I’ve noticed Diabate does a nice job of knowing how to contest without fouling. That is such an incredibly undervalued skill. Knowing this is a savvy vet skill that takes a lot of time to polish.
I don’t want to go too far, but Moussa is “Rodman-like” in terms of shot anticipation and knowing where to be and how to poke the ball towards another teammate.
In addition to his offensive rebounds, I wonder how many more he’s contributed to by tapping the ball out, or sealing off a defender with a box out to allow a teammate to grab the rebound.
Edit: boxing out reminds me of a low point from last season. When I legitimately got very excited because I saw a hornets player deliver a textbook box out. I think it was Frank Ntilikina. The amount of joy it brought me was hilariously sad. In case we are going to experience a similar season to last year, at least we have Moussa Diabate out there doing his thing. He’s really a fun watch. As a hornets fan, you gotta find joy in the small things in an attempt to stay sane.
On the sealing off, quite a few. Wonder if the staff tracks assisted rebounds. He be leading there I’d think. He just seems like a selfless, high-value player.
You aren’t rushing things. 2 way contracts are limited in terms of the # of NBA games they can play: 50 games. If we play him more than that we will have to sign him to a full deal or send him to G league
Not rushing things at all. I’m going to get a Diabate jersey. Granted, it’ll be a $25 Chinese knock of jersey like all my others-but still. Love what he’s doing. And I fully believe that is mostly sustainable. Maybe not the level, but the underlying skill will continue to transfer
It was bad, everything about it was “nope”. I immediately said uh oh in live action, watched the replay of it once and didn’t want to watch the subsequent replays of his knee buckling. I think I immediately commenting on our chat “well fuck”.
I hope we’re all wrong, but it doesn’t look like a good prognosis at this moment. Grant seems like a pretty tough it out kind of guy and the fact that he immediately waived someone over was not a good sign.
This team is cursed man. I guess this means more minutes for Salaun. Good luck kid, you’re up buddy.
Re: Melo. 50 is pretty nuts. Currently top 3 scoring in the league. Take away the Brooklyn game (where he’s basically benched; and I’m not saying undeservedly), he’d be averaging 31.4 and clearly 2nd in the league.
That’s a good question. I could see that. The way he’s getting to the free throw line and finishing at the basket has made all the difference in the world.
Clearly, he’s scoring enough and can be that dagger guy when we need him. He’s hitting those 35 footers regularly enough that I think that’s part of his game and not just chucking.
I would like to see him getting closer to 10 assists a game, though it’s been a weird season with the rotations so far.
Totally agree. I’d bet that the 10 assists will be a more regular thing once mark Williams and Nick Richards are back. Those easy drop off/PnR assists.
Edit: as frustrated as I am in this moment (and shocked we’ve actually won 6 games), all I want is for mark Williams to be back. I don’t care about playing without miles bridges to be honest, but I think everyone knows how I feel about that. The offense would become SO much more efficient with a big on the floor.
