SB Nation - Walker Russell

Vegas Summer League Recap: Day 8

Jon L — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:00:15 -0000

Gary Forbes has played well for the D-League Select team at Vegas Summer League.

Phoenix Suns 95, D-League Select 89

So, it finally happened. The D-League team lost, and to a team featuring Robin Lopez and Taylor Griffin. The Select squad was actually ahead for most of the game, but were outscored by 11 in the final quarter. The D-Leaguers were missing Othyus Jeffers and Trey Johnson due to some minor injuries, though, so I'm confident that a full squad would've won last night. Coleman Collins and Gary Forbes held things down in their absence. Forbes finished with 26 points on 18 shots, five rebounds and a pair of assists. Collins had 19 points on 11 shots, six rebounds, zero fouls and only one turnover. Jasper Johnson's final line isn't great (11 points from 12 shots), but he was pretty solid in the first half. Kurt Looby had five rebounds in nine minutes. He's close to being in the NBA, people. Walker Russell and Curtis Stinson both struggled with turnovers, picking up seven apiece, though Stinson also had ten rebounds and Russell's passing was otherwise on point, and he shot 10-11 from the free-throw line.

For Phoenix, Micah Downs saw his first extended action and made it count, scoring 19 points on 8-11 shooting and picking up five rebounds, five steals and three assists. I had never heard of Jiri Hubalek before yesterday, but he had 20 points on 11 shots, four rebounds and four blocks. Reading about Hubalek, his game sounds a little similar to Oleksiy Pecherov, in that he's a 7'0"(-ish) guy who shoots and rebounds, and that's about it. Former Dakota Wizard Carlos Powell played well for the Suns as well, with 10 points on five shots.

The rest of the games are after the jump, as usual.

Sacramento Kings 84, New York Knicks 71

If nothing else, Jon Brockman is a rebounding monster. He had 15 in just under 33 minutes yesterday, which makes up for his 1-5 shooting a bit. Nikoloz Tskitishvili has actually been really consistent in Summer League. Three games with 12 points, and each time it came on either eight or nine shots. The only real difference is how many threes he takes (anywhere from five to eight), and whether he blocks any shots (he had two yesterday). The numbers are all right in line through three games, which is sort of interesting (sort of) considering how flaky he was in Denver. Warren Carter's rebounding has been pretty good in Vegas, and he had six yesterday in under 14 minutes along with seven points on 3-5 shooting and a pair of blocks. If he doesn't get a preseason contract out of this, he might want to spend the season in the D-League, because I think he'd do well there and get some more NBA notice. Blake Ahearn finally had a decent shooting game, with nine points on five shots, though he also had five turnovers in 10 and a half minutes. Sigh.

Denver Nuggets 111, Portland Trail Blazers 93

Ty Lawson played well and has generally impressed people watching these games, and he had 26 points on 16 shots, five assists and five rebounds. Jeff Pendergraph also has gotten people talking, and while he didn't shoot the ball particularly well, nine rebounds in 23 and a half minutes is pretty solid. Denver has a fair amount of D-Leaguers on their squad, and they all played fairly well yesterday (to varying degrees). Sonny Weems did his thing to the tune of 24 points on 17 shots, four rebounds and two steals, and while he made only one of his five three-pointers, he was a perfect 9-9 from the free-throw line. Coby Karl was solid, shooting 5-6 and picking up four rebounds and three assists. Richard Hendrix shot 3-3 and grabbed three rebounds in 11 minutes. Ronald Dupree had 16 points on 10 shots and six rebounds, though he also picked up eight fouls. I don't care what people say, I still like the way Pooh Jeter's been playing in Vegas, and he had 15 points on 10 shots and five assists with only two turnovers in 30 and a half minutes.

Minnesota Timberwolves 89, Washington Wizards 82

TrueHoop's David Thorpe commented on Twitter that Nick Young is "too good" for Summer League, and while that may be true talent-wise, he's learning a new offense this year and will have to come off of screens a lot probably for the first time in his career. He's looked pretty good doing it, and yesterday he had 23 points on 17 shots, and he finally picked up some assists (which was worrying the Wizards fanbase) with three. Jonny Flynn has been playing well overall here, showing some nice speed and generally good decision-making. His shot hasn't always fallen but it did yesterday, as he had 21 points on 11 shots along with five assists and five rebounds. Wayne Ellington also has played well. John Edwards started off well before starting to foul a lot, and he finished with 11 points on 5-7 shooting, six rebounds and seven fouls. Garrett Siler had what some people refer to as a "Kevin Martin game," wherein he scored 11 points on two shots by going 8-9 from the free-throw line. Adam Parada's been rebounding really well, and he had seven in a little over 16 minutes, though he's not doing much else

Detroit Pistons 92, Cleveland Cavaliers 86

Austin Daye had another game in the point-rebound department, with 20 points on 14 shots and 10 rebounds. He had seven fouls and four turnovers, though, so there are still things to work on. Darnell Jackson has been pretty inconsistent this last week or so, but yesterday scored 13 points on seven shots and grabbed 11 rebounds. Jonas Jerebko was solid as well, with 19 points on eight shots and five rebounds. The Pistons had two players play 10 minutes each and combine for zero points and four rebounds. I reallllly hope Dwayne Jones isn't playing because he's injured (I don't want him to be injured, but you know what I mean). Jawad Williams has been playing fairly well, and he had 13 points on 11 shots yesterday (and made two of his three shots from behind the arc) and grabbed five rebounds, though he also had four turnovers. I haven't mentioned David Harrison much, because he hasn't done a whole lot (though he played okay the day before last), but he got two technical fouls yesterday. I don't know if that's an ejection, since you can't foul out of Summer League games, but he got two technicals. In a Summer League game. Think about that.

Chicago Bulls 80, Oklahoma City Thunder 74

James Harden has looked like a really solid pick for the Thunder, scoring efficiently along and picking up assists, rebounds and steals at a decent rate. He shot 7-15 yesterday, including 49 on threes, and had five assists. DJ White has had a solid Summer League of his own, and against Chicago he had 15 points on 11 shots, eight rebounds and two blocks. James Augustine was a perfect 4-4 from the field and 1-1 from the line, and he added 10 rebounds and two steals. Linton Johnson has apparently bulked up a bit in order to play some power forward this season, and he doesn't seem to have been too negatively affected by it. He shot 5-8 yesterday with five rebounds. DeVon Hardin had a "Kevin Martin game" of his own, with nine points on two shots along with four rebounds.

Vegas Summer League Recap: Day 6

Jon L — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 14:00:48 -0000

See these guys? These guys are better than your guys.

View full size photo »

So...we're officially past the halfway point with this Summer League thing. It both feels like it just started and like it's been going on forever. Orlando probably had something to do with it. I had a pretty interesting conversation (well, sort of) on Twitter that got to the heart of what Summer League should be about. I've talked about this before, but there are several competing goals that teams have: see how their new draft picks look on the court with other NBA players, help young NBA players continue to develop, and see if any D-League guys or "Europe" guys can fill in the back of the roster. Is it worth playing your second-year center 35 minutes if he's generally having an awful game and you have undrafted free agents or D-League guys you could look at? Or do that center's struggles mean that he needs more on-court development, and as such should stay out there and lean from his mistakes? I'm not completely sure of what the answer is, but looking at the box scores and seeing so many DNPs makes me go back to the question of whether Summer League is worth it for players who don't already have NBA contracts. If you play a lot and play well, like Kasib Powell did in Orlando, then sure you could say that was a good decision. But too often guys end up sitting on the bench for the entire game, unable to show what they can do while that second-year center shoots 20 percent from the field and an undrafted free agent plays five uneventful minutes. And because teams are playing either every day or every other day, there aren't really any practices to show what a player can do. Perhaps the solution is for the D-League to field several Select teams, thus ensuring that guys get playing time in which they can show they can hang with NBA players.

