SB Nation - Mike Sweetney

Waive Goodbye, Part 3

Jon L — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 13:15:16 -0000

by Chris Young - AP

Pops! (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Chris Young)

We wrap up our look at which players got waived last week and which made their respective teams with the Divisions Atlantic and Southwest. Really, I promise those are the correct divisions. I know some of these cuts happened a while ago, but I think that seeing them all as a group helps give a broader perspective as to which teams around the league are filling out the end of their benches with cheap talent (and it is talent). Here's part 1, and here's part 2 (and ignore the whole "Derrick Byars made the Bulls" thing. It happened, then it didn't happen.) Part 3 is here:

Boston Celtics

Who got cut: Mike Sweetney

Who got kept: No one.

Well, not no one, but their third-string guards are going to be recent draft picks Lester Hudson and the J.R. Giddens Rebounding Machine. Mike Sweetney is trying, he really is, and he's mostly fine on the offensive end. His conditioning is awful, though, which means he gets hurt and that he's several steps too slow on defense when he makes it onto the court. There's been some suggestion that he could try working his way back into shape in the D-League, and it will be interesting to see what he does from here. J.R. Giddens will likely see some D-League action himself, as his shooting is still really bad. I'm guessing Lester Hudson will as well. After all, the Celtics have a team in their own backyard, and they can't make Danny's son look bad by withholding their NBA talent.

Dallas Mavericks

Who got cut: Jake Voskuhl

Who got kept: No one.

What, you want me to talk about Jake Voskuhl? The Mavericks also rid themselves of Nate Jawai, who hadn't been there all that long, but I suspect that was more of a cap move than anything. D-League-wise, ESPN's Marc Stein things that rookie Rodrigue Beaubois could see some time in Alberquerque, as minutes could be hard to come by for him in Dallas. Beaubois is definitely talented, and he had an intriguing Summer League, so he could be fun to watch for the Thunderbirds.

Houston Rockets

Who got cut: Will Conroy, Romel Beck, Garrett Temple

Who got kept: Pops Mensah-Bonsu

The Rockets had to waive Brent Barry in order to keep Pops, so that's something. It's a shame Conroy couldn't stick around, as he played very well in Summer League and decently when he got preseason minutes, but the (ridiculous?) upside is that he hopefully showed other teams around the league that he can run an offense and is ready to play in the NBA. It's great that Mensah-Bonsu made the team, obviously, but it shouldn't really be that much of a surprise. A power forward/center somewhere between 6'6" and 6'9" who rebounds the hell out of the ball? Sounds like the Rockets to me. Add to that the fact that the team doesn't really know what it's going to get from new center David Andersen either, and you can see why they might want some extra frontcourt help behind Scola, Hayes and Landry. Mensah-Bonsu's offense will be up and down, but as Rockets fans are finding out, that's going to be true for a lot of their players. I'd definitely expect to see Jermaine Taylor and hopefully (for his and the team's sake) Chase Budinger in Rio Grande Valley at some point later this season.

Memphis Grizzlies

Who got cut: Mike Taylor, Thomas Gardner, Leon Rodgers

Who got kept: No one.

Again, it's not really "no one," as Trey Gilder is still around after signing a partially-guaranteed contract back in August. Mike Taylor has proven that he can play in the NBA, provided he can keep his turnovers to a minimum. It will be interesting to see what he does, as other players with less NBA experience have already said they're fed up with trying to make it out of the D-League and are heading to Europe. Taylor probably could lead the Euroleague in scoring, but he'd also be perhaps the number one call-up candidate should come back to the D-League, based on his NBA experience and ability.

New Jersey Nets

Who got cut: Bennet Davis, Will Blalock, Brian Hamilton

Who got kept: No one.

I didn't really expect any of these guys to stick around. Blalock and Hamilton are headed back overseas, I suspect, while Davis would do well to go back to the D-League and either develop an offensive game or become a top-notch post defender to go with his elite shot-blocking ability.

New Orleans Hornets

Who got cut: Earl Barron, Larry Owens

Who got kept: No one.

