The Spurs will be looking for some post defense out of Dieng.
The season was just underway and the Spurs had playoff and possibly CSL Championship aspirations on their minds. Then, the words every GM hates to hear were spoken to Cyrisnyte. Tiago Splitter had a torn ACL. The rest of the season suddenly changed, and not for the better. The Spurs were now at a crossroads. They would need to add someone to their frontline or else they would most likely hover around if not below the .500 mark.
Many offers and requests were sent out. Most responses came back with the opposing team wanting a starter for a backup player. Then one GM reached out to the Spurs, that was GM rh0xxy from the Timberwolves. When the season had first started, the Spurs sent out a feeler for Dieng and were not willing to part with what the Timberwolves asked for in return. When Minnesota made it knows again that Dieng in fact was on the block, the Spurs reached out again. This time it seemed the Wolves wanted a 2015 1st. While GM Cyrisnyte tried unsuccessfully to add some protection to the pick, the Spurs finally were able to land who they had coveted since day one of the season.
Gorgui Dieng will most likely be the new starting center while Duncan will start at power forward. This will allow for Boris Diaw and newly signed Brendan Haywood to come off the bench.
Not a fan of giving up 1st round picks, the Spurs feel that based off where they feel they would be drafting, Dieng was worth the risk. At only 21 years of age, Dieng should be a solid contributor on the roster for the Spurs for many seasons to come.GM Cyrisnyte,
"We were thrilled to be able to bring in Dieng. We love his hard nosed style of play. He will rebound and play defense for us which is something we need since we lost Splitter for the season. We were also very impressed with his overall basketball IQ. The guy knows where to be at the right time. We plan on getting him acclimated to our system as quickly as possible and have big hopes for him this season and in the future. We had made a run at him early in the season but the asking price was too steep for us. We look forward to having Dieng here in San Antonio over the next few days."