By the way, if these recaps have seemed shorter the last few days, it's because a.) A lot of these teams have relatively few D-League guys (hence the Select team, I guess), and b.) Not a lot of guys have been playing well, D-League or otherwise. There are players who I expected to have been talking about a lot, but because I'm trying to avoid harping on poor performances (ahem, Blake Ahearn) I'm left with little to focus on. If this keeps up I'm going to have a hardedrtime writing a "which non-NBA players did well in Vegas" post than I did with Orlando. Unless of course I just talk about the Select team, which beat another NBA squad yesterday. Hit the jump for the recap of that one and the rest.

D-League Select 105, Sacramento Kings 89

The D-League team was actually down by seven at the half, but they dominated the second half, including a 31-14 fourth quarter. And hey, I can actually tell you who played well in this one! Othyus Jeffers, Othyus Jeffers, Othyus Jeffers. (That wasn't meant to be a Clarence Carter reference, but feel free to make it one if you wish.) Jeffers again led the D-Leaguers with 21 points on 7-12 shooting and a perfect day from the free-throw line, plus seven rebounds and two steals. I'll be really, really surprised if he spends all of next season in the D-League; a call-up (or an outright signing) should be soon in coming for this guy. This was the first game where Trey Johnson played well without caveat, and he shot 8-10 for 20 points and added a pair of rebounds. Gary Forbes has been playing pretty well, both in Vegas and in Orlando, and yesterday he had 17 points on 11 shots and four rebounds. Coleman Collins shot 100 percent on the day, shooting 3-3 from the field and 4-4 from the line.Kurt Looby took zero field goals, which is probably for the best, but I'll take six rebounds and three blocks in less than 15 minutes any day (though I could do without the six fouls). Curtis Stinson has started both official games at PG, and he's been solid enough, but Walker Russell has been really impressive generally

Jason Thompson had a fairly solid game, with 31 points on 23 shots and 10 rebounds, but also nine fouls. Marcus Landry has played relatively well, and yesterday he had 10 points on 4-6 shooting, though he didn't do much else. Tyreke Evans is a very good rebounder for his position, but the shooting still isn't there. He cut down on his turnovers, though. Did I mention that the D-League team beat another NBA squad, this one also featuring several first-round picks

Denver Nuggets 77, Washington Wizards 70

Nick Young came down to earth a little bit, scoring only 17 points, but it came on 12 shots and he also had three steals. Andray Blatche's numbers looked good again, 27 points on 21 shots, 15 rebounds (eight offensive), three assists and two steals, but he didn't look great doing it. He was exhorting his teammates to make harder cuts on offense, but he had his share of boneheaded plays as well. If you expect me to say another Wizard had a good game, I can't. Those three assists were a team high. JaVale McGee finished with eight rebounds and five blocks, but he also shot 3-12 and by all accounts looked pretty terrible overall.

Sonny Weems bounced back from a poor game to score 17 points on 15 shots and grab 11 boards. Richard Hendrix had a nice, solid game, with 10 points on 4-6 shooting and six rebounds in 19 minutes. CJ Giles also played fairly well, with 10 points on seven shots and seven rebounds, though he also had seven fouls. Ronald Dupree saw his first extended action and finished with 11 points on 4-9 shooting along with three rebounds, three assists and a block

Houston Rockets 87, Portland Trail Blazers 8

Chase Budinger Summer League Jersey Retirement Watch: Budinger had an excellent 17 points on eight shots thanks to going 2-2 from behind the arc and 3-3 from the free-throw line. Maarty Leunen also had a fairly efficient day, with 14 points on eight shots, along with five rebounds and four assists. Jerryd Bayless had 13 points on 10 shots and six rebounds, though he also had only two assists and six turnovers. James White shot 3-4 but more importantly did a good job of getting to the free-throw line, and ended up with 16 points on four shots. Four turnovers, though. Pooh Jeter finished with 15 points on 11 shots and had a game-high six assists and only one turnover. Rod Benson only played a little over three minutes, but he had two rebounds in that time.

Milwaukee Bucks 87, Chicago Bulls 72

Not too much interesting about this one. Joe Alexander's shooting has been improving gradually, and he had 18 points on 16 shots yesterday with five rebounds and three blocks, and Brandon Jennings had 14 points on 10 shots with nine assists, but neither of those are really noteworthy. Taj Gibson has rebounded the ball well so far, and he had eight against the Bucks, but he also had 10 fouls. DeMarcus Nelson has been shooting the ball and rebounding fairly well, and he shot 6-12 with six rebounds yesterday, but he's not getting to the free throw line much and his overall efficiency is suffering (more with Nelson later today). My former college chum Linton Johnson (not really, but we were at Tulane at the same time) played just under five and a half minutes, but he had three rebounds in that time which isn't bad

Toronto Raptors 74, Phoenix Suns 73

DeMar DeRozan continues to impress, with 20 points on 16 shots, and only two fouls and a single turnover. Quincy Douby's also played fairly well, and he scored 16 points on 12 shots, though he also shot 1-5 on his three-pointers. Earl Clark can rebound, I'll tell you that, with 12 rebounds in just over 27 minutes, though he also had five rebounds and needed 12 shots to get 13 points. Smush Parker has pretty much disappeared since the first game against the Lakers. Coincidence? Paul Davis was injured and had to be taken out of the gym on a stretcher, so hopefully he's okay. He always stuck me as a guy who'd do alright in the D-League

Detroit Pistons 96, New York Knicks 73

This game was all about Austin Daye and DaJuan Summers. Daye had 27 points on 17 shots and 13 rebounds despite being what one person on Twitter called "all arms and legs." Summers finished with 26 points on 21 shots and eight rebounds. Jonas Jerebko was less efficient shooting-wise, but he had 12 rebounds, and he's generally been solid in that area. Toney Douglas has been racking up the assists so far, and he had 10 yesterday, but his shooting has been pretty terrible. Saer Sene played only nine minutes, but he had three rebounds and two blocks in that time. David Noel, Ron Howard, Patrick Ewing Jr. and Dwayne Jones all got DNPs. Booooooo. Just for that I stuck this recap at the bottom.

NBA Summer League Day Four Recap - The D-League Shines

Wayne Vore (ATS) — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 18:45:53 -0000

Spending 4 days in a gym can start to affect you in weird ways. The lighting starts to make everything appear washed out. The same uncomfortable chair starts to kill your back. The same conversations with the same people become boring and tedious. I mean, how many times can you say, "Hey, how's it going?" to somebody and expect them to have a witty response. And vice versa. At this point, everybody just shrugs an "eh" at you.

On the other hand, I did step out today and get some different things done. I will break it out into two or three different posts -- I haven't decided yet -- because I have a lot for you.

Btw, the games don't start today until 5:00 Spurs time so the preview will be coming later. Because, you know, all y'all are sitting around waiting for the preview.

First things first. I introduced myself to RC Buford and Dennis Lindsey. GM and Assistant GM. I handed out business cards that started a conversation about whether Pop knew I had a web site called Pounding The Rock. The discussion was about whether or not there were trademark issues involving it. I said I had kind of wondered about that myself. They said, with a bit of a chuckle, Pop would let me know when I met him. Or something like that. Good way to start the day.

As you would expect, they were very pleasant guys and Dennis thanked me for coming up and introducing myself. A rambling aside. Here's the thing with me. My memory is very good because I remember things visually and by association. I can remember where on a page a line from a book is. Left page, right page, top, bottom, middle. I can remember faces from situations then pull that face and situation out of my memory to say, "Hey, I saw you at the airport in Atlanta in 2005". Goofball stuff like that. Where I fail, and I fail massively, is when I get the data into my head incorrectly the first time. And that's what I've done with Dennis Lindsey. I got David in my head. I will guarantee you that I screw this one up in the worst possible way at some point in the future. Say it with me now, "Dennis. Dennis. Dennis." One more time, "Dennis".

