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Mamadi Diakite - The real Brobley

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I think Diakite was actually miscast as a C. He is a SF/PF. It's time to groom him to be one. Especially for this team.. not because it's our weakest position, but because he fits so well with the pieces that we have. He will just need to crash the boards, play hard, shoot open 3's and attack closeouts. That's it. And he can do all of those things.

Really happy that Koby had a plan for him. And saving that roster spot is really smart. Koby knows he has a chance to slide into the DMs of some Wembenyama perverts and is also probably going to gauge throughout the season how Windler is doing. If he plays well and finds his role, then he sticks, if not then he is a trade bait an you have two open roster spots open.

Sorry but he is simply put not a SF whatsoever.
 
What do you even know? He is a SF on this team. If he has a chance to be put in thus position with the right combination of players.

My man he doesn’t have the ball handling or play making skills to play the position.

He is solidly a PF.

In fact, I am not sure where at all you are getting he is a SF when all of his pre season minutes have come with him playing the 4.
 
My man he doesn’t have the ball handling or play making skills to play the position.

He is solidly a PF.

In fact, I am not sure where at all you are getting he is a SF when all of his pre season minutes have come with him playing the 4.

I agree with you, but it is not impossible he, Mobley and Allen get some run to see if they can do it.

He is a good weak side shot blocker, so maybe he can play the 4 when Mobley plays the 3.

The other interesting thing is he played the 5 all training camp until he was forced into the lineup with Mobley, Dean and Love all sidelined. I am very curious if they suddenly thought he was way better and was playing out of position at the 5
 
My man he doesn’t have the ball handling or play making skills to play the position.

He is solidly a PF.

In fact, I am not sure where at all you are getting he is a SF when all of his pre season minutes have come with him playing the 4.
Lineup doesn't need any ball handling/playmaking when you have Garland and Mitchell and even Mobley handling the ball. It's irrelevant. He needs to attack closeouts with momentum(to create breakdowns instead of doing so with ball handling and playmaking).That's it.

Okoro can handle the ball probably more than he showed and most likely better than Diakite, but even then, JBB didn't want him handling the ball. Only to space the floor for Garland and knock down open shots.

For him to play his position he needs to guard that position, and I think he can guard it better than you think. His value defensively is going to come from challenging shots more effectively than your average SF on perimeter as well as inside. He doesn't even need to lock down the perimeter because you have Mobley and Allen effectively coming to help whenever there is any breakdown.

The big idea and strength is that you have Mobley, Allen and potentially a specific scheme that can make everything work. Two shot blockers and one super intelligent, skillful help defender and one who understands rotations and reacts to every kink the offense throws at him to exactly counter any defensive breakdowns. Markannen's strength defensively was not his lateral quickness -- it was his size, ability to contest both on the perimeter and inside as well as rebound well for a wing. He was not a good rebounder, but he is better than average for a SF I suppose.

No matter what, Cavs will be switching a lot or at least find themselves defending players that are not their own matchup. Switching scheme, zone, whatever be the reason. That alone helps him in that regard. You want to have size when you switch (defending the post, securing the DREB, etc), and Diakite provides that.

Offensively, like I said, he should be able to knock down open shots, particularly from the corners, attack closeouts and finish well, and crash the OREBS. A 3 man wrecking crew of Mobley, Allen and Diakite crashing the boards after a shot by Garland/Mitchell is an insane weapon. You are not only allowing them to shoot more shots and making this potential offense even more devastating, but you are also limiting fast break opportunities in a major way. And this team's half court defense should be special.

This post is not directed specifically at Diakite. It's the idea of his archetype or rather what he can be and his usefulness or the general idea of it to this team. Big wing is the way to go and this is why I really wanted Eason.
 
Lineup doesn't need any ball handling/playmaking when you have Garland and Mitchell and even Mobley handling the ball. It's irrelevant. He needs to attack closeouts with momentum(to create breakdowns instead of doing so with ball handling and playmaking).That's it.

Okoro can handle the ball probably more than he showed and most likely better than Diakite, but even then, JBB didn't want him handling the ball. Only to space the floor for Garland and knock down open shots.

For him to play his position he needs to guard that position, and I think he can guard it better than you think. His value defensively is going to come from challenging shots more effectively than your average SF on perimeter as well as inside. He doesn't even need to lock down the perimeter because you have Mobley and Allen effectively coming to help whenever there is any breakdown.

