SB Nation - Lance Allred

Turnover at the Top

Jon L — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 15:00:44 -0000

Chris Hunter is one of only a few of last season's D-League leaders coming back to the league.

I've made a few oblique references this offseason to all of the D-League three-point shooters who will be playing overseas this year, and it's true that there will be some unfamiliar faces jacking up perimeter shots next month. But it's actually even more remarkable than I thought. Heres is the list of last year's D-League award winners:

MVP - Courtney Sims
Defensive POY - Brent Petway
Impact POY - Eddie Gill
Rookie of the Year - Othyus Jeffers
Coach of the Year - Quin Snyder
Sportsmanship Award - Will Conroy

Notice anything? With the exception of perhaps Sims, all of the players listed above are playing overseas (and RU's Coach of the Year pick, Bryan Gates, is in the NBA now). True, one of them could come back midseason (and be in the running for the Impact award), but those are still some relatively big names missing. It gets even more drastic than that. Here are the All D-League teams:

First: Blake Ahearn, Will Conroy, Erik Daniels, Courtney Sims, Marcus Williams

I expect Williams to join back up with the Toros, and we're still waiting to see what Sims will do, but Ahearn, Conroy and Daniels are all overseas now.

Second: Derrick Byars, Josh Davis, Chris Hunter, Trey Johnson, James White

Hunter's back in Fort Wayne, but Byars - gone; Davis - gone; Johnson - gone; White - gone.

Third: Lance Allred, Ronald Dupree, Eddie Gill, Dontell Jefferson, Cartier Martin

Jefferson is back with Utah but I would expect a call-up for him at some point this season (the defense is too good). Otherwise, they're all in Europe and elsewhere. And while I won't bother listing all of the honorable mentions, by my count less than half of them are with the D-League again this year.

So what's the point of this? Change, and lots of it. Sure it will be disappointing not to see these talented players, but I prefer to see it as a crisi-tunity. With training camps underway and the regular season starting in just two weeks, a lot of players will have a chance to make their mark on the D-League. Some of them we can probably guess - expect Marcus Williams to tear it up again until he gets called up, Garrett Siler should be one of the best big men in the league and Carlos Powell and Anthony Tolliver should both fill up the box scores. But just as likely is that we can't predict right now who's going to make those 2009-2010 All-D-League teams. It could be someone like Amara Sy, who started his career off promisingly in Europe; or Reggie Williams, who was a smart, crafty scorer in college; heck, it could even be Yaroslav Korolev (it probably won't be Yaroslav Korolev).

All this turnover at the top of the league, talent-wise, is both likely a little daunting for the league and a pretty exciting development for D-League watchers. Teams are busy right now sorting out who can play and who can't, then it will be our turn.

Bob MacKinnon Hired as New Stampede Coach

Jon L — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 13:00:21 -0000

New Idaho Stampede coach Bob MacKinnon, who won the D-League championship last season with Colorado (via www.nba.com)

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The Idaho Stampede hired Bob MacKinnon as their new coach yesterday, replacing Bryan Gates who is now an assistant coach with the Sacramento Kings. We briefly looked at MacKinnon's credentials on Saturday, but now that he's been hired a closer look at the work he did last year is probably in order.

If there's one thing the Colorado 14ers did last season, it was run. As the local CBS affiliate's news story notes, the team averaged 120 points a game last year, which is still on the high side even for the uptempo D-League. They relied on a bevy of athletic players including John Lucas, Trey Gilder, Sonny Weems, Dominique Coleman and James Mays as well as dependable veterans like Josh Davis, Eddie Gill and Joe Dabbert, and finished the season first in both pace and offensive rating. Small lineups were not uncommon to see, with Davis at center and Gilder playing power forward alongside three guards. In part this was due to the foul trouble that all three of the centers on Colorado's roster towards the end of the season were foul-prone, but it also made smart use of the team's personnel. The team also had several players leave at various points due either to injury or being called up by the NBA, such as Mays, Cheikh Samb and Sean Williams. As MacKinnon himself noted in this "A Day in the Life" piece, flexibility is a trait he prizes, so he is likely confident in his ability to adapt his style if need be.

Will MacKinnon be able to implement the same style in Idaho? At the risk of asking a question then immediately copping out, I'm not sure. Idaho finished 14th (out of 16 teams) in pace last season, but a few of the players on that roster who may have preferred that pace, such as Nate Jawai or Lance Allred, are no longer around. However, there are some players who may thrive in MacKinnon's offense, such as Coby Karl and Luke Jackson, who won't be back either. Should Mohammed Abukar return, however, I think he'd do well, and he has experience playing at a faster pace from his time in Austin. MacKinnon also will be without the services of lockdown defender Brent Petway, and while Colorado's defense was about average last year (8th in the league), Petway's absence, perhaps in conjunction with MacKinnon's running style, makes it unlikely that the Stampede will repeat as the D-League's best defense.

A few closing comments: one fun aspect of this hire is that the "feud" between MacKinnon and Utah Flash owner Brandt Andersen (which as far as I know may be completely one-sided, which is the best/most hilarious kind of feud) may be kept alive. This also means that Rio Grande Valley is the only D-League team without a head coach in place. Congratulations to MacKinnon on being hired, and to the Idaho Stampede for finding a solid coach for their team.

RU's Movie Quote Offseason Roundup Spectacular Part 2

Jon L — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 13:00:13 -0000

The Colorado 14ers winning the championship is just one development discussed in this look at the D-League offseason, using quotes from "Dave Chappelle's Block Party."

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Today we're wrapping up our look at the D-League's offseason so far through the lens of "Dave Chappelle's Block Party." Part 2 somehow ended up even longer than part 1, even though I left stuff out, both from the offseason and the movie. I mean, I didn't even get to talk about my favorite thing in the entire movie, when Michel Gondry asks Jill Scott if she's nervous about performing after Erykah Badu and she laughs at him for six solid seconds. Instead of rehashing things here, then, I'll direct you to part 1 for a brief summary of what we're doing here and of "Dave Chappelle's Block Party," and to my thoughts on offseason developments involving players and coaches below the jump.

"Ahmir Thompson, I'm the official photographer of this event."

