Let’s see Samb more
Posted by pistonsnation
A show of hands for all of those out there weren’t surprised to see Cheikh Samb enter the Friday’s game. Even with McDyess’ injury, I really didn’t expect him to even be dressed for the game. Most of us probably thought we’d only see highlight clips of Cheikh down in Ft. Wayne, IN playing in the D-League.
We’ve been told all along that Cheikh is a project or the gentler term “raw”, which he is, but not to the extent we’ve been led to believe. As poorly as the Pistons played against the Lakers I still found something to be encouraged about in the form of a rail thin Senegalese rookie. (Not to get off subject but between Cheikh, Tay, and Rip we’ve got market cornered on skinny ball players.)
Samb was credited with 2 blocks and was called for a goal tending on a third. It was a pleasant surprise to see the shot blocker’s timing he displays. He also grabbed 4 rebounds while helping lock down the paint with Amir Johnson. He already has a good center’s presence and knows how to fill up the lane. Also, who knew the big fella had such a silky jumper? He only attempted the one shot that he hit all nets. It just isn’t what I expected to see from a foreign born player who has been said to have picked up basketball as a teenager. It’s pretty apparent that Samb, 23, is a natural athlete.
I’m not sure the Lakers know what they gave up back in 2006 when they traded us Samb’s draft rights for Maurice Evans. To me Samb was intriguing, but in the same way Andreas Glyniadakis was, (you remember, the 7′1″ center from Greece the Pistons drafted in the second round of the 2003 draft?) he was a 7 foot foreign mystery. Now, after seeing Samb’s first 15 minutes of regular season NBA play I think with 15-20 more lbs. and some seasoning in the NBA’s Developmental League he can possibly emerge as a Dikembe Mutombo type talent with more offensive upside than Deek. If that happens Joe Dumars can take another step further away from being rapped as the guy who took Darko Milicic over Carmelo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh etc. etc.
I can’t wait to see more Cheikh Samb. Maybe tonight against Sacramento since Pistons.com is telling us not to expect to see McDyess at least until the Pistons return the the Palace on Wednesday to take on the Knicks.
Watch your back Nazr, there’s a rookie with 36″ tall throwback socks gaining on you!
This entry was posted on Sunday, November 18th, 2007 at 4:48 pm and is filed under Cheikh Samb, Fanalyzed, PN articles. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
