rakeem christmas
I think it's pretty likely that he will play a lot of minutes at the 4. I read an article saying that they Cuse may go with a starting line up of Scoop, Triche, Fair, Joseph, and Melo. Of course it really depends on who impresses Boeheim the most, wouldn't be suprised if Michael Carter Williams or Christams is in the starting line up. These are the only things a Cuse fan can talk about now since they had to lose already in the tournament lol.
Yes actually Rakim is Dionte's little (bigger) brother. They both moved to Philly from the Virgin Islands right before Dionte started High School. Dionte went to Fels while Rakim went to my alma malter North Catholic. During Rakim's freshman year he lead North to the Catholic league championship beating a ton of good teams in the process including a Maalik Waynes lead Roman Catholic. North Catholic however, which was one of Philadelphia's oldest Catholic schools, had to shut down 2 years ago at which point Rakim transferred to Acedemy of The New Church where he plays with Savon Goodman who is a top 25 prospect and Villanova commit for 2012.
Rakim is nothing like Fab Melo because Rakim has freak athleticism. I never liked the idea of going to Syracuse over school like Texas, or Nova which offered and could of made him the centerpiece on a fun uptempo team, because at Cuse he's going to have to share the load with other high profile players. But none of the bigmen on Syracuses roster have the talent or ceiling Rakim got. A great comparison for Rakim in the NBA right now would be Serge Ibaka. Rakim Christmas is first and foremost and rim protector. He will punt everything thrown his way in the lane. On offense he's fast and will get out in the open court and finish above the rim with the best of them.
Rakim Christmas is going to be a 2-3 year player at Syracuse but should be a top ten pick when he comes out due to his length, shot blocking, athleticism, and finishing ability. The Academy of the New Church played the 2-3 zone this year to get Rakim ready for Syracuse. Expect him to make an immediate impact next year manning the middle for that zone.
Not you, I have just saw too many times people saying Rakim will be like Fab Melo this year which couldn't be further from the truth. While you can't throw Rakim the ball right now in the post and expect him to make a play. Unlike Melo, you can just throw Rakim on the court and expect him to cause all types of havoc and fly up and down the court finishing plays above the rim.
Fab Melo just isn't athletic enough to make them kind of plays and if he isn't using his size and skill to beat people he never will. It's gonna be interesting next year tho because Melo looks to be atleast another year off from contributing. While Christmas and Banter-Cain should give Syracuse enough length and athleticism to create havoc with their zone.
The weird thing is Melo looked more athletic in the McDonalds game and in the games i saw him play in when i was living in Florida. I wonder if it has to do with not being used to all that practicing in college compared to H.S and having to do more than just stand around like he did in H.S, might have took some of the spring out of him. I know before a college season i could jump out of the Gym but during the season i couldnt jump as much because of the pace of our games and the practices
the best idea to make fun on Christmas and new year is here is just to share and use these nice and fine collection of images of new year || free christmas pictures
is he related to Dionte Christmas from Temple? Hes from philly..