Onto the games.

The opener was the Minnesota Timberwolves vs the D-League Select team.

The TWolves led 48-38 at the half and, I thought, the D-League guys were playing pretty scrappy to stay that close. They just didn't have the talent to compete with these guys. OR. SO. I. THOUGHT. In the second half, the D-League guys put on the best exhibition of team basketball I have seen in 16 games. They thoroughly dismantled the TWolves. They forced turnovers and ran them out of the gym. They displayed the best cutting and interior passing I have seen since Fabricio Oberto was running wild in the Spurs front court.

The D-Leaguers opened the second half with five straight layups and over the quarter outscored Minnesota 30-10. It was a schooling. And the D-League guys were as excited as any bunch that I have seen play here in Vegas. I really think they played with a bit of a chip on their shoulder and wanted to prove they belonged.

D-League Select players of note:

Othyus Jeffers - He poured in 20 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in 25 minutes.
Gary Forbes - Also scored 20 points
Coleman Collins - 15 points and 7 rebounds.
Walker Russell - 9 points and 5 assists in 17 minutes

Minnesote TimberWolves:

Wayne Ellington - 22 points on 8-14 from the field and 4-7 from long range. Don't let this fool you. The only thing he did well in this game is shoot. He got absolutely destroyed on the defensive end. Add in 2 rebounds and 0 assists in 28 minutes.
Jonny Flynn - He really toned down his shooting in this one and did a LOT of passing. He ended with 14 assists. He had 7 of them in the 4th quarter when the TWolves started working him with the high screen and roll. Think the Tony Parker play. He basically Chris Paul'd them. He drove in the paint, maintained his dribble, and found shooter after shooter. It was a very impressive performance for him.
Oleksiy Pecherov - Who? That's right, the guy the TWolves picked up in the Foye-Miller for the #5 pick. He's a 7-footer who hasn't seen a long open jumper he didn't like. He had 15 points and 10 rebounds including 3-4 from 3-point. If he had space, he let it fly.
Garrett Siler - Who two? The big man from Augustana is listed at 6' 11" and 305 pounds. He is a BIG, BIG man. I would have put his height at 7' 1". He may stick. He moves pretty decent for as big as he is and has some athleticism.
Corey Brewer - I'm still unimpressed with his play.

Game Two - Suns vs Mavs

This was another foul-plagued disjointed game. The teams combined for 67 fouls and 77 free throws (it should be noted that the 77 free throws are much less than in a regular season game because they don't go to the bonus until they are under the 2:00 mark). The Suns got out to an early lead, 25-15 after one and the Mavs wouldn't go away and slowly fought back to tie the game going into the fourth. Robin Lopez aka Fropez aka Sideshow Bob dominated this game. I didn't realize how big he is. He is a very large man and the Mavs couldn't handle him. His 24 points and 16 rebounds were fairly quiet. I didn't know those were his stats until much later in the day when PhoenixStan of Bright Side of the Sun told me.

Phoenix Suns

Lopez - He's just too big and good with the ball for this level.
Taylor Griffin - Blake's older brother has some upside. He's physical and aggressive and could carve himself out a role on the Suns an energy guy at the 4.
Goran Dragic - The guy the Spurs traded to get Malik Hairston AND the pick that we used to draft DeJuan Blair. He looked pretty poor. Our best guess is that he didn't feel to good. Maybe a stomach flu or something. He bares some watching because he is slated to be the Suns backup PG this year.
Alando Tucker - The third year pro looked OK. At this stage of his career, he should be a better player against the competition. Again, another guy to watch over the next few days.
Josh Carter - Another Aggie. I was unaware he even played. No comment.
Earl Clark - the Suns first round pick took a DNP with back spasms. Apparently, he has a high degree of empathy and was feeling LatinD's pain.

Dallas Mavericks

Ahmad Nivins - He struggled today, but he does work hard. He had 12 points and only 4 rebounds in 27 minutes. He went 3-9 from the field. He's struggled with his offense since the first day.
Luke Jackson - Couldn't get his shot to fall. 1-4 from the field and 0-3 from distance. More on him in a bit.
Rodrigue Beaubois - He really fell from his electrifying performance on Saturday. He scored some points late to pad his stats. He ended with 16 points and 3 assists before hurting his knee very late in the game. Again, more on that in a bit. Overall, though, I thought he looked pretty average. He is an end of game nightmare for the other team though. He can hit the three of the dribble and when given a license to chuck is very dangerous.
Nathan Jawai - Another Aussie suiting up in Vegas. Nathan is an enormous man. He's listed at 6' 10" 280, but he looks bigger in every direction. He hurt his ankle also. More in a bit. I steeled myself, prepared my questions, and then interviewed him. Nathan Jawai Interview This was an epic low in journalism. Listen if you are a sadist. On top of all this, I stepped on his flip-flop he was wearing on his bad ankle and he was shuffling on his ankle the whole time. (I just listened to it for the first time. It's not that horrible, but I really felt uncomfortable.)
Curtis Jerrells - He got very little run this game with only 5 minutes. He scored 8 points in that 5 minutes though. I like him. He's a Acie Law IV kind of player. An in between guard who can be very physical. For him, I think it is about carving out a role with the right team.

Game Three - Raptors vs Blazers

I did something a little different for this game. Since I had seen the Raptors twice already, and the Blazers don't have a really compelling roster, I decided to put one guy under the microscope. DeMar DeRozan. There will be a separate post coming shortly about him. For the rest, here is my two cents from this 92-87 victory by the Raptors.

Portland Trailblazers

Jerryd Bayless - He is an animal at the point in this environment. He got whatever shot he wanted. He only went 7-17 from the floor though and finished with 22 points He also had 7 assists and 6 turnovers.
Dante Cunningham - He's the reason this roster is now MORE compelling to me. He had 21 points -- all in the first 3 quarters -- and 9 rebounds.
Jeff Pendergraph - 12 points and 7 rebounds.

Toronto Raptors

Quincy Douby - He continues to score points with 20 in this contest. They are playing him quite a few minutes at the point guard and he is using that time to get off shots. He did, much to my surprise, have 5 assists.
Smush Parker - DNP-CD. Interesting.

Game Four - Pistons vs Warriors

This is the game I wanted to watch from the beginning of the day. The Warriors have Anthony Randolph, Stephen Curry, Cartier Martin, and Anthony Morrow who suited up for the first time tonight. The Pistons young squad has been very impressive in their first two games. Plus, Connor Atchley is starting to get some burn for the Warriors. It was a disappointment. Well, the Pistons were a disappointment. I guess they hit their rookie wall because they got run out of the gym 97-69. In this game, I again did something different, and put the ATS microscope on DaJuan Summers and Jonas Jerebko. A separate post will be coming on that later.

Golden State Warriors

Anthony Randolph - 21 and 10. Again. He's just good offensively and he was more effective defensively today. He also got clipped by Jonas across the cheek and had to be treated. More on that in a bit.
Cartier Martin - I'm not sure if his game will move to the NBA well since he is making his living at the line and they are calling tons of fouls here in Vegas. However, he has opened some eyes with his huge body and aggressiveness to the rim. He had 18 points and 5 rebounds with 12 free throw attempts.
Anthony Morrow - He showed what we expected from him. He can shoot. Just a beautiful shot. 17 points, 6 rebounds, on 8-13 from the field.
Stephen Curry - He stuffed the stat sheet today. 23 points, only 7-19 from the field though, 7 rebounds, 4 assists, 5 steals, 4 turnovers. While I still question how good he can be defensively in the league -- he was eating up Jeremy Pargo on the defensive end -- against good competition, he did show today that he can do things without having his shot going.
Connor Atchley - 7 points and 7 fouls. He's purely a shooter and he went 3-4 from the field with no 3-point attempts and 1-1 from the line. Defensively, he is a liability, but I don't think that we keep Don Nelson from looking at him seriously.

