Pelicans Free Agency: Which players should New Orleans bring back?

Cheick Diallo – Restricted

Should he be brought back?: Yes

Cheick Diallo is a restricted free agent this summer, meaning the Pelicans have the luxury to match any offer another team might give him, and he’ll essentially be forced to take the offer to stay in New Orleans. Because of this, New Orleans can wait to see what type of competing offers he receives and go from there.

Odds are, Diallo won’t get any substantial offers from anyone else that the Pelicans would feel uncomfortable matching. He’s a mildly outdated version of a power forward in the NBA, because he cannot shoot the long ball at all. Nowadays, everyone wants a “stretch 4” that can space the floor and hit from 3 point range, and Diallo is not that.

However, Cheick Diallo has done some very promising things on the court when he’s gotten a fair shake. Still at the young age of 22, there’s even an argument that Diallo should crack the starting rotation next year to see what he can really do.

Diallo shoots a respectable near 59% from the field, which is adequate considering most of his shots come close to the rim. Everywhere else, his stats don’t exactly jump off the page. However, when Diallo was given 20 or more minutes in games this last year, he was almost a guaranteed double-double every time. His lack of significant production over his career could simply just be due to a lack of opportunity behind a fairly crowded frontcourt in New Orleans.

Cheick is a high-energy, high-motor type of guy, which creates a type of culture that would benefit a young team greatly. Griffin should keep him around for the rebuild assuming he’s cheap enough to retain.