Cheick Diallo exceeding expectations in rookie season

The New Orleans Pelicans took a calculated gamble when they selected 19-year-old Cheick Diallo with the No. 33 pick in the 2016 NBA Draft last June. They packaged picks no. 39 and no. 40 and sent them to the Los Angeles Clippers so they could move up and snag the ultra-raw prospect out of Kansas.

Diallo was a five-star recruit coming into Kansas and had been a projected first round pick for quite some time. However, his lack of playing time under Coach Bill Self failed to provide scouts the necessary material knowledge to garner a first round selection. So, theoretically the Pelicans should be sending a “thank you” card to Bill Self, because Diallo is absolutely a first round talent and they acquired him for pennies on the dollar early in the second round. Diallo stands 6-foot-9, weighing 200 pounds and sports a ridiculous 7-foot-4.5 inch wingspan — all great starting points for a shot-blocking, rebounding power forward in today’s NBA.

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Diallo turned 20 just prior to the beginning of his rookie season. In 27 games at Kansas he averaged a mere 7.5 minutes and produced 3.0 points, 2.5 rebounds and 0.9 blocks while shooting 56.9 percent from the floor. Those figures hardly predict a potential starter-level talent but the eye test proves otherwise. In his limited minutes Diallo had a rebound rate of 19.25 percent and an astounding block rate of 11.78 percent — for comparison sake, in Anthony Davis’ one year at Kentucky his block rate was 13.76 and we have all seen how that skill has translated to the next level.

Like the majority of second round picks who make their team’s 15-man roster, there have been limited opportunities at the NBA level for Diallo to get his feet wet. Instead, the team has opted to use the flexible assignment rule and send Diallo to various D-League teams for playing time and the opportunity to spit-shine his game. The Pelicans were one of eight teams without their own D-League affiliate this season and have since announced they will launch their own affiliate set to play in the 2018-19 season.

Diallo ended up playing 26 games with three different D-League clubs this season. This can be a bit problematic for the Pelicans — and Diallo — if the situation isn’t ideal, because the team taking him has no obligation to play him a certain number of minutes, they don’t run the same plays or schemes as the Pelicans and they just want him to help their team win. The third time was the charm for New Orleans as they found a suitable partner in the Greensboro Swarm. The Swarm let Diallo start with their club and gave him all the minutes he could handle.

All in all Diallo finished the season averaging 27.9 minutes and posting 15.0 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.4 blocks while shooting 50.2 percent from the floor and 75.3 percent from the charity stripe.

One thing you will not see below is Diallo passing the ball. Like most humans with arms he possesses the fundamental ability to pass the ball, but at this point in his development it is an underutilized skill. In college he played 202 total minutes and amassed one single assist — ONE! Unfortunately, it hasn’t gotten much better in his rookie season as he only doled out 18 total assists in 724 minutes in the D-League. The silver lining to that mind boggling stat is 13 of those assists have come in February and March, so it would appear he’s now at least cognizant of the fact there are other players on the court with him.

While 26 games is an extremely small sample size, there are many positive indicators to be found in the 700+ minutes he played in the D-League this season.

Can Diallo stretch the floor?

At his size and current build, Diallo is not fit to be a legitimate low-post presence. However, if he can prove he can stretch the floor to 15-18 feet, then he could be a pick-and-pop option and feasibly play alongside Anthony Davis or DeMarcus Cousins in the Pelicans’ offense.

While at Kansas Diallo shot 45.7 percent (16-of-35) on 2-point jump shots showing the future potential of a consistent mid-range jumper. Diallo’s jumper improved mechanically over the length of the season which is really important. Early in the year his guide hand was almost non-existent which resulted in a one-handed jump shot. As the season went on, his guide hand become more prevalent in his jump shot which resulted in more consistency and confidence in that shot.

Here he catches, performs a fake hand-off, realizes Skal Labissiere is too far off him and raises up for the jumper. It’s a nice fluid motion with a high release point.

There are pros and cons to take from this clip. Diallo finds open space, catches and rises up without hesitation. However, there is no reason he couldn’t have dove toward the basket and made this an easy layup or dunk off the catch instead of a contested 18-foot jumper. He makes it, but these are the decisions that will only come with more playing time.

He also showed the ability to get in the mid-post, face up and hit a pull up jumper over smaller defenders.

He did it again here against Reno and this time he gave the defender a small nudge to create even more space, which is encouraging.

So, the answer to the question posed above is likely yes, but honestly the sample size is much too minuscule to garner long-term projections from. This year he shot 40.2 percent (51-of-127) on mid-range jump shots, so with more repetitions his efficiency lowered a bit which is to be expected.