Detroit Pistons

Austin Daye - Whew, he flirted with the quadruple-double today. 11 points, 11 rebounds, 8 fouls, 8 turnovers. 0 assists. He looked gassed. In the 4th quarter, he just didn't have anything.
Deron Washington - The athletic wing husltes -- 7 rebounds and a bruised sternum, more in a bit -- but continues to struggle shooting. He misses chippies and has now gone 5-18 from the line in the last two games.
DaJuan Summers - 9 points on 3-11 shooting, 2 rebounds, and 10 fouls -- yes, you can foul out in Summer League and he did, in 28 minutes.
Jonas Jerebko - 16 points and 4 rebounds and 1 non-call that drew blood.
Jeremy Pargo - I think this was his first action of the week, I'm too lazy to look it up. He had 13 points and 4 assists in 24 minutes. However, he couldn't handle defensive pressure from Stephen Curry and got his pocket picked a couple times. He has a ways to go to be an NBA point guard. Hopefully, he will get some more time here.

The toll of the physical play

Yeah, I know that Jonas Jerebko mocked me for suggesting that the play here was physical, but people are showing up with injuries. Minor ones mostly, but lots of guys are sporting ice on places after games.

Deron Washington - ice bag on his chest. Nice guy. I talked to him a bit about it. He got an elbow and called it quits.

Nathan Jawai - Rolled his ankle in the first quarter. Ice bag on the ankle.

Rodrigue Beaubois - Knee contusion. Ice bag.

Anonymous - ice bag on the shoulder

Anthony Randolph - bloody cheek. Jonas Jerebko clipped him reaching for a loose ball. JJ then sought him out on the way down court and apologized. Unless you were looking for it, you would miss it. I'm always impressed when I see guys quietly showing sportsmanship like that.

DeMar DeRozan - ice bag on the ankle

Luke Jackson - two black eyes. I chatted with Luke for a minute or so today. I was right the Friday. Brandon Jennings did break his nose with an elbow. It was crooked. They tried to fit him with a mask but didn't have one that fit. In the second game on Saturday, he got hit on the OTHER side of his nose and it straightened it out. He said he is just trying to tough through it and that in a couple days they will have a doctor check it out to see what is up. Luke is a very nice guy, and very approachable but shy.

You guys get the picture. There is lots of ice being used.

Vegas Summer League Recap: Day 4

Jon L — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 14:00:18 -0000

We at Ridiculous Upside continue to be confused at how NBA teams keep ignoring Othyus Jeffers.

View full size photo »

Not really much of an intro this week (which I'm sure you're glad about), as I plan to spend some extra time/space on the first game recap (...and you're sad now). So let's get into it.

D-League Select 96, Minnesota Timberwolves 91

That's right, a team of guys who couldn't get Vegas invites beat a team that started first-round picks. Sorry Minnesota, but you just made a fool of yourself in front of T-Bone. (That's my new/stolen catchphrase for when one of these NBA teams lose to the D-Leaguers.) It's hard to pinpoint just a few good performances from this one since so many of the D-League guys played well. Othyus Jeffers scored 20 points on 13 shots and had seven rebounds, and shot 80 percent from the free-throw line. Coleman Collins couldn't find consistent playing time in Fort Wayne last year, but yesterday he showed why he should with 15 points on nine shots, seven rebounds, three assists and a steal. Gary Forbes didn't make much of a mark in Orlando, but here he had 20 points on 16 shots, four rebounds, three steals, two assists and a block in a little over 21 minutes. Curtis Stinson didn't score, but had six rebounds from the point guard position. Walker Russell picked up five assists along with nine points, three rebounds and a block, and Russell and Stinson combined for just four turnovers. Kurt Looby took only two shots and made one, but he also had five rebounds in a little over 14 minutes.

Look, it's one thing to beat the Japanese national team pretty soundly, and it's another thing to outscore some NBA guys 30-10 in a quarter. And not everything went wrong for Minnesota. Jonny Flynn had a better shooting day, 4-9, and he also had 14 assists and generally looked pretty good running an offense. Wayne Ellington had 22 points on 14 shots and made four of his seven three-pointers. Oleksiy Pecherov had 15 points on 11 shots, including shooting 3-4 on three-pointers, and he also grabbed 10 rebounds. Garrett Siler grabbed seven rebounds in 13 minutes. That third quarter was really what did it in this game, though. Minnesota actually outscored the D-League in the first, second and fourth, but once the Select team took the lead they didn't look back. Even if a guy on the D-League team struggled in one area, like Will Frisby's seven fouls or Marcus Hubbard going 0-2, they still made up for it elsewhere - in Frisby's case he shot 4-8 and grabbed five rebounds; Hubbard got three boards in ten minutes. As Ais put it to me, it was the castoffs of the castoffs beating some pretty good NBA talent. Yeah, yeah, it's Summer League, and the Timberwolves also had guys like Adam Parada and Bobby Brown. But don't think that this D-League Select team isn't playing its collective ass off, because they know they have to show all of the NBA teams that they can outperform these draft picks and guys coming back from Europe on a regular basis

The rest of the games are after the jump.

Phoenix Suns 95, Dallas Mavericks 90

Robin Lopez played well (at least one brother did), with 24 points on 10 shots, 16 rebounds and two shots. Rodrique (they're calling him "Roddy" now, which is fine with me so long as it's preceded by "Rowdy") Beaubois was having a pretty good game, 16 points on 11 shots, three assists, two steals and a block, but then he went down with a possible knee injury. Alando Tucker also played decently, with 15 points on 11 shots and five rebounds, though he could do better on his free-throw shooting.

Herbert Hill did well in his limited playing time, shooting 3-4 and grabbing five rebounds in 11 minutes. Zabian Dowdell wasn't really considered to be a "true point guard" coming out of college a few years ago, but he led the Suns team in assists with five, and also had 15 points on eight shots and four rebounds. Carlos Powell didn't get the ringing-est endorsement after his D-League play a few season ago but the talent's there, and he had 13 points on eight shots and four rebounds.

Toronto Raptors 92, Portland Trail Blazers 87

Full disclosure: I'm a "free Jerryd Bayless" guy, and he played pretty well yesterday with 22 points on 17 shots and seven assists, though he also had six turnovers. DeMar DeRozan's been fairly impressive so far, and against Portland he had 15 points and six rebounds, and only one turnover. Quincy Douby played well off the bench with 20 points on 14 shots and a team-high five assists. Dante Cunningham played well for Portland, with 21 points on 17 shots and nine rebounds, four on the offensive end.

Brent Petway's been playing really well for the Raptors, and yesterday he shot 5-7 with four rebounds and a steal. Pooh Jeter has spent the last few years playing overseas but I think he'd be a decent NBA bench guy, and yesterday he had 10 points on six shots and three steals

Los Angeles Clippers 93, Los Angeles Lakers 82

The Clippers beat the Lakers, and I'm sure Lakers fans everywhere are hanging their heads in shame. What's that, it's only Summer League? Still, this never would've happened if the Lakers hadn't cut Luke Schenscher and Daniel Artest. Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon did most of the damage for the Clippers. Griffin looked impressive in his first NBA action with 27 points on 15 shots and 12 rebounds, though he also had five turnovers. Gordon did most of his damage at the free-throw line, and he ended up with 21 points on 11 shots and three steals. DeAndre Jordan finished with some nice numbers as well, making eight of his nine shots and grabbing five rebounds. Adam Morrison continues to pretend like he's an NBA player, with 20 points on 18 shots and six rebounds.

