Cheick ballin at the next level
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@chriz I expect them to trade him at some point. Give him a few more showcases like this and then flip him for a first rounder or as a package for a veteran guard. Pelicans need guards, and Cheick happens to be at a position they have a surplus of. I hope that just means he gets more PT.
It also bring up the question, what could KU have been last year if Self would have just let him play through his mistakes? Forced the guards to learn how to play with him. I think sometimes HCBS gets too competitive during the regular season… maybe one of his few faults as a coach. If you could call it that. His NCAA investigation not allowing him to practice will always be a major question about last years season. Which is sad. The NCAA legitimately hurt us last year, and if it wasn’t on purpose, I don’t know what it could be. It was an extreme investigation that lead to an end result that didn’t seem to be apart of the reason he was not allowed to participate. I still feel like we got robbed of a potential game changing player. One that team could have really really used.
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Diallo has made 7 trips to the D-League where he has been playing almost daily and finally getting a hang of the game. Even if he would have played 40 minutes per game at KU, it still would not have been close to the time it has taken him to get where he is now.
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Great raw talent. His McD and Hoop Summit performances were dominant, but just clueless in a D-I system. I have to assume that the lightbulbs just weren’t coming on in practice. Offensively I’m pretty sure he would have been a non-factor at best.
However, that said, on defense we had no rim protector and pretty sure Cheick could have helped out in the middle of a zone. Unfortunately in man, he kept getting lost.
I think I have to agree, @JayHawkFanToo . i think Bill tried to develop him with the limited time he had him, but it just wasn’t in the cards.
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Not sure why NO’s bigs didn’t play, so that opened the door for him.
Selden had a lot of playing time with Memphis too. Did decently.
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Yep… that explains it all for him. He just needed court time to lift his game and needed a lot of it.
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Jeff Withey said that he started to get better in the NBA when the game finally “slowed down,” meaning it was much faster than what he was used to. I don’t believe the game quite slowed down for Diallo in college to get the gist of it and now, it is finally slowing down some for him and he is playing better.
The Pelicans are out of the playoffs so they are resting the stars and evaluating the younger prospects.
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@JayHawkFanToo LoL, yah and Joel Embiid totally embarrassed Withey with a dream shake. Brutal!
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In all fairness, Embiid embarrassed much bigger names than Whitey…
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@approxinfinity I don’t know Diallo showed flashes of greatness even with his limited playing time at KU. Yet I know he also floundered too with his limited playing time. However this is were I think Coach is a bit different than other top Coaches. He just doesn’t care if you’re OAD. If you play for him he expects you to learn something. I’m assuming that is why Coach and KU get turned down by a lot of Top recruits/OAD’s. I don’t know if its a good or bad thing? I guess it depends on prospective. Yet know no one can deny Diallo is very gifted young man. Hope he makes it in the NBA.
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@DoubleDD I don’t think HCBS tells an OAD that a position is his if he picks KU, but rather PT is not a guarantee unless you’re willing to work hard and earn it.
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@JayHawkFanToo Well he lost out on 5 months of team oriented practices… He was literally thrown into the fire. Hard to say Bill wouldn’t have had him ready to play for at least 20-22 mpg if he got to have him all that extra time.
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Not exactly. Diallo was allowed to practice with the team in October and before that the number and extent of practices was limited by the NCAA and during the season practices are limited since the players are, at least in theory, still student and school work takes the bulk of their time.
At NO and the D-League he was able to concentrate 24/7 to basketball with no other distraction; Diallo was just too raw in term of polished/acquired skills and basketball IQ. It has taken him a year of intense practice to be able to get a couple of minutes of playing time here and there and the additional practice at KU no doubt would have helped but not enough to make him a starter.
