NBA fans love the idea of a player being a project until that player turns out to... Actually be a project. Pacome Dadiet, the Knicks' first-round pick in 2024, is the definition of a project. He was drafted as a teenager who played 26 professional basketball games before coming stateside (and averaged 4.6 points in those games).
We're about a year and a half into Dadiet's NBA career, which hasn't been much of a career to this point. Dadiet has spent most of his time in the G League, playing just 29 games with the big league club — most of them coming in garbage time at the end of blowouts.
Yes, it's frustrating to see a first-round pick not produce anything in their rookie season, and even more frustrating to see the same result in year two. But Dadiet was the ultimate home run swing from Leon Rose and the front office and it's still far too early to determine whether they connected or not.
Pacome Dadiet has been a non-factor for the Knicks
I don't know if Dadiet will ever be a serviceable NBA player. But we were never going to know, one way or another, this soon into his career. He's taking time to develop because that's exactly what it means to be a project. They don't contribute immediately. They're pretty bad for a while. They look lost a lot of the time.
The NBA is built on instant results, so I don't blame fans for getting impatient when someone doesn't immediately make a difference. But developing a guy like Dadiet is exactly what the G League is for, anyway.
The Knicks are doing just fine in the guard department right now. There's a difference between letting a player develop at their own pace and not believing in them. I think the Knicks are doing the former right now; when Dadiet is ready, he'll get his shot. There's no need to panic yet. Maybe there will be a reason to panic down the line... But we're still so far away from that with Dadiet. The project is projecting. That's okay.