OKC Thunder: 3 Takeaways from take down of eastern giant Nets

OKC Thunder takeaway No. 2) Hamidou Diallo has officially arrived:

This has been covered before but it must be reiterated, Hamidou Diallo is straight-up balling this year. This young man, in his 3rd season in the NBA has exploded and put the entire Thunder bench on his back multiple times already.

We all knew Diallo’s potential was there, a high-energy guy with the ability to jump out of the gym and the athleticism to be an amazing defender. In his first two seasons, we saw glimpses of this but it was never there on a consistent level.

The biggest knock against Diallo was he never quite seemed to have control of all the athleticism, as it seemed Hami would get caught in the air with the ball and no idea what to do.

This year is different though, not only has he essentially doubled all of his numbers from the previous year and improved his shooting splits, but he has become a great leader and facilitator for our second unit.

Tonight against the nets was no different as he ended the game with 25 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists, and 4 steals. He was everywhere tonight and was the spark that got OKC back in the game.

At the end of last year, there were questions on whether OKC would keep him, now he’s in discussion for 6th man of the year. What a difference an off-season can make.