Badiane went from playing Euroleague to a suburban league in France. That would suggest a bit about his ability.
Yeah Ebi is a cold blooded killer. I can see him tearing it up in the summer league, that is IF he can get the ball away from Mayo About that guy... seriously, how can you be named "O.J Mayo"?? what was his mum smokin, maybe he popped out just as she was lookin in the fridge for a snack.
On a serious note, Ebi led the Australian NBL in scoring, avg. 27 a game over 30 games, was right in there for MVP with Anstey thru the season. If he doesn't get picked up in the NBA this year i think he'll come back to Aus, become a citizen. THat seems to be the thing to do nowadays for the American imports who do well here.
EXACTLY. Ovinton? Ovinton?!? and then they just chucked that J at the front of Anthony so they COULD call him OJ
badiane hasn't made any progress at all, that's why the rockets have given up on him long time ago. badiane is comparable to kelvin cato. the main difference is that cato actually had more hoops iq, more offensive talent, more athleticism and a big body that belonged in the nba. if i remember correctly we exchanged badiane's rights for the rights to sergei lishouk. lishouk is a million times better than badiane, but still not a nba player. that tells you how bad malick badiane really is. he's so bad he even couldn't make it in ther german bbl. i have to say, though, at the time of the draft badiane was a very good pick. he was very young and had the athletic ability and size. he was regarded as a good talent and someone who may be a late first round or early second round pick. the rockets got him, but, like in most cases with high 2nd round talent only picks, it didn't pan out.
Who is he going to play for here in Aus though? Teams are dropping like flies. He's probably better off going to Europe. Also I think he is a better player than Brad Newley.
Brad Newley made it to the Greek league last year With Panionios. His team last year was in the ULEB Cup a 2nd level league compared to the Euroleague. He played well in the Greek league and he made the all star game for the rest of the world team. Their all star games are the Greek players versus the foreign players, but the all stars are decided by online fan voting and Australia voted him in. In ULEB Cup (it's the league where Rudy Fernandez was playing) though which is higher than the Greek league he struggled and did not look ready for that level. Panionios had a great season for them though one of their best in many years. They qualified for the Euroleague for the first time in 12 years. So next year Newley will play in Euroleague. And one of the main players Panionios had Sakota is supposed to be leaving the team and he logged most of the minutes on the wing in the higher ULEB Cup and Newley didn't play much. So next year Newley should be the guy in that spot and in Euroleague the best league they have over in Europe. So after next year the Rockets will know whether Newley has any shot at making the NBA or not. To give you an idea where he would be regarded now he didn't even get a single vote for Greek league rookie of year award. Ian Vougioukas who used to play for Saint Louis University and failed to get drafted by the NBA and failed to get any contract was the Greek rookie of year. Dimitris Verginis who is ranked as only the 26th best player in his generation (all players born outside of the US in the year 1987) by draftexpress and he finished 2nd in the rookie award. So Newley not even getting a vote tells you something. He'd be considered just maybe the 5th best player on Panionios right now. For comparison sakes for his NBA prospects right now, Newley did not get a single vote for Greek league MVP either but never drafted or played in the NBA Dimitris Diamantidis was named the MVP of the league. Failed NBA player Mike Batiste was 3rd in the Greek MVP voting. Even Sarunas Jasikevicius who was horrible in the NBA finished 9th in the Greek MVP voting. For Rockets fans to understand where Newley's NBA prospects are right now, he does not get any votes for rookie of year or MVP and he's maybe the 5th best player right now on Panionios the 3rd or 4th best team right now in Greece. Spanoulis is considered the franchise player of Panathinaikos which is also the best team of Greece with winning 10 of the last 11 Greek championships. And Spanoulis finished 2nd in the Greek MVP voting with Newley again not even getting a vote. Newley has nice size 6-6 or 6-7 with an OK wingspan maybe 6-8, he's a big sized shooting guard. He's got a pretty good outside shot and he likes to get out on the break and dunk. He's got a good vertical and he can throw down well. So on the one hand to gauge his NBA prospects you have Spanoulis who is considered the best franchise player on the best team in the league and then you have Newley who is a role player on the 3rd or 4th best team in the league. Basically, Newley has potential he could develop into a better, bigger upgrade over Luther Head but he's got a ways to go before he even thinks about the NBA. Nex year will be huge for him since he Sakota is leaving Panionios and he will get a lot more playing time in the ULEB and since this time he will actually be in the Euroleague instead of the 2nd tier Cup. Probably though it be just like Lior Eliyahu once these guys get to the Euroleague level they become scrubs. That's the measure I think for whether the Rockets give these guys contracts. Spanoulis was rated as the top guard in Euroleague when the Rockets gave him a contract, so that gives everyone an idea on how far guys like Eliyahu and Newley are right now from the Rockets giving them deals.
ROTFLMAO! Good one! He was called the "Bad Man" for a good reason. Actually, that described his level of play quite accurately. I find it surprising that DaD hasn't adopted him yet as he's the patron saint for Euro-guys who can't play in the league.
http://www.nba.com/summerleague2008/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId=1520800002 8 points 6 boards anyone in vegas now? maybe they find Malik and tell them he has a massive fan club here!
Whatever that means. You obviously have a man crush on Newley. He's just considered a decent player in the Greek League at this point nothing more than that at all. However like I said, he is better than Luther Head.
LMAO. Sure you do, BasketballScientist. You just can't avoid posting about Spanoulis can you? OK, I'll play along... Not really. I see him as hope for more live telecasts of Rockets games. LMAO. Basketball in Australia at the moment has a small following. Newley isn't an established name. He's not even popular, not that he's disliked. It's just that he played for a team in the boondocks, the Townsville Crocs. FYI, Newley's fanbase is his mum, dad, girlfriend and maybe sister. Aussie fans in general are not interested in european basketball. There's also this thing called "tall poppy sydnrome" which is quintessentially Australian. I doubt your claim. LMAO. Sakota is a PF. Newley played in all of their 12 ULEB games and averaged more minutes and points than Sakota did. http://www.ulebcup.com/ulebcup/competition/teams/showteamstats?clubcode=nio&pcode=000396
Sakota is a SF. He played most the minutes there. Newley will be moving to SF because Sakota left the team. Is that hard to grasp? I also don't give a damn about Spanoulis.
If anyone cares it was reported that Brad Newley's Greek League team Panionios Athens released him. This is because after a great year last season for Panionios they were promoted to the top level in Europe, the Euroleague. They didn't think Newley was ready for this level so he was released. He was then signed by the Greek League club Panellinios Athens. Panellinios is in the 2nd level of Europe the EuroCup which is the same level Newley and Panionios were in last year. So despite what some members here are saying, Newley's Euroleague club didn't believe he was even ready for the Euroleague level so yes he's got a ways to go before he's ready for the NBA. I do still say again though that even with this being true (because it is, as I said he is just a decent player at Greek League level at this point) he's still got potential to be better than Luther Head for sure.
I know most of you were disappointed that Malick was a DNP at the Rockets game. He played tonight vs the Wizards http://scores.espn.go.com/nba/boxscore?gameId=281008029 Stay Strong Malick!
