Okie, When someone is raw, like Malic, they bring other things to the court other than energy. 1) Badiane has zero offensive game. Which means, you probably shouldnt have him on the court at the same time as Yao. 2) You cant justify mins behind Yao, because thats where Cato gets some mins and I dont think anyone is ready to say that Badiane is even close to Cato as a defender/shot blocker. 3) Raw players tend to have problems with positioning and assignments out on the court. Remember early last year when Yao was constantly out of position on O and D?? No doubt, Yao was much more refined than Badiane. Having someone to just come on the court and foul people is not what I want to see. I want to see someone play straight up, honest D, especially when they will be a liability on offense, which Badiane would be. Next, whos mins do you take away to give him PT?? Mo or Cato?? Is Badiane better than either of those guys on O or D?? Furthermore, to bring in Malic now, means you sign him to the two year rookie deal. That means, while you have him sitting on the bench, contributing little spurts of energy, you are using up his contract years. Which means, by the time he might become an NBA ready rotation player, he will be a FA. IMO, you let him mature in Germany till you know he can be a serviceable end of the bench guy who can no doubt earn spot mins and not grossly hurt the team while he is on the court. Then, you sign him to his 2 year deal.
Remember that little video of him repeatedly dunking against resistance? Do you think any other player in the NBA has ever done that? That alone earns him a shot on the roster. I saw that.. you know what I thought? Rocky.
And AK47 reminds me of a smaller Ivan Drago the Russian boxer with his features and tenacity on defense. Although it's a big if, it's gonna swell to get them both on the team. Rocky and Drago together. Cool. I proposed keeping Malick behind Griffin and Taylor in case of injuries. Now that Griffin and Braggs are gone, it would be good to see what Malick could do had he stayed here.
I'm not saying we should bring Malik in this season or even next. The point I was making is a weakness on our team that is a reality and the fact that I think Malik is the type of player that could help fill that need. I don't belive a player should come in and just foul people either but if you aquire a few fouls by being over agressive on D and get under the skin of the guy your guarding ala Mark Madson it can motivate the rest of the team. And saying that because Malik has no offensive game he shouldn't be on the court with Yao is just plain silly, look at Cato. You wouldn't have to justify any minutes for Malik because he wouldn't get any just like in Germany. Malik would get off our bench when we needed a little energy or when we wanted a player to give a foul or to keep a more valuable player from getting a foul towards the end of a period. Of course raw players have all kinds of problems on the court, but if they don't play how do they stop being raw? I don't believe Malik will play for the Rockets this season but I sure wish we had a player with some fire in their belly to come off the bench.
Okie, Whats silly, is to say Malic could be on the court when Yao is and be as effective as Cato. I completely disagree. Cato is inept on offense, but I would be that he is still much more refined than Badiane. And I said before, Badianes is probably too raw to be disciplined in our defensive rotations (i.e. caught out of position). Raw players stop being raw by getting playing time elsewhere, in the Euro leagues, NBA DL, CBA etc. Thats exactly why Badiane is in Germany and not Houston. The last thing we need is to have a raw player learn on the court, at the team's expense during a playoff drive.
I agree with all of the above except that I question whether Malik would be any less effect than Cato on offense, I'm quite sure he can dunk just as well as Cato. I also agree with the problems involved in Malik learning on OUR court but I look at the minutes he is getting in Germany and wonder if there isn't a better way for him to develop. In any case it doesn't matter because he will not play for us any time soon.
Okie, The fact that he is not getting mins in Germany should tell us alot. I dont know much about the German leagues, but Im assuming they inferior to the NBA. And if Badiane is not getting significant mins in a lesser league, then that tells me he is nowhere near ready to contribute any mins on an NBA level. Im not sure how long we hold his draft rights (GATER???). But I am thinking the earliest he joins the Rockets is 2005-2006. By then, hell be 22. Still pretty darn young (he just turned 20 I think).
For one year after his non-NBA contract expires. If his contract in Germany expires this summer, the rights hold until next summer. I am reasonably sure that the Rockets hold Badiane's rights indefinitely as long as he has a Euro contract.
We should keep in mind that since Badman is an NBA pick and might leave the German league pretty soon. His Germany team may not want to invest much minutes in him, and depends on him much, for that would be like sharpening a knife for someone else to use.
Yeah I was thinking the same thing about his minutes in Germany. I have heard a lot about the fact that rookies have a hard time getting PT no matter how good they are, I would assume that a rookie that is likely to go to the NBA in the near future would find it even harder. If I were a European team owner I would want some stability for my fan base and not reserve myself to being a farm team for the NBA. Then again winning always sells so I would probably play the guys that got me wins.
