So your thoughts on Samuel Dalembert, will he improve?

76ersxMVP · Post #1 » by **76ersxMVP** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:43 am

Do you think he is in the top 5 best Centers in the NBA today?

1. Dwight Howard
2. Tim Duncan
3. Yao Ming
4. Andrew Bynum..?
5. Samuel Dalembert..???

kanga · Post #2 » by **kanga** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:04 am

1.Howard
2.Ming
3-7. Kaman, Bynum, Dalembert, Camby, Chandler, Gray

its hard to rank those guys, but I'd say Dalembert is borderline top 5.

Are Stoudemire and Gasol considered Centers?

Greg Oden might leapfrog a bunch of guys in the next few years.

Also, the Spurs insist that Tim Duncan is a PF.

Post #3 » by **The Guilty Party** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:11 am

I think we're almost at point with Sam that "what you see is what you get". I thought he took a nice step forward last year and I expect him to improve a bit this year both because of himself and because of Elton Brand playing next to him.

Is he a top 5 center in the league?? Probably not. He's part of 2nd tier of centers who on any given night look great and on other nights, not so good. Consider the following players...

Chandler, Oden, Camby, Kaman, Shaq, Okur, Jermaine O'Neal (now a center), Okafor, Horford (played center for a playoff team), Jefferson (played center), Bogut, Biedrins, and Sheed (played center last season).

kanga · Post #4 » by **kanga** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:14 am

Whether he'll improve or not is a trickier question.

Sammy's 27 and has been pretty consistent 8-10ppg, 8-10rpg, ~2bpg for the last 5 seasons. I can't see him all the sudden breaking out and increasing any one category significantly (maybe rebounds), but I think he still has the potential to improve in less measurable things like handling the ball down low, passing, basketball IQ (let's hope), etc. All of these things will help his game, but I'm not sure I can predict how the addition of Brand and Speights will affect his stats. I imagine they'll be right around 10, 10, 2 for years to come.

Loose Cannon · Post #5 » by **Loose Cannon** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:14 am

He will improve, but I'd like to think of him as the second best center in the East, at least last season.

Sandalf42 · Post #6 » by **Sandalf42** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:04 am

1.Howard
2.Ming
3-7. Kaman, Bynum, Dalembert, Camby, Chandler, Gray

its hard to rank those guys, but I'd say Dalembert is borderline top 5.

Are Stoudemire and Gasol considered Centers?

Greg Oden might leapfrog a bunch of guys in the next few years.

Also, the Spurs insist that Tim Duncan is a PF.

What?! I hope you don't mean Aaron Gray.

But back to the point, IMO he's ahead of Camby and (yuck) Gray. So that would put him as the 5th best center.

In terms of him improving, I guess all we can expect at this point is improved efficiency. He's not going to make some dramatic improvement, but maybe raise his already high FG%, or, I dunno, maybe learn to make an outlet pass. His scoring stats will go down though because Elton Brand will dominate the ball more.

kanga · Post #7 » by **kanga** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:06 am

hah, was just seeing if anyone was paying attention.

76ersxMVP · Post #8 » by **76ersxMVP** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:19 am

Who is quicker, Sammy or Elton Brand?

jmon · Post #9 » by **jmon** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:22 am

"Chandler, Oden, Camby, Kaman, Shaq, Okur, Jermaine O'Neal (now a center), Okafor, Horford (played center for a playoff team), Jefferson (played center), Bogut, Biedrins, and Sheed (played center last season)."

Agreed on this list assuming it isn't ordered. I would say that O'Neal doesn't belong though personally.

I really really really like Andrew Bynum.

kanga · Post #10 » by **kanga** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:24 am

hmm, not sure. I see Sammy hustle everywhere he goes. He's always running down the floor to get in position and even during timeouts races over the bench. I'm not sure who is quicker though.

Post #11 » by **The Guilty Party** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 5:28 am

jmon wrote:Agreed on this list assuming it isn't ordered. I would say that O'Neal doesn't belong though personally.

I really really really like Andrew Bynum.

That list was just off of the top of my head... no order given. I suppose Jermaine O'Neal shouldn't belong because he didn't play center last year and he's almost a lock to go down with an injury in training camp and miss half of the Raptors' upcoming season.

76ciology · Post #12 » by **76ciology** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:28 pm

The Guilty Party wrote:I think we're almost at point with Sam that "what you see is what you get". I thought he took a nice step forward last year and I expect him to improve a bit this year both because of himself and because of Elton Brand playing next to him.

Is he a top 5 center in the league?? Probably not. He's part of 2nd tier of centers who on any given night look great and on other nights, not so good. Consider the following players...

Chandler, Oden, Camby, Kaman, Shaq, Okur, Jermaine O'Neal (now a center), Okafor, Horford (played center for a playoff team), Jefferson (played center), Bogut, Biedrins, and Sheed (played center last season).

Nice ranking there.

I think that statistically, we're not going to see much improvement. Especially with the addition of Elton Brand, which may mean less rebounds and shot blocking opportunities for him.

Will he improve? I think that his defensive instincts and basketball IQ WILL improve. Sammy learned his jumpshots from C-webb. Hopefully, he will learn his rebounding, defense and shot blocking from Elton.

