I will not expect much from the Greece player, especially considering we already have MJ with a cheaper contract. This Greece guy is very similar to MJ, who is a type of scoring PG. I think this team right now need a pure PG who can pass and make the play. We do not need any more shooting player coming here. Plus his ratio of A/T is disappointing too.
How many points do you guys think that Ryan Bowen can average in Europe? If Badiane can be a disruptive force to the 4s like Ryan Bowen to the 3s, he can have Braggs spot. If the Rockets is able to acquire another pf in the offseason, then he probably won't make the team. It depends.
I would say not many more than he can score in the NBA. He isn't a good passer, he can't shoot and he is a little bit goofy. I don't think he would get that many scoring opportunities and playing time. His game -- like Malick's -- is better suited for NBA basketball. I think Malick is not going to make the team as long as we have Howard, Spoon, Padge, Baker, etc. on our roster. He maybe will get his chance after next season, when Baker and Spoon will be gone.
We will probably see some type of trade this summer moving one or more PF contracts. In light of their recent miracle trades if anyone can do it leave it to CD and JVG.
Howard will stay on, Spoon will be traded as an expiring contract, and Baker will have his last year bought out or be traded as an expiring contract, and Padge will be here (JVG likes him). Next season we will have JHo, Padge, and Mystery PF + maybe Badiane as C/F backup. Deke will stay on next year if they can work out $, 'cause right now he makes a horrendous amount of money (paid mostly by Chicago, IIRC). BTW, as you might have guessed these are not facts but supposition.
Howard will stay, no doubt. I'm not sure about Spoon. I don't think he will be traded in the summer, so I think he will be on the roster for next season. Baker might be gone, but I agree, Padge probably stays. I suppose we either draft a pf or try to get one with the MLE (Marshall?). That gives us a lot of forwards and I doubt that Malick will be brought over to be a backup center. But then again I can just make assumptions, too.
Badiane was just a shot in the dark draft pick who probably won't ever pan out. We can pick up guys left and right in the NBDL making peanuts that are better than this guy.
Spoon has a 5+ million contract expiring at the end of next season. He should be in very high demand this summer and next yext. I just think he'll go. But then you already have. Haven't you?
If you thought Malick would help us immediately at PF, well... you'd probably be wrong. Malick could give us maybe 5-10 mpg to spell somebody on any regular NBA rotation. That means in JVG's rotation he may get about 2 mpg every 5 games. For anyone that knows - has Malick bulked up any? If so how much? When I saw him play, was skinny but always active/explosive. He also could be taken by better PF's when trying to defend them laterally (Chris Bosh abused him). Hopefully he's learning something overseas.
I still have flashbacks of the Glenn Rice (expiring contract) + first round pick to Utah for trash trade...
re: Badiane... perhaps we shouldn't be worrying about his Euro stats. My take (not based on much, admittedly) is that Malick is projected as one of those athletic freaks that won't get much in the way of stats but due to their length and jumping ability will disrupt on defense and grab rebounds. Perhaps a Bell Wallace type. Or an Antonio Davis type. Neither of which had impressive stats before they got into the NBA (Wallace was undrafted; I don't think Davis was a big time stat person at UTEP). Both of which had dismal numbers early on in the NBA. re: Spanoulis. Again, perhaps stats aren't the measure of this guy's progress, though the numbers don't really look that bad. Again, its not fair to compare with current NBA stars, but is it possible he is someone like Manu? Or Jaric with the Clips? A tall PG (or combo guard) that can score and use his height to move the ball? Since both of these are basically second rounders I don't think much is lost if neither pans out. But I like the idea of taking flyers on players that either are tall, quick, or different in their skills set rather than some decent college player that may have nice looking college stats but don't have a shot of making it in the NBA because they essentially have topped out in college.
Agreed. Stats don't tell the whole story and hopefully Badaine can come in and just provide energy and disrupt defenses. I don't think the Wallace/Davis comparison is right because those guys are a lot stronger/bigger than Badaine could ever be. Wouldn't it be great if Spanoullis turned out to be a Manu/Jaric type player? Manu was a 2nd round steal, I don't see why Spanoullis couldn't be either. Like you said, we don't have much to lose since they are 2nd rounder, but hopefully we can pull a Mobley/Boozer/Manu type steal.
I willing to bet that Malick will eventually be a Dalembert in the NBA based on what I have gleened from his worth ethic, background, athletic ability and wing span . He was unfornately sidelined by injuries early in the season and only came back in the middle of this past February. At least one thing is clear in that regard - he is a fast and determined healer because he was expected to miss the rest of the season by his doctors and he came back weeks ahead of schedule. So for now we just have to play the waiting game for the summer league to come for further evaluation of Vassilis and Malick. I believe CD_JVG will draft a PF in this draft or a small forward (if the best SF in the country, Rudy Gay, comes out and somehow drops). This draft is PF heavy and the quality of depth is very healthy. Guys like Blache, Petro (listed as center), Turriaf, Simmien and Diogu can be had in the later part of the first round (Blache and Diogu has not declared yet).
Thats what I was thinking, a Dalembert-type player. Badaine would be an absolute steal if he turned out to be anywhere near Dalembert. Picking up Gay, Simmien, or Turriaf would be great. I really like Simmien's game, but he might be a too high of a pick for us. Turriaf is a very reasonable pick, good size, good rebounder, good scorer.
On a side note, James Thomas just made the ALL-NBDL Second Team. Link I think Rockets should also try him out in 2006 preseason or in summer camp.
Dunk: My major concern with Malick is that he is getting quality coaching. Is he being trained in Germany as a center or a forward. Basically, I am just p*ssed I can't see how he has developed for myself. I haven't seen any video in two years and the mystery is killing me. He just looked so perfect to fit along with Yao, and we need someone like him so badly. It would be awesome to have him here to see for myself. Maybe we will see him this summer.
I think some of our expectations of Badaine are way too high. As Dunk put it, we were expecting Malick to come in and help out right away, but the truth is that he is barely helping his Euro team. You're right that it's a little frustrating not to being able to see some video, but I wouldn't go as far as saying he would be a perfect fit w/ Yao or that we need him badly, because it just doesn't seem like he is doing all that much in Germany. However, video of Spanoullis would be very nice to see.