David Monds played very well for the Lakers team, with 16 points on 13 shots and eight rebounds, four each on the offensive and defensive ends, in just over 25 minutes. He also had only two fouls and zero turnovers. Nik Caner-Medley showed something as well, with 12 points on five shots and 11 rebounds. Someone asked in an earlier recap thread about Tony Rochestie, and while he's getting some playing time (18 minutes yesterday), he's not doing a whole lot. He picked up three assists and a steal, but also shot 0-3, two of which were three-pointers.

Golden State Warriors 97, Detroit Pistons 69

The Warriors were all over this one. Anthony Randolph had 21 points on 12 shots and had 10 rebounds and three blocks. Stephen Curry's definitely a shooter (he took 19 yesterday, got 23 points out of it), but I've been fairly impressed with his rebounding so far, and he had seven yesterday along with five steals, four assists and a block. Jonas Jerebko finally had a solid game in all areas, scoring 16 points on nine shots and picking up four rebounds and two steals. Austin Daye had a decent rebounding day with 11, but wasn't great otherwise, needing 14 shots to get 11 points, missing all three of his shots from behind the arc and picking up eight fouls and eight turnovers.

Even though Cartier Martin didn't have a great shooting day (4-10, missed all four of his three-pointers), he got to the line and made 10 of his 12 free throws and grabbed five rebounds. Dwayne Jones played a little under six minutes, which is U-N-A-C-C-E-P-T-A-B-L-E.

Milwaukee Bucks 91, Sacramento Kings 86

Brandon Jennings is undoubtedly talented, and he's been distributing the ball very well so far in Vegas. He had 14 assists yesterday to go along with 13 points and seven steals. Someone asked me on Twitter yesterday (okay, they asked the joint RU account but I answered) what I thought of Tyreke Evans, and my answer was along the lines of "don't like the shooting or turnovers, but those can improve, and love the rebounding." Evans continues to be an excellent rebounder for his position, grabbing nine yesterday along with seven steals, and while the turnovers were still high (seven) he improved his shooting to score 33 points on 17 shots. Joe Alexander also improved his shooting efficiency, scoring 24 points on 13 shots and grabbing seven rebounds. Jon Brockman's a terrific rebounder, and he had 12 boards in just over 22 minutes. Unfortunately, there aren't a ton of D-League guys on either of these teams (or any any of the teams that have been playing this first week in Vegas), but maybe Salim Stoudamire will start getting more playing time and we can talk about him.

D-League Select Summer League Team Announced

Jon L — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 13:00:12 -0000

The D-League announced their "Select" team that will be competing in this year's Vegas Summer League, comprised of players who weren't invited to play by any NBA teams (at least in Vegas). Looking at the roster below, it's hard to understand why some of these guys didn't get other offers. Wasn't Othyus Jeffers within a hair of a call-up last year? Doesn't Trey Johnson have some NBA experience? At any rate, hopefully these guys can show everyone else what they missed out on and work their way into training camp invites. We write about these guys a lot, so in lieu of full breakdowns here are some quick notes on each player. I also made sure to update our list of Summer League rosters, so remember to check that page if you're unsure of who's playing for whom.

Coleman Collins	F	6'9"	225	Efficient scorer, didn't get consistent playing time but should've.
Gary Forbes	F	6'7"	220	Efficient scorer, good passer, inconsistent rebounder
Will Frisby	F	6'8"	235	Solid post player, decent rebounder, occasionally fouls too much
Marcus Hubbard	C	6'9"	230	Prefers playing on the perimeter, no idea why D-League insists he's a C
Othyus Jeffers	G/F	6'5"	200	Great defender, athletic, good off the dribble. Full profile here
Jasper Johnson	F	6'8"	275	Decent point/rebound averages, but has struggled with weight
Trey Johnson	G	6'6"	216	Good three-point shooter, shaky defense. Full profile here
Kurt Looby	C	6'10"	230	Terrific shot-blocker and rebounder, still raw offensively. Full profile here
Walker Russell	G	6'0"	170	D-League single-season assist record holder. Full profile here
Curtis Stinson	G	6'3"	215	Good all-around PG, decent rebounder for his position

NBA Summer League Rosters Taking Shape

Scott Schroeder — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 02:00:21 -0000

UPDATED - check after the jump for everything updated in the past three days.

Alright, we got all of the personal mumbo-jumbo out of the way - let's begin with the Summer League coverage!

The Orlando of the NBA Summer League schedule (July 6-10) is here, the Vegas portion of the NBA Summer League schedule (July 10-19) is here and the NBA Summer League roster of your favorite team (so far) is... After the jump!

I was all drafted out, so sorry for the lack of posting going on this weekend - I sincerely apologize to all thirteen of you that were disappointed. As a show of goodwill, I worked feverishly throughout the weekend to scour my sources, google the news, and do anything and everything I could to start piecing together an accurate view of what your team will look like this Summer.

Granted, it's probably not likely to expect much out of some of these players, but each year there are players that pop up from nowhere in Summer League and impress enough to earn a spot on an NBA roster. The most recent example would be Bobby Brown from last season, though there are plenty more (and we'll look at them throughout the next week heading into the Orlando portion of NBA Summer League's).

After the jump, I've put together a list of which players I've (all but) confirmed. If you're aware of anymore, let me know in the comments! If you're unsure of one of the players, click on the link - it'll either take you to their SBNation page or, if they're a bit more obscure, whichever source linked them to said Summer League team.

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/29/09 9:21 AM CDT ] Added Wink Adams to New York

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/29/09 11:15 AM CDT ] Added Daniel Artest to Houston

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/29/09 9:34 PM CDT ] Added Paul Harris to Minnesota, from Cleveland

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/30/09 12:02 AM CDT ] Added Kevin Kruger to Utah

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/30/09 12:48 AM CDT ] Added Acie Law to Golden State

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/30/09 8:58 AM CDT ] Added Lee Cummard to Phoenix, Luke Nevill to New Orleans

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/30/09 10:27 AM CDT ] Added Alex Ruoff to Washington

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/30/09 12:59 PM CDT ] Added Trent Plaisted, Deron Washington, Will Bynum, Dwayne Jones, Clay Tucker, Ibrahim Jaaber and Matt Freije to Detroit

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/30/09 1:42 PM CDT ] Added Mohamed Tangara to Milwaukee

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 06/30/09 8:50 PM CDT ] Added Rod Benson to Houston, Demetris Nichols to Toronto

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 07/01/09 12:19 AM CDT ] Added Dar Tucker and Kevin Rogers to Dallas; Jaycee Carroll to New Orleans; completed Minnesota, Golden State and Utah

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 07/01/09 11:54 AM CDT ] Completed San Antonio, Orlando and Boston roster

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 07/01/09 2:08 PM CDT ] Added Phoenix roster, Robert Swift to Boston

[Note by Jon Lewallen, 07/01/09 2:50 PM CDT] Added Jim Baron to Washington

[Note by Jon Lewallen, 07/01/09 5:00 PM CDT] Completed Chicago, Sacramento and New Orleans rosters

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 07/01/09 6:40 PM CDT ] Completed Indiana, Milwaukee, New York, Oklahoma City, LA Clippers

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 07/01/09 8:02 PM CDT ] Completed Washington

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 07/02/09 4:05 PM CDT ] Completed Houston

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 07/02/09 5:31 PM CDT ] Completed Portland, Memphis

[Note by Jon Lewallen, 07/02/09 8:10 CDT ] Completed Philadelphia/N.J. roster

[Note by Scott Schroeder, 07/03/09 11:12 AM CDT ] Completed (?) Denver roster

[Note by Jon Lewallen, 07/07/09 7:45 PM CDT ] Completed Dallas, Detroit and D-League Select rosters

