Atlanta Hawks: 3 legends for Gorgui Dieng to study

The Atlanta Hawks made so many good calls during the offseason. One of them was to sign eight-year veteran Gorgui Dieng to a single-season deal. The big man has played for three different teams in his time in the league.

After playing his first six and a half seasons with the Minnesota Timberwolves, Dieng was traded to the Memphis Grizzlies before being waived in late March the following season. Three days later he was signed by the San Antonio Spurs where he played out the rest of the season.

Where the Hawks were really smart in signing Dieng is that they were looking to make sure they secured their backup big role. John Collins was yet to sign his five-year deal which could have made the impact of Onyeka Okongwu missing the first three months of the season much greater.

Areas that Gorgui Dieng can help the Atlanta Hawks

As a veteran of the league, Dieng knows a little bit about what it takes to make it on the defensive end. When he moved into the starting role for the Timberwolves when Karl-Anthony Towns was out he helped turn them from the bottom of the league defensively to the best in the league over the 12 games.

On top of that, he has started to develop a really solid perimeter offensive game. In his final season with the Timberwolves, Dieng was taking 2.6 attempts per game from beyond the arc. He continued to take almost two a game for the next couple of seasons and he is making them at a 35.7 percent clip for his career, 42.9 percent last season.

With all that in mind, let’s take a look at the three legends of the game Gorgui Dieng should study.