Tramel: OKC Thunder needs to find out who Ousmane Dieng is, perhaps the next Jerami Grant
Ousmane Dieng had a monster game Thursday night in the NBA Summer League at Salt Lake City. Dieng scored 22 points on 10-of-12 shooting, with 10 rebounds, as the Thunder beat the 76ers 100-91.
And sure, the game was against the Philadelphia junior varsity, mostly players who have yet to even ascend to that level. Good NBA players should dominate such competition. And that’s the point. Dieng did.
Dieng, who turned 20 in May, is entering his second season with the Thunder. He was drafted as a project, and a project he remains.
On a team loaded with skilled guards – Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, Jalen Williams, Isaiah Joe, Tre Mann, apparently Vasilije Micic – Dieng sticks out with his clunkiness.
It’s not that Dieng isn’t skilled. He is, for a 6-foot-10 forward. That’s why the Thunder drafted him. His passing ability is quite advanced, and he can handle the ball reasonably well for a big man (though he had a ghastly nine turnovers Thursday night). His shooting form is worrisome, but he makes just enough for you to believe he could develop.
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Defensively, Dieng gets lost like most young players, and he hasn’t shown much shot-blocking instinct, but he’s got impossibly long arms, and he’s relatively quick, and it’s easy to imagine him as a defensive menace if he learns the nuances of the NBA.
Which is why he will play for the 2023-24 Thunder. The Thunder doesn’t know what it has in Dieng but needs to find out.
The Thunder needs to find out if Dieng is another Jerami Grant.
Watching the Salt Lake Summer League, Dieng made me think of Jerami Grant, the former Thunder forward who has become a primetime player since being traded from OKC in summer 2019, when the Thunder began the teardown.
Since leaving OKC, Grant in four seasons (Denver one, Detroit two and Portland one) has averaged 18.1 points and 4.1 rebounds a game. He’s a good defender, an efficient scorer (.578 true-shooting percentage) and a low-key personality.
Not a star. But a really good player.
And Grant is clunky as all get out. Robotic. All elbows and knees. Doesn’t get places easily.
He’s unsmooth, if that’s a word. We like our NBA players smooth. Imagine if Thunder wing Aaron Wiggins was the exact same player, only gangly instead of smooth. We wouldn’t think of him nearly the same way.
That’s what Grant had to overcome. That clunky impression. That’s what Dieng has to overcome in our minds.
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But when you think of Dieng compared to Grant, maybe you’ll see what the Thunder sees.
Tall, rangy players with skills that, while unbridled, aren’t common.
Dieng is 6-foot-10, 216 pounds. He was the 11th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, one month after his 19th birthday.
Grant is listed at 6-8 (looks taller), 210 pounds (thinner than that as a rookie). He was the 39th pick in the 2014 draft, at age 20.
Here are Dieng’s rookie-year numbers, at age 19: 39 games, one start, 14.6 minutes, 4.9 points, 2.7 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 0.7 turnovers, 42 percent shooting, .265 3-point shooting. Dieng’s player efficiency rating (PER, John Hollinger’s metric designed to condense a player’s statistics into one number) was 9.3. Dieng’s true-shooting percentage was .505.
Here are Grant’s rookie-year numbers, at age 20 for Philadelphia: 65 games, 11 starts, 21.2 minutes, 6.3 points, 3.0 rebounds, 1.2 assists, 1.3 turnovers, .352 shooting, .314 3-point shooting, 8.7 PER and .470 true-shooting percentage.
Adjusting for minutes, Dieng was every bit as productive as was Grant, and more efficient.
Grant was learning how to play.
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At age 21 for the 76ers, Grant’s numbers improved but not substantially: 77 games, 52 starts, 26.8 minutes, 9.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.4 turnovers, .419 shooting, .240 3-point shooting, 12.6 PER and .506 true-shooting.
At age 22, Grant was traded to the Thunder, and his season numbers were 80 games, four starts, 19.1 minutes, 5.5 points, 2.6 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.6 turnovers, .463 shooting, .371 3-point shooting, 10.1 PER and .556 true-shooting.
That was the season of Carmelo Anthony, and by season’s end, it was clear the Thunder should have been playing Grant over Carmelo.
At age 23, Grant’s final year in OKC, his PER was up to 16.7, his true-shooting percentage was .607 and he was a bonafide NBA starter on even good teams.
Odds are that Dieng will not rise to that level, for the simple reason that odds are against most players rising to that level.
But Dieng is a rare combination of size and skill set. The Thunder is not in NBA title contention, not yet anyway, and can afford to give young players court time.
Dieng is all elbows and knees, but Sam Presti generally sees players for what they can do, not what they can’t.
And that’s why Dieng will get a chance.
Berry Tramel: Berry can be reached at 405-760-8080 or at btramel@oklahoman.com. He can be heard Monday through Friday from 4:40-5:20 p.m. on The Sports Animal radio network, including FM-98.1. Support his work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today.
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This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder finding out who Ousmane Dieng is at NBA Summer League