The unsung hero of the concert is the Roots' drummer Ahmir "?uestlove" Thompson, who not only plays with his band but who served as the concert's musical director, hiring musicians to play as a sort-of house band during everyone else's sets (except for the Fugees), and who had to learn/teach five songs for every artist who performed. Other than during the Fugees' set and Jill Scott's (and maybe one other, but that's all I could see), ?uest was onstage playing drums the entire time. The band he got together sounds good, too, and he's a somewhat-notoriously precise bandleader so that makes sense, but I can't imagine he had a ton of time to go over everything. His role isn't really discussed in the film - his non-musical time on camera is spent mostly talking about the other performers and their audience - and it's certainly not called attention to by others, but it's pretty clear the concert couldn't have been as successful as it was from an artistic standpoint without his leadership behind the drums. Sure they could've just used DJs (A-Trak was there for Kanye's set, for instance). After all, who cares what the guitar part sounds like as long as the raps are good, right? But the result has a lot more energy and contributes more to the block party atmosphere than just having a DJ would. And that leads me to talk about coaches.

There's been some recent discussion around here about what attributes a D-League coach should have - is it an ability to teach the offense a particular NBA team runs or is it an ability to help players develop their games and make themselves more NBA-ready? Hardwood Paroxysm's Matt Moore believes that a D-League affiliate should exist as a testing lab, to basically do whatever the NBA team tells it to do, and not worry about winning games. But here's the thing - you can do both. In Austin, Quin Snyder compiled the second-best record in the league all while helping Dwayne Jones dramatically improve his free-throw shooting and developing Marcus Williams into a capable point guard, not to mention all the call-ups, injuries and players joining the team mid-season that he had to deal with. The Utah Flash made the conference finals while having players from the Jazz and Celtics cycle in and out throughout the season. Another point is that, if at this point, with not every NBA team owning its own affiliate, if a coach is only focused on developing the NBA assignees, other talented players aren't going to want to play there, and that doesn't serve anyone well. Heck, even with directly-affiliated teams like the Toros, Williams wasn't an NBA assignee when he joined the team, but he showed enough and improved enough throughout the season that the Spurs decided to put him on their roster, even though that meant releasing Malik Hairston to do so. That's important because if NBA teams are truly going to benefit from having a minor league, they'll have to use it to find unsung players who can contribute to their team and who they can sign for relatively little, not just as a place to send the multi-million dollar center who needs to work on his offensive game.

That's the concern that we at RU have with some of the recent hirings and potential hirings - some teams understand that you can do both, while others have an offense apparently so complex that only members of the Adelman family can grasp it fully that they hire a coach to do nothing more than tell players where to stand at what times and hopefully, maybe, please, at least try get the ball in the basket occasionally. Or, they hire coaches to do nothing more than get people in the door because they remember he used to play NBA basketball in that state (for a team that isn't even affiliated with the team he's coaching), without giving thought to the fact that winning games and playing good basketball gets people in the door. So I'd like this opportunity to salute all the solid, ?uestlove-like head coaching hires that were made this offseason, but were done so long ago that it's hard to remember them happening. I'm talking about guys like Tony Fritz, Joey Meyer, Nate Tibbetts, Chucky Brown and Rory White. Not all of them will succeed in their opportunities, that's the nature of the business. But, I'd say right now that their teams likely have a better chance to succeed both from a player development and an in-game standpoint. Not flashy hires, but solid and likely effective ones.

"We took a trip on the Staten Island Ferry, a little ocean voyage to Staten Island. And as we walked the streets of Staten Island what did we discover in the gutter but an angel, broken in seven pieces. When we both discovered this I turned to him, who was not my husband at the time, and I said 'it's an omen! It's a sign! I'm to marry you, of all people!' and I did. I married him, and Sunday is our 46th wedding anniversary."

Guess who? The rest of the story is that the guy put the angel back together, and in its broken-and-glued-back-together state it acquired a kind of grace to replace its former factory-made stiffness. The house they found abandoned and broken, and are putting back together, and that's why they call it the Broken Angel house. But go back to that quote. You decided to marry a guy because you both found a broken statue? In the gutter? In Staten Island? That was the sign that this guy was the one for you? Did a watery tart lob a scimitar at you as well?

Speaking of odd decision-making processes, Bakersfield decided to lets its season-ticket holders and members of the media vote on three finalists for their coaching search, then when two of the three finalists took other jobs they just hired the third guy rather than asking for another vote or interviewing other candidates. The Will Voigt era has begun! Honestly, his resume is starting to look more and more distinguished as more relatives and guys who got bored with broadcasting become head coaches, but the process by which he was hired seems full of terrible ideas. The media should decide who the coach is? Really? People who, by and large, don't care whether someone can or should play or coach or not, so long as they give good copy? And while giving the fans a greater investment in the team is fine and all, especially when you're about to charge an arm and a leg for tickets, shouldn't basketball decisions be made by, you know, basketball people?

"This is called the Airplane Room that we're in now. My son named this room the Airplane Room. He had a tent, he lived in a tent, he was 15, and all the planes flying over to LaGuardia fly over this building."

The Broken Angel couple have a son! A child grew up in that insane house! If it's only one-third complete after 40 years, what state was it in when their son lived there? How old is this guy now, anyway? What does he do now? A public interest lawyer sounds about right, doesn't it? I'm pretty fascinated with this guy who never appears on camera and who's mentioned only once, in passing. And do you know who else has a son? Danny Ainge! And he was the best candidate the Red Claws could find for their head coaching position!

"I intend to live to probably about 400, as I am also a witch, but a good witch, and I only want happiness for mankind, not to create chaos and to be angry at everyone, but to he happy. That is my aim in life, to give happiness to the world."

Oh. Oooooookay. That's the Broken Angel house lady (their names are never given), but it's also how I reacted to the Dee Brown hiring. I know why the Armor did it. I'm not sure I agree with it, but he's at least been a coach before so we'll see how it goes. As with Ainge, and with Voigt, and with whatever coach ends up in Rio Grande Valley, they may succeed. But at this point I'm not all that optimistic of their chances.

(Also, now do you see why Gondry was so taken with the Broken Angel couple? Also, I've probably come across as a little too mocking of them, when in fact they seem really nice and genuine, and the outside of the house itself looks pretty fantastic. They also talked about their plans to put an old Sea King helicopter at the top of it and turn it into a sculpture of a whale, which is also fantastic. Oh right, BASKETBALL.)