The Hornets are one of those teams that clearly don't care about the D-League, so I'm not really sure what to write here. Pass? Incomplete? Not qualified? Earl Barron has a D-League pedigree, sure, but even given his time with the Miami Heat this was pretty clearly not going to work out for him unless Hilton Armstrong went down with an injury. I'm guessing Barron goes the overseas route, but seeing him in the D-League would be a pleasant surprise.

New York Knicks

Who got cut: Warren Carter, Sun Yue, Ron Howard, Gabe Pruitt

Who got kept: Marcus Landry

Plus, don't forget the team also cut partially-guaranteed guys Chris Hunter and Joe Crawford. This team is all about winning on the cheap, right? And yet they cut several good, cheap players. But hey, have fun with that whole Jared Jeffries thing. Carter is probably going back to Europe, though I think coming to the D-League might be worth his time, because as I've noted several times before he has a David Lee-ish game. Ron Howard may come back to the D-League, though I'm less certain about Sun or Hunter. I wouldn't be surprised if Sun entered the draft, as he's become a semi-prominent example of a Chinese basketball product aiming for the NBA, and to give up on that while he's so young could be somewhat embarrassing. It also would give the D-League someone to market with so many players headed overseas this year. If he does enter the draft, it will be interesting to see both where he ends up and in what round, as the league considers him somewhat of a star, and while NBA stars can play pretty much anywhere, I'm not sure the same is true for the D-League. A crazy thought popped just into my head: would the Spurs/Toros be interested in giving him the Marcus Williams Treatment? Sun's offense isn't nearly at the level that Williams's is and was, but the Toros essentially created an NBA point guard where there wasn't one, which is what Sun Yue is. Or isn't.

Philadelphia 76ers

Who got cut: Stromile Swift, Sean Singletary, Rashad Jones-Jennings, Brandon Bowman, Dionte Christmas

Who got kept: No one.

So the 76ers apparently were comfortable with their roster as it stood. How's that working out? Yeah, yeah, they already had a lot of guaranteed contracts, and it's not like Sean Singletary is the bee's knees, but this is yet another team that doesn't really care about the D-League, or where their end-of-bench guys come from. Singletary could benefit from some D-League time, but a lot of European teams don't really care whether their point guards can distribute the ball as long as they can score, so that's likely where he's headed. Christmas could stay in the U.S., if for no other reason than to be on hand if the 76ers decide they want to sign him to a 10-day and then not play him.

San Antonio Spurs

Who got cut: Marcus Williams, Curtis Jerrells, Dwayne Jones, Jack McClinton

Who got kept: Malik Hairston

San Antonio went with Keith Bogans over Marcus Williams, even though Bogans played pretty poorly in the preseason while Williams barely played. I say that Williams was waived instead of Bogans and not Malik Hairston because Hairston played so well in both Summer League and the preseason that I would've beeen pretty shocked to see him gone. McClinton, Jones and Jerrells have already signed overseas, and Williams is another guy who it will be interesting to watch, because he'd be at the front of the call-up list should be come back to the D-League. He'd probably also be a first-round D-League draft pick and maybe the first player taken overall. As much as we praise him here at RU, Williams does still have some work to do as a point guard, mainly getting his turnovers down. And, if he tries to hang around the Spurs universe he'll have to become a better-than-passable defender. But the fact that he's gone from a gunning wing to a high-scoring, (mostly efficient), high-assist point guard in the span of less than a year is a testament to Williams's talent and how hard he's willing to work to improve his chances, which speaks well to his basketball future.

Toronto Raptors

Who got cut: No one.

Who got kept: No one.

Okay, this is who should get the pass/incomplete/not qualified. They didn't sign any waiver fodder, so they didn't have to cut any waiver fodder. All is not lost, however, as Sonny Weems seems to have landed solidly in Toronto after being traded twice this offseason. He's begun the season on the inactive list, where I suspect he'll see a fair amount of time, but still.

