Cheikh Samb Tracker

[<3AmirJohnson<3]

I would say doubtful he's 245, but it says he is on nba.com

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/cheikh_samb/index.html

Very impressive gaining 50 pounds.

I guess this goes with the other thread, but who would you guys say is a better prospect...
Samb or Jason Thompson or Devon Hardin?
The other two are both gettable prospects for our 1st round pick in the upcoming draft.

[Liqourish]

I would say doubtful he's 245, but it says he is on nba.com

http://www.nba.com/playerfile/cheikh_samb/index.html

Very impressive gaining 50 pounds.

I guess this goes with the other thread, but who would you guys say is a better prospect...
Samb or Jason Thompson or Devon Hardin?The other two are both gettable prospects for our 1st round pick in the upcoming draft.

Devon is probabaly the most NBA ready of the three, but Thompson will be the best "full package" of the three. Samb will be a good backup though. Samb can rebound and block shots. Thompson has the most polished post game and can defend... needs to add strength. Hardin is the toughest but lacks some offensively.

[THE X-FACTOR]

Samb will end up somewhere between a Mikki Moore and a Samuel Dalembert

[nasty daddy]

His brother hasn't really progressed as expected and isn't anything special as things stand today. I believe he could be drafted as early as this year, but given his lackluster season(last I heard anyways) he isn't going to declare for the draft any time soon.

That is what I've heard also. Wonder if he will slip down to our 2nd round draft pick, that if Joe D has some interest in him at all.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.nba.com/dleague/games/200802 ... score.html

Samb: 31.41 min, 3 from 9 shooting, 8 rebounds, 2 fouls, 2 steals and 6 block shots.

[nasty daddy]

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/arti ... 60368/1051

the long-range plans for rookie center Cheikh Samb haven't changed much since training camp; he's still a project who will spend another season in the NBA Development League. Nonetheless, the Pistons are ecstatic about his development. In six months, the Senegal native -- fresh off a triple-double with the D-League's Ft. Wayne Mad Ants -- has grown stronger, more fundamentally sound and more confident. It might be two more years before he joins the Pistons. But just barely."He's unbelievably improved from training camp to now," forward Antonio McDyess said. "Before, you could push him around, get shots off on him. Now he's gotten so much stronger. This guy lifts weights so much, it doesn't make sense. If he takes off his shirt, he's pretty ripped up. It's hard to push him off the blocks now." The Pistons acquired Samb in a draft-day trade with the Lakers in 2006. Samb was the No. 51 pick and, at 7-feet-1, 175 pounds, had NBA height, raw talent and little else. He had played basketball for only about three years. After spending last season in the Spanish LEB2 league, the Pistons offered a roster spot this summer. So Samb, who spoke little English and still generally declines to do interviews in the language, packed his bags for America.

When he arrived, the amount of work that needed to be done was clear. "The first time we had him here, he got to the free-throw line and just shot it," Pistons coach Flip Saunders said. "He didn't hold the ball at the cross-seams or do anything." But strength was his biggest problem. In one test, strength and conditioning coach Arnie Kander has players stand a certain distance from a target on a wall and throw a medicine ball at it. The goal is to hit it hard, like a line drive. At first, Samb couldn't hit it at all, even when using an 8.8-pound ball. Now he can do it with a 17- or 18-pound ball, partly because he has gained 25 pounds in two years."And that's pure muscle," Kander said, "because his body fat has fallen a percentage or two."It helps that Samb does whatever the Pistons request. Even when he returned to Senegal in January because of a passport problem, he did two workouts per day. "He's got a great attitude," Saunders said. "He hasn't played basketball that long. He's kind of like a sponge. Whatever you give him, he takes and absorbs it and tries it. He's not afraid to try anything. He has a great passion." And slowly, Saunders said, that passion has turned into confidence.Typically, confidence comes through success in games. But through Monday, Samb had played in only two NBA games, six exhibitions, five summer-league games and four D-League games. He has found his confidence instead through practice, especially in one-on-one games with the Pistons' younger players. "When they play one-on-one out here," McDyess said, "he feels he can play with anybody."

As confidence has grown, his personality has emerged, too. "He's real quiet," McDyess said. "But he's funny also. He says a lot of funny things when it comes to the game. He's sarcastic." McDyess laughed and said he'd love to share something Samb said about his teammates a few days ago, but it's not fit for a newspaper. "We love him here," McDyess said. "I didn't know he could shoot as well as he can. He's got a nice, soft touch. And I didn't know he could block shots like that. He can recover and block shots, so if you beat him, he'll still come back and get your shot." Now back in Ft. Wayne for his second stint with the Mad Ants -- he had two teeth knocked out in December -- Samb is living in a one-bedroom apartment with his wife and 4-month-old son. When the 7-footer moved in about a week ago, only one problem presented itself -- the queen-size bed that came with the pad. "Obviously, we had to change that really fast," said Ryan Hoover, the Pistons' director of player development, who helped Samb settle in Indiana. "He didn't come close to fitting in this bed." But he's coming closer to fitting where it really matters, in the NBA. "He just wants to play basketball," Hoover said. "For a kid who has only played the game for five years, he's made tremendous strides. He has it so locked into his head that he wants to become great."

[<3AmirJohnson<3]

http://www.nba.com/dleague/games/200802 ... score.html


Samb had 4 points, 4 blocks and 6 fouls in 8 minutes.

The only thing positive is his per40 minute block rate...20.