|
|
 |
|
#1
07-10-2009, 12:17 PM
|
||||
|
||||
NBA Summer League in LV
This might be the most fun time for me. I love the regular season. I love the playoffs. But the summer season in Las Vegas is great. It's so informal and you get to see some guys really working hard to make teams. A lot of the top draft choices are there and the competition is pretty good. I will be there everyday from the start (today) til the finish (7/19). I will give my best attempts at unbiased reporting. I know you all will be waiting with baited breath. I'll tell you what I've heard about the Orlando summer session. I heard that James Hardin and Tyler Hansborough were outstanding. Hansborough went for over 20 a game. Terrance Williams had shooting problems but possesses a complete game on the court. Lester Hudson didn't do much after scoring 11 in his first game but is a beast on the defensive end. Roy Hibbert and Ryan Anderson dominated and Russell Westbrook looked great.
__________________
The real horses of the year (1986-2020) Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine 
|
|
#2
07-10-2009, 01:14 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#3
07-10-2009, 01:55 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Nice to hear that Tyler may not turn out to be the crappy pick some of the Pacer fans first thought he was. Hear his work ethic is contaigous too...Hibbert sounds promising also. Maybe Larry does know a little bit about the game. We'll see this year.
__________________
“Once there was only dark. If you ask me, light’s winning.”–Rust Cohle – True Detective
|
|
#4
07-10-2009, 07:49 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
I know the Spurs always used to go to the Rocky Mountain review with 3 other teams just to see how some guys that were trying out looked against the draftees and others they thought needed work...
|
|
#5
07-13-2009, 10:05 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Ok so there are a lot of players to watch here and it's hard to evaluate them all while watching the games so I try to focus on a few and go from there. If someone else surprises me and catches my eye, I'll mention that too. I try to focus on guys that are first year players and a few second year guys that are showing big improvement. I'm not going to bother with guys like Westbrook or Robin Lopez because we expect those guys to play really well since they have shown they have legit NBA ability. Having said that, here are some observations from the first three days.
Houston I love what I've seen from Joey Dorsey. The guy is a monster on the boards and plays strong defense. He's not much on the offensive end but in three games, he's averaging 14.3 boards and 2.7 blocks. Chase Buddinger has sort of surprised me. He's a really nice shooter and had a big game the other day with 25. He plays well within the offense and is more athletic than I thought he was. He can help the Rockets. For some reason, makes me think of Matt Bullard. Golden State Well, it's only summer league but Curry has been as expected. He can flat out score. Scored 27 in the second half the other day to lead the team with 29 for the game. Scored 16 in his first game. He's only shooting 33% and 37.5% from three. Looks very comfortable and has no problems getting his shot off. Gets good looks too. Anthony Randolph has played very well. Two 20-10 games and I think he's ready to be a real impact player for the Warriors at four when they want to run and gun. Has no chance to guard fours though in the half-court. I don't know who this Cartier Martin is but I like him. He's scored 14 and 27 and is looking like the typical guy from nowhere that Nelson finds that produces. Sacramento Tyreke Evans is really good. Gets wherever he wants on the court. Had 25-10-5 the other night. Hasn't really shot so well but gets to the line a lot (22 times in two games). Doesn't pass as much as you'd want from your point guard though but maybe that will come. Dontae Green has played pretty well going for 11.5 and seven boards. That Casspi guy they drafted has looked ok but nothing spectacular or enough to look like a consistent contributor. Detroit Austin Daye really makes Tayshaun Prince look like the Hulk. He's ridiculously small. But he actually looked pretty good in the second game. Scored 19 and had eight boards and shot pretty well (8-14). Lakers Probably nobody makes the team but Ben McCauley has been really nice. Scored 24-15 in the first and really handles himself well inside. Toronto Demar DeRozan didn't look like much in the first game but was really nice in the second with 20 on 9-20 shooting. Looks a lot like advertized. Milwaukee Brandon Jennings started very slow but started to pick it up at the end of the first game. In the second game, he was great with 23 and eight assists. Hit the three and was tenacious on defense. Very, very quick. Jodie Meeks is really nice. Proving that his numbers at Kentucky were legit. Takes good shots and hits them (13-23 for 15 a game in his first two.) Joe Alexander is looking even worse than he did last year. Just can't shoot at all. Dallas Rodrigue Beaubois is interesting. Obviously reminds people of Barbosa. Exploded in the second game for 34 and eight assists and hit seven threes. Need to see a little more but he's a player. Cleveland I've liked what I've seen of Danny Green. Shot really