Add Cheick “Discount Diallo Cheick” Diallo to the ever-growing list of reasons why the Pelicans don’t even need/want Anthony Davis anymore. Why would you want a stadpadding chucker who only plays defense when it suits him on a team that is trying to win games? You wouldn’t. You want players like Julius Randle, who puts up semi-equivalent numbers while playing the right way. You want players like Jahlil Okafor, who are hungry and eager to prove themselves. And you want players like Cheick Diallo, who play well within their defined role and do not stray into chuckery stadpaddingness.
I, for one, will be much more excited to watch the Pelicans once that team cancer who doesn’t even like poboys (actually I sort of agree with him on that one after my food poisoning incident with a sus shrimp poboy) is off the team. He’s been dragging down the franchise for years, preventing sustained success, but has evaded criticism due to things like “unibrows” and “counting stats”. Enjoy the Lakers, AD. I’ll be here enjoying the Pelicans playing loose and unencumbered, free from your haunting specter forever.
18 points like Diallo just scored is something Davis would never do, because he’d be too concerned with scoring more points and would never be happy with a mere 18. Which is the whole problem, the thing I’ve been trying to get at here. These efficient 18 points are a breath of fresh air; even though he was shooting well, Diallo never demanded the ball and said “get out of the way, scrublords, I need my stats”.