Mickell Gladness

Mickell Gladness

Turning 27 in two weeks, it's high time that Gladness lost his project status. But has he? Not really. In a full season with Santa Cruz last season, Gladness averaged 6.2 points, 6.1 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game, shooting 50% from the field and 54% from the line. He still retains the athleticism you can't teach, but he also still doesn't have many of the skills that you can.

Gladness became relevant in 2006/07, when, in his second season at Southwestern Atlantic Conference team Alabama State, he averaged 7.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and a whopping 6.3 blocks per game. Included in that was an NCAA record 15 blocks in a game against Texas Southern; even if it was the only thing he did, Gladness did this one thing so well that everyone had to pay attention. He then put up 10/9/5 as a senior, before spending his first professional season in Holland, averaging 3 points and 4 rebounds for Nijmegen. Gladness spent last year in the D-League, but played only 11.8 minutes per game, averaging 3.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game. His height, wingspan and athleticism are his virtues - while most people have wingspans roughly equal to their height, Gladness uniquely has each arm roughly equal to his height, making for a total wingspan of 14 foot 6 inches. But while this arm length is his greatest virtue, it's also his weakness, because those arms are damn thin. The same is true of his legs (not pictured). At this time, Gladness can't handle the physical play of the D-League, let alone the NBA. He will always be thin, but at this moment in time, he's Mikki-Moore-on-Rimonabant-level thin. He's also not a particularly good offensive player, save for the easy ones that avail any athletic 6'11 player. Maybe these things never change. Either way, Gladness is not ready for the NBA, and Miami knows that too.