Samuel Dalembert, The Haitian Sensation

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2006/2007 Season

This new season began with plenty of hopes, again, thanks to one thing principally : the Philadelphia 76ers had a great 5. Well, on the paper.
Allen Iverson - Andre Iguodala - Kyle Korver - Chris Webber - Samuel Dalembert, this one was really a great five, young and experimented, offensive and defensive, fast, athletic, well in one word, complete. On the bench, there was only Steven Hunter and that's a problem. But the season began well, very well. With 3 victories. This was the only moment when the fans could be optimist... Because Philly lost 19 of their 21 next games, from November 7th to December 20th. In fact, an historic move had been made : against Chicago, Allen Iverson had played his last game with the Sixers. With a few games on the bench, AI was traded to Denver, for Andre miller, Joe Smith and 2 first-round. Indeed, with the catastrophic team results, lack of motivation (Webber in first), lack of cohesion in the team, Sixers staff decided it was time to change.
And What about Samuel ? He was doing an ordinary season again, and trade rumors started again. He finished November with less than 8pts and 8rbs in 26.6min, so he was criticized. Though Iverson's trade and Webber's one on January 11th signed the beginning of Samuel's rising power, especially in offense.

After a good month of December (10.6pts 8.3rbs 2blks in 29min) but a bad one for the Sixers (3W 13L), January was definitely a big month for Samuel : 13.2pts in 32min, and 9.2rbs 2.5blks. Moreover, he scored at least 10pts in 14 of the 17 games in the month, 11 in a row from 5th to 24th (career high).
In February, he scored less but rebounded more, a lot more. 12rbs per game in February (14 games), with an incredible run (17-13-15-12-17). And the Sixers won a little more (5W 6D). In March, he went on and play the right way, and became very efficient : 11.pts, 59% and especially 89.5% at the free throw line; he added 9.3rbs and 1.8blk while the Sixers won 9 of the 15 games in March. In April, Philly kept winning (7W 3D) and was dreaming of Playoffs while Samuel kept good numbers (9.7pts 7.3rbs 1.4blk in 30min).

In fact, this season remains a flop, with the record (35-47), and with the Allen Iverson dynasty. But AI is gone, Chris Webber too, Miller and Smith are here, Andre Iguodala has exploded, Korver proved he can be an outstanding substitute, and Samuel improved a lot.
Before rough, he became a good shooter from 10, or even 15 feet, which is pretty uncommon for a center. He's also more efficient in the paint in offense, more solid in defense, and so he had great numbers :
10.7pts (54.1%, 74.6% LF) 8.9rbs 1.9blk 0.8ast 0.6stl 2tos in 30.9min, in 82 matches.
In fact, he did his best scoring, rebounding and passing season, and also in minutes played.

The 2007/2008 season will be a transition season for the Sixers, with very young but also talented players. For Samuel, it will be time to confirm this good season, in order to improve in defense and on the boards, to reach a double-double average (he was averaging 10.5pts and 9.4rbs in early March).