2009 ORLANDO SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTERS

Boston Celtics

Bryan Mullins, Lester Hudson, Chris Lofton, Gabe Pruitt, Bill Walker, J.R. Giddens, Michael Sweetney, Coby Karl, Darius Washington, Bryce Taylor, Kevin Rogers, Robert Swift,

Indiana Pacers

Aaron Jackson, Leo Lyons, Tyler Hansbrough, Brandon Rush, Josh McRoberts, A.J. Price, Roy Hibbert, Will Blalock, Trey Johnson, Anthony Smith, Derrick Byars, Courtney Sims, Scott Vander Meer,

Philadelphia 76ers/ New Jersey Nets

Blake Ahearn, Jrue Holiday, Marreese Speights, Dionte Christmas, Chris Johnson, Rob Kurz, Gary Forbes, Marcus Slaughter, Terrence Williams, Chris Douglas-Roberts, AJ Abrams, Jeff Adrien, Jason Ellis,

Oklahoma City Thunder

Serge Ibaka, Shaun Livingston, BJ Mullens, James Harden, Robert Vaden, DeVon Hardin, Russell Westbrook, Kyle Weaver, D.J. White, Marcus Dove, Moses Ehambe, DeAngelo Alexander, Richard Roby, Kyle Hines, Doug Thomas, Keith McLeod,

Orlando Magic

Ryan Anderson, Levance Fields, Richard Hendrix, Russell Robinson, Darian Townes, Maurice Ager, Lance Allred, Brian Chase, Ronald Dupree, Courtney Fells, C.J. Giles, Steven Milosevic, Jeremy Pargo, Milovan Rakovic, Jeremy Richardson

Utah Jazz

Eric Maynor, Gary Wilkinson, Goran Suton, Kosta Koufos, Kyrylo Fesenko, Wesley Matthews, Kevin Kruger, Kevin Lyde, Andre Ingram, James Augustine, Cedric Bozeman, Justin Reed, Josh Duncan, Jim Baron, Reyshawn Terry and Larry Turner

2009 VEGAS SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTERS

Chicago Bulls

Luke Zeller, James Johnson, Taj Gibson, Bryan Mullins, Tyrell Biggs, Mario Austin, AD Vasallo, Anthony Roberson, Linton Johnson, Chris Davis, Taurean Green, Lorenzo Mata-Real, DeMarcus Nelson, Julius Hodge, Brandon Costner, James Augustine, Nick Lewis

Cleveland Cavaliers

Maureece Rice, Christian Eyenga, Danny Green, Jawad Williams, Darnell Jackson, Tarence Kinsey,

Dallas Mavericks

Aaron Miles, Rodrigue Beaubois, Ahmad Nivins, Curtis Jerrells, Dar Tucker, Kevin Rogers, Quinton Hosley, Damjan Rudez, Luke Jackson, Henry Dugat, Nick Calathes, Mickael Gelabale, Herbert Hill, Shan Foster, Trent Strickland, Andre Owens, Alfred Aboya, Moussa Seck, Bryson McKenzie

Detroit Pistons

Austin Daye, DaJuan Summers, Jonas Jerebko, Walter Sharpe, Trent Plaisted, Deron Washington, Will Bynum, Dwayne Jones, Clay Tucker, Ibrahim Jaaber, Michael Bramos, Andre Owens

Denver Nuggets

Richard Hendrix, Ty Lawson, Derrick Byars, Ronald Dupree, CJ Giles, Coby Karl, Kareem Rush, Cedric Simmons, Sonny Weems

Golden State Warriors

Stephen Curry, Anthony Morrow, Anthony Randolph, Jermareo Davidson, Acie Law, Connor Atchley, Lawrence Hill, Joe Ingles, Jared Jordan, Cartier Martin, Quan Prowell, Lawrence Roberts, Jamal Sampson

Houston Rockets

Garrett Temple, Will Conroy, Jermaine Taylor, Chase Budinger, Rod Benson, Hassan Adams, Marcus Cousin, Joey Dorsey, Charles Gaines, Mike Green, Brad Newley, Maarty Leunen, Darryl Watkins, James White

Los Angeles Clippers

Kyle McAlarney, Kevinn Pinkney, Blake Griffin, Eric Gordon, DeAndre Jordan, Mike Taylor, Sean Banks, Dionte Christmas, Marcellus Kemp, Nik Caner-Medley,

Los Angeles Lakers

Tony Gaffney, Chinemelu Elonu, Alan Anderson, Aron Bynes, Dominique Coleman, Terrel Harris, Justin Hawkins, Ben McCauley, David Monds, Adam Morrison, Taylor Rochestie, Luke Schenscher, Mustafa Shakur,

Milwaukee Bucks

Brandon Jennings, Salim Stoudamire, Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, Joe Alexander, Jodie Meeks, Dominic James,Mohamed Tangara, Will McDonald, Juan Palacios, Chris Richard, Szymon Szewczyk, Lorrenzo Wade

Minnesota Timberwolves

Ben Woodside, Corey Brewer, Jonny Flynn, Wayne Ellington, Paul Harris, Oleksiy Pecherov, Bobby Brown, Pat Carroll, Devin Green, Gerald Henderson, Steven Hill, Rob Kurz, Garrett Siler,

Memphis Grizzlies

Jeff Adrien, Hasheem Thabeet, DeMarre Carroll, Sam Young, Darrell Arthur, Hamed Haddadi, Daniel Ewing, Greg Stiemsma, Erik Daniels, Trey Gilder, Longar Longar, Brion Rush, Donta Smith, Marcus Williams

New Orleans Hornets

Marcus Thornton, Terry Martin, Darren Collison, Julian Wright, Luke Nevill, Jaycee Carroll, Earl Barron, Earl Calloway, Bryan Cusworth, Larry Owens, Marc Salyers, Courtney Sims, Anthony Tolliver, Quinton Watkins

New York Knicks

Jordan Hill, Blake Ahearn, Toney Douglas, Alex Acker, Wink Adams, Morris Almond, Warren Carter, Joe Crawford, Patrick Ewing Jr., Ron Howard, Yaroslav Korolev, David Noel, Mouhamed Sene, Rashaad Singleton, Nikoloz Tskitishvili,

Oklahoma City Thunder

Phoenix Suns

Earl Clark, Taylor Griffin, Goran Dragic, Robin Lopez, Lee Cummard, Alando Tucker, Micah Downs, Zabian Dowdell, Josh Carter, Kaspars Berzins, Jiri Hubalek, Geary Claxton, Chris Rodgers, Carlos Powell

Portland Trail Blazers

Jeff Pendergraph, Dante Cunningham, Jerryd Bayless, Patrick Mills, Thomas Gardner, Pooh Jeter, Bobby Jones, David Padgett, Deji Akindele, Matt Freije, Dwayne Mitchell, David Moss

Sacramento Kings

Tyreke Evans, Omri Casspi, Jon Brockman, Donté Greene, Jason Thompson, Wesley Matthews, Jerel McNeal, Spencer Hawes, Robert Battle, John Bryant, Pat Calathes, Marcus Landry, Brian Roberts, Victor Stowes, Ryan Toolson

San Antonio Spurs

James Gist, Jack McClinton, DeJuan Blair, Eric Dawson, Malik Hairston, George Hill, Romel Beck, Nando de Colo, Carldell "Squeaky" Johnson, Antonio Anderson, Marcus Vinicius, Ian Mahinmi, Alonzo Gee,

Toronto Raptors

Brent Petway, DeMar DeRozan, Nathan Jawai, Demetris Nichols, Quincy Douby, Roko Ukic, Patrick O'Bryant, Carl English, Ekene Ibekwe, David Doublas, Paul Davis, Smush Parker

Washington Wizards

Tyrese Rice, Nick Young, Javaris Crittenton, JaVale McGee, Alex Ruoff, Jim(my) Baron, Alade Aminu, Ryan Ayers, Jon Edwards, Josh Heytvelt, James Lang, Dominic McGuire, Tywain McKie, Jason Rich, Diamon Simpson, Kyle Spain, Brandon Wallace

