The last I heard on the board IIRC was that Badiane was nearing ready-to-play condition. He he started to play again, or is he close to going back on the court, or is he not expected to play again in Europe this year? With the rockets not attempting to seriously bolster PF by the trade deadline, does that mean we will make a major move for a PF out of free agency this summer, or maybe they expect MB to make a contribution next year, or both? I don't recall any sure-fire PF's coming in the draft at our probable draft position.
By the way CD has been talking about him, I think there's a chance he could be on the roster by next season.
He isnt putting up great numbers at the moment by any means. But obviously he is the kind of body we need. So he could come and benchwarm and be trained by deke here... http://statistik.basketball-bundesl...ndex.php?team=426&saison=2004&spieler_id=2135
I think him and spanulis (sp) have ashot to make the team next season. CD has talked about them quite often lately.
I bet it's all of the above. You have to keep your options open as a GM. The great thing is all the flexibility we have now: we still have a first-round pick, so a solid PF might slide down to us; we've got a bigman prospect in Badiane just waiting to come over; with the PG situation in better shape, we've got the MLE to try to sign a decent big man in free agency; finally, we've got tons of expiring contracts that we could use to trade for an overpaid big man. I'll be surprised if at least one of the above doesn't happen over the summer.
Yes Malick has started playing again and he is working himself back into shape gradually. Unfortunately his team, Opel Skyliners of Frankfurt, just got knocked out of the *EUROLEAGUE which would have been a great or rather better test for him because of the higher competition level there. I am not sure if they will be assigned to another ULEB as UEFA (europe's soccer governing body) does by assigning some teams that are knocked out of the UEFA champions league to a lesser continental tourney. That said he will have to focus his energy now to help his team in the Bundesliga 1 and other domestic championships in Germany. He mentioned in an interview (in FIBA.com) about three weeks ago that one Rockets scout was heading down to europe to evaluate him so make what you want of that. I anticipate that he will join this team for training camp come this fall - (I see him as a Dalembat clone at least based on physical abilities and gifts). Hopefully the CBA will be done on time (i.e no work stoppage) so that we will be able to participate in a summer league and showcase Malick, Spanoulis and our 2005 draft picks and undrafted free agents as well as Barret. *EUROLEAGUE is a continental "league of champions" from various european nations. It features the best each domestic league of all the European countries have to offer and it includes a round robbin [??] stage as well as knock out stage. Spanoulis' team, Maroussi Hond in Greece, is currently in the lesser continental tourney called ULEB CUP. They are in the quarter final stage now.
