Not had the opportunity to see the 76ers of late, so just wondering what peoples impressions are of Samuel Dalembert's first few games back from injury. Is he looking sharp? Is he out of shape?
Stat wise he's right around where he is suppose to be. I think the points will take a slight increase with time but from the little I've seen of him on the hardwood, Sammy is getting there. From what I saw in his season debut against NY till now he has most def. taken a couple steps forward. Give him some time (probably 2-3 weeks) and he will regain that form he had last season. As for his weight, he does seem a little bigger from what I remeber but his physical "play" doesn't show it. He still seems incredibly agile and is still a leaping machine, I don't think those extra couple pounds hasn't really done anything for him. If anything it's just slowing him down just a tad.
He has been living up to his contract when it comes to rebounds and blocks per game. Now he has to get back into things offensivly, I wanna see him average a double double. He also needs to limit his foul trouble which has been high as of late. I definitely think he will get better as the season continues.
Samuel has not impressed me that much so far this season he still lacks instinct, and gets way to many goal tending calls he seems to get at least one every night. His instincts for the ball are below average he is athletic, but takes to many risks when he is on the defensive side of the ball, which puts him in early foul trouble. If he was just coming back from injury and making these mistakes I would say give him time, but these are the same types of mistakes he was making last year, and the year before. Outside of that everything is around where it should be. His offensive game is still a liability, but I think with increased playing time, he is only playing 28 minutes a night, that will improve. His shot has yet to come around he has not shown any more range than he had last year, and is shooting a pretty bad field goal percentage. I think due to the fact he is still playing his way back into shape, and is rusty, but if he does not get the field goal percentage up to at least 48% he is going to really hurt the 76ers down the stretch.
