The Denver Nuggets may have found more than a camp body in Alpha Diallo. After two weeks of training camp, the 29-year-old rookie free agent is already forcing head coach David Adelman to think bigger about how he can be used, both on defense and in specific offensive spots.
That was the open question all offseason: would Diallo crack the rotation at all, and if so, where would he fit? The answer, at least for now, looks pretty clear. He’s not only in the mix - Adelman is actively shaping roles around what Diallo can do.
The biggest reason is his defensive versatility. Adelman pointed to the kind of pressure Oklahoma City puts on Nikola Jokic, fronting him before the ball arrives and making life difficult for Denver’s offense, and said Diallo gives the Nuggets a chance to try something similar.
"What teams are trying to do to Nikola [Jokic], aggressive, getting to somebody's knees in front of them, allows the backside of your defense to come help. I absolutely think he could do that," Adelman said.
That kind of approach has been difficult for Denver to lean on because it hasn’t had a defender quite like Diallo in a while. He’s already earned praise inside the building, with Cameron Johnson calling him a "menace," and he looks like the sort of perimeter stopper who can change possessions on the fly.
Diallo can stay attached through screens, recover quickly, and bring the kind of motor that grinds down guards and wings over time. He gets into ball handlers early, pressures them up the floor, and even forced an 8-second backcourt violation against the Utah Jazz. He’s the type of defender who can make an opposing team’s night miserable.
That makes him look like Denver’s best perimeter defender since KCP (Kentavious Caldwell-Pope), at least based on what he’s shown so far.
There’s a path for him on offense, too. Diallo is mainly known for defense, but he hit open threes twice against the Jazz and has enough touch and burst to matter at the rim. He’s a strong cutter and slasher, which gives Adelman another option to play with.
"I think he's got to get used to playing the dunker a little bit," Adelman said. "You know, we post up guys and that's our spacing."
Adelman added that Diallo may not need to be the guy scoring from that spot, though he certainly has the tools to do it. At AS Monaco in the EuroLeague last year, he shot 66.7% at the rim, and his athleticism plus physicality should translate when he goes up strong.
For a rookie free agent, that’s a lot of trust this early. But Diallo has already given the Nuggets enough to believe there’s real usefulness here, and the preseason and first stretch of the season should be a fascinating test of how far that versatility can carry him.
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