NBA D-League Select

Coleman Collins, Walker Russell, Will Frisby, Gary Forbes, Marcus Hubbard, Othyus Jeffers, Jasper Johnson, Trey Johnson, Kurt Looby, Curtis Stinson

D-League Elite Camp

Jon L — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 18:18:16 -0000

Walker Russell will be among those participating in the D-League's pre-NBA Draft mini-camp

View full size photo »

Is that enough hyphens for you? The D-League has apparently put together a group of players to workout and scrimmage in front of NBA teams this weekend. These are players who weren't called up and/or currently don't have NBA contracts for next season. As I understand it, the D-Leaguers will be running through some drills as well as playing some games, though I'm not sure whether they'll be 5-on-5 or 3-on-3. Here's who was invited to the D-League "mini camp":

Point Guards

Walker Russell

Maureece Rice

Curtis Stinson

Russell Robinson

Brandon Heath

Shooting Guards

Lanny Smith

Ron Howard

Denham Brown

Mark Tyndale

Small Forwards

Brent Petway

Bobby Jones

Ivan Harris

Taj McCullough

Keith Brumbaugh

Trent Strickland

Power Forwards

Chris Ellis

Will Frisby

Mohammed Abukar

Marcus Hubbard

Antonio Meeking

CJ Giles

Centers

Rod Benson

Dwayne Jones

Coleman Collins

Joe Dabbert

Eric Dawson

Longar Longar

On the whole, I think this is a really smart idea on the D-League's part, giving some exposure to some of their top players. Some individual teams have already looked at groups of players, but hopefully doing it this way will get the players and the league some wider exposure and help get these guys invited to training camp. There are some players I'd expected to see but don't, though I assume that's because they've maybe already gotten Summer League/training camp invites and I haven't heard about it (it really feels like I was out of town for closer to a month than a week). I'm also assuming that any of these players who don't get subsequent NBA invites have a good shot at being on the D-League's Summer League team. I hope they games are 5-on-5, as that's what NBA teams seem to prefer, and it might give these players a leg up on some more marginal college draft prospects who are only playing 3-on-3. Some position-by-position thoughts are after the jump.

Point Guard

Russell and Rice have been talked about a fair amount on this site, with Rice providing some scoring punch and Russell being more of a distributor, with occasionally too many turnovers. Stinson is a solid all-around point guard, being a decent rebounder for his position and collecting double-digit assists in six of his last seven games this past season (and got 9 in the other game). Neither Robinson nor Heath will give you assists on a consistent basis, but both averaged over 33 percent on three-pointers this past season and Robinson is a solid defender. Teams will definitely see some different looks at this position.

Shooting Guard

Lanny Smith has been recovering from injuries the last few years, but he's definitely talented. Howard's a good defensive player, though he's kind of in between a guard and a forward. Denham Brown had an up-and-down season, though he showed flashes of being a solid contributor. Not much of a three-point shooter, though. Of all the players on this list, I probably know the least about Mark Tyndale. He was apparently a decent bench contributor for Dakota last year.

Small Forward

Petway's apparently signed on with Toronto, at least for the Summer League, so I'm not sure if he'll still be participating here. Ivan Harris can definitely shoot the three. I'm not really enthralled with McCullough, though you have to admire the fact that he's not giving up. Jones and Strickland are both solid players, though for different reasons. Bobby Jones is a good defender who was almost called up by the 76ers last year, while Strickland's more of a scorer, though not a very efficient one. And I'm not really sure why he's listed as a forward but Howard is a shooting guard, when Strickland shoots more threes. And okay, I lied. Of all the players on this list, I probably know the least about Keith Brumbaugh. He apparently averaged 35 points in (community) college, though.

Power Forward

Abukar can fill it up, though he missed some time last season due to injury. Ellis is a good rebounder and a decent all-around forward. Frisby is definitely talented enough to make the NBA, though he might be slightly undersized for some teams' liking and occasionally gets into foul trouble. I feel the same way about Meeking as I do about McCullough. Giles and Hubbard are both probably best described as projects. Hubbard in particular needs to work on his post defense.

Center

Boom Tho Rod Benson will get a chance to show off his increased commitment to weight training in addition to his usual rebounding and shot-blocking. Dwayne Jones is another good rebounder and shot-blocker, though his post offense needs a lot of work. You can think of him as the D-League Dwight Howard, if that helps you. I'm kind of surprised to see Dabbert listed, though when he's not getting into foul trouble he's a decent rebounder and has some post moves. Collins I had figured as more of a power forward, but whatever helps him make the NBA, I guess. His playing time was inconsistent last season, though he's an efficient scorer who put up decent numbers when he got minutes. I'm not a huge fan of Eric Dawson, though he spent a fair amount of time playing out of position and had some nice moments last season. Longar Longar has been making the rounds of recent team tryouts, though he's kind of slow with bad hands, and is already 26 despite being only a year out of college.

Walker Russell Jr. - D-League Player Profiles

Scott Schroeder — Sat, 16 May 2009 17:00:15 -0000

View full size photo »

Like how Jon L and I pulled the ol' switcheroo on you? I thought you would. We needed to put some spice back up in here. Plus, I simply ran out of ideas until the lottery Tuesday, so I figured I'd let everyone boo Jon L when he posts bullets for awhile. Plus, I love posting random links rather than just the bullets, so I figured this would be much more fun for me.

Anyway, now on to the scheduled programming. Walker Russell, Jr., is a 6'0, 170 pound pure point. He's a little slight, yes, but how many pure points with good size are bouncing around out there, just waiting to be picked up? That's what I thought.

How he got here

Presumably, he got here because his dad was an NBA player that now works in front offices (currently scouting for the Knicks) and his uncle is Campy Russell. I'll take you back a bit, though, just for good measure.

Rusell Jr. started his career at Chipola Junior College. Chipolte? No. Chip-o-la. It's located in Marianna, Florida. Yep, the same college that Auburn legend Chris Porter began at. It's a basketball powerhouse, judging by it's famous alum's (just these two, according to WIkipedia.) Regardless, they weren't able to employ statisticians, leaving us without any numbers for Russell until he arrived at Jacksonville State, to become a Gamecock.

At Jacksonville State, he didn't put up great numbers over three seasons (13.7 points, 6.9 assists, 1.9 steals, shooting 44% from the field), but he did play well enough to become a sort of legend at JSU. Russell is the school's all-time leading scorer, assist(er?) and hold the schools all-time leading free-throw % (84.2, for inquiring minds). He was also named All-Ohio Valley Conference all three seasons, which isn't something to scoff at!

Coming out of college, he was picked up by the Knicks and impressed the one and only Gus Johnson at Summer League, as he gushed over him on the MSG Network's blog:

He's actually a better point guard right now than Nate Robinson in terms of being a pure point guard. I would say he's a better point guard than Robinson and Mardy Collins right now, because he knows how to move the ball, and knows how to get the ball to his teammates in their best spots on the floor. He can score, he's quick enough to get by people, and his jump shot isn't bad either. He's played with heart and passion

Has Gus ever said anything bad about something though? Anyway, after the jump, I'll look at his D-League career, which started three seasons ago in Forth Worth, Texas.

Russell's first D-League season didn't go so hot. For reasons unknown, Russell only played in 15 games with the Fort Worth Flyers his rookie season, averaging a paltry 15 minutes, shooting 34.7% from the field while averaging 5.6 points and 3.6 boards. Wait, the sub-35% from the field may have led to him getting limited minutes.

Nonetheless, his rookie season led to him being picked up by the Pistons Summer League team. This apparently didn't work out so well for him however, as he ended up playing in the D-League the following season with the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, who selected him in the NINTH round of the expansion draft. With the Mad Ants, he played in 17 games before heading overseas, averaging 14.5 points and 4.8 assists, shooting 42% from the field with the Ants.

