Gorgui Dieng is entering his third season in the NBA with the Minnesota Timberwolves and so far in his NBA career he has been a pleasant surprise. Dieng was a first round pick but he was drafted late in the first round (21st) and not much was expected of him. Dieng though, has proven he can play a very solid role for the Timberwolves. Dieng improved vastly from year one to year two and he hopes to do the same this season as he has added a three point jump shot and will likely have the green light, according to Jerry Zgoda of the Minneapolis Star Tribune.
So far in his career Dieng has only attempted seven threes while making two but he has made a concerted effort to work on it this offseason and it has reportedly worked. During practices interim head coach Sam Mitchell would tell Dieng to step in from the three point line during shooting drills but Dieng insisted he could make it. Dieng has done a good job of convincing his coach because now Mitchell has given him permission to shoot threes during games.
"He works on it. That corner three, if he's open and he has his feet set, we'll let him shoot that shot," said Mitchell.
Don't expect Dieng to start chucking up threes now but it is a nice addition to his game to make him a little more versatile on the offensive end. Dieng has said he won't rely on it but if he can make it, or at least be a threat from the corner, it will help his team out and he's right.
Dieng has always had a tremendous mid-range jumper so the fact that he is extending his range to the corner three shouldn't be a surprise. In his first two seasons in the league Dieng has made 56 percent of his shots between 10 and 16 feet which is an incredible percentage so taking a couple of steps back is a natural progression and an uptick in three point attempts and makes should be expected.
Dieng is expected to be the backup center this season for Minnesota behind rookie Karl-Anthony Towns. Dieng has apparently been teaching the first overall pick about the NBA game and Mitchell loves his center combo. Last season Dieng averaged 9.7 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.7 blocks in 30 minutes per game and he should once again be extremely productive off the bench for Minnesota especially with his new weapon on offense.
