If it feels like you’ve barely seen anything from Cheick Diallo, there’s a good reason for that: He has barely played.
There is so much still to see from a player who about a calendar year ago was a McDonald’s All-American, a highly touted incoming freshman at Kansas.
But then academic eligibility issues forced a five-game suspension at the beginning of the season. When Diallo returned, playing time was scarce. Diallo averaged only 7.5 minutes per game, never got in any kind of rhythm during the season and ended it by taking three consecutive DNPs as Kansas played in the NCAA Tournament. The only game he played in the tournament was seven minutes during a blowout victory over Austin Peay in the first round.
“That was hard on me,” Diallo said. “I come late and there’s nothing I could do. I was on the bench. I’m a team player, I don’t get mad if I’m not playing. … I was behind. It’s not coach (Bill Self’s) fault; it’s not my fault. There was nothing I could do.”
Still, there were at least 33 more chances to play him, and Diallo received only limited action in 27 of those games. So why should NBA teams believe more in him than Kansas did?
As it turns out, for the same reasons that Kansas had when the Jayhawks recruited him.
In Denver on Friday as part of the latest crop of draft prospects working out for the Nuggets, Diallo displayed the all-out, Kenneth Faried-esque motor he’s known to have.
“Everything I do, I do at 100 percent,” he said.
The 6-foot-9, 220-pound native of Kayes, Mali, has a world of length — a 7-foot-4 wingspan — and uses it well as a high-level rebounder and in contesting shots.
His raw set of physical attributes and seemingly endless energy give Diallo a chance to be a big-time difference-maker on defense. He blocks shots with both hands, he blocks shots on weakside help and can block the shot of the player he’s guarding. Diallo has great feet and keeps them active on the defensive end. He routinely made multiple-effort defensive plays.
Offensively, he promises to stay in his lane. That means no 3-pointers.
“It’s not my game,” Diallo said. “I know that. I’m not going to do it. I just want to shoot a 15-footer, an 18-footer, that’s it.”
The vast majority of Diallo’s offensive possessions were post-ups. It’s a little misleading because he’s not a traditional, power-it-to-the-basket player. He’s solid on sealing off his man and presenting a target for the entry pass. Once he catches the ball, he’s much more comfortable shooting a turnaround jumper or turning and facing his defender to get off a 15-foot jumper. He will be a pick-and-pop player much more than rolling to the rim.
Diallo runs the court like a guard but is shaky in his finishes, and he struggles to finish through contact. Both likely can be solved with more experience and added strength.
No matter what happens, Diallo is doing exactly what he always thought he would.
“From Day One, I told Bill Self and all of the Kansas people I’m a one-and-done player,” he said. “When we lost the NCAA (Tournament) game I said, ‘Boom, I’m done.’ I said it since Day One, so nothing could change my mind. I’m just following my dream. I don’t really care what happened there, that’s done now. There’s nothing I can do. I just want to keep moving forward and go to the next level and show the people who I am.”
