Oklahoma Metropolis is off to an incredible begin to the season regardless of Friday evening’s deflating loss to Dallas. When Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is within the lineup, it provides the Thunder an actual engine that makes all the pieces work. It was evident that his companies have been enormously missed by the crew.
General, although, the crew matched Gilgeous-Alexander’s rise. The forged has stepped up significantly and there have been a handful of shock contributors. One participant we have not heard a lot about who may have made an impression is a former lottery choose. Ousmane Dieng.
Dieng hasn’t had the quickest begin to his NBA profession, and lots of anticipated this to be the 12 months he may make the massive leap as a task participant. That is eerily much like his first two years within the league, nonetheless.
Nonetheless, on Friday night, Dieng’s quantity was referred to as early. After some backwards and forwards between the OKC Blue, Oklahoma Metropolis’s G League affiliate, and the Thunder bench, he was able to benefit from his alternative. In simply six minutes, Dieng added eight factors, a rebound and an help. He hit two triples, going 2-for-3 from lengthy vary.
He is solely averaging 3.1 factors and a pair of.3 rebounds on 33.3 % from the sphere, however Friday evening was one other instance of the participant he could be. All he ever wanted to get minutes with the Thunder was knock down open triples. His size all the time helps and he’s a stable connector on the courtroom. His capturing was so inconsistent.
With the Thunder’s rise to the highest, Dieng’s alternatives might diminish. He might not have a lot probability of constructing one other impression. What he did in Dallas is precisely what he must do shifting ahead. Benefiting from each alternative is how he can show he nonetheless belongs.
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