Common is in this movie, did I mention that? There's not really a good quote from/about him so I'll just talk about it. He actually performed a set of his own at the concert, but that got cut from the film. Instead, he shows up in other performers' sets, rapping his part to Kanye West's "Get 'Em High" and Erykah Badu's "Love of My Life." He's also hanging around during Mos Def/Talib Kweli/Black Star's set. I don't know if they performed "Respiration" though or if he just decided to hang out onstage and be the hype man. Aside from the odd little bounce that Common does when he raps, the notable thing about his appearances in the movie is that he seems genuinely happy to be hanging out with the other performers and supporting them onstage. He's also something of a (pretty literal) spiritual leader for the group, as Gondry shows Common leading Mos Def and some of the other performers in prayer before the concert, and while he's gotten kind of annoying with his clothing ads and movie appearances and increasingly-misguided albums, it's clear there's a lot of goodwill among him and everyone else at the show. But right, right, basketball. How's this? Like Common getting his set cut from the film but still shown helping everyone else out, there are a pair of assistant coaches who probably should've gotten a look at a lead job this coming season - Mike Sanders and Randy Livingston. Both of them are considered up-and-coming coaches, with Sanders also having some head coaching experience in the CBA and time spent as an NBA assistant, but for now they're going to be helping their peers out. Sanders took a job as an assistant with Joey Meyer in Fort Wayne, and that strong staff combined with a fairly favorable schedule should make the Mad Ants a candidate for big improvement next year.

"Now how hot would it be if these kids got a chance to come through Bed-Stuy, beatin' them drums and playin' them horns, and the whole neighborhood is screamin', they sayin 'it's CSU!'"

Back to the marching band for a minute to recognize those D-League coaches who are taking it to the NBA next year, Bryan Gates and Robert Pack. Pack was an assistant in Rio Grande Valley last season who will be in the same gig for his hometown New Orleans Hornets this year. Gates was one of the most respected coaches in the D-League who helped develop a lot of good players and coaches, and who will be an assistant for the Sacramento Kings this year. Whether either of those guys convince their teams to use the D-League that they've largely ignored thus far remains to be seen, but we're hoping.

This is also a good way to transition to talking about players, because there are several players who spent significant time in the D-League last year but who have strong chances to make the NBA this year. Jawad Williams signed onto the Cleveland Cavaliers, who currently have only 13 players on the roster. They've signed several forwards this offseason in addition to Williams, so his roster spot isn't as assured as much as it was, say, pre-Leon Powe, but he's a good player and a friend of Mo Williams, and while he's been in this position with Cleveland before, and the Cavs have a history of signing a D-League guy, keeping him through preseason then cutting him five or so games into the regular season (this happened with Trey Johnson as well), this could be the year that Jawad Williams sticks in the league. The San Antonio Spurs have two such players, Marcus Williams and Malik Hairston, both of whom played extremely well for the Toros last year and who seem to have made their way onto the NBA roster. As I mentioned earlier, Williams wasn't on the Spurs' roster last year but played well enough and developed into a good enough point guard that they decided to sign him, while Hairston was a former Spurs draft pick (actually a Suns pick who was traded for Goran Dragic) who really just needed playing time and to work on his defense a little. The Spurs backcourt is actually fairly open beyond its three main players, and Manu Ginobili's back isn't getting any younger while Tony Parker has dealt with little injuries here and there for the past few seasons. Combine those with the fact that current backup point guard George Hill continues to be erratic, and both Williams and Hairston could expect to play solid roles for the Spurs this year. Now how hot would that be?

"Old people f-in love me, man. You know you must be doin' something right if old people like you."

Let's hear it for the NBA Draft. While this year's event had some interesting storylines - the group of guards may be stronger than previously thought, DeJuan Blair improbably (and probably disastrously for everyone else) falling to the Spurs in the second round, Ricky Rubio deciding to stay in Spain, but what the NBA Draft is about, what all sports drafts are about, is old people falling in love with young people.

"Where you goin'?"
"Somewhere in Brooklyn, we don't know."

From what I've gathered watching this movie a hundred times, the way they got people to come to the concert was announcing/leaking it on a few websites, telling people to show up at a bus depot somewhere in New York for the concert. From there they were taken to the show, but no one had an idea beforehand of where the actual concert was. That sort of sounds like someone, hang on...it's coming to me...

Jeremy Tyler everybody! Who one day decided/was convinced to go to Europe, but he didn't know where it would be. Would it be Greece? What about Spain? There are some pretty good French teams, what about those? How does Slovenia strike you? Tyler ended up in Israel, and best of luck to him, though as I've said before I have doubts as to how much development/playing time he'll get. he was bored playing high school ball, which is understandable, but I still need to be convinced that being a backup (or even third-string?) center in Europe is the best answer for that.

"It's good to see all these black people in college, you know what I'm saying?"

That quote comes from Wyclef Jean, who ends up talking to a group of the CSU students at some point and singing them his song "If I Was President." It's kind of a neat moment, because other than Kanye West watching the marching band perform "Jesus Walks" there isn't much interaction shown between the performers and the CSU students. There was a green room for the performers in the preschool on the block as well as a barbecue on the roof, and it looks like the Ohio contingent got to meet and mingle with some of the performers up there, but I don't know how many of the marching band members got to talk to the rappers and singers who performed.

Oh, and speaking of college, that's the route John Wall was told decided to take. He'll be at Kentucky next year, and he's already dunking on NBA players (however old they may be). I doubt Wall will be getting much of an education next year, but that's the de facto route for guys good enough to play in the NBA at age 18. I know David Stern would never go for this, and I've said this several times before, but the D-League can provide just as good a basketball education as college ball can, if not better.

"They was happy to see me doin' my work just like I was happy to see them doin' theirs."

This is the drum major who asked "compensation is what?" earlier in the film. He shows up a few times, and gives the impression that it was a positive experience for a lot of people in the band,who represent an HBCU in southwest Ohio. His quote above reminds me of Summer League, where several NBA players showed up to watch their younger teammates play. I know Antawn Jamison and Mike Miller were there, for instance,and there were others that I can't find references to right now. But the bottom line is, those guys didn't have to be there. Sure it was Las Vegas, but it was also the middle of summer when Nevada gets really hot. Any of those players could've been at home in the pool, or I don't know, somewhere else that wasn't sweltering. But they showed up to Summer League anyway, and that was nice to see.

"You want to see a rap concert I'm throwing?"
"When?"
"It's in Brooklyn on Saturday."
"Sorry, I can't do that."
"I can get you on the bus."
"I'm going to Canada on a bus."
"Canada? You dodging the war?"