Roster Articles Recap

Jeff Clark — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 02:03:00 -0000

More photos » by Steven Senne - AP

Ray Allen is just one piece of the puzzle.

Browse more photos »

I set out during the offseason to write feature length articles about each player on the Celtics roster. It took a while and I had to enlist in the help of some of the other excellent writers on this site, but we got it done. Since we put a lot of work into them and there's a chance that some of them were missed because attention gets divided and diverted during the offseason. So I wanted to highlight them again. So here they are.

It All Comes Down To Kevin Garnett
Which Ray Allen Will Show Up?
Veritas Vincit (Paul Pierce)
Rondooooooooooooooooooo!
The Beauty of the Beast (Kendrick Perkins)
Love Hate Relationship (Rasheed Wallace)
Brian Scalabrine Is Whatever You Want Him To Be
Bill Walker Is The Next "Next"
I Hope I'm Wrong About Lester Hudson
Eddie House: Designated Shooter
Tony Allen: Seldom Unmasked Potential
Can You Say Landlord? (Shenden Williams)
Glen Davis - Then and Now: Less is More
Goodbye, J.R.? (J.R. Giddens)
Fat Chance? (Mike Sweetney)
That's Just Quisy Being Quisy (Marquis Daniels)

I hope you enjoyed them half as much as we enjoyed writing them. Looking forward to a great year in part because this is a great group of guys that collectively make up an even greater team.

Final Predictions: Who Gets Cut?

Jeff Clark — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 02:29:50 -0000

More photos »

Will JR Giddens survive cuts?

Browse more photos »

The math is still the same as it was on the first day of camp. We have 15 roster spots and 16 players. One of them has to go. Barring a trade, somebody is going to get cut. Most assumed that Mike Sweetney would be the one to go. However, Adiran Wojnarowski tweeted the following:

Doc Rivers sounds determined to keep Mike Sweetney. Celts plan had been to help him lose more weight and hope he could contribute by midyear

Boston doesn't have the roster space to keep him, and would need to get rid of one of its guaranteed contracts. Giddens? TAllen?

Not sure if that's anything more than Wojo's opinion or reading too much into Doc's praise of Sweets, but I can't help but wonder the same things. If he stays, who goes?

As a sidebar, you can find a long list of players cut by other teams at Hoopshype. I'm not sure if any of them is worth discussing but you never know.

Poll

Assuming no trades, who would you cut?

Sweetney

938 votes

Hudson

76 votes

Giddens

340 votes

T. Allen

960 votes

B. Walker

86 votes

other

29 votes

2429 votes | Poll has closed

Training Camp Invites - Boston Celtics

Jon L — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 19:15:13 -0000

This isn't a photo, it's actual video of Michael Sweetney running up the court.

View full size photo »

Do I need to keep writing intros for these?

Michael Sweetney - I'm not really sure why the Celtics signed Sweetney. He's been working to lose weight, though it hasn't really gone well. He sat out most of Summer League with a hamstring injury (with a likely emphasis on the ham, if you get what I'm saying). Sweetney is certainly to be commended for trying to get himself in shape and take another shot at the NBA, but you know how I complain about teams signing washed up old players who can't help them in any way instead of a talented player from the D-League team who can? This is what I'm talking about, even though Sweetney's not that old. Sweetney's per-minute numbers from when he played were fine, 15 points and 10 and a half rebounds, but he's fat, slow, and can't stay on the court.

Daily Links 9/29 (Media Day Edition)

FLCeltsFan — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 14:29:35 -0000

Herald Media Day Wrap-Up
Rasheed Wallace Outtakes
Media Day Coverage
Heat cool to tweets
Knicks’ Al Harrington appears on brink of big season
A new Lucky in mix
Rajon Rondo adds muscle for negotiations
Rasheed Wallace feeling love
Celtics to fill in a blank
Globe Referees’ top negotiator leaves bargaining table
It all sounds good now for vocal Wallace and the Celtics
Ainge, Rondo on the same page for Celtics
Five things to watch in Celtics training camp
After injury, Celtics’ Garnett just a bit uneasy being Green
The mysterious blank banner
Rivers: Garnett has no restrictions
Video: Wallace on Garnett
Big help for Perkins
Daniels in the mix
Rondo talking rings, not contract
C's Walker has faith in Beasley
Sheed on potential replacement refs
Celtics Media Day Photos

