<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Badiane still trying to prove readiness Second-rounder puts skills honed in Germany on display for Rockets By MEGAN MANFULL Copyright 2005 Houston Chronicle Malick Badiane passed the basketball with his feet and knees as if it was a hacky sack. He then kicked it off the arch of his foot straight into the rafters of the Rockets practice court. He waited for the ball to drop into his hands, then turned and sank a fadeaway. The sequence made it evident the native of Senegal can play soccer. It's his basketball skills that will be scrutinized this month, however. Badiane, 21, will play on the Rockets' summer league team in hopes of impressing team officials enough to sign him prior to the fall training camp. The summer players, who have spent the past week practicing, leave for Minnesota on Thursday.</div> Source
Soccer players usually have great footwork and smarts. Ex. Hakeem and Nash. Im interested to see if Badiane has some skills.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting JuLiO-R-:</div><div class="quote_post">Soccer players usually have great footwork and smarts. Ex. Hakeem and Nash. Im interested to see if Badiane has some skills.</div> If Badiane could have half the defensive skills that Hakeem had (like shotblocking, post defense, and rebounding) that would be more than I could ask for. By the way, I have a feeling this guy should be pretty agile, mobile, or fast. If he played soccer, Badiane should be conditioned pretty well since that sport requires you to run around the field a lot. Also- see Samuel Dalembert.
Thats a bad situation. We have to sign him, but he wont get a chance to play on our roster. I guess that explains not going for a PF during the draft. He should get to play minutes here and there, at the end of games. It will slow down his progress and esteem though. He better prove himself well in minnesota. I would really like to see him grow into a mutombo. Bring lots of shot blocking, rebounding, and pure defense by next season.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Thats a bad situation. We have to sign him, but he wont get a chance to play on our roster. I guess that explains not going for a PF during the draft. He should get to play minutes here and there, at the end of games. It will slow down his progress and esteem though. He better prove himself well in minnesota. I would really like to see him grow into a mutombo. Bring lots of shot blocking, rebounding, and pure defense by next season.</div> Well, its not like he's totally screwed if we sign him. Rockets can always send him down to the NBDL and have him play a few games in the minors then have him come back up to see how he pans out for us in a few games. There's the new 14 man active roster now so I don't see it too big of a problem. I just hope we sign him though, it would be a shame to have to keep him over in Europe like the Spanoulis situation seemingly is.
