Heading into this upcoming season, the New Orleans Pelicans have set some high expectations ahead of themselves to finally make some noise in the Western Conference.

In line with that train of thought, forward Cheick Diallo has also set forth some huge expectations for himself in his second campaign in the league, according to Jim Eichenhofer of Pelicans.com.

“Last year I was doing a little bit of everything,” Diallo said of shuttling between the Crescent City and three different G League clubs. “This year is totally different. My goal is to be (the Pelicans’) sixth man, as soon as possible. I’m trying to be the best defender on the team.”

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Following being selected with the 33rd overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft, the 21-year-old came off the bench in a limited role averaging 5.1 points on 47.4 percent shooting from the field with 4.3 rebounds in just 11.7 minutes per game in 17 appearances.

However, he showed some glimpse of promise in the final four games of the season where he averaged 11.0 points on 58.1 percent shooting from the field with 9.8 rebounds and 1.0 blocks in 23.5 minutes per contest. This included recording two of his first three double-doubles of his brief NBA career. On top of that, he also held his own at the Las Vegas Summer League back in July where he averaged 18.6 points on 56.4 percent shooting from the field with 9.8 rebounds.

If he can carry over that to training camp and the preseason, there is no reason to believe that can't translate to a significant role off the bench behind All-Star big man DeMarcus Cousins and Anthony Davis this upcoming season.