Chappelle's exchange with an older Ohio lady is one of the few indications in the movie that things are happening in the world. There are a lot of mentions of racial issues, with dead prez performing, Fred Hampton Jr. taking the stage and the mic during Mos Def's "Umi Says," ?uestlove talking about how their audience "doesn't look like us" and a few others, but in terms of "this movie took place in America in 2004," Chappelle's draft-dodging joke is about it. It's a small but significant sign that these events are taking place in a real environment, one that had gotten fairly tense in September, 2004, and which a rap concert in which everyone's having a good time seems to have alleviated just a little bit.

Reality is intruding into basketball this year. Nothing as dramatic as war, but a lot of the economic pressures that NBA owners are either facing or exploiting (and let's face it, there probably are some teams that are going to use the economic stuff as an excuse when they don't have to), and as such NBA roster spots are scarcer. More and more D-Leaguers are heading overseas to larger, if not steadier, paychecks and ride out the current storm. Hopefully they'll be able to return in another year or two and come back to the D-League and a climate more accepting of their talents and willing to take a chance on a guy whose name you may not know but who can play better than the guy you do.

Special Appearances by: Pharoahe Monch, Bilal Oliver

Guess what? Neither of these guys are in the movie. At all. Oh they were there at the concert - Bilal performed during Common's set that got cut, for instance, but I've watched this movie I don't know how many times and I can't find them. It's entirely possible that they're at the back of the stage or out of focus in one scene that I just haven't noticed, but while they performed at the concert, they got cut from the movie. Speaking of guys who got cut, both Mike Taylor and Sun Yue are looking for work right now. Two D-League success stories (real in Taylor's case, part of Dan Reed's dreams in Sun's). I'm not sure why the Clippers cut Taylor other than Mike Dunleavy didn't feel like giving him time/room to grow. Sun Yue's a long way from being an NBA player at this point, but some further development might do the trick.

"All these people, what we all have in common? I think we all have a very personal message that they try to get across, and it's about more than just making money."

Lance Allred has a pretty incredible life story, and he finally sat down and wrote about it. His book, Longshot: The Adventures of a Deaf Fundamentalist Mormon Kid and His Journey to the NBA came out a few months ago, and was reviewed by RU. The question gets raised periodically as to why players toil in the D-League making low (and in some cases very low)-five figures while they could make ten times that amount over in Europe. My answer is usually something along the lines of "they get more exposure and have a better chance of making the NBA," and while that's true, I don't think that always gets emphasized in the correct way. It's not just that by making the NBA they can earn enough to make up for all that time spent in snowy NoDak or hot-ass Texas. For a lot of kids growing up, playing in NBA is the dream, it's something that they think about every day because that's what they want to do. I haven't been fortunate enough to always know what I want to do with my life. Even now, when I think I've figured it out, most of my time is spent pretending I haven't because still, who knows?. Spending every day working to make the NBA every day and being willing to take an almost absurdly-low salary to do so takes love, and dedication, and an unshakeable belief in yourself and your abilities that's pretty admirable and is one of the great things about following the D-League. As Allred puts it in his book, "I do not care about the money, or the fame. I just want to say that I set an 'unreachable' goal and I made it."

"We shook up the world. We shook up the world!"

Our last quote goes to the D-League Select team, which finished 3-2 at the Vegas Summer League (and one of those losses was to a D-League-heavy Denver team, so that one's sort of a moral victory for the league) and impressed just about everyone who watched them. They're last win may have been the most impressive, where they beat Portland's team at the buzzer despite being down to seven players total and only one guard after injuries to Trey Johnson, Othyus Jeffers and Walker Russell. The Select team had five players shoot .500 or better over the course of Summer League and solidly out-rebounded and out-worked (that's a word, right?) their opponents. Unfortunately it hasn't translated into many NBA preseason invites and many of the players are going to be over in Europe next season (parallels to Chappelle stopping work on his show post-"Block Party" and leaving the spotlight?), but the fact remains that the D-League players, none of whom had gotten other Summer League invites, formed a team to be reckoned with and turned some heads in Vegas this year.

So there you have it: my summary of the D-League offseason so far. We still have a little over three months until the season tips off, and a lot can happen in that time. Who knows, maybe we'll come back and do this again. You like "Ghostbusters," right?

Reviewing Orlando Magic Players' Performance in the 2009 Orlando Pro Summer League

Ben Q Rock — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 12:00:18 -0000

Another Orlando Pro Summer League is in the books, and the host Orlando Magic finished the week with a 2-3 record. The Magic have several roster spots to fill on the big-league team, and must fill those spots with a limited budget. Undrafted rookies, free-agents, and veterans of international ball--in other words, players who fit the Magic's said limited budget--made their cases for inclusion on the opening-night roster.

After the jump, 3QC breaks down the chances each player has of earning an invitation to training camp.

First, a look at each player's per-game statistics. They're sorted in descending order by total minutes played, in order to show which players got the longest looks from the team.

Pos.	Name	Mins	Pts	Rebs	Asts	Stls	Blks	FG%	3FG%	FT%
PF	Ryan Anderson	31	21.4	9.4	2.0	1.0	1.0	49.3%	41.4%	92.0%
SF	Kasib Powell	34	14.8	5.8	2.0	1.0	0.8	46.0%	52.9%	44.4%
PG	Russell Robinson	22	6.6	1.4	3.6	1.0	0.2	38.5%	28.6%	91.7%
SG	Maurice Ager	19	8.0	1.4	1.4	0.6	0.2	37.5%	28.6%	60.9%
PF/C	Richard Hendrix	23	9.8	7.3	0.8	0.3	1.8	56.0%	100.0%	66.7%
PG	Brian Chase	26	12.7	4.0	2.7	0.3	0.0	55.6%	75.0%	66.7%
SF	Jeremy Richardson	26	12.0	5.7	0.3	1.0	0.0	35.1%	15.4%	88.9%
PF/C	Darian Townes	15	3.6	3.6	0.0	0.0	0.2	34.8%		40.0%
SG	Courtney Fells	18	2.7	2.7	0.7	1.0	0.3	14.3%	22.2%
C	Lance Allred	10	1.4	2.8	0.8	0.0	0.0	27.3%		50.0%
PG	Jeremy Pargo	18	4.0	1.5	1.5	1.5	0.0	33.3%	0.0%
PG	Levance Fields	13	4.5	1.0	2.5	0.5	0.0	36.5%	25.0%	0.0%
C	Stevan Milosevic	8	2.0	1.0	0.0	0.5	0.0	66.7%
PF	C.J. Giles	5	2.0	3.0	0.0	2.0	0.0	50.0%

It's pretty easy to stratify the players from there.

