Samb Cheikh Tidiane (born October 22, 1984) is a Senegalese former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. He played at the

center Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentrici ...

position.

Basketball career

In the 2005-06 season, Samb played for WTC Cornellá in the

Spanish second division Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

, averaging 9.6 points, 7.7 rebounds and 3.1 blocks,Pistons Sign Center Cheick Samb
/ref> shooting 51.4% from the field and 76.1% from the

free-throw In basketball, free throws or foul shots are unopposed attempts to score points by shooting from behind the free-throw line (informally known as the foul line or the charity stripe), a line situated at the end of the Key (basketball), restricted ...

line, playing an average of 26 minutes per game in 29 games. He led the league in blocked shots, registering more blocks than the totals of all but one team in the league. Samb was drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the second round (51st pick overall) of the 2006 NBA Draft, but was traded that day to the

Detroit Pistons The Detroit Pistons are an American professional basketball team based in Detroit. The Pistons compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division and play their home games at L ...

for shooting guard Maurice Evans. After being drafted, he played for the Pistons in the NBA Summer League, averaging 7.2 points, 4.8 rebounds and 1.8 blocks, while shooting 65.2% from the field and 60.0% from the free-throw line. He would be loaned back to the same Spanish outfit for 2006–07. In his second season with Cornellá, Samb averaged 10.5 points, 7.3 rebounds and 2.9 blocks, while shooting 52% from the field, and 61% from the free-throw line, playing 24 minutes per game in only 19 games, in an injury-plagued season. Joining the Pistons for another Summer League, Samb posted slightly better numbers than in the previous edition, starting in four and playing in all five games. Subsequently, he signed a contract with the Pistons on July 17, 2007. On November 16, 2007, Samb played his first NBA

regular season In an organized sports league, a typical season is the portion of one year in which regulated games of the sport are in session: for example, in Major League Baseball the season lasts approximately from the last week of March to the last week of ...

game: against the Los Angeles Lakers, he had four rebounds, two points and two blocks in 15 minutes, before being allocated to the NBA Development League, with the

Fort Wayne Mad Ants The Fort Wayne Mad Ants are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, and are affiliated with the Indiana Pacers. The team plays their home games at the Allen County War Memorial Coliseum. The Mad ...

. On December 14, in his second D-League game, against the

Dakota Wizards The Dakota Wizards were an American professional basketball team based in Bismarck, North Dakota. They played in the NBA Development League from 2006 until 2012. After the 2011–12 season, the team relocated to Santa Cruz, California, and now pl ...

, Samb took an

elbow The elbow is the region between the arm and the forearm that surrounds the elbow joint. The elbow includes prominent landmarks such as the olecranon, the cubital fossa (also called the chelidon, or the elbow pit), and the lateral and the me ...

to his mouth and lost two front teeth.Ants lose game, center's front teeth
. Posted December 15, 2007 The teeth, knocked out at the root, were subsequently put in a saline solution and he was taken to a dentist to have them reset. He also suffered a probable upper jawbone fracture. Samb was recalled to the NBA on December 21, switching to the Mad Ants again on January 29, 2008. On February 3, he recorded a

triple double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

with the Ants, with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 11 blocks. On March 22, he was once again recalled to the Pistons. On November 3, 2008, Samb was traded along with Antonio McDyess and

Chauncey Billups Chauncey Ray Billups (born September 25, 1976) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who is the head coach for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played 17 seasons in the NBA. Afte ...

to the Denver Nuggets, in exchange for Allen Iverson. He (along with Sonny Weems) was later assigned to the

Colorado 14ers Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

, a team associated with the Nuggets in the NBA Development League. On January 5, 2009, the Nuggets traded Samb, along with cash considerations, to the

Los Angeles Clippers The Los Angeles Clippers are an American professional basketball team based in Los Angeles. The Clippers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Pacific Division in the league's Western Conference. The Clipper ...

for a conditional second-round draft pick. On February 16, 2009, Samb was waived by the Clippers. On March 2, he signed a 10-day contract with the New York Knicks. After this expired on March 12, 2009, the Knicks signed him to a second 10-day contract and, on March 23, released the player, who made appeared in 2 games with them. On October 1, 2009 he signed a one-month contract with Spanish giants Real Madrid. He only appeared in one game and was released in November. He was on the

Toronto Raptors The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. They play their home games a ...

' roster for the 2010 NBA Summer League. In the final game of Summer League, Samb scored 11 points, grabbed 15 rebounds and 7 blocked shots. On November 1, 2010, Samb was drafted by the

Sioux Falls Skyforce The Sioux Falls Skyforce are an American professional basketball team of the NBA G League based in Sioux Falls, South Dakota, and are affiliated with the Miami Heat. The team plays their home games in the Sanford Pentagon, a place they have call ...

with the 11th overall pick in the 2010 NBA Development League Draft. He did not make the final 10 man roster, however. Samb signed with defending Iranian Super League champions Mahram Tehran in December 2010.

NBA career statistics

Regular season

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Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at t ...

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Denver Denver () is a consolidated city and county, the capital, and most populous city of the U.S. state of Colorado. Its population was 715,522 at the 2020 census, a 19.22% increase since 2010. It is the 19th-most populous city in the Unit ...

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Personal life

Samb is the older brother of basketball player Mamadou Samb.

References

External links

NBA.com ProfileBasketpedya.com ProfileDetroitbadboys.com On Cheikh Samb's Development And PotentialESPN.com NBA Stats
{{DEFAULTSORT:Samb, Cheikh 1984 births Living people Basketball players from Dakar Centers (basketball) Colorado 14ers players Denver Nuggets players Detroit Pistons players Expatriate basketball people in Iran Expatriate basketball people in the United Arab Emirates Fort Wayne Mad Ants players Los Angeles Lakers draft picks Los Angeles Clippers players Mahram Tehran BC players National Basketball Association players from Senegal New York Knicks players Real Madrid Baloncesto players Senegalese expatriate basketball people in Spain Senegalese expatriate basketball people in the United States Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in Iran Senegalese expatriate sportspeople in the United Arab Emirates Senegalese men's basketball players