CelticsBlog    Live Blog from Celtics Media Day
Quotes From Doc, Danny, and Celtics Players From Media Day
All I Care About Is KG
The Rondo Era Could Last 10 More Years
Lester Hudson and Mike Sweetney Get Contracts
LOY's Place    Player Profiles: Brian Scalabrine #44
Photos from Media Day
Random Thoughts on Media Day Reports
Slam Online   Top 50: Al Jefferson, no. 23
PME Newswire   OptionIt Partners With the Boston Celtics
Celtics.com    Post Ups Notebook 2009-10
Red's Army    Player Projections: Rasheed Wallace
KG: "I Didn't Know It Was That Bad"
10 More Years!
Sheed & Perk are cool
Doc: "Scal and Ray Are Pretty Stiff"
Perkisabeast    Media Day Part One: KG Don’t Do One on One’s, unless it’s for the beast lair
4 Miles and Runnin’ with Rajon Rondo
YouTube    YouTube - bostonceltics's Channel
Celtics Circuit    10 More Years of Rondo Would Be Ideal
Garnett Opens Up About Knee Injury
Celtics Hub   Quick Hits from Media Day
KG Talks About His Knee " Boston Celtics Basketball
Hudson the 15th Man? Sweetney Gets Deal, Too…
Telegram    Rondo will need to see $
Garnett says he's ready for action
ProJo   For this NBA team, the dysfunction starts at Media Day
Ainge wants Rondo to be the Celtics point guard of the future
Rejuvenated Celtics in an upbeat mood
Celtics Media Day
17 Banners    KG's knee not OK?
Media Day 2009
North Station Sports    KG Cleared and it Suddenly Feels Like Basketball Season Again!
Celtics Town    'Twas the night before training camp
NBA Season Preview: Sacramento Kings
Boston Celtics media day tidbits
Fernsten's Follies    Kevin Garnett's Knee: The Veil of Secrecy is Starting to Lift
Kevin Garnett to Play Normal Exhibition Minutes, Normal Exhibition Schedule
Lex Nihil Novi     Garnett Underwent Several Procedures in the Offseason
Celtics' Length Already Getting Respect
Bench Players Encouraged to Mix
Ridiculous Upside    Last Year: D-League. This Year: NBA?
MetroWest Daily    Celtics: KG rarin' to go on repaired knee
Megliola: Clock ticking on Celts' Big 3
Bleacher Report    A Look at Each Franchises Leader in Three Pointers Made
Beyond The Arc NBA Power Rankings: Training Camp Edition Part 1
Middletown Press    Signs of a new season; Celtics tip-off 2009 campaign with media day
Patriot Ledger     Kevin Garnett ready for Celtics’ training camp four months after knee surgery
Rajon Rondo won’t let contract situation weigh on his mind
Star Tribune    The skinny on Al Jefferson
News Herald    Lights out? On media day with power outage, LeBron, Shaq focus on being force that brings home title
HoopsAddict     Boston Celtics Season Preview
SI.com    Cavs' Delonte West relieved to be at camp
Celtics' Garnett itching to return after surgery
High-payroll teams dominating like never before
Orlando Sentinel    Rashard "Pitbull" Lewis barks back at Paul Pierce's "poodle" comment
Green Street    Celtics Media Day Wrap Up
Doc: I’m not going to overdo it
KG: Last year humbled us
Garnett: I’m going full blast
CT News    Boston Celtic Media Day Highlights
CSNE    Sheed and the Beast
KG: Knee Still Gets Sore
Tony Allen Questionable for Preseason
Examiner    17 Banners’ Top 5 All-time Celtics: Point Guard
Ohio.com    West questions linger
Wages of Wins Journal    KG and Boston Try One More Time
NECN    Pierce: "A breath of fresh air" to have Garnett back
NY Times   As Garnett Heals, Celtics Aim for the Rafters Again
NESN    Lead Negotiator For NBA Refs Removes Himself From Contract Talks
Celtics Need a Healthy KG to go Full Speed This Season
Kevin Garnett: 'I'm Almost 100 Percent'
AP    West happy to be back with Cavs; declined to discuss recent arrest
Courtside View    ‘Sheed hits the ground running with media in Boston
News from Media Day: Tony Allen on shelf; Rajon Rondo centerpiece of long-term plans; Baby slim and trim
ESPN    Kevin Garnett scrimmaging, ready for Celtics' camp
Cleveland.com   High winds knock out the lights at Cleveland Cavaliers media day
Ball Don't Lie    Guest post: NBA players and 'The Twitter Effect'
Celtics Life     Leon Powe
Fox Sports    I've got questions; do teams have answers?
NBA.com   NBA.com tips off season with Real Training Camp coverage
Real GM    Three Jobs For Danny
Dimemag     The 5 Teams Who Had The Most Productive Offseasons
Newport Now     Celtics Begin Training Camp in Newport
Ballerblogger     Position Rankings: Small Forwards
Chronicle 10 questions for the season: Do the Cavs have the answers?

