Ousmane Dieng had a monster game Thursday night in the NBA Summer League in Salt Lake City. Dieng scored 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting, with 10 rebounds, as the Thunder beat the 76ers 100-91.
And of course the game was against the Philadelphia junior varsity, mostly players who haven’t reached that level yet. Good NBA players should dominate such competition. And that’s the point. Dieng did.
Dieng, who turned 20 in May, is entering his second season with the Thunder. He was drafted as a project, and a project he remains.
On a team loaded with skilled guards—Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams, Isaiah Joe, Tre Mann, apparently Vasilije Micic—Dieng sticks out with his clumsiness.
It’s not because Dieng isn’t talented. He is, what a 6-foot-10 forward. That’s why the Thunder drafted him. His passing ability is pretty advanced, and he can handle the ball reasonably well for a big man (although he did have a whopping nine turnovers Thursday night). His shooting form is concerning, but he’s doing just enough to make you think he can improve.
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Defensively, Dieng is lost like most young players, and he hasn’t shown much shot-blocking instinct, but he has incredibly long arms and is relatively quick, and it’s easy to envision him as a defensive threat if he learns the nuances of NBA.
Therefore, he will play for the Thunder in 2023-24. The Thunder don’t know what it has in Dieng, but need to find out.
The Thunder must find out if Dieng is another Jerami Grant.
Watching the Salt Lake Summer League, Dieng made me think of Jerami Grant, the former Thunder forward who has become a prime-time player since being traded from OKC in the summer of 2019, when the Thunder began to crumble.
Since leaving OKC, in four seasons (Denver one, Detroit two and Portland one), Grant has averaged 18.1 points and 4.1 rebounds a game. He is a good defender, an efficient scorer (.578 true shooting percentage) and a low-key personality.
Not a star. But a really good player.
And Grant is clumsy when everyone comes out. Robotic. All elbows and knees. Doesn’t get space easily.
He’s uneven, if that’s a word. We like our NBA players smooth. Imagine if Thunder wing Aaron Wiggins was the exact same player, only lanky instead of smooth. We wouldn’t think of him nearly the same way.
That’s what Grant had to overcome. The clumsy impression. That is what Dieng must overcome in our minds.
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But when you think about Dieng compared to Grant, you might see what the Thunder are seeing.
Tall, lanky players with skills that, while uninhibited, are uncommon.
Dieng is 6-foot-10, 216 pounds. He was the 11thth pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, one month after his 19thth birthday.
Grant is listed at 6-8 (looks taller), 210 pounds (skinnier than that as a rookie). He was the 39thth pick in the 2014 draft, at the age of 20.
Here are Dieng’s rookie year numbers at age 19: 39 games, one start, 14.6 minutes, 4.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.7 turnovers, 42 percent shooting, .265 3- point shooting. Dieng’s Player Efficiency Rating (PER, John Hollinger’s metric designed to condense a player’s statistics into one number) was 9.3. Dieng’s slugging percentage was .505.
Here are Grant’s rookie year numbers, at age 20 for Philadelphia: 65 games, 11 starts, 21.2 minutes, 6.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.3 turnovers, .352 shooting, .314 3-point shooting, 8.7 PER and 8.7 PER. 470 true shooting percentage.
After adjusting for minutes, Dieng was just as productive as Grant and more efficient.
Grant learned to play.
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At age 21 for the 76ers, Grant’s numbers improved, but not significantly: 77 games, 52 starts, 26.8 minutes, 9.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.4 turnovers, .419 shooting, .240 3-point shooting, 12 PER. 506 true-shooting.
At age 22, Grant was traded to the Thunder and his season numbers were 80 games, four starts, 19.1 minutes, 5.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.6 turnovers, .463 shooting, .371 3-point shooting, 10.1 PER. and .556 true-shooting.
It was the season of Carmelo Anthony, and by the end of the season it was clear that the Thunder should have played Grant over Carmelo.
By age 23, Grant’s last year in OKC, his PER was up to 16.7, his true shooting percentage was .607, and he was a bona fide NBA starter on even good teams.
Odds are that Dieng will not rise to that level, for the simple reason that the odds are against most players rising to that level.
But Dieng is a rare combination of size and skill set. At least the Thunder aren’t in NBA title contention yet, and can afford to give young players time.
Dieng is all elbows and knees, but Sam Presti generally sees players for what they can do, not what they can’t.
And so Dieng gets a chance.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at [email protected]. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20pm on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoma journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
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