Tag: Hamidou Diallo

After flurry of trades, Hamidou Diallo is the longest-tenured Thunder player

Now that Steven Adams was traded and Andre Roberson was not re-signed, the longest tenured Oklahoma City Thunder player is Hamidou Diallo.

A flurry of trades and roster moves in recent years has sent away most of the players who established the Oklahoma City Thunder brand.

Suddenly, after trading Steven Adams and others, and not re-signing Andre Roberson, the longest tenured player on the Thunder is in his third year as a pro.

Hamidou Diallo, the 45th pick in the 2018 draft, has been on Oklahoma City longer than any of his teammates.

“It’s definitely crazy but it’s definitely an opportunity,” Diallo said on a Zoom call with media Wednesday. “It’s great to be that person, especially knowing what this program brings and knowing what this city’s about.”

Adams spent seven seasons with the Thunder before he was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans this offseason. Terrance Ferguson, drafted by OKC in 2017, was traded to the Philadelphia 76ers. Dennis Schroder and Abdel Nader were here for two seasons before being traded, and Nerlens Noel (two seasons) and Roberson (since 2013) were not re-signed.

Diallo said he’s excited for the extra leadership responsibility that title will bring as he shares not only experience on the court but within the organization.

“With position that we’re in, with older guys that have left, that have been here for a long time that laid the platform out that showed us what it means to wear these jerseys and play for this amazing city, it’s a tradition that you have to keep putting forward for the new guys,” he said.

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Hamidou Diallo reacts to Jake Paul’s vicious Nate Robinson knockout

A vicious right hand ended Nate Robinson’s Saturday night a little earlier than he’d hoped it would.

From one current Thunder to a former, Hamidou Diallo joined many of his NBA fraternity members in poking a little fun at former NBA player Nate Robinson for the knockout he sustained at the hands of YouTuber Jake Paul on Saturday night.

For those who may have been unaware, legendary boxers Mike Tyson and Roy Jones, Jr. squared off in an exhibition match on Saturday night from the STAPLES Center in Los Angeles, with the two fighting to a draw after their eight-round contest.

On the event’s undercard, though, was a match that had the entire NBA fraternity talking (and tweeting): Nate Robinson vs. Jake Paul.

Robinson, an 11-year NBA veteran who spent some time with the Thunder, called out Paul — a YouTube personality and actor — after Paul ventured into the boxing world earlier this year.

Shortly thereafter, the two agreed to fight on the undercard of the Tyson-Jones event, and the rest, as they say, was history — just like Nate.

Robinson was on the receiving end of an absolutely vicious knockout, and while difficult to watch, many of his comrades teased him about it. Perhaps that was due to some of the remarks Robinson made prior to the match or the things he said about Paul before the duo officially came to an agreement to fight.

Nonetheless, the Thunder’s Hamidou Diallo didn’t hold his tongue when the rest of the internet was having a little fun at Robinson’s expense.

“Damn everybody gone be Trynna square up with hoopers now,” Diallo tweeted along with six laughing emojis.

For those who haven’t seen the knockout, it was truly vicious. Although Robinson was out cold by the time he landed on the mat, he was eventually revived and isn’t believed to have suffered any major damage from the bout. So keep that in mind when watching the knockout.

To their credit, both Robinson and Paul have been good sports about Saturday night’s event. Robinson thanked those who supported him while Paul, who had two previous boxing matches, credited Robinson for having the courage to step into the ring.

Hard to argue with that.

Report: Thunder pick up Hamidou Diallo’s team option

The Oklahoma City Thunder have picked up the inexpensive team option for Hamidou Diallo, keeping the young wing in OKC.

The Oklahoma City Thunder liked enough of what they saw from Hamidou Diallo to bring back the 22-year-old.

The Thunder accepted Diallo’s 2020-21 player option, which will pay him $1.66 million, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.

Diallo carved out a role for himself as a second-year player, averaging almost 20 minutes per game in 46 appearances. He averaged 6.9 points and 3.6 rebounds and shot 44.6% from the field.

