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By Robert MacLeod |
PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 5, 2003: At about the age of five or six, growing up in Port-au-Prince, Samuel Dalembert's grandmother started showing him pictures of a young woman whom she said lived in some faraway city called Montreal.
The woman, Dalembert was told, was his mother.
"When I was growing up, I always thought my grandmother was my mom," the engaging centre with the Philadelphia 76ers recalled. "But when I started to get a little older, she started showing me some pictures, telling me, 'This is your real mom.' That kind of hit me a little bit."
Although he is not a Canadian citizen, Montreal holds a special appeal for the 6-foot-11, 250-pound shot-blocking specialist. Shortly after his birth, Dalembert's mother and father left Haiti and settled in Montreal to establish a new life for the family they left behind but planned to send for later.
It would be more than 10 years, when Dalembert was 14, before he would be reunited in Montreal with his parents.
And it was in Montreal where the lanky youth started to play organized basketball. That would eventually result in the 76ers selecting Dalembert with their first-round pick (26th overall) in the 2001 National Basketball Association draft.
"It was crazy," Dalembert said of that initial meeting with his parents in Montreal. "For me, I just wanted to see my biological parents for basically the first time. That was my curiosity. Then after my curiosity was satisfied, it was really nothing different. I was still calling my grandma mom."
Dalembert's parents were no longer together, and he wound up moving into his mother's apartment. A soccer fan growing up -- Pele was his hero -- Dalembert also started to take basketball seriously , first at Lucien-Pagé high school and then at Surenpagge high.
But as Dalembert was quick to learn, hockey reigned supreme in Montreal and he felt his growth as a basketball player was being stunted.
"It was tough in Montreal, mostly hockey," Dalembert, 22, said. "I was looking for a high school where I could play and the college coaches could see me."
Dalembert, who has a 7-foot-7 arm span, wound up transferring to St. Patrick's High School in Elizabeth, N.J., where Al Harrington, now with the Indiana Pacers, was one of his teammates.
After two years, he became the school's career leader in blocked shots, and that was enough to attract the interest of Seton Hall University, which offered Dalembert a basketball scholarship.
As a sophomore, Dalembert became Seton Hall's career leader in blocked shots with 167, averaging 8.3 points, 5.7 rebounds and 2.1 blocks in his second season. After that, Dalembert declared himself eligible for the NBA draft, although his skills were considered raw. The 76ers selected him with the third-last pick in the first round.
Dalembert said the reason he came out early is that he needed a regular paycheque to pay for his now-ailing grandmother's health care in Haiti.
His development in Philadelphia has been slow. In his rookie season, he played in only 34 games, averaging just more than five minutes of playing time. His second season was wiped out by a left knee injury.
This season, with starting centre Derrick Coleman battling knee problems, Dalembert has found himself the centre of attention, starting in eight of Philadelphia's 20 games. Heading into last night's game against Chicago, he was averaging 5.1 points, 1.7 blocks, 4.4 rebounds and 17.9 minutes.
"He's done well," 76ers general manager Billy King said of Dalembert. "The fact he's healthy is the biggest thing. I think now he's gaining the confidence and experience that he is, he's getting better every game."