Lester Hudson and Mike Sweetney Get Contracts

Roy_Hobbs — Tue, 29 Sep 2009 09:45:31 -0000

Lester Hudson is happy about signing

View full size photo »

Mark Murphy reports:

Rookie Lester Hudson, who has worked out patiently all summer without a contract, walked onto the floor with a new one-year deal in hand.

"I was very anxious about it," he said. "But it’s a great feeling. I got to work out with all of the guys on this team."

Hudson appears to be the last guard - and the 15th man - on the roster.

Presumably, this is a non-guaranteed deal, because Bill Doyle says Mike Sweetney got a deal, too:

The Celtics begin training camp with 16 players, one over the maximum, after the signings of second-round pick Lester Hudson and free agent forward Michael Sweetney. Still recovering from offseason foot surgery, Tony Allen isn’t ready to go full tilt yet.

I can't imagine that Sweetney will make the team, but you never know. If he does, it means somebody else needs to go, the two most likely candidates by far being Hudson or Tony.

Update: Here's some quotes on Tony Allen from Scott Souza:

Ainge elaborated: "Well, we were hoping Tony would be ready to go by training camp. It’s just not coming along as quickly as we wanted. We’ll take it week by week. He probably won’t do much this first week and we’ll evaluate it next week."

On whether this puts Allen behind, especially given the offseason addition of versatile swingman Marquis Daniels: "It puts him behind everybody until he can play. You’ve always got to remember that the most important ability is availability. So as long as he’s in street clothes, he doesn’t have a job.

"We’re confident Tony will be healthy sometime in October. Where his spot is in the rotation will be determined by Tony’s play and by Doc."

Yeah, that didn’t sound positive.

Yeah, not so much.

But Weight, There's More

Jeff Clark — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 03:52:58 -0000

Adrian Wojnarowski just tweeted the following:

The Celtics continue intrigue with vet forward Mike Sweetney's comeback and will likely bring him to camp, sources tell Y! Sports.

Sweetney has fought weight issues and still needs to shed more pounds. Minny and Indiana also have interest.

I chalk this up as a no-lose "lets take a look at him" situation but the chances of him making the team are... wait for it... slim.

