Atlanta Hawks: Studs and duds from streak-starting win over Magic
Atlanta Hawks dud from win over Magic: Gorgui Dieng hasn’t worked out as a primary backup
When the Hawks signed Gorgui Dieng over the summer, it seemed like a savvy move that bordered on being a no-brainer. The 6-foot-11 big man could occupy the minutes vacated by Okongwu while bringing an added dimension of perimeter shooting to the table. He had shot over 42 percent from deep last season and hadn’t been below 30 percent since 2016.
Things seemingly got off to a good enough start with him seeing over 16 minutes per game over the Hawks first three contests. He averaged 6.7 points and 8.7 boards with 1.7 assists.
Dieng shot 61.5 percent overall and 75 percent from three on 1.3 looks per game. Since then, he has averaged 1.3 points on 16.7 percent shooting (and 1-of-10 from deep) with 3.4 boards in fewer than eight minutes per outing over his last 11 games.
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He was a healthy scratch against the Magic despite the Hawks leading the entire second half.
Atlanta has gone with Collins at center more lately with positive results — five of the Hawks 14 lineup combinations with positive plus-minuses feature Collins at the pivot — leaving scraps for an already struggling Dieng. This is despite their lineup with the best plus-minus featuring him alongside Young, Bogdan Bogdanovic, Danilo Gallinari, and Cam Reddish.
“Fall from grace” is probably overstating it for a player that would ideally be soaking up garbage minutes behind Capela and a healthy Okongwu.
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Still, given how well he seemed to fit on paper and the way the season began for the nine-year veteran, the recent developments are disappointing. We’d still bet on him coming back around, especially if the Hawks recent turn of fortunes holds and they find themselves on the delivering end of more blowouts.