Athleticism in the half court

There’s no question Diallo possesses elite athleticism for a 6-foot-9 forward. Defense isn’t the only place his pterodactyl-like wingspan will be beneficial. He’s able to dive to the basket and finish strong both in transition, and in the half court.

This play is later in the season when Diallo has proven his ability to knock down a jump shot, so his defender (Chris Walker) has to respect it. Cheick gets him off balance — the defense here is obviously poor — and takes a dribble to his left, then sprawls out for the lefty dunk. That’s an impressive move and finish for the young prospect and one Pelicans’ brass has to be pleased to see.

Here he sets a solid screen and dives to the basket for a two-handed flush in traffic. Neither player for the Swarm challenged him at the rim, but it would have ended badly if they did. Diallo’s finishing in the restricted area was ridiculous as he made 67.6 percent (98-of-145) of those attempts. For comparison, league average for the D-League in the restricted area is 60.3 percent, so his finishing was indeed elite.

Here, he dives hard to the rim off a screen and dunks all over one of the league’s top shot-blockers in Eric Moreland. Not only that, but Diallo continues to take flight after the dunk showing off some his swag.

Transition athleticism and overall skill

Like most young, raw prospects Cheick Diallo is an absolute gem to watch in transition. His finishing abilities are not limited to dunks either, as he displayed an innate soft touch with both hands this season.

This catch, split of the defense and finish is silly good and shows off Diallo’s extremely soft touch with his left hand.

His get-up-and-go meter is always full blast as well. He accelerates after Archie Goodwin gets a steal and is rewarded with a nice feed.

And again…

This time he blocks two players, then beats nearly everyone down the court for the thunderous jam.

Where he separates himself from most players his size is the ability to snag a rebound and lead the break a la Blake Griffin. Watch how he glides down the court while dribbling, is fully aware of the oncoming defender behind him and still has the ability to rise up and finish the layup beautifully.

Blocks, blocks and more blocks

Diallo’s elite skill that will almost certainly translate to the next level is elite rim protection. Timing is just as vital as length for shot-blockers and Diallo has both in spades. He displays a feel for the game that states “I’m a 10-year veteran” rather than a 20-year-old rookie, and that will catapult him very far in his career.

Diallo is trailing the play here, collects his steps and then demolishes Chris Walker’s shot into oblivion. Just mean.

Jarell Eddie — who is now on the Phoenix Suns — plays some bully ball on his way to the rim here, but Diallo is having none of it…

One thing I noticed while watching film on Diallo is that it seems like 70 percent of his blocks stay in play. Bill Russell was the king of blocking a ton of shots and keeping them in play to incite a fastbreak for his own team, rather than launching blocks out of bounds and giving the other team another possession. While the intimidation factor goes up when someone’s shot ends up in the front row, that move does not hold as much value as creating an extra possession for your own club. It’s not that Diallo has mastered this, but it definitely appears to be a focused effort on his part to keep blocks in play.

He picks on Eddie again here and instead of volleyball spiking this shot, he taps it to a teammate and they’re off to the races the other way.

Here, he gets caught on the wrong side of fellow rookie Chinanu Onuaku, but it ultimately doesn’t matter as he swats away the attempt with ease. While Onuaku is also a rookie, he still has about 30 pounds on Diallo, so it’s encouraging to see him be able to affect shots against larger opponents.

Cheick Diallo is far from a finished product. His play this year has to have the Pelicans grinning from ear to ear — the Clippers are crying simultaneously — because he is proving their gamble right so far. The most easily translatable traits for Diallo at this point is his athleticism, defensive awareness around the rim and his willingness to learn. He’s grown a ton this season and that only happens if a players is willing to take coaching and implement those teachings in his game.

The Pelicans should look to one of their Western Conference foes in the Houston Rockets and follow the model they used with Clint Capela. The Rockets used the D-League to hone Capela’s skills his rookie year when they only gave him 90 NBA minutes. In his second year however, he played almost 1,500 minutes (19.1 per game) and is now starting in their frontcourt.

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Diallo’s D-League stats (15/8.5/2.4) are comparable to Capela’s (16/9.7/3.0) and while Capela is more of a low-post option, Diallo’s overall skillset is actually more polished at age 20 than Capela’s was.

Who knows what will ultimately happen with DeMarcus Cousins and the Pelicans, but if Diallo can continue his development, then the Pelicans have a quality backup option who could turn into a legit starter over the next couple of seasons.

*All stats used in this piece are from stats.nbadleague.com or hoop-math.com