Daily Links 7/11

FLCeltsFan — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 14:30:51 -0000

Herald Anderson Varejao to stay a Cavalier
Grant Hill passes on Celtics
Mike Sweetney seeks gains on court
Globe Free agent Hill chooses Suns over Celtics

CelticsBlog   Summer League Wrapup
Celtics Stuff Live: Jon Jennings & Marc Spears
LOY's Place   I Miss Delonte's Sense of Humor
Random Thoughts on Who's Next
Celtics 17   Exploring the Rumor Mill
New England Sports 24/7   Paul Pierce Still Needs a Quality Backup
Red's Army   Old school Rondo video
Glen Davis Won't Be Going to Orlando
C's have the best summer league shooter
Perkisabeast   The bottom line is that they play to win, and that is what swayed me to come here
CSNE   Friday Night Thoughts Friday Night Thoughts
Celtics Town   Celtics Conclude Summer League With 92-79 Win
Celtics' Youth Could Prove Instrumental In 2010
17 Banners   Who's going to backup The Truth?
Lex Nihil Novi   Sonics Hand C's Third Home Loss of Year (81-82)
Fitch Not Worried About Home Loss (81-82)
Posey or BBD?
Ridiculous Upside Recapping the Orlando Summer League: Day 5
Morning Sentinel Red Claws narrow coaching search
Enterprise   Hill will stay with Suns rather than joining Celtics
WEEI    Doc Rivers, Celtics Head Coach on WEEI
NESN    Over Hill: Phoenix star opts to stay with Suns
Fortunately for Celtics, Wallace answered call
NBA Draft.net    Orlando Summer League: Day 5
Cavalier Attitude    Taking It Coast-To-Coast: Cavs Options Dwindling
Orlando Sentinel Be patient; there are several free-agent options available
Connecticut News    Grading the Free Agent Signings, So Far
Bleacher Report    As The Ink Dries: Rating the NBA Free Agent Chase 2009
Cleveland Cavaliers Make Huge Mistake By Re-Signing Anderson Varejao
Jerry Stackhouse: The Boston Celtics Can Make It a Family Affair
With the Pieces in Place, the Pressure Is on for LeBron and the Cavs
38th Notes Bring Leon Powe Home to Oakland!
Hoopsworld    Grizzlies waive newly acquired Jerry Stackhouse
Marion to Mavs, Stackhouse to Griz in complex deal
Free Agency Watch: Day 10
ProJo   Grant Hill stays in Phoenix, thwarting Celtics’ hopes to add bench depth
Celtics lose out on Grant Hill -
ESPN   Bill Simmons' Summer Mailbag
Inside Hoops Orlando Summer League Basketball
Boston Score   The Big Four
Waiting for Next Year    NBA Rookie Hazing: Cavalier Style

Recapping Yesterday's Summer League Games

Jon L — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 14:00:23 -0000

Teams, players, journalists and other basketball-related folks are beginning to descend on Las Vegas, where the larger Summer League officially starts today at 2 PM local time (I think? What is that, Mountain Time?). Today's also the last day of the Orlando league, and at some point this weekend we'll have a look back at some players who stood out. For now, though, let's keep taking the games one at a time.

Utah Jazz 92, Orlando Magic 84

This was the second Summer League game to go into overtime, if that matters. Ryan Anderson continued to be the breakout star, again, if that matters. It likely matters to the Magic, particularly the fact that he's getting it done in a variety of ways. Yesterday Anderson shot 5-11 on three-pointers and 4-6 on the rest of his field goals, and he also pulled down 9 rebounds and blocked four shots. He had 8 fouls, though, but from this looks of it there were a lot of fouls called in this game. Goran Suton "rebounded" (sorry...you'll see why in a minute) from his poor performance a few days ago with 10 rebounds (see?), though he's still not hitting a lot of his three-point attempts. Bobcats second-rounder Derrick Brown had a very good game, the first that I've noticed, with 10-15 shooting and five rebounds. He missed all of his three-pointers but shot 5-7 from the free-throw line.

Kasib Powell continued to show why he should be on an NBA roster this year. Even though he struggled with his shot (4-12), he made things happen in other ways by grabbing 10 rebounds and dishing out 5 assists. Kevin Kruger played a good game in relief of Eric Maynor, who didn't fare quite as well. Kruger, though, made half his shots and went 5-6 from the free-throw line, though his three-point shot wasn't falling quite as well. Cedric Bozeman played a pretty good game himself, getting four rebounds, four assists and a steal to go with 8 points in 22 minutes. Richard Hendrix didn't have a great game, with 7 fouls, 4 turnovers and only 2 points in just under 26 minutes, but on the positive side of the ledger he also grabbed 8 rebounds.

