Played more minutes today and looked pretty decent. He definitely has some talent.

A double double in fact.

I think another 20 or so pounds of muscle in the right places and he should be able to hold his own underneath against most NBA centers.

So far it looks to me like he could be headed to the D league. I would like to see him go there. I think the Pistons could work better with on his conditioning and strength development if he is in Fort Wayne vs being in Spain.

The surprisingly alert passes were a great sign. He saw plays developing and put the pass in the right spot a few times when he was double teamed. He also showed that he has nice shooting touch, can rebound, and block shots. He's nimble and looks heavier, but still gets pin-balled around too much. But it's not like you can ask him to add more than 30 lbs of muscle per year.

Like I said in another thread earlier, send him to the D League so you can monitor his strength, conditioning and nutrition and eliminate any "lazy" tendancies. We squandered the talents of Darko here right under our noses, so you'd think the team would learn something from that experience and maybe get Lanier or some oither big man to work with and monitor him. In fact where's the original Buddha, Jimmy Edwards when you need him??

Good ideas here............

Cheikh,

Happy 23rd birthday!!!

As a birthday gift he gets to play for Fort Wayne.

That will be a belated gift in another month or so. For now, he'll get to wear a very tall dress suit to each of the Piston games.

NBDL doesn't start until Nov 23rd. Hopefully he'll get some minutes with Pistons.

Gives him 20 days to make a last minute impact.