Player of the Month – Malik Dime!

One of the revelations of Korisliiga season so far, and a force to be reckoned with under (and over) the basket – Malik Dime gets the nod for this months award from me.

Why Malik?? For me, Ura Basket had a tough month, with seven games – with a roster depleted by injuries. So all players had to step up to the challenge, put big minutes on the board and play five games in was it little over a week.. and still to be able to put up these numbers.. impressive!

Dime is also one of the few players, who makes the opposition totally change their style of play. Unless the team has a really strong player for the five position – there is absolutely no point in going near the rim – Dime will be there to block any attempt to score. So teams have switched to playing from the perimeter – and shooting long range two pointers, and this who have the players.. shoot three’s.

Why didn’t I pick a player from Vilpas, the team that keeps churning wins night after night, gonna wrap the regular season win before the turn of the year… simple reason – the team is too strong! None of the players there stand out in the light of the stats (as you can also see from the Team of the Week selections) – one player who might change that is Antonio Ballard – he had couple of strong games after joining, and looks like a player who puts up the big numbers. This month, there was also Teemu Rannikko in contention.. but he just missed out. 

Also, from Pyrinto – you have their backcourt of Harris and Tate, as well as Kenneth Manigault – they were all in the running as well. From Kouvot – Brian Asbury is showing why he is a valuable part of their roster.

But – Malik Dime gets past all of these players this month – it was just his performance every game, with a double-double every night, and two times with in inches of a triple-double. This is a player that you, as a fan of the game, really should venture out to see… I have a funny feeling he’ll be playing his game in bigger leagues in year to come.. so catch him while you can in Korisliiga!!!