3 Reasons Diallo Is Spending So Much Time in the Gym These Days

As you read this, and it doesn't matter what time it is, Zoom Diallo is probably in the gym at the University of Washington and hoisting up 3-point shots.

Hundreds of treys. Every day. Night and day.

As just one of two returning UW players, and the only one left to appear in every outing for Danny Sprinkle's first Husky team in Montlake, Diallo knows he needs to have an accurate jumper from long range to maintain his minutes.

As a Big Ten freshman, he was fearless in driving to the hoop while averaging 11.1 points per game, but the 3-pointer just wasn't part of his make-up.

Either attempting or making them.

Once the Husky season came to an unmerciful last-place finish, and nearly everyone else left the roster, Diallo's least impressive stat line was this: 33 attempts behind the line and just 6 makes.

He needs to hone a 3-point shot not only to remain a UW mainstay, but also to become an NBA player.

"I've attacked this offseason just strictly working on my offside shot, just working off the ball," he said last week.

Five hundred daily attempts often has been used a a working number for others trying to extend their range. Diallo scoffed at that figure.

"Most definitely been in here late night and early mornings," he said. "Five hundred is a little number."

Diallo will be joined in the backcourt this season by USC transfers Desmond Claude and Wesley Yates III, and East Tennessee State transfer Quimari Peterson, who were 30.7, 43.9 and 42 percent shooters behind the line at their previous schools.

Last season, he attempted more than three treys in a game just once, launching five against Indiana and he sank two of them. So he's capable. He just needs to make it a regular part of his game and he knows it.

"Five hundred is definitely just a bare minimum at this point," Diallo said.

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