The Sure Thing

Ryan Anderson will make the final roster, and would have regardless of how well he played in camp, because he's the only player here with a guaranteed contract. Orlando wouldn't surrender Courtney Lee to the New Jersey Nets as part of the deal for Vince Carter were Anderson not included. But even if all that weren't the case--if he were scrapping just like everyone else--he would have assured a roster spot with his play this week. He was the best player on the floor most of the time, and displayed some admirable versatility. Catch-and-shoot, pick-and-pop? Sure, that's what he did in New Jersey. But he added some strong drives to the basket, and did some work on the offensive glass. In the regular season, he'll revert to catch-and-shoot/pick-and-pop action, but he's developing an all-around game for the long haul. At 21, he could be in Orlando for quite some time.

The Likely Camp Invitees

Kasib Powell, too, looked like an all-around player. He struggles to finish near the basket, but he's a solid jump-shooter, with a better handle than at least one small forward on Orlando's roster. At 28, he has limited upside, but he's a smart player who works hard. There might be a spot at the end of Orlando's bench for him. Given his play this week, and given his familiarity with the organization--he went to training camp with the Magic in 2006--there's a darn good chance he'll go camping with them again this year.
Russell Robinson's shooting and scoring stats won't impress you, but his ability to run a team might. He turned the ball over 6 times in 109 minutes, coordinated the offense, and made smart plays. Defensively, he pressures the ball well. Coach Stan Van Gundy went out of the way to compliment Robinson after camp, and it appears as though the Magic will use their remaining free-agency dollars to address needs at small forward and at center. Maybe they'll take a flier on Robinson, hoping the 23-year-old can fill-in as their third point guard this year, and maybe develop into a backup down the line.
Richard Hendrix is neither tall nor athletic. That did not stop him from fairly quietly posting impressive numbers at both power positions or Orlando this week. He's not much of a shot creator or jump-shooter--regardless of the made three-pointer, at the end of a quarter, off a designed play-- but as a garbageman, he's efficient. Defensively, he holds his own, and has good-but-not-great instincts as a shot-blocker. The Magic could do worse than to fill their 6th big-man spot with Hendrix.
Jeremy Richardson's week ended due to a sore right foot, so his minutes played and per-game stats skew unfavorably. I thought he played better than his 35.1% shooting would suggest. Don't get hung up on his poor three-point shooting; if there's one thing he's proven in his brief NBA career, it's that he can hit the three-ball, with a career 38.5% mark from beyond the arc. His woeful percentage inside it has held him back, so to see him make almost half of his two-pointers? It's progress. He expects to sign soon, and I'm inclined to take his word for it.

The Possible Camp Invitees

Maurice Ager might have been the most vocal Magic player, in terms of yelling in either exuberance or frustration. He plays hard, and we can't fault him for that. But in 78 NBA games over 3 seasons, he's been just awful. He's a scoring specialist who doesn't score efficiently. So why might he make the Magic's camp roster? It's only someone else's hunch: one media member at RDV this week said Ager and his agent wouldn't have chosen to join Orlando's summer-league team without some sort of "wink/nod" agreement with GM Otis Smith.
Brian Chase elevated himself from "Everyone Else" to "Possible Camp Invitee" status with his play on Friday. On the court for the final 31 minutes after Robinson started, he put on a clinic against the Pacers. 16 points on 7-of-11 shooting, with 1-of-1 from downtown. He's quick, he can finish, and he has a nice handle. What he isn't, however, is a playmaker. But sure, he can make a professional career out of being a scoring guard. Professionally in Europe, in all likelihood.

The Wildcard

Milovan Rakovic didn't play a single minute this week, apparently due to a paperwork/clearance issue. The Magic might want to see how their 2006 second-rounder performs in their own camp, if that paperwork is resolved. The more likely result is that Rakovic will spend another year with Spartak Saint Petersburg, and Orlando will take another look at him next summer.

Everyone Else

Lance Allred was a step slower than his contemporaries all week, didn't rebound or defend especially well, and didn't do much besides hit some elbow jumpers. On the plus side, he's the only published author on the Magic's summer roster.
Courtney Fells did not meet a shot attempt he didn't like. 3-of-21 shooting, 2-of-9 from three-point range, no free throw attempts, and as many turnovers as points (8). He sure can jump, though.
Levance Fields played reasonably well in limited minutes--if we're honest, he's a cut above the other players in this section--but Robinson and Chase outperformed him. He'll catch on somewhere overseas and might get another opportunity in the NBA next season.
C.J. Giles appeared in one game, for 5 minutes. Not to be too glib, but that's about all you need to know about his chances of making the team.
Stevan Milosevic is a big guy, and that might be the extent of his positives, in terms of NBA potential. He was involved in arguably the two most embarrassing plays of camp: the Celtics' J.R. Giddens threw down a vicious tomahawk dunk on him on Wednesday. Later in the week, he made an impressive spin around Pacers center Scott Vander Meer, had a wide-open look to the basket... and airballed the layup. He threw the ball straight up in the air. One of the more spectacular misses in summer-league history. I hate to rip the guy, because he tried his best, but his best isn't going to get it done in the NBA.
Jeremy Pargo hardly played this week, and in limited minutes, did not do much to distinguish himself as a better shoot-first point guard prospect than Chase did.
Darian Townes started at center in 3 of the 5 games, but usually gave way to Hendrix in crunch-time situations. Defenders block his shot all too easily, even at the rim, which helps to explain his 34.8% shooting despite hardly taking any jumpers, that I can recall. There's room for a few offensive zeroes in the NBA--think Chuck Hayes--but they have to be able to do something else extremely well. Hayes, for instance, is one of the league's best post defenders despite standing only 6'06". Townes didn't distinguish himself as a rebounder, defender, or shot-blocker.

Okay, that's out of the way.

So, 3QCers, who would you like to see invited to Orlando's training camp in the fall?

Orlando Pro Summer League: Indiana Pacers 68, Orlando Magic 54

Ben Q Rock — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 11:00:17 -0000

In a game that perhaps epitomized the very definition of "summer league," the Orlando Magic fell to the Indiana Pacers, 68-54, to close out the 2009 Orlando Pro Summer League. The teams combined to shoot 34% from the field, with many players dragging after logging so many minutes. Orlando's Ryan Anderson, for instance, breezed through the first 4 days of the week, but came up short on every jumper he took today and finished a woeful 2-of-11 from the field. Reserve point guard Brian Chase (16 points, 7-of-11 from the field) and reserve forward/center Richard Hendrix (10 points on 4-of-7 shooting) were the only two Magic players to tally more points than field goal attempts. Just horrid to watch, and there isn't a heckuva lot to take away from this one.

