Terms of the contract were not disclosed.
Diogu played for the Indiana Pacers for most of his career, but before the 2008-09 NBA season started, he was traded to the Portland Trailblazers. He also played for the Sacramento Kings during that season as well. He averaged about four points and two rebounds per game last year.
His last two games of the season with the Kings were very impressive, though, having 32 points in one game and 28 in the other.
Diogu is very undersized for his position at power forward/center as he is 6’8″.
Here’s what ESPN’s John Hollinger says of him:
Diogu is undersized for a power forward at 6-foot-8, and that combined with average mobility make him a liability at the defensive end. While his rebounding partly makes up for it, he does need to master the fundamentals of post and help defense since he’s not going to get any bigger or quicker.
Offensively, the guy is a load. Diogu is very good at getting position near the basket, and while he’s not a great finisher he’s a tough cover in the post because of his nose for the rim. He needs to work on retaining possession better — he’s had a high turnover rate his whole career — and will have to become a more effective passer. But he finds a way to score no matter what situation he’s put in … even though he’s spent his entire career with running teams that didn’t do many post-ups.
Pretty good explanation Hollinger explained, don’t you think?
I think the Hornets are going to be pretty good coming into the 2009-10 season. We are going to expect good things from this squad, and with the addition of Diogu, it just makes things so much better.