Dedicated_76ers_fan · Post #13 » by **Dedicated_76ers_fan** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 1:58 pm

crazylyf wrote:
The Guilty Party wrote:I think we're almost at point with Sam that "what you see is what you get". I thought he took a nice step forward last year and I expect him to improve a bit this year both because of himself and because of Elton Brand playing next to him.

Is he a top 5 center in the league?? Probably not. He's part of 2nd tier of centers who on any given night look great and on other nights, not so good. Consider the following players...

Chandler, Oden, Camby, Kaman, Shaq, Okur, Jermaine O'Neal (now a center), Okafor, Horford (played center for a playoff team), Jefferson (played center), Bogut, Biedrins, and Sheed (played center last season).

Nice ranking there.

I think that statistically, we're not going to see much improvement. Especially with the addition of Elton Brand, which may mean less rebounds and shot blocking opportunities for him.

Will he improve? I think that his defensive instincts and basketball IQ WILL improve. Sammy learned his jumpshots from C-webb. Hopefully, he will learn his rebounding, defense and shot blocking from Elton.

Are you kidding? Sammy played next to Reggie "Nut" Evans, who's always near the top of rebounds per 48 minutes. Sammy will get about the same chances he got with Evans on the boards. Shotblocking however is a bit of a debate. Because the Sixers as constructed have the best Team defense in the league right now. Another team that's close to call is the Rockets. With Yao Ming and Ron Artest in their frontcourt. They have size and bulk.

Edit: Why are we putting Greg Oden on a list of top centers, when he hasn't played an NBA game yet? Does anyone remember Kwame Brown? He too, was a #1 pick in the draft.

geiger · Post #14 » by **geiger** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 3:37 pm

No, Sammy won't improve because Sammy doesn't put in the work to improve and doesn't have the accumen to improve. But he will look better and even his numbers might be better as a result of playing next to Brand. He is what he is at this point and that's good enough. His defense was very solid last season - both his man defense and his team defense. He was a 10 point, 10 rebound, 2.5 blocks player who shoots a high percentage and hits his FT and has a passable jumper from 14 feet and in. Next to a low post scoring PF who can also guard the post and block shots, his rebounds and shot blocking might actually go up and his points are likely to stay in the 10 to 12 range. Will he improve in terms of showing new skills - doubtful. Will he play as well as he did last season but have a slightly improved box score presence as a result of being paired with Brand - likely.

Louis Williams · Post #15 » by **Louis Williams** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:09 pm

geiger wrote:No, Sammy won't improve because Sammy doesn't put in the work to improve and doesn't have the accumen to improve.

Do you know Sammy personally? What are you basing this on?

jmon · Post #16 » by **jmon** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:32 pm

Reggie Evans is actually FAR BETTER at rebounding than Brand. Brand is closer to Jason Smith in rebounding ability than Reggie Evans.

geiger · Post #17 » by **geiger** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 4:57 pm

I base it on watching him play since Seton Hall and watching all the Sixer games and reading. Was Michael Jordan a good player? Do you know him personally to be able to answer that question? There is 8 years of evidence on Sammy. There are articles written about this by reporters covering the team and statements made by his coaches every single season. What about his game makes you think that after 7 seasons in the NBA!!!! and being 27 years old, he will magically improve this season? Do NBA players typically improve their games after 7 years in the league in their late 20's? I know people's numbers might get better or worse based on systems and circumstances, but do you know of a lot of players who actually improved? And are those the types of guys who get kicked off national teams or who have reputations for not working hard?

As for statement that Brand and Smith are comparable rebounders - that's utterly ridiculous. Brand is an excellent rebounder who gets tough boards. Smith gets balls that come to him and gets some based on his athleticism. Smith might improve since he's young enough, but right now he's a guy who survives on athletic ability alone. Evans is a hustle player - he's not a better rebounder than Brand - he just spends all his energy on trying to get rebounds because he does nothing else. Tell Brand he doesn't have to score and can take 4 shots a game and play passable defense on his man, running around all over the place, and he'll get you 20 rebounds a game. Also notice that Evans, like most marginal players, shows a law of diminishing returns in games where he plays too many minutes and that when faced with playing against top level PFs, his numbers suffer. Brand on the other hand puts up better numbers than his average when playing against top competition.

Philly_King · Post #18 » by **Philly_King** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 6:16 pm

IMO Sammy is a top 10 Center but definitely not a top 5. He still makes dumb mistakes thatdon't appear in the statline and has a low bball IQ. However, his rebounding and weakside blocking put him up there as a top 10 C.
Centers who are better: Howard, Okafor, Chandler, Yao, Bynum, Kaman, JO(when healthy), Camby(arguably)

IggyTheBEaST · Post #19 » by **IggyTheBEaST** » Thu Jul 31, 2008 7:32 pm

Kaman had an excellent year last year, but next to Brand, Id prefer Daly. J.O is a PF and remains to be seen his return. Like you mentioned, Camby is on the decline so he is questionable but I agree with the others listed.

Daly will definitely improve this year. His numbers may not go up neccesarily but in his first season ever next to another good big man, Itll show.

76ersxMVP · Post #20 » by **76ersxMVP** » Fri Aug 1, 2008 1:17 am

Does Sammy have what it takes to become a all-star?