Philc1 wrote:We are going to see quite a bit of OG and Diawara at the 5 next season.

OG will probably *line up* more at C over Mo.

Still a long way until roster is set but how and where he plays will matter.
Even if he grows another inch he is still lacking the man strength to play substantial minutes at the 5.
My observations with him is he is still raw in the fundamentals especially on defense. The athletic abilty to defend one on one is there but he got twisted up from time to time when screened and had to switch. It was to be expected.

To me he demonstrated or better said: "EARNED" that new contract and a career path.
How fast it happens remains to be seen. One might guess he will have an opportunity to be in the rotation.
We have seen enough of Kolek and McCullar to perhaps determine their upside and if no role available here their agent should be working to get them moved to a team that can provide a window?
Dadiet? The G-league games should be good indicater that he can play and perhaps bridge the gap as we have seen with Deuce and Kolek. Pacome is now said to be 6-9 and those g-league highlights have him going to the rim often. The shot is there and perhaps my only novice observation is perhaps a low release point? The plan and expectation for our yoot?

Rookie wrote:

SergioNYK wrote:Brown wouldn't use Diawara as a smallball 5. That would likely be OG with Diawara and Hart at the forwards.

If you’re saying Diawara can’t be used as a small ball center then you are saying Kevin Looney wouldn’t be used as a sb center either

But Looney is already a Center.

SergioNYK wrote:

Rookie wrote:

SergioNYK wrote:Brown wouldn't use Diawara as a smallball 5. That would likely be OG with Diawara and Hart at the forwards.

If you’re saying Diawara can’t be used as a small ball center then you are saying Kevin Looney wouldn’t be used as a sb center either

But Looney is already a Center.

Looney and Diawara are the same height and weight.

EwingsGlass wrote:

JBGoat wrote:Mo and Dadiet are not the answer to anything. Potential is there but, they both need to get better just to crack the rotation.

Let’s be clear - right now they are trying to crack the top 9.

Day to day, all of McBride, Clarkson, Shamet, Alvarado are in a junkyard brawl for excess minutes on the wing.

Dadiet and Diawara have height, good three point strokes, but both need motor and aggressiveness.

Dadiet needs to watch behind him for Nickel. While a rookie, he’s older and looks like he has both a shot and a motor.

Diawara looks like he could be a point forward type facilitator when KAT is off the floor. He plays the right way for a 4-1 motion offense or 5-out.

Right now, I see nothing different from last year except Drummond in place of Robinson. I think Diawara starts getting 12 mins a night now that he is under contract. The plus-minuses will see if he gets more.

Let's be clear - Diawara is very raw. Nickel looks better than both he and Dadiet in SL.You see him facilitating the offense as a point forward? Huh? I get the excitement he generated in the few games he played last season that matter but, he regressed steadily until he was back to playing garbage time. He is raw. He is long. We need the length on the roster and in the rotation but, he has to prove himself. People are a little too convinced he's that guy right now. He has to work on his game and he's young enough to have hope but. I need to see more from him. He looks clumsy to me.

Dadiet is another young player we can hope becomes something but, IMO he plays way too soft and doesn't seem to have the motor to take a leap. How much opportunity is he going to get on a contender with an established bench pecking order.

Nickel looks more ready than both as an older rookie right now.

All 3 players have to prove they belong. We are probably the shortest team in the league both in the starting 5 and the bench. 6'5 is a recurring theme around here. We pulled off a championship with this team so I'm not doom and gloom about things but, we need some quality length to help our chances IMO.

The final roster isn't set yet so, until that happens we don't even know who we go into the season with. I am pumping the brakes on this kid until he shows out. I can see a world where Nickel passes both of these guys in the rotation this season. Time will tell.

JBGoat wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:

JBGoat wrote:Mo and Dadiet are not the answer to anything. Potential is there but, they both need to get better just to crack the rotation.

Let’s be clear - right now they are trying to crack the top 9.

Day to day, all of McBride, Clarkson, Shamet, Alvarado are in a junkyard brawl for excess minutes on the wing.

Dadiet and Diawara have height, good three point strokes, but both need motor and aggressiveness.

Dadiet needs to watch behind him for Nickel. While a rookie, he’s older and looks like he has both a shot and a motor.

Diawara looks like he could be a point forward type facilitator when KAT is off the floor. He plays the right way for a 4-1 motion offense or 5-out.

Right now, I see nothing different from last year except Drummond in place of Robinson. I think Diawara starts getting 12 mins a night now that he is under contract. The plus-minuses will see if he gets more.

Let's be clear - Diawara is very raw. Nickel looks better than both he and Dadiet in SL.You see him facilitating the offense as a point forward? Huh? I get the excitement he generated in the few games he played last season that matter but, he regressed steadily until he was back to playing garbage time. He is raw. He is long. We need the length on the roster and in the rotation but, he has to prove himself. People are a little too convinced he's that guy right now. He has to work on his game and he's young enough to have hope but. I need to see more from him. He looks clumsy to me.