The big idea and strength is that you have Mobley, Allen and potentially a specific scheme that can make everything work. Two shot blockers and one super intelligent, skillful help defender and one who understands rotations and reacts to every kink the offense throws at him to exactly counter any defensive breakdowns. Markannen's strength defensively was not his lateral quickness -- it was his size, ability to contest both on the perimeter and inside as well as rebound well for a wing. He was not a good rebounder, but he is better than average for a SF I suppose.

No matter what, Cavs will be switching a lot or at least find themselves defending players that are not their own matchup. Switching scheme, zone, whatever be the reason. That alone helps him in that regard. You want to have size when you switch (defending the post, securing the DREB, etc), and Diakite provides that.

Offensively, like I said, he should be able to knock down open shots, particularly from the corners, attack closeouts and finish well, and crash the OREBS. A 3 man wrecking crew of Mobley, Allen and Diakite crashing the boards after a shot by Garland/Mitchell is an insane weapon. You are not only allowing them to shoot more shots and making this potential offense even more devastating, but you are also limiting fast break opportunities in a major way. And this team's half court defense should be special.

This post is not directed specifically at Diakite. It's the idea of his archetype or rather what he can be and his usefulness or the general idea of it to this team. Big wing is the way to go and this is why I really wanted Eason.

I don’t agree and I hate the idea of having 3 players on the floor that you don’t want to dribble the ball whatsoever.

You need at least SOME playmaking ability out of your 3 for when shit breaks down and you’re asking waaaaay too much of 2 people yo handle that load completely. Offensive it makes you so much less dynamic.
 
I don’t agree and I hate the idea of having 3 players on the floor that you don’t want to dribble the ball whatsoever.

You need at least SOME playmaking ability out of your 3 for when shit breaks down and you’re asking waaaaay too much of 2 people yo handle that load completely. Offensive it makes you so much less dynamic.

What load? They will be able to break the defense down whenever they want. You have Mobley to develop there as well. Cavs have so many great pnr ballhandlers and rollers, why the heck would they want their 3 to initiate the offense , ever?

Please take a look at other great teams. No one has 3 great playmakers anymore. No one. Because it's not needed. In a heavy pnr league when you have a great playmaker or two you can get any matchup you want and get an open look.

Anyways, we can agree to disagree.
 
This obsession with putting players out of position where they’ll be less effective, solely for the sake of having a taller lineup, is so strange. Diakite is a PF. Maybe a C in certain lineups. He’s not a SF and you make his strengths less valuable by putting him there and his weaknesses more glaring.
 
As if this guy is going to get significant minutes this season.


Yea thats the thing. I'm excited the Cavs were able to keep him around, but the path to minutes for him is going to be a major uphill climb. He's pretty clearly behind:

Mobley, Allen, Love, Lopez, and Wade at the 4/5 spot and will be fighting with Isaiah for scrap minutes behind those 5 guys.

For those that think he is a 3 (I am not one of them), he's also behind LeVert, Okoro, Wade, Osman, and Stevens. He will be fighting with Windler for scrap minutes there too.

It's a long shot that we see him play too much outside of deep blowouts, but I would think he gets plenty of burn with the Charge and should be a great practice rep player.
 
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Yea thats the thing. I'm excited the Cavs were able to keep him around, but the path to minutes for him is going to be a major uphill climb. He's pretty clearly behind:

Mobley, Allen, Love, Lopez, and Wade at the 4/5 spot and will be fighting with Isaiah for scrap minutes behind those 5 guys.

For that that think he is a 3 (I am not one of them), he's also behind LeVert, Okoro, Wade, Osman, and Stevens. He will be fighting with Windler for scrap minutes there too.

It's a long shot that we see him play too much outside of deep blowouts, but I would think he gets plenty of burn with the Charge and should be a great practice rep player.
Realistic hope is that he keeps getting better so that when the “holy shit, everyone is hurt” moment happens, he can come in and hold his own. And while that doesn’t sound like much, if his competence contributes to a win or two over the course of a long season that might be the difference in finishing a spot higher in the standings - and that matters.
 
I don't get why people say he's not a three for us. Can he guard the wing? Yup. Can he camp in the corner and take threes? Yup. Does he rebound well? Yup. For the cavs those are three thing we could do with. He's not going to dribble, so what?
 

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