well in the first game but not as good in the second. Plays good defense and has a chance to break into Cleveland's rotation. San Antonio Dejaun Blair is a beast inside. Like Dorsey, he just has a nose for the ball. Went for 13-10 in his first game. Didn't appear undersized although you know he will be in the NBA. Still, always a place in the game for people who play like him. New Orleans Darren Collison surprised me. He played very well. Very balanced with 19 and six assists and even had five boards. Was a bothersome defender. I could see him on the court at times with Paul even though they'd give up a ton of size. I liked the way Julian Wright looked. A lot better than last year. Still very thin and there's no way you can play him with Chandler but at least starting to show the promise of last year. Marcus Thornton looks really good. Looked like he'll be able to score consistently in the NBA and has a good body. He might start for the Hornets. Minnesota Wayne Ellington looked like crap. Couldn't hit anything. Shot 2-12 and looked very scared. He's better than that. Johnny Flynn was decent. Had 11 and seven assists and controlled the floor pretty well. Even hit a couple of three's but was way off on other shots. Looked to see what Paul Harris and Gerald Henderson could add. Neither added anything at all. Oklahoma City They said James Harden looked good in Orlando. He didn't here. Shot only 1-5 and appeared overmatched on the court. Missed both threes and scored only four points. BJ Mullens got a very limited opportunity and didn't do too much. Scored five but made both of his shots. Looking to see how Shaun Livingston plays. Didn't do much. Didn't look like an NBA player. I'm hoping he makes it back though. Memphis Really wanted to see Thabeet. Mixed reviews on him. Scored nine but wasn't the factor on defense that I was expecting. Looked out of position a few too many times. Surprisingly, looked a little more polished on offense than I thought he would. He does look a little better than Oden did on offense. I was really impressed with Marcus Williams. He controlled the whole game. Didn't shoot that well but had 17 assists and played good defense. I was impressed with Jeff Adrien (is this team all former UConn players?). He was strong inside on both ends of the court.
__________________
The real horses of the year (1986-2020) Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
|
|
#6
07-14-2009, 07:59 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Buddinger is the complete opposite of Matt Bullard. Bullard was a one dimensional three point shooter that was tall.
Buddinger is a great athlete. I know he was a top volleyball player in high school and i remember some clip of him in a dunk contest in one of those high school summer things. His problem has been that his shot is inconsistent and he seems to just disappear at times.
|
|
#7
07-14-2009, 08:41 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Good story about Budinger in the paper here this morning. It is nice to see Joey Dorsey doing something positive, now that his weight is below 300 lbs.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/...s/6527750.html NT
|
|
#8
07-14-2009, 09:55 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#9
07-14-2009, 09:57 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#10
07-14-2009, 10:06 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
he's going to be a better nba player than jordan hill IMO. Unless Hill somehow changes. He just looks weak sometimes eventhough he's huge.
__________________
Quote:
|
|
#11
07-14-2009, 10:20 AM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#12
07-14-2009, 12:39 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
From Monday, 7/13
Minnesota Wayne Ellington looked more like himself. Very confident on his shot and on the floor. Shot 8-14 (4-7 on 3s) and scored 22. Flynn was also much improved over the first game. He got to spots he wanted to on the floor and passed very well. He had 14 assists to go along with 12 points and played pretty decent defense. Paul Harris had limited time and didn't do too much. He doesn't seem too athletic out there. Scored seven on 3-7 shooting. Phoenix A surprising performance by Zabian Dowdell. He's only 6-3 but he's pretty strong and he's very smart with the ball. Shot 5-8 and scored 15 with four boards and five assists. Goran Dragic looked like a Euro bust. Shot 1-7 but never looked like he was getting good shots. Missed both 3s. Dallas Another solid performance by Rodrigue Beaubois. Scored 16 point doesn't really look like he wants to pass the ball. Shot decently, including 2-4 on 3s. Ahmad Nivins put in his third straight double-digit game. Didn't shoot so well but got decent shots. Very athletic but wish he was a little better at holding position on the blocks. Portland Very impressed with Dontae Cunningham. Showed good range and was very good inside. Very active and finished with 21 and nine boards. Jerryd Bayless is interesting. As he did last year, he shows he can score well. Finished with 22 and seven assists on 7-17 shooting. Portland is reluctant to trade him and you can see his talent but he plays behind Roy. Toronto DeMar DeRozan played another decent game but nothing special. He plays like he knows he's better than these guys attitude wise but is not producing like a star. Still, you can