The day wasn't a total waste, though. Anderson and Kasib Powell contributed despite their poor shooting performances, with 10 and 8 rebounds, respectively. Pacers center Roy Hibbert put together another fine game, with 16 points, 11 boards, and 3 blocked shots. Lance Allred pulled down 7 rebounds in just over 8 minutes, an impressive rate.

More on Anderson, about whose performance most Magic fans are interested, as he's the only player on the team with a guaranteed deal for this season: not everything he tossed at the basket today was garbage. He didn't get lazy and crank jumpers, if that's what his stat line might have led you to believe. Twice, he showed what may be his pet move: catching the ball on the right wing, sizing up the defender in a triple-threat position, driving left (with his left hand) into the paint, spinning right toward the baseline, then finally putting up a baby hook off the glass. Decent move, and he managed to shake Tyler Hansbrough twice with it, if memory serves.

The best Magic player on the floor was Brian Chase, who had played sparingly (just under 37 minutes in two games) before today. He might be the quickest player on the summer-league squad, and had no trouble getting by his defender and into the lane. Once there, he was able to get his floater off over the Pacers' defense--not an easy task, given the size of Hibbert (7'02") and backup Scott Vander Meer (7'00"). He executed a filthy spin-move around his defender on one transition possession, drawing oohs and ahhs from the crowd which, I should note, is composed only of team officials and media members.

Hendrix, too, played well. 4 blocked shots from the undersized (6'09") big man, whose chances of making the final team might be jeopardized by today's signing of free-agent power forward Brandon Bass to a 4-year deal. I had Hendrix pegged all wrong. Coming into camp, I assumed he was of the athletic/undersized type, like Bass or Jason Maxiell. Turns out he's not terribly athletic. But he does have good instincts for the ball, either coming off the rim for a board or out of an opponent's hand for the shot-block. He showcased a bit of his offensive repertoire today with a follow dunk, a lefty hook, and even a three-pointer coming out of a timeout.

Russell Robinson, who finished third on the team in total minutes played, didn't close out camp with a strong case for his inclusion on the final roster. He continued to look for his shot, as he did yesterday, which is a change-of-pace from what he did in the first 3 days. He's still looking for that shot, having missed all 4 of his attempts in the first 8 minutes before giving way to Chase for the rest of the game. I'm willing to chalk it up as an off-day... but with 4 missed field goals and 2 turnovers in that brief time-span? Not encouraging.

Finally, we'll look at Kasib Powell, who led the Magic in minutes per game this week. I discussed Powell with Zach McCann of Orlando Magic Daily, and we concluded that although he's a good player, he's not great at any one thing; in other words, he's not a specialist, and specialists are what teams usually round out their benches with. Still, Powell looked like an NBA rotation player, with per-game averages of 14.8 points, 5.8 boards, 2 assists, and 1 steal. He also shot fairly well, going 46% from the field and 52.9% from three-point range. It was good enough for him to make the All-Summer League Second Team.

We'll go more in-depth on every Magic summer-leaguer's performance sometime later this weekend. For now, the main takeaway is this: Ryan Anderson is not a scrub, and the Magic probably have some legitimate training-camp invitees on their summer roster, despite the team's 2-3 record.

Orlando Summer League Recap: Day 3

Jon L — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 14:00:17 -0000

Not that this sort of thing matters, but by Day 3 of Summer League I think it's pretty clear who the top teams are - Orlando, Indiana and Oklahoma City. They're getting it done in different ways, with Oklahoma City relying on its bevy of NBA-ready (and NBA-experienced) guards, Indiana getting most of its contributions from big men Roy Hibbert and Tyler Hansbrough, and Orlando also using its frontcourt effectively, but doing bit both inside and outside with Ryan Anderson and RU contributor Kasib Powell, among others. As I said, though, and as you all well know, Summer League W-L records mean nothing. What's important is who's making a case that they can help their team - or any team, in the case of undrafted players and D-League guys - when the regular season starts. And to see who's did that yesterday, let's turn to the games themselves.

Oklahoma City Thunder 94, Boston Celtics 82

This whole week, Russell Westbrook has looked a cut above pretty much everyone else who's been in the court with him, and that's not really a surprise. As much immediate success as he had in the NBA last year, playing against someone like Jimmy Baron isn't much of a challenge. Still, despite his overall impressive numbers yesterday (22 points on 16 shots, 5 assists, 4 rebounds and 5 steals), he's still turning the ball over more than I'm sure the Thunder would like. Kyle Weaver had a better game, shooting 4-5 with two blocks, though he had five fouls in a little over 20 minutes. Gabe Pruitt had a rough game, shooting 3-11 with some foul trouble besides. JR Giddens had a better shooting day than he's had so far, going 7-13 and picking up 3 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals, but he also turned the ball over 6 times.

As for the guys just trying to make a roster, I'm not sure whether DJ White is assured of an NBA spot or whether he'll be in Tulsa again, but he turned it around from the day before, shooting 7-10 and pulling in five rebounds. DeVon Hardin also played well for the Thunder, finishing with 7 rebounds and 4 blocks to go with his efficient 4-5 shooting. Coby Karl had another game where he didn't really put it all together, as he shot 2-6 and only had one rebound, but three assists.

The other two games after the jump.

Orlando Magic 108, Philadelphia/New Jersey Frankensteins 86

I know that I said wins and losses don't matter, but the combined team has looked pretty terrible in all three games, and it's hard to tell whether it's because the coaching staff has to try and evaluate two different rosters at the same time, or because the players themselves are just rougher than those on he other teams. At any rate, Chris Douglas-Roberts is apparently dealing criticism of his "shoot first, second and third" mentality by only attempting one field goal in 28 minutes, and while he had two blocks he also had only two assists and no rebounds, so I'm not really sure what he was doing. Terrence Williams found some semblance of an offensive game, scoring 16 points on 13 shots and making a couple of threes, but his main strengths at this point lie elsewhere, and he had 5 turnovers but also 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals. Ryan Anderson was again efficient and impressive, with 21 points on 15 shots, 7 rebounds and 3 assists. Dionte Christmas had his best game so far, with 18 points on 9 shots, including making 4 of 6 three-pointers, though he didn't do much else in just under 16 minutes.

