Wolves would be wise to allow Gorgui Dieng to play through struggles

The Minnesota Timberwolves had a rude awakening with Gorgui Dieng last season.

Dieng and the Wolves agreed to a four-year, $64 million contract extension on Halloween 2016. At the time, it wasn’t unreasonable given Dieng’s production and reliability, especially considering the other money thrown around the summer before. Not only that, Dieng turned around and put the money to good use in his home country of Senegal. It may have been a lot of money but it seemed worthwhile overall.

However, the deal has aged like a vegetable left to rot in the back of the fridge.

The first year of Dieng’s extension was the 2018 season. Unfortunately, that was also the worst season of his career. When the Wolves tried to find a trade partner at the deadline, they found no one willing to take on the next three years of the deal. Perhaps their luck would have been better if they attached their 2018 first-round pick from Oklahoma City but that would’ve been foolish since their pick was owed to Atlanta.

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Not only did Dieng average career lows in points, rebounds, and efficiency, he looked out of sync along the way. It’s one thing to struggle but to look lost at the same time is concerning. This may have had to do with playing just 16.9 minutes per game and being stripped of his starting role in favor of Taj Gibson.

Gibson was signed in the summer of 2017 to a two-year, $28 million deal. That’s not the issue. Gibson is a productive player who plays hard every second he’s on the floor and talks whether or not he feels like it after every game. That probably means he does all the things Tom Thibodeau asks him to do in practice that he doesn’t want to do.

Thibodeau likes Taj Gibson.

I like Taj Gibson.

Who doesn’t like Taj Gibson?

Here’s the thing: Taj Gibson isn’t trying to play 32 minutes per game like he did last season at age 32. In fact, guess how many times previous to this season Gibson had played more than 30 minutes per game? Zero. When he was signed, it seemed optimal to split his minutes almost 50-50 with Dieng. This caused some discontent with  Gibson but nothing major. By avoiding heavy minutes every season, Gibson can extend his career. He’d be more than willing to concede some minutes to his primary back up.

That would be ideal for both Dieng and Gibson but also the team. Dieng is owed $48 million over another three years including next season. It’s unlikely that a trade is going to materialize and bail the Wolves out of that deal. This means that they’re going to have to make the most out of it.

Anecdotally, it always felt that Dieng played best with more minutes. His struggles last season were more than just a player who couldn’t adapt to a new role. It was closer to a season of misuse that made Dieng seem less and less playable. The numbers even agree.

Dieng’s career offensive rating swells from 100 with 10-19 minutes of playing time to 126 with 40 minutes of playing time. As suggested above, a 50-50 minutes split with Gibson might be ideal. And with between 20-29 minutes per game, Dieng’s offensive rating is 109. That’s pretty good. Not elite but you’d be happy with that offensive impact from your back up big man.

You can also see a linear progression in Dieng’s true shooting percentage as his minutes increase. As much as Dieng has been a workhorse for the franchise, he’s not playing 40 minutes per night and nor should he. But you can sure see on the court and in the numbers how his feel for the game improves. He needs to be allowed to play through his struggles or they’re far less likely to improve.

As a starter, Dieng has averaged 10.9 points, 8.5 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game in 185 starts. In 191 career games off of the bench, he’s averaged 5.7 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 0.9 assists per game. Dieng isn’t necessarily a starter on a playoff team and sure won’t start over Gibson as long as Thibodeau is around but we have all of these clues that he gets better with more minutes.

The thing is, Dieng’s defense is what it is no matter what. I’ve never felt him to be a great defender but his defensive rating remains steady between 107-109 regardless of minutes played. Considering how bad his teams have been on that end, I wouldn’t put a ton of weight into those numbers. We’ve seen him be a little too slow for stretch bigs and not quite strong enough for some centers but he’s usually fine.

Dieng’s contract only looks more cumbersome as the Wolves tread dangerously close to the luxury tax line. Yet, it’s evident that it’s unlikely to go anywhere. Considering Dieng is just 28 years old, he’s probably not washed up. He may not get much better but he didn’t forget how to be the useful player he was the previous four seasons.

At his best, he may not be worth $16 million a year but it’s close. And when you factor in his reliability, 12 missed games over the last four seasons, it also helps. This is the bed that Thibodeau and the Wolves have made and there’s no way around it. The only option remains for the team to push through and find a way to maximize Dieng once again.

Giving him a greater share of the minutes would make Dieng and Gibson happy but also the team happy if Dieng is productive again and Gibson isn’t worn out by April.