As usual, the other two games are after the jump.

Indiana Pacers 91, Boston Celtics 88

Tyler Hansbrough continues to do an excellent job of getting to the free-throw line, with 12 attempts, though I have no idea whether that will continue on to the regular season. He's a rookie, so I kind of doubt it. Roy Hibbert was his usual (for this week anyway) efficient low-post scoring self, with 28 points on 10 shots, and he also had 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and 2 steals, but also 5 turnovers. Bill Walker had a good game, one that I don't have to qualify with his turnover or foul number. Walker shot 6-10 and had five rebounds, three steals and two assists. JR Giddens continues to put up turnover numbers that are a bit high, with four in 25 minutes, though he's still an efficient scorer (since he gets most of his points inside) and he had five rebounds.

Trey Johnson had probably his first all-around solid game this week, with 13 points on 8 shots, 2 assists and 2 steals, and, while I'm not sure if this is a positive sign or no indicator at all, he's been getting starts and a lot of playing time. The other non-guaranteed guys didn't really stand out in this one, and Derrick Byars didn't even play (nor did Mike Sweetney, who's missed the last few games with a hamstring injury). Robert Swift was better on the offensive end than he's been, making all five of his shots, and he also had four rebounds. He's still Robert Swift, though, and had three turnovers and six fouls as well.

Oklahoma City Thunder 82, Philadelphia/New Jersey Frankensteins

Guess what? Russell Westbrook is good. 6-10 shooting, 9 assists and four rebounds. He still hasn't figured out the turnover conundrum, though, and he had seven yesterday. Kyle Weaver is never going to be an offensive giant, but he had five rebounds, two blocks and two steals yesterday. James Harden continues to be fairly impressive, with efficient offense and a solid all-around game. Marreese Speights has struggled the last few days, and while he had nine rebounds yesterday he also had six fouls and six turnovers. in about 24 and a half minutes. Terrence Williams finally found some offense yesterday, making just under half his field goals and finishing with 14 points along with 5 rebounds, two assists, two steals and a block. BJ Mullins played a decent game as well, shooting 9-12 and grabbing five rebounds.

Jason Ellis finally showed his rebounding talent, with five in about 26 minutes along with 2 assists, 2 steals and a block. Blake Ahearn is unfortunately still struggling with his shot, though, and Gary Forbes didn't fare much better yesterday. Neither Shaun Livingston nor DJ White played, but Moses Ehambe finally got into a game where he, uh, didn't play all that well either. Both of these teams played their starters the bulk of the minutes for some reason. I mean, does Kyle Weaver really need to play 31 minutes in Summer League?

Recapping Yesterday's Summer League Action

Jon L — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 15:00:15 -0000

Can you believe it? Actual, factual basketball games. The NBA Finals weren't that long ago, but for those of us who follow the D-League and other non-NBA hoops it's been awhile. The Orlando Summer League is a good way to ease back into it, as there are only a handful of teams. I've written a little bit about this before, but Summer League games are oddities in that they're trying to serve several purposes at once - see what kind of talent was actually drafted a few weeks ago, take a look at younger guys on a roster who still have some work to do and/or are focused on improving on one specific facet of their game, and throw a bunch of D-Leaguers/undrafted college players/older players who've been in Europe out there to see if there's anything worth adding to the roster.

So in looking at these games, one has to keep all of that in mind, and be somewhat cognizant that dropping 30 points in a Summer League game doesn't mean much in and of itself. In these recaps I (and Scott or Ais, if they contribute) will try to focus mainly on the guys you may not have heard of, while also pointing out the noteworthy performances from the players who are guaranteed NBA roster spots. Also, I didn't catch any of these games on the internet, but hopefully in the future I'll be able to get a feel for how some of these guys look. With all that said, hit the jump for a look at yesterday's action.