Kasib Powell continued his good play, and he had a better shooting day than game 2, making 4 of his 5 three-pointers and 7 of his 10 shots overall. Richard Hendrix also played very well, with 17 points on 9 shots ans 12 rebounds in about 23 and a half minutes. Lance Allred finally played double-digit minutes, though he didn't play particularly werll apart from his three assists. Blake Ahearn finally got his shot going, 2-5 on threes and making his other field goal attempt to go with four assists, though he also had three turnovers.

Indiana Pacers 95, Utah Jazz 79

Hibbert and Hansbrough were again the focal points for Indiana. Hansbrough did most of his damage at the free throw line with 14 attempts (all of which he made), and he also had 5 rebounds and a block. Hibbert mainly stayed anchored to the paint, and he finished with 8 rebounds and two blocks to go with 8-13 shooting. Eric Maynor hasn't shot the ball all that well but usually makes up for it with some combinations of assists, rebounds and steals, but those were absent yesterday. Also, I know I said I wasn't going to call out poor performances too often, I remain somewhat unimpressed with Goran Suton, who shot 2-8 with just one rebound to go with five fouls and three turnovers in 17 minutes.

Trey Johnson got a lot of playing time, 31 minutes, and he did okay, I suppose. 3-8 shooting, three rebounds, two assists, four turnovers. James Augustine played very well, making six of his seven shots and collecting five rebounds, two assists and a steal in 18 and a half minutes. Kevin Lyde also played well in limited minutes, shooting 2-5 with six rebounds in just over 7 minutes. AJ Price had a good game scoring-wise, shooting 6-9 overall and 2-3 on three-pointers, and he had four rebounds, which is pretty good for a guy his size. Kevin Kruger didn't have a great shooting day, but he finished with a game-high five assists in a little under 15 minutes.

Summer League Game Recaps

Jon L — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 13:00:19 -0000

Day 2 of the Orlando Summer League saw some better games than Day 1 (well, mostly), and several D-Leaguers really stepped up for their teams. All of those Oklahoma City guards continue to impress, and new Magic (which is different from Tru3 Magic) Ryan Anderson came within a point of tying Travis Diener's Orlando Summer League record. Now there's a guy who needs his Summer League jersey retired. On to the recaps!

Orlando Magic 82, Boston Celtics 82

We'll start with the game I paid the most attention to. Ryan Anderson was fairly aggressive on offense, shooting threes and driving to the basket, but he didn't look all that selfish doing it and was very efficient (33 points on 15 shots). I think he'll be a good backup and/or complement to Rashard Lewis this season. I'm not sure whether to classify JR Giddens as an NBA guy or a D-Leaguer, but he was relatively impressive, though his outside shot still needs work. Gabe Pruitt was the other guy who impressed me for Boston. He did a good job running the team's offense and had 5 assists and 4 rebounds, though he shot only 1-6 on three-pointers.

Orlando's D-League trio of Kasib Powell, Darian Townes and Russell Robinson all had solid games. Powell was the Magic's second-best player, and while he only made 1 of 4 three-pointers he generally made smart decisions with the ball, including passing up a three-pointer to drive to the basket and score the game-sealing lay-up. Powell finished with 15 points, two assists, two blocks and two steals. Townes got blocked at least once by Robert Swift (who had a pretty terrible game aside from his four blocks), but overall Townes showed some nice moves inside and finished with seven rebounds. Robinson did a good job running the point for Orlando, pushing the ball at the right times and finishing with six assists, though he struggled with his shot and sometimes failed to pass the ball before being double- or triple-teamed. Coby Karl was inconsistent, making good plays overall and finishing with 18 points on 9 shots, 5 rebounds and 3 steals, though there were times where he seemed to be playing out of control and he had four turnovers. Also, I hate to do this and don't plan to make it a habit, but Steven Milosevic was pretty terrible. Five turnovers and five fouls in just over 12 minutes. Lance Allred continued to get too little playing time, about 4 and a half minutes. He can help you, Orlando!

The other two games are after the jump.

Indiana Pacers 91, Oklahoma City Thunder 88

I mentioned up top that the Thunder guards played well, and the Pacers big men did too. Roy Hibbert shot 7-8 and had 8 rebounds, and Tyler Hansbrough did a good job cleaning up around the rim and finished with 23 points on 10 shots, though fouling and turnovers remain problems for him. James Harden had another good all-around game, with 19 points on 13 shots, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal. Russell Westbrook finished with 22 points and 8 assists, though he also had five turnovers. Kyle Weaver's had a few relatively quiet days, but the Summer League style of play doesn't really suit his game, and he still finished with five assists here.

DJ White had a rough shooting day, going 3-11, and he also finished with 8 fouls in 31 and a half minutes (you don't foul out in Summer League because who cares?). Serge Ibaka also showed some of his tantalizing athleticism, though he also racked up a lot of fouls. BJ Mullens showed off a decent jump shot, and he looked better than I expected him to, honestly. Trey Johnson played fairly well, with 13 points and 3 assists, though he also missed five of his six free throws and both of his three-pointers. Derrick Byars had an even rougher go of it, shooting 1-4 on three pointers and missing both of his other field goal attempts, though he also had three assists.

Utah Jazz 83, Philadelphia/New Jersey Frankensteins 66

This game was pretty, pretty terrible to watch. Both teams were all over the place in the first half before the Jazz settled down and pulled away. Terrence Williams again struggled offensively, shooting 3-11 with four turnovers, though he also had six rebounds. Marreese Speights also shot poorly, going 3-12, though he also had five blocks. The only Philly/NJ player who did really did well was Chris Douglas-Roberts, though he looked to score pretty much every time he got the ball. Eric Maynor looked solid for Utah, though he shot only 2-9. He also had five rebounds and four assists.

The non-NBA guys didn't really fare much better. Blake Ahearn had a rough day shooting, and that's pretty much all he does. Gary Forbes shot 1-4, though he had two blocks. I continue to be confused as to why Jason Ellis hasn't gotten more rebounds, as he was one of the best rebounding forwards in the D-League last year, but he only had one in just under 12 minutes. He was fairly active, though. Kevin Lyde did okay, shooting 3-7 but getting five rebounds. Cedric Bozeman had a similar day, getting three rebounds and three assists on top of 1-5 shooting. Kevin Kruger actually had a decent game, scoring 10 points on 7 shots in a little under 14 minutes, and he also had four rebounds. Jimmy Baron shot the ball well, 2-3 on three-pointers and 3-4 overall, though that's about all he did in 12 minutes.

