<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">When people watch Samuel Dalembert fill the lane on a fastbreak, or outrun an opponent downcourt to slam dunk an alley-oop pass from Allen Iverson, they can't help but wonder how good he could have been had he played basketball all his life. "If Sammy had played in a schoolyard and learned..." teammate Marc Jackson wondered aloud. Dalembert became acquainted with the game in his native Haiti at age 13. He didn't play organized basketball until high school in Canada, and attended Seton Hall for two years before the Sixers made him a first-round draft pick in 2001. They knew there was plenty about the game that he still had to learn. "You see where it all starts," Jackson said. "In basketball, your first experiences are in the schoolyard. "If Sammy had played in the schoolyard, he would have developed a basketball savvy. He'd have been a much more mature player and it would have helped his game up to now. "To have that basketball knowledge with the athleticism he has, it would be crazy. The only person in the NBA like that now is Kevin Garnett." And if Dalembert had shown up at Jackson's schoolyard? "We'd have gotten on him. He probably would have played with us, but he wouldn't have been the first pick," Jackson said with a laugh.</div> Source
