CrushAlot wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Looks like the Knick have another C for their SL team 7-1 245 Ovidijus Galdikas

Googled him and the Knicks came up right away. From his Wiki,

According to reports, the Knicks have been watching him for over 3 years, and Knicks' president visited Šiauliai during the 2012-13 season to meet with Galdikas and watch him play, however, Galdikas was injured at the time[3]). In August 2013, the New York Knicks again showed interest in Galdikas, describing him as a 'diamond in the rough' and the 'third best Lithuanian center after Jonas Valančiūnas and Donatas Motiejūnas.[4]

During the 2014-2015 season he was scoring 11.2 points (74% FG), grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking 2.6 shots, while representing Asseco Gdynia club in Poland. Following it, he decided to participate in NBA Summer League to seek his dream of representing NBA club.[5] He will represent New York Knicks in the summer league.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovidijus_Galdikas

BRIGGS wrote:

CrushAlot wrote:

BRIGGS wrote:Looks like the Knick have another C for their SL team 7-1 245 Ovidijus Galdikas

Googled him and the Knicks came up right away. From his Wiki,

According to reports, the Knicks have been watching him for over 3 years, and Knicks' president visited Šiauliai during the 2012-13 season to meet with Galdikas and watch him play, however, Galdikas was injured at the time[3]). In August 2013, the New York Knicks again showed interest in Galdikas, describing him as a 'diamond in the rough' and the 'third best Lithuanian center after Jonas Valančiūnas and Donatas Motiejūnas.[4]

During the 2014-2015 season he was scoring 11.2 points (74% FG), grabbing 10 rebounds and blocking 2.6 shots, while representing Asseco Gdynia club in Poland. Following it, he decided to participate in NBA Summer League to seek his dream of representing NBA club.[5] He will represent New York Knicks in the summer league.[6]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovidijus_Galdikas

Hes a long springy athlete. He looks like the guy the Spurs drafted at 26 Multinov. Very long and athletic. Boy were going to have length at the rim in SL that will make the Kentucky team look small.

CrushAlot wrote:Googled him and a thread from 2013 came up. Yellowboy posted this,

yellowboy90 wrote:
anybody read the post on realgm board about this guy? It sheds a little light on his situation if what the poster said is true.
It took awhile but I saw it. It reveals a lot if it is true. The guy registered for that board yesterday.
Hello, I'm from Lithuania (Galdikas' native country) and I have some more information about him. The guy seems to be quite talented, has decent mid-range shooting and has perfect height, mobility, agility combination. The only reason he's unknown now is because his life is (or atleast was) a huge failure. He had a sex with ~13 years old girl, which looked quite mature and lied him about her age, telling him that she's 16-17 years old. The girl seems to be a total whore as she was boasting in the media, after becoming the youngest wife in Lithuania, that she had first sex when she was only 10 years old (again with 18+ guy). Galdikas was 18 or 19 at that time and that girl became pregnant... He had a choice: go to jail for having sex with kid or marry her. Of course he has chosen to marry her... And that's when his life became even more complicated. He was a member of Žalgiris-Arvydas Sabonis school for one season (2006-2007) and had all possibilities to move into Žalgiris (Lithuanian league champions, former Euroleague champions) after a few seasons as he was quite perspective big man. However Žalgiris-Arvydas Sabonis school wasn't paying enough for him to fulfill his family needs and that's why he left Žalgiris-Arvydas Sabonis school (despite the fact that he LOVES basketball) and went to factory, later - auto service and worked hard-work for a few years to fed his new family. Then around ~2009 basketball agent Baroga (his current agent) and Klemensas (Lithuanian basketball player, which played in France at that time) noticed him. A 7'2 Lithuanian tower which don't play basketball in a basketball-crazy nation (as he described). However he wasn't ready for professional basketball so Baroga and Klemensas started training him (see videos below). Klemensas took him to France for training and then he joined Vilnius KM-Magnus (third-tier Lithuanian league club) during 2009–2010 season and averaged 21.2 points, 10.9 rebounds. Next season he joined Anykščiai Puntukas (second-tier Lithuanian league club) and averaged 14.8 points, 9.3 rebounds and 3 blocks. Too bad he had to miss 2011-2012 season due to injuries. Then last season he joined Šiauliai. Too bad they don't gave him enough playing time and he had only decent stats (I think he could had double-double per 25-30 minutes) because Šiauliai had Papa Dia (former Euroleague player). So all in all, I think that if we would delete the part with that girl from his life, he could have been NBA drafted or at least playing for decent Euroleague club and I think he still could make to Lithuania national team after a few years if he will develop as fast as he did so far. The guy seems to be closely talented (shoot blocking, rebounding) and hard-working to Jonas Valančiūnas just don't have enough experience and offensive arsenal like a 24 year old guy, but he's still pretty good at defense now. Previously there also was a guy Eurelijus Žukauskas which started his career when he was 21 year old and developed into a decent Euroleague defensive center and Lithuania national team member. Galdikas has potential to do this too if he will work, I think. I would be very happy if Knicks would give him a chance as a 15th man. If not, well Knicks still helped him to partly recover his reputation and maybe Žalgiris or Lietuvos Rytas (Lithuanian league vice-champions) will give him a second chance. Interesting fact is that Knicks observes him for more than 3 years and even Knicks president visited Šiauliai last season to meet with Galdikas and watch his game play (sadly, he was injured at that time).
Galdikas' training videos with Klemensas (4 years ago):
From ~0:25