While Diallo, who is now 22, found a rotation spot, he hasn’t proven he’s a key piece to the future the way Darius Bazley, Lu Dort and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did in their first year on the Thunder.

Diallo is explosive and athletic, as proven in his 2019 NBA Dunk Contest victory, and his 6-foot-11 wingspan with his 6-foot-5 height makes him intriguing, but these areas haven’t translated to a specific, strong skill that can be useful in a rotation. He shot just 28.1% from beyond the arc, but he isn’t yet able to drive and get to the rim. He’s not a lockdown defender, either.

It’s not clear where Diallo’s ceiling lies, but there are enough positives in his abilities and athleticism that makes it more than worth it for the Thunder to bring him back, especially at the inexpensive asking price.

Diallo will likely slot in as a backup wing next season.

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What Billy Donovan said about 11-man rotation after Thunder loss to Rockets

The Oklahoma City Thunder played 11 players in important moments of Game One. That’s likely not able to continue against the Houston Rockets.

Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Billy Donovan gave a little hint to his rotation plans going forward in the series against the Houston Rockets.

After the 123-108 loss in Game One of the series, the Thunder likely can’t play 11-men deep again.

Part of that this game was because Nerlens Noel got into early foul trouble. Part was because Donovan wanted to see Andre Roberson early.

From the way Donovan talked, it sounds like four bench guys will be favored: Dennis Schroder, Hamidou Diallo, Darius Bazley and Nerlens Noel.

Those four, along with the starting lineup that includes Terrance Ferguson in place of Lu Dort, would give Oklahoma City a nine-man rotation.

Where does that leave the other players who have gotten time during the season and bubble? Roberson, Mike Muscala, and Abdel Nader, who was available after a neck and elbow sensation held him out of the final bubble game, did not play Tuesday.

“We played Dennis off the bench, and we played Hami off the bench, we played Bazley off the bench and we played Nerlens off the bench,” Donovan said.

“The other two guys, Mike was in there because there was some foul issues with Nerlens, and other one was, I wanted to take a look at Andre, to see what it would be like guarding James Harden. He certainly has a history of playing against him and knows him very well. I think it was important sooner than later to find out what that would look like.”

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While Donovan said Roberson had “a good defensive stance,” he could not have been pleased about the foul Roberson committed on Harden on a 3-point shot. The star guard also drove by Roberson with apparent ease at one point. Roberson was a minus-6 in three minutes of play.

Muscala hit the only shot he took, a 3-pointer, but only had two rebounds in 13 minutes and might not move well enough defensively to defend the 5-out Rockets.

“One guy I didn’t play that I’ll continue to look at is Abdel Nader,” Donovan said.

Nader had two minutes of garbage time.

Going off what Donovan said, it sounds like the nine-man rotation moving forward will be point guards Chris Paul, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Schroder; wings Ferguson, Diallo and Bazley; power forward Danilo Gallinari, who, like Bazley, can get time as center; and Steven Adams and Noel.

Lu Dort has no timetable on his return, but he has not been ruled out of Game Two as Donovan says the guard continues to progress.

Donovan said he’ll watch film on Roberson; if Donovan only needed to see three minutes of action before removing him from Game One, though, there may be more focus on the other nine players moving forward.

It sounds like Muscala will only get time when foul trouble dictates.

Houston cut its bench down to just three guys to play an eight-man rotation. It worked masterfully, as Jeff Green had 22 points and was plus-28, Ben McLemore had 14 points and was plus-27 and Austin Rivers had four points but was plus-11.

The Oklahoma City bench will have to be that productive to counter the Rockets moving forward.

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Hamidou Diallo turns in career night in losing effort to Clippers

Although occurring in an overtime loss, it was difficult to ignore the productive effort of Hamidou Diallo.

For the Thunder, being that their playoff matchup with the Rockets was already set, Friday night’s contest against the Los Angeles Clippers didn’t count for much.

Hamidou Diallo, though, didn’t get the message.

“He played with a lot of energy and was really explosive,” Thunder head coach Billy Donovan said after his team lost its season finale to the Clippers by a final score of 107-103.

