big men at the C and PF positions:
Duncan-Splitter
Gasol-Randolph
Gortat-Nene
Perkins (soon to be Adams)-Ibaka
Drummond-Monroe
Valanciunas-Johnson
Cousins-Thompson
None of these 4's are super quick or prolific 3-point shooters and all of them with the exception of Randolph can play some Center.
Dieng has shown some potential to hit the mid-range 2, which is the shot he'd get a lot if he played the 4 in our offense.
There is a reason Flip had Dieng start next to Fesenko during a few of the summer league games. He's seriously evaluating the possibility of having Dieng play next to Pek.
I think you are taking it too far here. If you have Pek and Dieng on the team they have to be able to play together so that's why Dieng got to try out PF. Unless the Wolves magically come up with some athletic rim protecting starting PF Dieng will still be an important compliment to Pek as a Center and some minutes with him. Sorry but I don't see Dieng as a starting PF we need him off the bench to keep Pek's minutes down. If the best option this year for starting PF is Dieng Flip will have failed there. I think there is a better chance of Bennett being the starting PF even next year and beyond than Dieng. I'm not down on Dieng or high on Bennett I just think people are getting way ahead of themselves with Dieng and that's coming from one of his biggests fans.
Let's just draft Chris Walker in 2015 as our shot-blocking, defensive PF with great athletic ability and length. Have the most athletic starting lineup in basketball. http://www.lostlettermen.com/article/photo-chris-walker-florida-basketball-vertical-leap
Camden wrote:Let's just draft Chris Walker in 2015 as our shot-blocking, defensive PF with great athletic ability and length. Have the most athletic starting lineup in basketball. http://www.lostlettermen.com/article/photo-chris-walker-florida-basketball-vertical-leap
I can't see any reason why Gorgui can't lodge heavy minutes at PF. He has all the tools defensively and offensively he has an improving mid range game.
Defensively Pek can clog the lane and box out with his strength, and Dieng can be that weak side shot blocker we've always dreamed about. Kind of like how Perkins and a Ibaka operate.
I'm not sure about him starting next season, but he's the first big off the bench. Although there's no reason he can't grow in to a starting PF after another season.
kekgeek1 wrote:I think dieng can play minutes at the 4, but I do not think he can play 30+ minutes there, especially nowadays were most 4 can shoot, that would take dieng away from the basket and eliminate his best asset in shot blocking. Also I don't think Dieng is a good enough shooter (he is not bad) to play the 4 and that would ruin spacing when he and pek play together.
I agree that he wouldn't play 30+ minutes as a 4, but I could definitely see him starting at the 4 and then being subbed out or slid over to the 5 to make way for a smaller, more mobile 4. Lots of teams still start two legit big men at the C and PF positions:
Duncan-Splitter
Gasol-Randolph
Gortat-Nene
Perkins (soon to be Adams)-Ibaka
Drummond-Monroe
Valanciunas-Johnson
Cousins-Thompson
None of these 4's are super quick or prolific 3-point shooters and all of them with the exception of Randolph can play some Center.
Dieng has shown some potential to hit the mid-range 2, which is the shot he'd get a lot if he played the 4 in our offense.
There is a reason Flip had Dieng start next to Fesenko during a few of the summer league games. He's seriously evaluating the possibility of having Dieng play next to Pek.
I think you are taking it too far here. If you have Pek and Dieng on the team they have to be able to play together so that's why Dieng got to try out PF. Unless the Wolves magically come up with some athletic rim protecting starting PF Dieng will still be an important compliment to Pek as a Center and some minutes with him. Sorry but I don't see Dieng as a starting PF we need him off the bench to keep Pek's minutes down. If the best option this year for starting PF is Dieng Flip will have failed there. I think there is a better chance of Bennett being the starting PF even next year and beyond than Dieng. I'm not down on Dieng or high on Bennett I just think people are getting way ahead of themselves with Dieng and that's coming from one of his biggests fans.
Dieng may not be the ideal answer, but unless T. Thompson is part of the Cleveland deal, I have a hard time seeing who else could fit the role. And mind you, being the starting 4 doesn't necessarily mean Dieng is the "ending" 4. Even if we landed Thaddeus Young, I would prefer to start Dieng next to Pek and then have Thad play a super-sub role off the bench. Thad would still log more minutes at the 4 than Dieng in this scenario.
As for Pek's minutes, I agree we need to keep them down. Remember that we have Turiaf still under contract and he is a very solid Center off the bench. Between him and Dieng (who would slide over to play some 5), I think we could limit Pek to 28-30 minutes per game.
Camden wrote:Let's just draft Chris Walker in 2015 as our shot-blocking, defensive PF with great athletic ability and length. Have the most athletic starting lineup in basketball. http://www.lostlettermen.com/article/photo-chris-walker-florida-basketball-vertical-leap
Got any film on him? I'd like to take a look
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DcsBHGevtLY
This is all I could find on him, northern...from 2+ years ago. I remember he was a top 5 guy coming out of high school and really wanted to go to Kentucky, but when Calipari didn't make an offer, he choose to stay home at Florida.. Although he's projected to go in the mid-teens next year, he must be quite raw because he played less than 5 minutes a game last year. Should be interesting to see how he harnesses his terrific athleticism this year.
I'm not a fan of having our shot blocker being the 4. It will help a some over having Love there, but a lot of teams have 4's that can stretch the floor now and that negates a lot of Dieng's helping ability. Its why we always played the Thunder well. Love would pull Ibaka to the 3 point line limiting how much he could actually help at the rim against guys like Pek. I could see us do it for a year, but at that point I would see what I could get for Pek's remaining 3 years and start Dieng. That'll be his 3rd year in the league and he should be ready to start by then. This draft also has a lot of bigs so we'll see who comes out looking good to pair with Dieng moving forward.
