After playing arguably the best game of his college career Monday night, it would be hard to imagine Louisville junior center Gorgui Dieng (23) not turning pro in this weak draft. His defense was exceptional, and he made some big baskets down the stretch to help secure Louisville’s third national championship. Dieng finished the game with 8 points, 8 rebounds and 6 assists.
His six assists jump off the page more than anything else. Dieng has shown flashes of being an exceptional passer for a big man and ended the year averaging two assists per game. This makes him a very appealing prospect in the eyes of many scouts.
Dieng’s physical attributes are his strongest selling point though. He measures in at 6’11” and reportedly has a 7’6” wingspan. He weighs 245 pounds and has consistently added strength ever since stepping foot onto the Louisville campus, unlike his athleticism which hasn’t shown many signs of improvement.
Dieng is still really shaky on the offensive end. He’s good when he gets the ball in the pick-and-roll and can take it hard to the basket where he tends to be a solid finisher unless the area is overcrowded. He hasn’t dealt with added defensive attention very well during his tenure at Louisville. His ball-handling skills also need work; he has little ability as far as putting the ball on the floor goes, and he often times gets into trouble when dribbling the ball down low.
His mid-range jumper is his most significant weakness. It’s shown flashes though, and he made two jumpers in the final five minutes of the National Championship game. With some work, it should improve and become good enough to at least make him dangerous enough to not leave him all alone from 10+ feet.
His back-to-the-basket game is still a work in progress, but it too has shown flashes. Dieng needs to work on his touch around the basket, but he’s shown fhe has hook shots and turnaround jumpers in his arsenal down there. They just need some polishing to become more dangerous and consistent. His free throw percentage also increased from 53.8% to 65.3% from his freshman to junior year.
Dieng’s biggest offensive strength still remains his ability to use his length, mobility and size to track down offensive rebounds. He has an exceptionally good nose for the ball.
Defensively, Dieng is much more polished. He has a great feel for the game on defense, and he excels as a team and man-to-man defender. He is tremendous at shutting down pick-and-rolls and blocking shots from behind. His biggest defensive weakness is his bad habit of relying on his length to contest shots. As a freshman, he spent a lot of time in foul trouble, but that wasn’t nearly as big of a problem for him during his sophomore and junior seasons.
As a junior, Dieng ended up averaging 9.8 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.0 assists per game while shooting 53.4% from the floor. He’s still a raw prospect, but he plays the most valuable position in the NBA and has a lot of tools that scouts can fall in love with.
Dieng is still a junior so it’s possible he could return, but that would be an idiotic decision on paper. He’s 23 (older than most juniors), he just won a national championship, and his point guard is graduating so there won’t be as good of a player that would distribute the ball to him next year.
It’s hard to say who he really compares to in the NBA. His ceiling would be Serge Ibaka, but it’s highly unlikely he’ll ever end up being that good. Bismack Biyombo could be another solid comparison as he, like Dieng, uses his tremendous length to be a defensive playmaker at the rim. His offensive game probably has more potential than Biyombo’s though.
If Dieng works out well, after his tremendous NCAA tournament he should be a top-20 selection and could have an outside shot to sneak into the lottery. He’s somewhat of a project and more than likely won’t see a whole lot of minutes early, but the potential is there.
By Brian Emory
Add The Sports Daily to your Google News Feed!
