The New York Knicks are still figuring out how to deal with their wing rotation amid OG Anunoby's hamstring strain. Veteran sharpshooter Landry Shamet was proving integral to those efforts before suffering a shoulder injury. Head coach Mike Brown has continued to turn to rookie Mohamed Diawara, who has impressed throughout Summer League and preseason stints. His lack of 3-point shooting ability, however, has made it difficult to play him more than just a handful of minutes each night.
In the win over the Brooklyn Nets on Monday night, Diawara made just a 54-second appearance in the second quarter. He played just under a minute and a half in the third quarter, with New York winning that 90-second stretch by four points. The last two and a half minutes of his playing time came at the end of the fourth quarter, when Brown closed the game with reserves.
Diawara can seemingly do everything but shoot
The Knicks will typically win Diawara's minutes when he enters for one or two at a time. Saturday's game against the Orlando Magic, however, revealed the tough reality of playing the young forward this early on in his career. The 20-year-old Frenchman is incredibly intriguing for the team. His on-ball and playmaking abilities have surprised fans early on and he's a perfect fit to some on paper, given his ability to make up for the temporary loss of Anunoby's length with his 6'9" frame. However, he isn't much of a 3-point shooter, or jump shooter from anywhere on the court, at all.
Diawara has taken just four 3-point shots thus far in his career. He only made one, which far from disqualifies him from eventually being able to find sustained shooting success. It's his larger samples from before his NBA regular season debut, though, that provide sturdier causes for concern. The forward made two of his seven 3-point attempts in just over 52 total minutes in the preseason. He also shot just 31% from downtown in 27 games for Cholet Basket last season in France's top professional league, LNB Élite.
Knick fans don't need to panic about Diawara
The fact that Diawara is not currently a 3-point marksman is not some harbinger of doom for his career projections. It simply makes it difficult, in this moment, for Brown to make the most of him as a member of the team's second unit. When defenses ignore him as a shooter, they can pack the paint which makes it more difficult for scorers like Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns to find lanes to the basket.
In theory, Diawara is a great fit with second unit players like Deuce McBride and Mitchell Robinson, enabling the Knicks' defense to suffocate opposing scoring attacks. However, given that do-it-all specialist Josh Hart is an key part of the team's second unit, playing Diawara alongside him makes it hard to play Robinson, another non-shooter, too. Although Hart has found some shooting success recently, it's unlikely that Diawara will be 'optimized' on the court any time soon.