Cheikh Samb: Ahead of Schedule

Ahead of Schedule
by Keith Langlois


Editor’s note: Pistons.com continues an eight-part series on the eight players from the Pistons’ NBA Las Vegas Summer League roster who have NBA futures. This week we’ve posted daily stories on the three second-round draft picks, holdover center Cheikh Samb and free agent point guard Will Bynum. Next week we’ll post profiles on the three players who figure to be part of the playing rotation – Rodney Stuckey, Arron Afflalo and Amir Johnson. In today’s Part V, we look at Cheikh Samb. Coming Monday: Arron Afflalo.
The Pistons have seen enough from Cheikh Samb to know he has a long NBA career ahead of him if he so chooses. What they don’t know yet is just how great his impact on the game will be.

As a big man with an uncanny shooting touch and an enormous wing span that makes him a shot-blocking force, Samb has a skill set unique enough among to ensure he’ll always find a place on an NBA roster. And because he’s only been playing basketball for about five years, he’s still learning the nuances of the five-on-five game.

How far Samb can go will depend on a number of other factors. Can he continue to develop physically to become strong enough to battle thicker and stronger players? Will he develop enough of a back-to-the-basket game to complement his ability to step outside and knock down 18-footers? Can his love of the game and his thirst for knowledge overcome all the years of experience he missed as a youngster in Senegal more interested in soccer until his younger brother, Mamadou, began playing basketball and others urged the gangly Cheikh to give it a try?

“Cheikh brings a different component to the game,” Pistons coach Michael Curry said in Las Vegas, where Samb averaged 10 points, 4.6 rebounds and 2.0 blocked shots a game in the Summer League. “He can really shoot the basketball and defensively he can change the game around the basket for us. We definitely have to continue to develop him and get him out on the court. We’re going to find minutes for him (during the regular season) in certain situations.

Samb appeared in four games for the Pistons last season, two in November when Antonio McDyess was sidelined by a shoulder injury and two late in the season when Flip Saunders began resting his starters for the playoffs. Samb was particularly impressive in a November game in Los Angeles when he blocked two shots, altered another handful, and grabbed four rebounds in 15 minutes against the Lakers, knocking down a baseline jumper, as well.

The 7-foot-1 Samb also had two stints with Fort Wayne of the NBA Development League, setting a league record with 10 blocked shots in a triple-double performance. He broke his jaw and had two teeth dislodged in his second D-League game, impressing the Pistons by not shying away from contact upon his return. And while many big men are pushed into the game because of their size but never really embrace it, Samb has amazed the Pistons with his work ethic and his openness to coaching.

“He has come in and worked hard,” said Darrell Walker, brought in by Curry as an assistant coach. “I didn’t know he was that long – very, very long. Any big man that can shoot the ball in this league has a chance to stick around and get some minutes. And with this team, Michael wanting to play his bench a lot more, he has a chance to get some minutes and he can make some shots.”

“The kid can shoot,” Rodney Stuckey said. “He’s going to be a big part of our team during the season, too. He can get in the lane and block shots and he’s coming along really well. I think he’s ahead of schedule.”

When the Pistons traded Maurice Evans to the Lakers on draft night 2006, their original blueprint called for Samb to spend two more seasons playing professionally in Spain. But when Samb showed up considerably stronger for Summer League 2007, they decided to bring him to the NBA a year ahead of time. Now they might be rethinking their original plan to give Samb a second year of D-League seasoning.

“Depending on how everything goes in camp, if he’s getting some regular time on the floor, then obviously there’s no need to send him to the D-League,” Perry said. “But if he’s not playing as many minutes and he’s inactive, the value of him getting more game experience is always an option and a possibility.”

That’s the most critical piece to hastening Samb’s development – more live, full-court basketball. All the work Samb has put into the weight room and shooting and taking individual instruction from assistant coaches, especially Dave Cowens, is also important, but there’s no substitute for basketball as played under game situations.

“The big thing for Cheikh is just getting more playing time,” Perry said. “The only thing that’s going to take care of that is continue to practice five on five, get game opportunities. He’s got to play more basketball and only time is going to cure that. You just have to wait and see when he gets here in the fall how far he’s come along. I can see the improvement in his body. You’re talking about a young guy who hasn’t played basketball for a very long time.”

Samb was listed at 195 when the Pistons traded for him, but he began seriously attacking the weights when he suffered an ankle injury during his last season in Spain. He’s somewhere in the 235 to 240 range, now, with a noticeably bigger upper body.

“For any basketball player, core strength is important – abs, back, upper legs, the middle part of the body,” Perry said. “I think his legs have gotten a little bigger, too. He just has to continue to get stronger in that base, because he’s playing against some big, strong men. He’s a taller, leaner body. As he gets stronger, the more he plays, he’ll learn how to establish better leverage and position and use the strength he does have to get places on the floor. That’s going to come, again, with just playing more basketball.”