see his potential to be a guy that can score at least 16 a night as a rookie. Finished 6-14 from the field and scored 15. Added six boards. Quincy Douby is interesting also. He's played a couple of really good games. Couldn't get going in Sac but is looking like he might find a role in Toronto. LA Clippers Better than advertised. Everyone was waiting to see him and Blake Griffin didn't disappoint. There was nothing on the court that he couldn't do. He completely dominated inside. He stepped out and hit a three. He drove to the basket and used some spin moves off the dribble. He controlled the boards. He even handled the ball in the middle of the break a couple of times. He's the real deal and will be the runaway winner of the rookie of the year award and if he played in the East, might make the all-star team at forward. He's really good. He finished 11-15 from the field and had 27 and 12 boards. Detroit Austin Daye continues to be surprisingly better on the boards than I expected. He scored 11 and added 11 more boards. The problem is that he makes a lot of careless decisions. He shot only 5-14 and had eight turnovers. Still not sure of how he can help the Pistons. Golden State Stephen Curry is playing here just like he did at Davidson. He is getting whatever shot he wants but is still not making a lot of them. Shot 7-19 here (3-7 on 3s) and finished with 23 points. He also had four assists and five steals. Curry will get better looks when he plays with better teammates but he'll probably never be better than a 45% shooter. You better not let him get open looks from three though. He also is a very good ball handler and passer. He'll be a solid pro. Anthony Randolph again was solid with his third straight 20-10 game. Cartier Martin was strong again. Only shot 4-10 but found a way to get to the line and finished with 18 points. Milwaukee Joe Alexander finally showed up. Shot well and finished with 24 and seven boards. He's got the talent but something is missing with him. Brandon Jennings wasn't as good as in his second game but was still not too bad. Only shot 5-13 but his 2-3 from long range and had 13 points and 14 assists. Looked like a much more willing passer here and was again very tenacious on defense with seven steals. I continue to be impressed with Jodie Meeks. He's a really solid player. He scored 20 more and keeps making really good decisions with the ball. Shot very well again (8-12, 2-3 on 3s) and is looking like a solid backup to Michael Redd and actually could really make Redd expendable to a contender come the trade deadline. Sacramento Someone recently said Griffin is a shoe-in for ROY. Hold that thought. Tyreke Evans is going to have something to say about that. What a player this guy is. He does what he wants on the court. Take Derrick Rose....only stronger. Scored 33 here with nine more boards and seven assists. Got to the line 19 more times. Point guards around the league are going to dread having to deal with this guy. He's taken 41 free throws in three games. Completely took it to Jennings in this game and dominated him. Omri Casspi took a step back. Just doesn't appear to have what it takes to play at this level yet.
__________________
The real horses of the year (1986-2020) Manila, Java Gold, Alysheba, Sunday Silence, Go for Wand, In Excess, Paseana, Kotashaan, Holy Bull, Cigar, Alphabet Soup, Formal Gold, Skip Away, Artax, Tiznow, Point Given, Azeri, Candy Ride, Smarty Jones, Ghostzapper, Invasor, Curlin, Zenyatta, Zenyatta, Goldikova, Havre de Grace, Wise Dan, Wise Dan, California Chrome, American Pharoah, Arrogate, Gun Runner, Accelerate, Maximum Security, Gamine
|
|
#13
07-14-2009, 12:56 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
Thanks for the updates!
|
|
#14
07-14-2009, 02:57 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#15
07-14-2009, 02:59 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#16
07-14-2009, 03:04 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#17
07-14-2009, 03:08 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Quote:
he was better than Hill with Arizona. I dont know, I'm just not sold on Hill. Sometimes he looks real good, sometimes he looks below average. He looked horrible against lousiville in the tourney. I always thought he should have been grabbing more rebounds at Arizona.. it always disappoints me when men his size dont grab tons and tons of boards. Basically everyone in the NBA disappoints me when it comes to this besides Howard right now. Shaq will never be an all time great center in my eyes because of this -(the man should have averaged 20 boards per night) Chase was the best player @ Arizona and I expect him to be the best out of the two in the NBA, though Hill has an incredible size advantage to that. Chase is a good NBA quality shooter (IMO.. disagree's with dala but thats nothing new) and great athlete... smart too. I think he will do well.
__________________
Quote:
|
|
#18
07-14-2009, 03:21 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
|
#19
07-14-2009, 04:37 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Where do you guys get that he is a "pretty good shooter" or an "nba quality shooter" when he never shot better than 39% from the college three point line in three years??????
Please explain that one to me.
|
|
#20
07-14-2009, 11:10 PM
|
||||
|
||||
|
Quote:
|
Linear Mode
