Watch Gorgui Dieng go for a season high against the Nets
It was gorgeous, Dieng.
Gorgui Dieng is legitimately becoming one of the NBA's better backup centers. He continued the positive trend Sunday afternoon, when he dropped in 20 points and pulled down 10 boards during a 15-point road win over the Nets. Dieng made some nice moves on the way to that stat line, too.
You can watch them here:
Dieng's 20 points were only two off the pace of his career-high 22, which he's done twice before, once as a rookie and once last season. More important here is the symbolism this provides. Dieng is an actual offensive force now.
After two years of struggling with inconsistency on his jumper, he's making a staggering 46 percent of his midrange shots. He's also shooting a cool (or scorching hot, depending on how you want to classify it) 90 percent from the line.
Gorgui Dieng is a wonderful-shooting big, who can also rebound and protect the rim. Most teams would take that as their backup center any day of the week.
