I’m really excited about Cheick Diallo, and you should be too. Yes, he fits the bill as a late-bloomer who might never actually bloom, but there are numerous reasons to believe that he can overcome the battle of having only five years of basketball experience prior to his second-round draft selection.
Any discussion of a physical marvel like Diallo will start with his body; standing only 6’9”, Cheick makes up for his smaller stature by lasso-ing opposing players with a ridiculous 7’4” wingspan and 9’1” standing reach. He makes plays that honestly bring to mind the game’s best modern centers– he can come out and play the pick-and-roll aggressively before recovering through the lane quickly and steadily enough to alter a shot at the rim at the end of the play:
That’s peak Dwight Howard-level stuff, but compounds the concern that he lacks the discipline and experience to fit into a system on either end.