3 reasons Ousmane Dieng should be Cavs’ pick at #14 in 2022 NBA Draft
By Corey Casey
Reason #1: Upside
Ousmane Dieng is raw, but from a pure upside standpoint you can argue he has one of the five highest upsides in the 2022 NBA Draft. Coming in at 6’10” and 205 pounds, he’s very long with a 7’0 wingspan as well.
Dieng is someone from a talent standpoint that can affect games in a number of ways, he just needs more developmental time to put it all together. What sticks out most about Dieng is at that size he’s an advanced ball handler, a terrific passer and someone that has shown that is able to create his own shot.
That kind of playmaking, shot creating wing is something the Cavs simply just don’t have on the roster or close to it yet. The knock on Dieng is his athleticism and while he probably won’t ever be a great defender he does really compete on that end of the floor. Dieng has one of the highest upsides in this draft. For different reasons, a swing like this kind of reminds me of when the Denver Nuggets took a swing on Michael Porter Jr. in the 2018 NBA Draft.
The Cavs, like Denver, had a strong season that year that just missed out on the playoffs and had a lot of young, emerging talent on the rise. From a talent aspect, Michael Porter Jr. was a top 5 talent but concerns over his back led to his fall to the end of the lottery. Dieng was never projected to go that high, but he’s a top 5 talent.
The Cavaliers could very well swing for the fences for Dieng as a situtation where they don’t expect to be back in the lottery for a long time, so why not go for it? If they connect on a home run, Dieng ends up being a 6’9″ shot creating,playmaking star wing down the road.