Coatesvillain

Coming off of the best regular season of his career there were a lot of positives to be talked about. He played his most minutes per game (33.2), averaged his most rebounds (10.4), and putting up a surprisingly low 3.3 fouls per game. The Sixers needed him to stay on the floor and he did so making strides by playing the smartest basketball of his career.

When the Sixers found themselves matched up with the Pistons the warts began to show. Dalembert averaged a paltry 42% from the field and found himself completely outmatched by Rasheed Wallace. While a motivated, and frustrated, Wallace is a tough matchup for any defender it's hard to overlook how poorly Sammy played for most of the season. With three years and $34 million left on his contract (with word that teams wouldn't mind taking his salary) the question has to be raised about how long Dalembert will find himself in the City of Brotherly Love?

I'm not ready to give up on Dalembert, but I think it's getting near time to start thinking about his eventual replacement. Offensively the Sixers are simply asking for too much from him. There are some who are still expecting something to come consistently in the form of a back to the basket game, or for his jumper out to 15 to be more consistent but that's not going to happen. To get the best out of Dalembert he needs to be a garbage man. Get alley-oops, pass the ball to him when his man leaves him to double, and let him clean the board and score on putbacks. This is something that will be easier for the Sixers to accomplish if they fill the void at PF.

I mentioned earlier that the Sixers should look at his replacement, and I think that guy just might be Roy Hibbert from Georgetown. If he's on the board the Sixers will have to give it a long thought. He won't be a superstar, but he's a big body with good hands, who is good passing out of the post. He provides much more offensively than Dalembert. My dream scenario would be to draft Hibbert and use him as the primary center behind Dalembert as the team addresses PF elsewhere.

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southeasy

canadian national team, you can thank.

that's when i really noticed the improvement in sammy D's game. he really gained ALOT of confidence playing for that team, being the only NBA guy. he was the leader, and then stepped up instantly for the 76ers.


he'd be almost the perfect piece beside chris bosh on the toronto raptors. wish he had no future in philly, but he's got a bright one.

Dalembert not meant to be the scorer on any team.. and philly really lacks any post scorer, so sammy made pay more attention to his offence. he's more like a younger camby.

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1AJosh Howard/1BGerald Wallace/2Amare Stoudemire/3Chris Bosh/4Rajon Rondo/5Sean Williams/6Travis Outlaw/7Al Thornton/8Caron Butler/9TJ Ford/10Dwight Howard/11Antawn Jamison/12Dorell Wright/13Leandro Barbosa/14Samuel Dalembert/15Thabo Sefolosha/16Stromile Swift/17Jose Calderon/18Trevor Ariza/19Jamario Moon/20JR Smith

Cierre pero ningún Puro: Julian Wright, Renaldo Balkman, Ronnie Price, Jeff Green, Amir Johnson, Louis Williams


RIP to the Career & The Man, Jonathan "Best Practice Player In NBA History" Bender & Eddie "Most Known Unknown" Griffin

Sliccat

Don't see why he wouldn't. He's very good at what he does. The sixers just need more scoring from their other positions. If they can get a PF who averages about 15 ppg, with the development of thad young and hopefully carney, I don't see why he couldn't play a role that required less scoring.

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captainobvious

I think he made good strides this year. I also think that he is as you said more of a cleanup, alley oop near the rim, rebound and second chance guy. His jumper was solid this year, but I dont want him taking too many of those. I think he did an ok job defending detroit. Not great, not bad either. He didnt get much help when he stepped up to help out his teammates on defensive breakdowns. Hes alos one of the better centers in the east right now. Its not like we have many tough matchups for him in the conference, so I think hell probably be around for a couple years. No tto mention that decent big men are tough to come by.
Im not sold on hibbert to be honest. He gets by in college because he is so much bigger than other guys. But truth be told, he has bad coordination, hes slow and not very athletic. He's just tall. I have seen any real midrange touch so he will be firmly planted inside. Too early to tell if hes strong enough to use his college power moves against the big boys. If he's drafted to be an off the bench situational defensive guy, I could see that. But I honestly think Dalembert brings more to the table than Hibbert. I dont thtink his hands are any better than Sammy's, but he does pass better.