Diallo, though, was the bright spot.

The sophomore turned in a career night, scoring 27 points off the bench for Billy Donovan’s club on a fairly efficient 10-for-22 shooting performance from the field. He also grabbed 11 rebounds.

Like Darius Bazley, Dionte Burton and Andre Roberson, Diallo saw his minutes extended as a result of the Thunder’s playoff situation already being solidified. Oklahoma City will square off against James Harden and the Rockets on Tuesday, Aug. 18, and Friday night’s 107-103 overtime loss to the Clippers didn’t impact that.

For Diallo, Friday night’s contest against the Clippers provided an opportunity to get some extended run and make a case for himself to get some rotation minutes during the playoffs.

Typically, head coaches shorten their rotations in the postseason, and with Schroder back, Lu Dort emerging as the starter and Roberson’s ability to make an impact on the defensive end, it’ll be interesting to see what Donovan does with Diallo from a minutes standpoint.

During the regular season, the swingman averaged 19 minutes per game. That did, however, increase to 22.4 minutes per game during the eight seeding games in Orlando.

It’s fair to say, as he looks ahead to being tasked with helping to slow down James Harden, that he made his case.

“It’s great,” Diallo said of the challenge, according to Brandon Rahbar of DailyThunder.com.

“These are the types of things we work out for every day. No matter the opponent, I’m gonna come out with the energy and flare I bring to the game.”

He will now certainly have the opportunity to back it up.

NBA hiatus gave Hamidou Diallo time to process information from season

The long NBA hiatus gave young players a chance to focus on all the lessons they were taught throughout the year. Hamidou Diallo is no different.

Since coming into the bubble, Hamidou Diallo has looked like a player who could get meaningful minutes in the Oklahoma City Thunder rotation.

He has averaged more than 11 points over his last three games while making 3-s and playing strong defense, particularly against the Utah Jazz in the first real game back.

Head coach Billy Donovan said that a positive from the nearly four-month hiatus was that young players finally had time to process the information they had been told throughout the regular season.

“I say this all the time with young players: When you have a period of time that these guys play a lot of games and there’s a long layoff, they have a lot of information that they’re going through for the first time that they can process,” Donovan said. “I think Hami’s no different. He’s just gotten better.”

During the day-to-day grind of the regular season, players certainly improve, but so much of practices and film sessions are dedicated to opponents: what those stars do, how to counter their moves, how to play your own game while being aware of what the opponent will try to force you into.

With months of break, athletes get a pause from the daily and can look at longer-term improvements.

Diallo had that time. He also finally had health on his side. And coming into August, he’s now closer to a third-year player than second.

Celebrating his birthday Friday symbolizes just how long it has been since the beginning of the season, when he was a fresh-faced 21-year-old with 51 games under his belt.

“Just being able to sit out and work on our craft – it was like an actual summer, I would say,” Diallo said. “It feels like we’re starting off fresh.”

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With his third “offseason” in the books, there are some improvements.

“Working on my ball handling, working on playing in different actions that I’d normally be in and just trying to get a feel for it,” he said. “Working on my body — staying in shape, getting stronger.”

Donovan has seen more from him as well. Sometimes when Diallo drives, the defender will be in position for a charge or to block him out. Over this last month of practice, Diallo looked more refined.

“I think he’s finding creases, and he’s finding angles a little bit better of getting to the rim and finishing,” Donovan said.

He also put an emphasis on shooting. There’s been just a small sample size, but Diallo has made four of his five 3-pointers attempted during the four total games and scrimmages in the bubble.

While Diallo needs to work on his form and consistency, he said the mental side is just as important.

Confidence is key. Donovan has stressed that to Diallo. Timid shooters don’t make buckets.

“It’s all confidence and it’s all mental,” Diallo said.

Stretching the floor is an important ability for Diallo to improve upon, particularly with the Thunder’s cast of wings that lack consistency from deep. On Saturday, he looked confident, making both 3s he attempted.

When his 3s aren’t falling, Donovan sees potential in other forms on offense.