Dadiet is another young player we can hope becomes something but, IMO he plays way too soft and doesn't seem to have the motor to take a leap. How much opportunity is he going to get on a contender with an established bench pecking order.

Nickel looks more ready than both as an older rookie right now.

All 3 players have to prove they belong. We are probably the shortest team in the league both in the starting 5 and the bench. 6'5 is a recurring theme around here. We pulled off a championship with this team so I'm not doom and gloom about things but, we need some quality length to help our chances IMO.

The final roster isn't set yet so, until that happens we don't even know who we go into the season with. I am pumping the brakes on this kid until he shows out. I can see a world where Nickel passes both of these guys in the rotation this season. Time will tell.

Agree on all points.

EwingsGlass wrote:

JBGoat wrote:

EwingsGlass wrote:

JBGoat wrote:Mo and Dadiet are not the answer to anything. Potential is there but, they both need to get better just to crack the rotation.

Let’s be clear - right now they are trying to crack the top 9.

Day to day, all of McBride, Clarkson, Shamet, Alvarado are in a junkyard brawl for excess minutes on the wing.

Dadiet and Diawara have height, good three point strokes, but both need motor and aggressiveness.

Dadiet needs to watch behind him for Nickel. While a rookie, he’s older and looks like he has both a shot and a motor.

Diawara looks like he could be a point forward type facilitator when KAT is off the floor. He plays the right way for a 4-1 motion offense or 5-out.

Right now, I see nothing different from last year except Drummond in place of Robinson. I think Diawara starts getting 12 mins a night now that he is under contract. The plus-minuses will see if he gets more.

Let's be clear - Diawara is very raw. Nickel looks better than both he and Dadiet in SL.You see him facilitating the offense as a point forward? Huh? I get the excitement he generated in the few games he played last season that matter but, he regressed steadily until he was back to playing garbage time. He is raw. He is long. We need the length on the roster and in the rotation but, he has to prove himself. People are a little too convinced he's that guy right now. He has to work on his game and he's young enough to have hope but. I need to see more from him. He looks clumsy to me.

Dadiet is another young player we can hope becomes something but, IMO he plays way too soft and doesn't seem to have the motor to take a leap. How much opportunity is he going to get on a contender with an established bench pecking order.

Nickel looks more ready than both as an older rookie right now.

All 3 players have to prove they belong. We are probably the shortest team in the league both in the starting 5 and the bench. 6'5 is a recurring theme around here. We pulled off a championship with this team so I'm not doom and gloom about things but, we need some quality length to help our chances IMO.

The final roster isn't set yet so, until that happens we don't even know who we go into the season with. I am pumping the brakes on this kid until he shows out. I can see a world where Nickel passes both of these guys in the rotation this season. Time will tell.

I don’t see any evidence of a statistical regression due to poor performance by Diawara. I do accept that he just finished his rookie year and played an average of 13 minutes per game. His Per36 numbers aren’t “wow” but 14 pts, 5 Rebs and 3 ast for a rookie season Per 36 aren’t bad at all. His 37% from 3 is above league average and pretty solid for a 6’9 power forward. I haven’t named him an all star, but I like what I see. I think he brings a different dynamic than either Dadiet or Nickel. I see his upward comp to be Paskal Siakam - I like how he shows a number of skills sets including good court vision, 3 point shot, and an ability to put the ball on the court and get to the hoop.

Much of my commentary on seeing him as a Point Forward relates to his vision. He seemed to make good passes on the court whether or not his teammates hit those shots.

I agree that Nickel looks good in his teo summer league games. But we all know we don’t anoint players in summer league. I think his skill set translates well to the NBA and as I said above, he could jump Dadiet in the minutes battle quickly - need to see more motor and aggression from Dadiet.

Nickel is pretty self aware - his references to Strus, Herro, Wade are pretty spot on. That said, I like his defense better than Herro and Wade — in two summer league games.

I have high hopes for Mo Diawara, so I’ll defend him for a bit. I hope we see some growth this year. I do think he takes the next step here.

I have high hopes for him too. I just need to see him improve before I buy in. He played 9 minutes a game and his per 36 numbers are basically meaningless to me. Those projection stats are very misleading when you really only played in 7 games and the rest was mostly garbage time. His 3pt shot was inconsistent after a hot start in limited minutes from what I recall.

I hope at least one of these kids can have at least a small impact this season. We need all the help we can get. I can see Dadiet getting shipped out at some point and if Deuce goes into the season with no extension, we know how that ends. I don't think the team is any real rush to do much right now. It's a long summer.