The Ringer releases updates to its NBA power rankings every three weeks. This week, even while ranking the Oklahoma City Thunder near the bottom, analyst Kevin O’Connor heaped praise upon the organization:
“If player development was a statistic, the Thunder would be near the top of the league,” he wrote.
O’Connor highlighted three young Thunder players specifically: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (obviously), Lu Dort (those around the league continue to take notice) and Hamidou Diallo (the guard is proving himself as a rotation-caliber NBA player).
O’Connor wrote about Diallo:
“Diallo made a name for himself by winning the dunk contest in 2019, but he often frustrated Thunder fans in games, especially during the playoffs. But the errors of youngsters should be forgiven if they make progress. He certainly has worked hard to improve on his flaws. On defense, he’s been locked in. Offensively, he’s taking quality shots and is passing the ball with better precision and purpose than ever before.”
Diallo has emerged as one of the better bench options in the league this season, and has impressed in his spot starts over injured Thunder players.
He has scored in double-digits each of the last 10 games, broke his career assist record by dishing 10 dimes, and has three double-doubles on the season.
Overall, he’s averaging 12.6 points, 4.9 rebounds (1.0 offensive) and 2.3 assists in 22.7 minutes per game.
The development of these players isn’t surprising to O’Connor, given the background of head coach Mark Daigneault.
The coach has a deep, deep history of player development jobs at both the collegiate and NBA level.
“Daigneault was a player development specialist under Billy Donovan for 10 years—four seasons with the University of Florida, five seasons as a G League head coach, and one as an assistant coach with Oklahoma City.”
The first-year head coach has impressed so far this season. Gilgeous-Alexander is making a jump. Dort has made a leap on the offensive end — O’Connor wrote that he’s “more than a defensive stopper now that he’s being empowered to do more offensively” — and Diallo is emerging in his third season.
“(Diallo has) come a long way from last season, and looks the part of a player who could stick around for a long time if he keeps getting better.”
Early development of these three and continued growth of other young players on the roster can lead to success in the future. That’s what matters now; hovering near .500 for this long has been icing on the cake.
O’Connor ranked the Thunder at No. 26 on the power rankings, a boost of one from his last edition.
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