Big C said:
SFCityBear said:
Big C said:
KoreAmBear said:
Someone on the insider board mentioned Amit's coaching pursuits.
But is reminded me of how amazing this guy was for us, especially that game where he was so locked in versus Oregon and went Eddie House (I believe we won in OT). Does anyone have a link to a video?
He was a highly skilled stretch 4 during the days when that was starting to become a thing. I don't know why he seems to be kind of a forgotten man on our board.
IIRC, his senior season was not his best (forget if he was dinged up, or what). I always remember guys who have by far their best seasons as a senior, like Keith Smith, Jerome Randle, Shipp, Wethers, the late Mark McNamara, etc.
Slight correction here: Tamir's last season at Cal, 2003-04 was his Junior season, not his Senior season. Tamir left the Cal team and declared for the 2004 NBA Draft, went undrafted, and played that summer for the Orlando Magic in the NBA Summer League, but did not make the team. He moved to Greece, where he played and also played in Europe, Cyprus, and for different teams in Israel in a good career.
Hmmm... I totally forgot that. No WONDER his senior season wasn't his best: He didn't hit a shot the whole year!
Anyway, from what I remember, his LAST season at Cal wasn't his best, though now maybe I ought to go research it. I'm thinking that Oregon game was his sophomore year?
I'm frantically trying to remember the back story on his leaving early. Now I do seem to remember that he and Powe sort of clashed, at least on the court. Hard to imagine him having a solid shot at the NBA. Maybe as a "poor man's Ryan Anderson".
This thread is an interesting look back...
You were right that his last season wasn't his best, which was the year before. It is also right that Tamir's 39 point game was against Oregon in Haas in 2002, his freshman year. In his freshman season, Cal had two other good big men on the roster in Jamal Sampson and Solomon Hughes, so he did not play a lot of minutes and did not have to shoulder most of the load in the frontcourt. In his sophomore season, 2003, Hughes had graduated and Sampson had left for the NBA, so Tamir had to play 34 minutes and shoulder a much bigger responsiblity, with only Gabe Hughes, and freshmen David Paris, and Rod Benson to back him up. He averaged 15 points, 6.5 rebounds (which led the team), and 3 assists. Wethers led the team with 94 assists, and Tamir had 93, while mostly playing center.
In his junior year, Tamir had to move to the perimeter, because freshman Powe was the much better inside player and Powe played center, or in the post. Tamir's minutes went down some, and McGuire and Benson got playing time, and Tamir's output decreased a little. It wasn't a bad year individually for him with 13 points and 5 rebounds, Midgley, Kately and Ubaka. Still the team did not seem to function very well together, and I never saw much chemistry between Tamir and Powe. That team had more high ranked recruits, players like Powe, Ubaka, Kately, and McGuire, finished 13-15, while the team of the previous year with less highly ranked recruits, namely Shipp, Wethers, Midgley, and Donte Smith, but finished much better at 22-9. Maybe playing ball at Cal wasn't as much fun for Tamir as it had been in his previous two seasons, and he left town. Just a guess.