Keep in mind that he wasn't training or playing basketball for a few years before all this training. He's much better now. And I'm curious why the heck Klemensas was recording Galdikas training (plus naming these youtube videos just "MOVxxxx"? Maybe for Knicks?
User avatar

http://forums.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php?f=24&t=1269137&start=45
It is from page 4 of the topic.

http://www.ultimateknicks.com/forum/topic.asp?t=45369

Wow, I'm glad I hit the link because I was ondering when did I write something so long. Lol.I only posted the 1st wo sentences.

yellowboy90 wrote:What about the d-league center that was like 24-26th y/o will he be on the SL team too?

Drew League ‏@DrewLeague · May 30
Top Performer: Jordan @BLOCKchynski with 22 points, 14 rebounds, 5 blocks for @icanallstars

Keith Pompey ‏@PompeyOnSixers · 16m16 minutes ago
Former #DelawareState standout Kendall Gray will play for the #BrooklynNets in the summer league.

Ira Winderman ‏@IraHeatBeat · 18h18 hours ago
Add Michigan State guard Travis Trice to those who will be with the Heat for summer camp and summer league.

CrushAlot wrote:

Finestrg wrote:

WaltLongmire wrote:Has anyone committed to us yet?

Maurice N'dour to play for Knicks Summer League team:

http://www.hustlebelt.com/mac-basketball/2015/6/26/8850943/maurice-ndour-to-play-on-new-york-knicks-summer-league-team-ohio-university-bobcats-nba

Looks like he picked the Knicks over some other interested teams as they have no problem with him playing abroad for a year (guys just don't make enough money in the DL) -- that bit of info. makes me think he might be a keeper right off the bat, not your typical SL/training camp fodder. If we sign him, unclear whether he'll take up an official roster spot or not. My guess is no but not sure...Wasn't familiar with him but after looking at his numbers and some tape, I like what I see --

6'9" 210 SF/PF put up some eye-catching numbers last year for Ohio University: 34.9 mins per, 16.0 ppg, 48.4% FGs, 43.5% from 3, 78.5% FTs, 8.3 rpg, 2.3 blks, 1.1 stls.

Think he played the 4 in college but he looks like a 3 all the way in the NBA. Looks real competitive, agile and skilled. He can shoot, drive the ball, post up and block shots:

Between Daniel Hackett (assuming he'll be on our SL team as well) and now N'dour, I think we may have come up with two players that can help us eventually, maybe even this year. They each look like they could contribute in the NBA right now. Excited to see these guys in Vegas.

Nice pick up. I read your post and then went to draftnet to read about him. He is from Senegal and speaks 5 languages. He went to high school in Japan on scholarship for three years. Sounds like he is a really smart, high character kid. This was a really nice signing. I am going to see if he played at Portsmouth.

Maurice Ndour, 6’9, 200, Ohio, Forward– Ndour, a native of Senegal, has been among the MAC’s top big men since transferring from junior college. Long and athletic, with good ballhandling skills and shooting ability for his size, Ndour can be a tough cover for many forwards or centers. He has the ability to step out to the three-point line, where he hit 43% of his 62 attempts this season, while also showing the ability to hit a mid-range jumper off the dribble. He can be a bit wild at times when looking to get to the basket, and turnovers have been a problem, but he also has shown some decent passing ability out of the post. Ndour is a good rebounder on both ends of the floor, though is lack of strength can hurt him while he relies on his length and leaping ability too much. The lack of strength hurts him on defense as well, though he plays with a frenetic energy which allows him to make plays, and also recover when he gets beat. Ndour is a good shot blocker and has done a good job getting his anticipation and timing down a bit better. Ndour is still raw in a lot of ways; his game isn’t very polished, but he makes up with it with his energy and his consistent improvement every time he plays.

Hate to say it, but he may be Thanasis with a better shot... much better shot.

Has a ridiculous wingspan 7'4" or 7'5"