Hamidou Diallo Season Preview
A little bit out of order but with him being the player wearing #6 he ended up in my mind while at work so here we are.
You gonna say anything else about the reddit thing?
Not right now. The mods are being silly, I know it, you know it, they know it, and based on the response in the subreddit pretty much everyone knows it. IF this drags on I may do a post here laying out a more complete position but for now I just want to keep writing. After all, that’s all I want to do. I wanna write and talk shit with my friends. The subreddit as a whole made a far more convincing argument for me today than I ever could regardless.
One quick shoutout to u/arawnsd for posting the Saddiq Bey preview. It’d be dope if people keep doing that. Much love.
Also if you are newer head out to the main page and find the full list of offseason posts if you’ve missed any. I would link them all here but it’d take up a bunch of space.
About Last Season:
Diallo was traded to the Pistons at the deadline of the previous year and played solid ball, but was hard to judge because by that point every game was effectively garbage time for Detroit.
He re-signed this offseason on a 2-year, $10.4million deal in the offseason with the second year (this coming season) being a team option. Out of the gate Diallo was sitting mostly outside of the rotation, getting DNPs in 6 of the Pistons first 12 games and very limited minutes in the others.
This came to a head when at the end of a game in Cleveland on November 12, Diallo refused to go in after sitting the entire game, he was accompanied off the court with Troy Weaver and many thought that Diallo was finished as a Piston.
Following that, in what is a credit to both Diallo and Dwane Casey
Hold up
What?
Say that again
A credit to Diallow and Dwane Casey
The second part
Dwane Casey did something good for once in his miserable coaching career
Proud of you
Anyways, following that game, Diallo sat out the next one against Toronto before getting back into the rotation. In what is a credit to both Casey and Diallo, he seemed far more focused and played some of the best ball in his entire career over the rest of the season.
When all was said and done, he’d average 11 points, 4.8 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game while playing just 22 minutes per game. The shot is still very much not there, but he found a groove as a spark-plug off the bench who ran in transition, snagged offensive rebounds, and blew-by flat-footed defenders for dunks and layups. In a season featuring a whole heap of “bleh” nights, Diallo was often a standout spark of joy with his energy and athleticism.
Offense:
The elephant in the room remains that he is a total non-shooter. Last season taking just 1.6 long-guns per game and shooting just 24.7% from deep. At this point it probably isn’t changing and it will hang over him unless it does. Even with his athleticism, Diallo isn’t anywhere near big enough to be a small-ball 4 or 5, his size and skill-set is clearly that of a guard, but it isn’t clear how much you can do for a good team as a guard who doesn’t shoot in today’s NBA.
The good news is that his inside finishing goes beyond “good athlete who does good dunks sometimes” as he made a variety of tough layups in traffic and even busted out floaters on occasion. His dribbling isn’t exactly stellar but he showed real ability to put it on the floor and get by people. The passing isn’t there enough to count as even a primary bench ball-handler, but he showed enough chops to be a central offensive force with bench-mobs.
To put in a phrase that is easier for Pistons fans to understand, Diallo effectively slotted into a better version of Bruce Brown on offense. Not a shooter, but a super-athlete who’s an active cutter and can do some creation for himself as well.
He’s a better version because despite his athleticism, Brown never really became the finisher that Diallo has, even if Diallo doesn’t have some of Brown’s passing instinct.
Regardless, constant off-ball movement, slashing against weak defenders, crashing the glass when defenders forgot about him, and running hard in transition is a great way to regain the trust of your coach and the affection of a fan-base. I was very much on the record as being utterly unimpressed with Diallo and he won me over resoundingly. There’s still questions as to his long-term fit given his lack of shot, but the guy made a serious change in his approach to the game and got good results from it.
Defense:
This is going to be unpleasant for some people who apparently believe that Diallo is a high-level defender, but he is far from that. His athleticism allows him to occasionally make impact plays and get contested rebounds, which is a nice plus for him, but he struggles to stay in front of people and is lost off the ball constantly. This can likely be filed alongside his shooting as a light bulb that probably isn’t going to click at this point. He may pick up some discipline to approach being a net-neutral defender, but for now, he is clearly of the make and model that is athletic and makes plays but gambles too much and gets lost too often.
Where does he fit into the rotation?
Coming off the bench for sure, beyond that there’s a lot of uncertainty. The Pistons suddenly have a lot of guards so he will likely be asked to soak up minutes at the forward spots which has challenged him a bit in the past. That said, it’s far easier to get away with it when playing against bench units. The guard rotation spots should be solidly in the hands of Cade/Ivey/Burks/Hayes which leaves mostly the non-Saddiq small forward minutes available for Diallo. They will likely let him take a swing as a small-ball 4 at times out of desperation but I can’t imagine that’s going to work well, although it would be a highly positive development if it did.
Where does he fit on the floor?
Slashing to the hoop, cutting to the hoop, crashing rebounds to the hoop, generally trying to stay close to the hoop as much as he can.
Worst Case Scenario:
The renewed version of him never shows up, by the time the season has started they’ve already opted for more shooty options in the rotation. He rides the bench for most of the season and underwhelms in his spot playing time before leaving with little fanfare next Summer.
Best Case Scenario:
Breakout star. He still can’t shoot, but he’s an elite finisher who draws fouls and scores in bunches. The Pistons suddenly have a good problem on their hands of that Diallo is too good to not start and is going to require a pay-day.
Official Prediction:
He’s in the rotation, he does mostly good stuff, the shooting and defense remain so bad that it still isn’t clear if he has a spot on a team that is any good. We enter next Summer in largely the same capacity as we did this Summer, Diallo can play and does useful things but they may not be enough to cover his flaws. The Pistons end up keeping him with another cheap “show-me” deal.
I do want to emphasis here, that with Diallo’s combination of solid inside finishing and some ability to get to the line, there is a universe that he has a genuine breakout season. My official prediction is somewhere in the middle here but that best-case scenario is not as absurd as most are. Diallo shot a career-best in the restricted area which was well above league-average while being assisted on just 51% of his two-pointers while maintaining an ability to occasionally draw fouls. I am not saying Diallo is going to become a star, but the ability to get buckets for yourself in the paint is the best cornerstone a player could have to make that jump.
Wow that’s really positive? You really have come around on him haven’t you
Yeah. I don’t think he’s going to break out, but I think him breaking out is far more likely than him fading into obscurity.