Indiana Pacers 75, Philadelphia/New Jersey Frankensteins 67

The NBA.com headline on this one was something to the effect of "Hansbrough Proves Doubters Wrong," and it's true that he played a decent game. 17 points on 13 shots and 5 rebounds isn't bad, though if we're being honest five fouls in 25 minutes isn't great, and he shot under 70 percent on his free throws. Plus I assume he was guarding Marreese Speights for part of the time that Speights went off for 28 points and 11 rebounds. There weren't really a lot of great performances in this game, as besides Speights and Chris Douglas-Roberts the Philly/NJ team got nothing offensively. Terrence Williams shot 1-8, though he had 9 rebounds, 3 blocks and 2 steals and could be an active frontcourt defender this year for the Nets. Jrue Holiday played 38 minutes and shot 3-11, though he had 4 steals and 2 blocks. On Indiana's side, they had a few players score in double figures, but that includes Brandon Rush shooting 18 field goals to get 15 points.

The D-League guys were particularly disappointing in this one, though more disappointing is the playing time some of them got. Trey Johnson played the most out of that group, but he shot 2-8. Blake Ahearn was 1-2 in seven and a half minutes, Jason Ellis only played about nine and a half minutes and only had one rebound, Gary Forbes played only five minutes and shot 0-2. Derrick Byars was a DNP-CD. Will Blalock is a former D-League who's been playing in Europe, and he got the start for Indiana, but in 21 and a half minutes he shot 1-5 and had 7 turnovers. This was a pretty inauspicious first Summer League game.

Oklahoma City Thunder 88, Orlando Magic 77

This was another game that saw balanced scoring from one team and two players carrying the load for the other, but it was the even-handed approach that won this game. Russell Westbrook led the way with 22 points on 11 shots, 9 assists and 5 rebounds, though he also had four turnovers. He also shot 18 free throws, and while I know that getting to the basket is his specialty, that's crazy for a Summer League game. DJ White also played well for the Thunder, scoring 13 points on 10 shots and leading all rebounders with 9. James Harden put up a decent line, 17 points on 9 shots, including 2-3 on three-pointers, plus 4 rebounds but also 3 turnovers. Shaun Livingston is playing out of position at forward, and his line makes it seem as if he was uncomfortable, needing eight shots to get 7 points, though he also had six assists. Ryan Anderson was the guy for the Magic, scoring 21 points on 14 shots to go with seven rebounds, though most if not all of that came in the second half.

Moses Ehambe was a DNP-CD for the Thunder, as was Ridiculous Upside contributor and all-around good guy/player Kasib Powell or the Magic. Come on Orlando, get it together. The Magic did give Russell Robinson, Lance Allred and Richard Hendrix some run, and while Allred only played about seven minutes, Hendrix played well. 10 points on 4-5 shots, 4 rebounds and a block in 15 minutes well. Russell Robinson started and played a little over 27 minutes, though he missed his only field goal attempt and finished with five fouls.

Boston Celtics 87, Utah Jazz 56

No one on the Jazz played particularly well in this game except perhaps reserve Josh Duncan, who scored 12 points on 7 shots in just under 15 minutes. James Augustine had seven rebounds but wasn't really a factor offensively. For the Celtics, JR Giddens was really the only one who played what could be called "poorly," shooting 4-10, though he also had 4 rebounds, 3 assists and a block. Bill Walker played pretty well but also fouled out in 21 and a half minutes. Nick Fazekas also had a nice game, making half his shots (and half of his six three-pointers) and collecting five rebounds in 21 and a half minutes.

Cedric Bozeman got a fair amount of playing time (23 and a half minutes) but missed all four of his field goals. Andre Ingram played just over 8 minutes and missed all five of his field goals. Kevin Kruger played just over seven minutes, missed all three of his shots (two of which were three-pointers) and had zero assists. Sigh. Kevin Lyde actually did okay, making both of his field goals and scoring six points in 18 and a half minute with three rebounds and two assists. Mike Sweetney seems to have done okay in the first step towards getting back into the NBA, scoring only three points in 15 minutes but also collecting five rebounds and blocking two shots.