This brings us to this season, which is when Russell finally put his potential as a pure point to good use. With the Ants this season, he was a stud, leading the league the entire season in assists, finishing with 10.8, along with 16 points per game on a team that didn't feature many offensive sets, save for iso and pick-and-roll. Nonetheless, his FG% struggled still, shooting 42% including a dismal 30-for-100 from beyond the arc.

Russell was able to put back-to-back triple-double's up in March, but neither of those games were archived (for reasons unknown). Watching some of the archived games, though, I was impressed with a 20 point, 14 assist, eight board, six steal game against the Colorado 14ers, when he was matched-up against Eddie Gill, who was called up just a few days later.

Overall Outlook

If you're looking for a pure point guard that sees the court well, Walker Russell is your man. If you're looking for an undersized point guard who pushes the offense and plays the passing lanes well, Russell is still your man. However, if you'd like him to be able to shoot, Russell isn't your man.

Regardless, it's still likely he'll get a look this summer, and if Gus Johnson is announcing his games (and is still impressed), don't be surprised to see him get at least a 10-day next season.

D-League Roundup

Scott Schroeder — Tue, 12 May 2009 13:00:15 -0000

RS: Good Morning everyone! We're going to lead off with D-League Bullets this morning!

Class: Good Morning Miss Bliss! Ugh! D-League Bullets on a Tuesday?

RS: Yes. Don't worry. They're more exciting than this. Plus, don't you want to know what's going on around the D-League?

Class: Well, yes. That's why all 13 of us check-in every morning.

RS: Bazinga!

First, the big news: Multiple sources have hinted Idaho assistant and NBA-vet Randy Livingston will be the first head coach of the Maine Red Claws. I've been pulling for Coach Liv for awhile, so this wouldn't come as a huge surprise.
The Memphis Grizzlies tryout also featured Kurt Looby and Greg Stiemsma (I hate that last name) - Finally the complete list is finished. From what I can gather, Walker Russell was the most impressive in the morning session. Eddie Gill played very physical - interesting. Michael Dickerson struggled against "longer defenders" - good work Air Georgia and Othyus Jeffers. Jeffers also "showed a good nose for the ball, an ability to finish in traffic and a decent outside shot." There's also a video, but it's nearly impossible to tell what's going on. More on this as I get it.
We have a little more information on the Indiana Pacers tryout that happened today. I don't have everyone that was there (I didn't know there would be many there), but along with Blake Ahearn, Demetris Nichols and Trey Johnson also worked out. Indiana's looking for a shooter, apparently.
I found this as well. Kind of crazy - she reminds me of my first crush.
Liberty Ballers is apparently interested in Ahearn to the 'Sixers. Not enough for my buddy jsams to make it an actual post (he just fanshotted it...), but they seem to like him.
The Fifth Corner is doing work looking at mock drafts. Apparently Ty Lawson is looking like a top 10 pick nearly unanimously. To compare my mock with the rest around the blogosphere, at least in terms of UNCer's, check their post from Sunday.
Here are the NBA Draft workouts planned so far, courtesy of HoopsHype. It's not complete (I hear Sam Young may have been injured in Toronto yesterday), but it'll give us a look at who is interested in what. Also, the majority of the agents listed have a few D-League guys, so this may be a decent list to look at for potential D-Leaguer's next season.
Ira Winderman is reporting that the Miami Heat will not go to Vegas or Orlando for Summer League. I believe Charlotte has decided on the same.
A little update for all you Jayhawks fans: Keith Langford will play for the Lakers this summer in Vegas and Russell Robinson will play for Orlando at their Summer League, along with working out with Cleveland in June.
Continuing with the Summer League news, Richard Hendrix is reportedly playing for Orlando in Orlando and Denver in Vegas. Wouldn't be a terrible fit in either spot.
As far as Orlando goes, New Jersey and Utah will also play there.
I have currently entered a $250 bet with my brother to see who can lose the most weight by July 8th. Wish me luck.

Memphis Grizzlies Holding D-League Workouts; D-League Has A Summer League Team

Scott Schroeder — Mon, 11 May 2009 03:34:21 -0000

We've been short on any major announcements since the D-League season ended other than the Bakersfield situation. Two decent sized announcements tonight, however.

The Memphis Grizzlies are apparently hosting a large D-League audition, and it seems to be focusing mainly on defense. Confirmed players there are Othyus Jeffers, Brent Petway, Dwayne Mitchell, Darius Washington Jr., Walker Russell Jr., Jelani McCoy, Marcus Hubbard, Brian Hamilton, Rodney White and Leon Jones for workouts starting tomorrow. Don't be surprised if three or four of these guys play for Memphis in Vegas this summer at Summer League. UPDATE: More players at the workout - Will Conroy, Trey Gilder, Eddie Gill, Stanley Burrell, Longar Longar, Tim Pickett, Michael Dickerson, Desmon Farmer and Mustafa Shakur.

Speaking of the D-League, they'll apparently have a Summer League team in Vegas, along with 21 NBA teams. The D-League fielded a team at the Rocky Mountain Revue last season, but with that folding, I assumed that this idea would be swept under the rug as well. It wasn't. It should be interesting to see who makes this team, as it'll be everyone that doesn't make an actual NBA team's Summer League roster. My first pick: Dakota's Will Frisby.

After the jump, small bullets on each player that we know that are at this workout.

The D-League Defensive Player of the Year, Idaho's Brent Petway, and the D-League's Rookie of the Year Othyus Jeffers, were two of the best defenders in the D-League last season. They also were both in the D-League Dunk Contest this season. (We'll have more on both of these guys tomorrow, as I feel they're the top two players at this tryout)
Dwayne Mitchell is a high-scoring lefty who played with the LA D-Fenders last season after not making the Lakers in the preseason.
Walker Russell Jr. led the league in assists with Fort Wayne, smashing the season assist record in the process.
Marcus Hubbard was in camp last season with the Atlanta Hawks and was the first round pick of the Dakota Wizards this season before being released and picked up by Rio Grande Valley.
Jelani McCoy is a big that played in China this season after not making the Clippers out of camp. If you're American and you play in China, you're going to put up big numbers. McCoy was no exception: 42.7 min 25.4 pt 67% 2P 57% FT 11.8 RB (8.3D - 3.5O) 1.6 blocks 2.3 assist. 1.5 steals
Brian Hamilton was in camp with New Jersey this season after a good campaign with the Utah Flash last season when he led the D-League in steals.
Darius Washington is a point guard that had a short stint with San Antonio last season. He was with the Bulls this preseason, and according to Jefe53, he played in Russia for a bit this season.
Rodney White has played in 218 NBA games, but none since 2005.
Will Conroy is a stud. Finished the season first in scoring and averaged eight assists.
Trey Gilder played his rookie season with the Colorado 14ers. Really impressed us off the bench.
Eddie Gill has plenty of experience playing the point in the NBA.
Tim Pickett is an interesting guy to put on this list. Has had some previous bouts with cannabis, apparently, but was a second round pick out of Florida State in 2004.
Michael Dickerson is the guy everyone is talking about at this workout. After not making it in Cleveland last season though, I'm just not sure how ready he is to endure another NBA season.
Desmon Farmer is a former D-League stud. He was last in the NBA with the Spurs (as he played for Austin in the D-League, meaning this was all but a lock)
Stanley Burrell played defense pretty well for the Toros this season, though we didn't expect any NBA looks
Longar Longar came into the D-League this season, but suffered with some injury problems. He played with Minnesota in Vegas last season.
Mustafa Shakur has a sweet name and stroke.
Last, but not least, Leon Jones went to Michigan. I have no idea what he's done since 2002.