“When the ball is in his hands, because he is so explosive, he needs to think about being an attacking player,” Donovan said. “If he doesn’t have it, then he can be a ball mover.”

Defensively, he showed Saturday that he has remained strong, helping limit fiery Jazz backup guard Jordan Clarkson to 4-of-17 shooting.

It’s not yet clear what Diallo’s role will be during the playoffs. The Thunder have a deep bench, one that’s been improved with the return of Andre Roberson.

The fact that Diallo has shown improvements bodes well. Those months off gave him a chance to learn.

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‘Premature’ to know what Thunder rotation will look like, Donovan says

Billy Donovan will continue tinkering with the Oklahoma City Thunder rotations during their eight games before the playoffs in the bubble.

Part of the Oklahoma City Thunder rotation is very clear, but head coach Billy Donovan has a challenge of putting together other units over these eight upcoming games.

He needs to get players as much time on the court as possible, not just because they are playing well, but just in case a player gets sick in the bubble or misses a coronavirus test like Nerlens Noel did before the third scrimmage.

“We have a full complement of players. And we need all of them to be able to help and contribute. Because you just don’t know what this whole situation’s going to look like a week or two from now,” Donovan said.

“Certainly we all hope everybody stays safe and healthy inside the bubble, but you never know what’s going to happen.”

Donovan needs to find time for at least 10 players over these next eight games as they formulate playoff rotations.

“It’s premature to sit there and say, last week or now, this is our rotation, this is what we’re going to do,” he said after the final scrimmage Tuesday.

Hamidou Diallo looks improved and may have earned time moving forward. His minutes wildly fluctuated during the season; over the final 10 games before the hiatus, he had three games of 10 minutes or less, three with more than 17 minutes and four times did not play.

He played well over the last two scrimmage games, scoring nine points with six rebounds and getting to the free throw line three times against the Philadelphia 76ers and scoring 16 points with five rebounds against the Portland Trail Blazers.

Darius Bazley will also have to be re-inserted into the rotation after missing the final 11 games of the season with a knee injury.

The return of Andre Roberson also complicates things – not that anyone is complaining about it. While he is still trying to improve his conditioning, he looked good in the scrimmages, including getting a block from behind and making a couple big 3-pointers.

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Will Roberson move back to the starting lineup? Can he play more than 20 minutes per game? Will Donovan use him at the 2 through 5?

That’s not even including Terrance Ferguson, whose 23.4 minutes per game was sixth-most on the team, Mike Muscala, who made some big 3s during the scrimmages, or Abdel Nader, who played quite a bit the final month of the season.

Donovan said he plans to get everyone playing time over these next eight games.

“We’ve gotta keep these guys engaged,” Donovan said. “All these guys at different points in time have helped our team and they’ve stepped up … We need to make sure they’re in a position where if something does happen we’re all in the mindset that we’ve got a job and a role to play in supporting and helping the team.”

As far as challenges go, having too many solid players certainly isn’t a bad one.

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Hamidou Diallo opts to wear special jersey phrase during Orlando games

One of the Thunder’s younger studs is exercising his right to send a message once play resumes in Orlando.

In the aftermath of national protests and the NBPA collectively wishing to make statements in favor of social justice initiatives, the players union negotiated with the NBA to allow those participating in Orlando to replace the last name on their jerseys with an approved phrase or slogan.

Thunder guard Hamidou Diallo will join teammate Chris Paul in exercising that right, as it was reported on Monday that Diallo will have his last name appearing on the back of his jersey replaced with “Black Lives Matter,” which is one of the 29 approved messages.

Aside from “Black Lives Matter,” players will also be permitted to use one of the following phrases: Say Their Names; Vote; I Can’t Breathe; Justice; Peace; Equality; Freedom; Enough; Power to the People; Justice Now; Say Her Name; Sí Se Puede (Yes We Can); Liberation; See Us; Hear Us; Respect Us; Love Us; Listen; Listen to Us; Stand Up; Ally; Anti-Racist; I Am A Man; Speak Up; How Many More; Group Economics; Education Reform; and Mentor.

