The Evolution Of Gorgui Dieng

Mitchell HansenWeb Editorial AssociateTwitter

During Gorgui Dieng’s basketball career, there has been one common saying that he has carried with himself throughout it all.

“If I do everything right, the rest is going to take care of itself.”

For Dieng, doing everything right consists of him working hard, staying healthy and improving each season.

As the 6-foot-11 big man takes part in his fourth NBA season, the rest is starting to take care of itself and his progression has been on display for all to see.

Even before he reached his dream of playing in the NBA, Dieng had proven that he has a winning mentality and knows what it takes to be successful.

In 2010, Dieng decided to play college basketball at the University of Louisville. The Kebemer, Senegal native wound up playing in a Cardinals uniform for three years.

In his time at Louisville, the Cardinals combined for a record 90-25. During that span, Dieng carried a career average of 8.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 1.2 blocks in 27.3 minutes per game.

In his last year with the Cardinals, the 2012-13 season, he helped Louisville capture its third NCAA Championship in school history, finishing with a career-best 9.8 points, 9.4 rebounds, two assists and 2.5 blocks per game that year.

Following his junior season at Louisville, Dieng decided to forgo his senior season and enter the 2013 NBA Draft.

Dieng was selected by the Utah Jazz with the 21st pick in the draft, but was traded along with Shabazz Muhammad to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Trey Burke.

“There are a lot of kids that want to be where we are at today,” Dieng said in his introductory press conference in Minneapolis following the draft. “I’m glad to get this chance and opportunity to become a better basketball player.”

In his rookie season with the Wolves, Dieng averaged 4.8 points, five rebounds and 0.7 assists per game in a limited role, averaging 13.6 minutes per game.

“I always believed in this and wanted to be a professional basketball player someday and it’s in my hands right now,” he said. “I will do whatever it takes to become a good basketball player and to help my team.”

After his first season in the NBA, the hard work continued for Dieng, who from then on would get an expanded role on the Wolves. And it started to pay off.

Every year that Dieng has been in the league, he has continuously progressed as time advances. Which is exactly what you want to see out of a player in the early stages of his career.

In his second season, Dieng started a career-high 49 games while appearing in 73 games during the year. He averaged 9.7 points, 8.3 rebounds, two assists and 1.7 blocks per game.

In his third year, he played in all 82 games, starting in 39 of them. He finished with 10.1 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.7 assists and 1.2 blocks a game.

Now in his fourth season in a Wolves uniform, Dieng has an even larger role in Minnesota. And his numbers are some of the best of his career.

“This year, I’m going to try the best I can. This is my fourth year in this league now and I’ve started to figure out stuff,” Dieng said. “Right now, I’m trying to do everything I can to have a very successful season.”

Through 35 games this year, Dieng is averaging 10.4 points, 7.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 1.3 blocks in 32.8 minutes per game, all of which are career-highs. He is also shooting 52.6 percent from the field and 76.5 percent from the free throw line as the starting power forward for the Wolves.

“I think every player tries to get better over the summer. I work on my overall game. Offense, defense. Today, I think defense is just as important as offense,” he said. “You have to have the skillset, because there are no tricks. You have to learn every detail, learn the basics to be able to do all the stuff. . . Hopefully the work pays off.”

As the halfway mark to the season approaches, Dieng has made an impression on Wolves first-year head coach Tom Thibodeau.

“He’s got the right mentality. He’s a defense-first guy. . . He sort of anchors our defense right now,” Thibodeau said. “But he’s also a very good 17 to 18-foot shooter and he’s worked very hard on the corner three.” 

During the early stages of Dieng’s career, Thibodeau – who was then coaching the Chicago Bulls – admitted that he spotted some good qualities in Dieng from afar.

“From the times that I coached against him, I knew he did a lot of little things that didn’t necessarily show up in the box scores. You just felt it when he was out there. He made it hard on people,” Thibodeau said. “I think each year he’s grown. He’s gotten better and better. Even early on in his career, when he got opportunities early on to play, he played very well.”

This season, one area that Dieng has taken pride in is being asked to guard the opposing team’s top big man each night.

“We have a lot of guys on this team. If (Thibodeau) comes up to me and thinks I can do that job, it makes me feel good about myself. I know what I’m capable of doing,” Dieng said. “I signed up for it. It’s tough, but it’s not just myself that gets the job done. We got a lot of defensive schemes and it’s not me stopping one guy, it’s the team.”

It’s been a long journey for Dieng, but he continues to focus on improving each day as he advances on in his NBA career and works towards success in Minnesota.

“I just want to be happy and healthy. That’s all that matters to me. . . But I will try the best I can to be a good teammate,” he said. “I’m not going to brag about it, everybody has seen that I’ve been getting better every year. I’m just going to keep working hard.

“If I do everything right, the rest is going to take care of itself.”