Philly resident, so I've seen quite a bit of our new center through the years. I thought I'd share my impressions, others are welcome to chime in. The Good: Sam's got ideal length and athleticism for the position, and he's extremely active on the defensive end. He can step out to guard the high post against most mobile bigs, and he can mix it up down low with all but a few centers on the block. Not a liability in screen rolls. He's also extremely active (and sometimes dominant) on the boards. He'll challenge every shot. Offensively, he'll run the floor to score easy buckets, can finish lob passes and he'll crash the offensive glass. He's also not a terrible shooter from 15 feet and in, though not consistent either. His FT shooting is surprisingly good. The Bad: Because he challenges every shot, Sam's going to lead the league in goaltends. It's like clockwork, just accept it. He'll also take himself out of games by fouling at inopportune times because of his tendency to bite on pump fakes. Defensive 3 second violations are a regular occurrence as well. On offense, he isn't skilled. Not a good passer and he doesn't really have post moves. The bigger problem is that he isn't aware of his limitations. If you give Sam the ball he'll be aggressive, and the results generally aren't pretty. In particular, he'll take some jumpers that just make you scratch your head. The key is to not enable him; make him work for his touches by hustling for cheap scores and attacking the boards. Overall, Sam's a frustrating player to watch, but for this team the good outweighs the bad. As long as you can accept his shortcomings, you'll be happy with the net result. He'll make the Rockets better, not worse. I realize that's not a good thing in some of your guys' eyes, but there it is.
i get the feeling that lowry can make him something a-la cp3 and tyson chandler. i mean, has dalembert ever played with a team with a distributor at pg?
Offensively, yes. Defensively, he makes a lot of dumb mistakes but for the most part he understands what he needs to do.
Andre Miller I get, but seriously, Tyreke? He is the biggest ballhog in the league. He makes Steve Francis look like Steve Nash. I would hate to play with a guy like Evans.
Sac town resident: I've watched him play and concur with OP. The guy at times can be an absolute beast defensively. The problem is obviously on the offensive side. I just hope they don't pass the ball to him. In a way Sam is the guy that everyone wants Thabeet to become......so in my eyes this is an improvement by leaps and bounds defensively.
I'll give you a stat: Dalembert has a 19.3 percent rebound rate ranked only behind Dwight Howard, Jeff Forster, and Tyson Chandler among centers with regular minutes. Awesome rebounder.
I really like to pair up Hill and Sam for a couple of minutes..... Darn good. You got your older Deandre Jordan and Jhill
Chandler's foul-prone too. Though with him it's usually inexplicable offensive fouls (which are arguably worse because they result in turnovers).
like Clutch said this move will make us float...lawl! the only possibility that comes to my mind is to package him later for a deal