Paul himself has decided to go with “EQUALITY” for his phrase. Many of the NBA’s other superstars — including LeBron James and Anthony Davis of the Los Angeles Lakers — have either declined to exercise their right or haven’t publicized their intentions.

Diallo, obviously, has.

Hamidou Diallo looked like a future NBA star even in grade school

The Thunder guard showed off pictures of himself from elementary school as part of the “until tomorrow” challenge that’s sweeping Instagram.

There’s a new challenge sweeping social media that has many users wondering what it means.

The phrase “Until Tomorrow” has suddenly popped up as the caption on numerous Instagram photos with no additional context.

According to USA Today, the person who posted the original photo, usually an embarrassing one from their childhood, is “supposed to direct message the person telling them to post their own embarrassing photo and leave it on their profile for a day, or … until tomorrow.”

Thunder guard Hamidou Diallo got in on the challenge on Tuesday night, posting a picture of himself from his childhood (although there’s really nothing embarrassing about it), smiling and, not surprisingly, holding a basketball under one arm.

View this post on Instagram

Until Tomorrow….

A post shared by Hamidou Diallo (@hami.diallo) on

Even as a kid, Diallo looked like a future athletic freak of nature.

Although he missed significant time during the season with an elbow hyperextension injury, Diallo still averaged 6.1 points and 3.2 rebounds in 32 games.

He also posted a second picture from when he was even younger, with the caption “ight last one … Until whenever”.

View this post on Instagram

Ight last one … Until Whenever

A post shared by Hamidou Diallo (@hami.diallo) on

As of the time of this writing, the hashtag #untiltomorrow has 356,000 posts on Instagram.

Three takeaways from OKC’s historic loss to the Bucks

Oklahoma City suffered their first loss in franchise history on Friday night, a 133-86 beat down at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks.

Oklahoma City lost in historic fashion to the Milwaukee Bucks, 133-86, on Friday night.

Here are three takeaways and not surprisingly, there are not a lot of positives to come out of the 47-point loss.

Hamidou Diallo didn’t do much with his playing time

Since Terrance Ferguson returned from his extended absence at the beginning of February, Hamidou Diallo has found himself on the outside of the rotation looking in.

Part of that is due to the rise of Thunder rookie, Lu Dort, who has taken over Ferguson’s spot in the starting lineup. But Diallo hasn’t exactly done much with the minutes that he’s been given.

With Danilo Gallinari sidelined due to left ankle soreness on Friday night, Billy Donovan gave Diallo got the starting nod.

He promptly picked up three fouls in the first four minutes and had to sit the rest of the half. To be fair, Diallo was tasked with guarding reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, and that’s a tough assignment for anybody.

Upon returning in the third quarter, he was issued his fourth personal on a loose ball foul less than three minutes into the second half.

Friday was the most time that Diallo has played in a month. He ended the game with 21 minutes of court time, scoring just four points on 2-of-7 shooting.

Yes, Diallo has dealt with injuries himself this season, and yes, the Bucks are the best team in the NBA, but it’s hard to determine what his role will be moving forward with limited minutes and minimal production.

 

On the wrong side of history

Friday night’s 47-point loss was the worst in franchise history.

The worst loss for the Oklahoma Thunder before that? A 42-point beat down by the Minnesota Timberwolves in January 2009.

In that game, a 129-87 loss in Minneapolis, Russell Westbrook was the only player for OKC in double figures with 12.

Oklahoma City’s record after that game was 5-31.

 

OKC was ice cold from beyond the arc

The temperature in Milwaukee was just above freezing on Friday night. But inside Fiserv Forum, things for the Thunder were downright frigid from 3-point land.

Oklahoma City shot just 17.1% from beyond the arc, hitting on just six of their 35 3-point attempts.

In comparison to the rest of the team, who combined for go 4-of-29 (13.7%), Mike Muscala was on fire, making 2-of-6 from range.

Meanwhile, Milwaukee made 21-of-45 from 3, including knocking down eight in the third quarter alone. As a team, the Bucks shot 46.7% beyond the arc.