Checking in on Cheick Diallo – What happened to his minutes?

Cheick Diallo was never getting monster minutes. That’s to be expected, however, on a New Orleans Pelicans team boasting Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins. Now those minutes have completely disappeared. That leaves one question on a lot of people’s minds, why?

If you’re a fan of the New Orleans Pelicans, there’s a solid chance you spent time trying to convince someone Cheick Diallo has star potential. He’s still extremely raw, but the tools are there for something special.

Due to that raw talent, and superstars Anthony Davis and DeMarcus Cousins taking most of the big man minutes, Diallo’s playing time is sparse. No one’s complaining about those two taking the majority of the minutes, however.

While those minutes were limited and scattered, at least Diallo was checking into games at the beginning of the season. In recent games though, not only have those minutes gone down, they’ve completely disappeared.

Diallo didn’t even appear in the last few games when the Pelicans were without Anthony Davis.

His minutes have been going to everyone’s favorite Turkish center, Omer Asik.

To be fair, Asik actually gave the Pelicans solid minutes for the most part (Friday was ugly). New Orleans has also had Dante Cunningham in the post more, and he’s been great at grabbing offensive rebounds.

Then you look at Diallo’s games, and if we’re being honest, he wasn’t a world-beater. Of course, playing just a few minutes in random games has to make it tough to get into a routine. Still, Diallo seemed to struggle to grab rebounds (a lot of tipped balls) and ran into foul trouble a few times.

There’s the other side of the coin too though. Diallo shot well and looked athletic on the court. Some of the deeper numbers aren’t great (plus/minus, on/off, etc.), but you have to consider the fact that at least one-of-the-two heavy hitters will be off the court at the time.

All-in-all, Diallo had some good games and some bad games. He certainly helped the team on occasion, and deserves some more opportunities. Nevertheless, he’s had a goose egg in minutes in each of the last five contests. The five games before that saw four, one, six, five, and zero minutes.

Some will argue that it’s best to get the 21-year-old on the court to get some real-time experience. Meanwhile, others will say he should ride the bench and learn from watching.

Either way, the random usage for an average of seven minutes-a-game move is a bad one. The hot-and-cold usage makes it impossible to get into any real rhythm.

Asik’s return came with an expected opportunity for him to prove himself. For the most part, he’s been somewhat effective. His sloppy play on Friday should be a reminder to the Pelicans that he’s not the only backup big on the team.

Next: DeMarcus Cousins isn’t perfect, but neither are you!

Cheick Diallo minutes have pulled a disappearing act of late, it might be time for them to make a return.