Daniel Santiago > Sacramento's Bigs Brigade?

by Ziller on Sep 15, 2008 2:21 PM PDT Comment 7 comments

... or so thinks "a prominent Western Conference assistant coach [who] was into IMG this month and said that Daniel was a better player than any big they had on their roster, and this team sports a former NBA All-Star and Olympian in their front court, and has two lottery pick front court players," according to Steve Kyler of HOOPSWORLD.

HighTops did the P.I. work so you don't have to in this FanPost thread. But it wasn't Kenny Natt, as HT states -- it was, by the grace of Sam Amick ...

Kings assistant Jason Hamm paid a visit to this hoops classroom as well and - like myself - was impressed with the detail, intensity and game-relevance of the workouts. While Martin sometimes works out with the likes of fellow Thorpe clients Tyrus Thomas and Luol Deng of Chicago, the better-known talent this week was NBA D-Leaguer Elton Brown and former NBA player Daniel Santiago (who has been making millions in Europe and is a free agent but has no business not being on an NBA roster with his big-man skills).

I question Kyler's reference to Hammbone as "prominent" in any context other than "Jason Hamm's hair sticks prominently out of his Fedora" or "Jason Hamm's voice chops figured prominently in the sock puppet rendition of The Merchant of Venice at the Maloof Sports & Entertainment Christmas party last year." But "former NBA All-Star/Olympian/lottery pick front court players" nonsense is dead-ass giveaway, unless Joel Pryzbilla or Nick Collison made a February classic I forgot about.

So, is Santiago really better than Mikki Moore and Spencer Hawes and <gasp!> Brad Miller? I remain dubious. Just look at the one year with some minutes -- '03-04 with Milwaukee, where he had 23 starts. Rebound rate of 10.6 for a 7'1 center? Jason Kidd has a higher rebound rate than that last season. So did Moore. So did Hawes. So did Miller. So did K-9 (woof!). So did Shelden Williams.

No points, bad shooting (for a big), no blocks, an enormous amount of fouls (five per 36 minutes). He turned 32 this summer. You know, maybe my gut instinct was wrong. Really, what's not to like?

You go to the corner, Jason Hamm, and you stay there until I tell you that you can come out. Bad Hamm!

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So...

Why exactly would we want another hydra head?

I’ll pass.

Let's go home.-Kevin Martin

by LeaguePassAddict on Sep 15, 2008 2:32 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Bad Hamm!

That’s what she said.

Yes, that was a stretch.

Kevin Pritchard has Chuck Norris tied up in the trunk of his car.

by otis29 on Sep 15, 2008 2:47 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

My bad

When I read that piece in Hoopsworld, I got the two Amick stories mixed up. One had Hamm going to IMG and the other had Natt going to Africa with SAR. I guess when my mind read prominent assistant, it jumped to Natt.

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Sep 15, 2008 3:44 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Unnecessary consonants

Having two coaches with four letter last names that BOTH include unnecessary consonants – well it makes it easy to be confused.

Shut up and Coach

by Carl on Sep 15, 2008 5:19 PM PDT up reply actions 0 recs

Who to believe.

The story says at least two writers from Hoopsworld were impressed. And,David Thorpe labeled Daniel as one of the best centers in the world in his opinion. Now, one of our own coaching staff says he likes him.

But, as Ziller points out the guys got no great stat history. Even the Euroleague has him at 9ppg & 4.2rpg playing a little over 17mpg for 07/08.

So, what are we to believe? And, if we can’t believe the stories about him coming out of IMG. What about Kevin Martin. Do we believe Thorpe when he says Martin is the next ALL Star.

"If you don't have anything good to say, LIE" - Mom

by HighTops on Sep 15, 2008 4:26 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Mikki was bad enough

Seriously, Mikki’s over-market value signing last summer was already one too many hydra heads. We cannot combine 5 players to make Chris Webber, or even Brian Grant for that matter.

The rumors are never about real vet big men that could help (vets like Dyess, Haslem, Przybilla, 2nd rounders like Chuck Hayes, Craig Smith), its about Loren Woods, Maurice Taylor, and the poo-poo platter of Euroleague and D-League bigs. I’d prefer that we not waste any more dollars on power forwards. Give the time to JT and Shelden’s fivehead.

by discocricket on Sep 15, 2008 6:30 PM PDT reply actions 0 recs

Contrary to his rep in the hoops blogosphere … in my experience, David Thorpe’s assessment of a player’s real [comparative] skill level is quite often incorrect.

Last time I saw Daniel …

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XQa35CX—Tk

he was still a similar player to his original incarnation in the NBA.

by khandor on Sep 17, 2008 5:27 AM PDT reply actions 0 recs