Ousmane Dieng’s Rookie Season Shows Room for Improvement and High Ceiling

Ousmane Dieng’s rookie season didn’t break the stat sheet, but still showed signs of being a valuable piece to the OKC rotation.

Ousmane Dieng’s rookie season could be taken multiple different ways.

On the surface just looking at his overall numbers and averages it may not look that impressive, however his first season in the league wasn’t all that bad. Dieng wasn’t taken to be an immediate impact player, like other rookies, he was always going to be a project.

The French rookie finished his season averaging 4.9 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.2 assists per game. He shot 42% from the floor and 26.5% from 3-point range.

While his 3-point shooting is well below average, he wasn’t taken to be a lights out shooter from deep in OKC, though if his shot improved slightly it would make him more valuable in the long run. Dieng’s help comes in other facets of the game.

His length helps him around the rim as he is a finisher at the rim and has the ability to make cuts and create shots in the paint. Dieng spent sizable stretches in the G League this season with the Blue to have more focused work on his development.

He is only 19-years-old with large amounts of raw talent that needs to be molded and filled out, which is why he split time between the Thunder and the Blue. In his time with the Blue he was dominant scoring 16.5 points per game and averaging eight rebounds showing he has the ability to play at the highest level of basketball with the right help.

A downside of Dieng’s season is he was limited in action due to two separate wrist injuries. While the two injuries alone don’t signify a problem they do setback his development as the most important part to his progression is reps.

Dieng still has a lot of room to grow and improve, but his ceiling is clearly high. It's just a matter of finding him reps in a crowded rotation to help him develop. 

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