Orlando Pro Summer League: Orlando Magic 85, Boston Celtics 82

Ben Q Rock — Wed, 08 Jul 2009 03:52:14 -0000

In a surprisingly well-played game on both sides, the Orlando Magic defeated the Boston Celtics, 85-82, thanks in large part to Ryan Anderson's 33 points and 14 boards. The Magic trailed by 6 at the end of three periods but rallied to win in the fourth. It wasn't easy, as Boston's J.R. Giddens had a chance to send the game to overtime at the buzzer, after the Celtics stole an Orlando inbounds pass, but his trey rattled around and out. In what may have been a mock show of frustration, he screamed and fell to the floor as the other players exited the floor.

Clearly, Orlando played much better today than it did yesterday, albeit against less impressive competition. Better ball movement, better focus, better shooting... really, the Magic didn't do anything worse than they did yesterday. They're building some momentum, which is encouraging. Also encouraging? Anderson. There's some concern--perhaps not in the Magic organization, but among the fans--that he's little more than a standstill shooter. I'd like to go ahead and refute that right now. Anderson aggressively took the ball to the basket today, and finished strong inside once he got to the rim. 9-of-13 on two-pointers for Anderson, who sank both of his three-point attempts.

Rebounds? Split evenly, 7 on either side of the ball. His tip-in after Darian Townes missed two free throws gave the Magic a 78-72 lead late in the game. That play seemed to energize the team, to some extent.

After the jump, an assessment of every other Magic player.

Maurice Ager continued his active, aggressive play on both ends of the court. The difference? Today, he was simply more effective. In 17 minutes off the bench, he contributed 10 points and 4 assists, and showed a willingness to keep the ball moving. Now this is a guy who made a name for himself as a scorer in college, but who hasn't earned a consistent job in the NBA precisely because he can't score. So it was interesting to see him work as a facilitator of sorts.
Lance Allred again played sparingly--just 4:37--so his chances of making the team don't look great at this point. With that said, he made his only shot of the day, an 18-footer from near the top of the key, Tony Battie-style.
Courtney Fells, who did not play in the first game, saw 16 minutes of action today. Unfortunately, he didn't do much with it. The 6'06" shooting guard looked for his offense early and often. He might still be looking for it. No points on 0-of-8 shooting, with 4 boards, for Fells. That's a summer-league linescore if I've ever seen one.
Levance Fields, who also did not play yesterday, saw 9 minutes of the court today. 2 points, 1 assist, and 1-of-4 shooting. Not much to see here.
Stevan Milosevic started at center after being ruled out of yesterday's contest due to a FIBA paperwork problem. Unfortunately, he didn't look too great today. He fits the stereotype of most European stiffs: big, not especially quick, and robotic on both ends of the court. 5 fouls and 5 turnovers for the 7-footer, who also contributed 4 points and 2 boards.
Kasib Powell looked like end-of-an-NBA-bench material today, and I mean that as a compliment. He probably belongs in the league. No minutes yesterday. Today? Starting at the 3, and playing nearly the entire game. He's the prototypical small forward, in my mind: he can shoot, he can create off the dribble, he can defend, and he's unselfish. 15 points, 2 boards, 2 assists. Not bad.
Jeremy Richardson managed only 9:07 on the court today, and was apparently injured early in the game, visibly limping when he left in the second period. He returned to the bench sometime during the third period wearing street clothes. He managed to take 5 shots in those 9 minutes though. A trooper, he is.
Russell Robinson impressed most people in attendance with his ability to run the team. The 23-year-old point guard takes what the defense gives him, makes good passes, and generally knows what the heck he's doing. It's not hard to imagine him as the Magic's third-string point guard this year. His defense is good, too. Applies pressure to the ball without gambling, pesters people, and draws offensive fouls. He's well-schooled in the Allen Iverson Method of Drawing Moving Screens, by running into the screener and taking a bit of a dive. Twice today, he did that, and he also flopped a bit on a Magic inbounds pass near the end of the game which drew an away-from-the-ball foul on Celtics rookie Lester Hudson. If you're watching the rest of this week's games at home, keep an eye on this man. You may be impressed.
Darian Townes had another quietly effective game, with 10 points and 7 rebounds in 24 minutes off the bench.
DNP - CDs: Brian Chase, C.J. Giles, Richard Hendrix, Jeremy Pargo, and Milovan Rakovic

That last name may surprise some people, and to be honest, I have no idea why Rakovic was once again in street clothes today. If Milosevic's paperwork got sorted out, why didn't Rakovic's? That's something I'll try to look into tomorrow. After the game, Rakovic had changed into his workout gear and could be seen in the Magic's weight room overlooking the floor.

Overall, a solid day for the Magic. They'll try to build on it tomorrow against the New Jersey/Philadelphia split squad at 7 PM.

Phoenix Suns Summer League: The Game Plan

Phoenix Stan — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 20:01:09 -0000

In less than a week from now the "Summer Suns" will kick off their five game 2009 Vegas Summer League season.

I along with numerous other SBN bloggers will be on hand taking it all in. This year I will be doing double duty covering our boys both for this site but also working on behalf of Suns flagship radio station Sports 620 KTAR. I will be in Vegas July 12th to the 18th catching three of the Suns five games and taking the opportunity to watch a lot of other young players and perhaps, just maybe have a little fun too.

The key thing to remember about Summer League ball is to ignore the game and focus on the individual play. These are teams thrown together with a wide range of talent. They get little opportunity to practice together and each and every player is out there to show his stuff and advance his own agenda.

Typically, we deride this "me-first" ball but in Vegas it is totally acceptable and expected so in other words ignore the score and focus on who does what in the context of the five on five competition.

Going into anything as monumental as the Vegas Summer League, you have to have a game plan and here's what I've got.

Roster

Our good friends over at Ridiculous Upside have taken the time to give us the skinny on the various roster filler on this year's team, They will have the privilege of mainly watching four guys with guaranteed contracts and one 2nd round draft pick get the majority of the minutes.

There's only two guys in that group that might be of interest. Jiri Hubalek a 6'11" F/C who played (well I thought) for the Suns last season in Vegas before departing early for a contract in Europe and Kaspars Berzins, a 7fter who's athletic and mobile. If nothing else, these big guys will be interesting to watch.

Enough about those guys though, Summer League for the Suns this year anyway isn't about trying to find a diamond in the rough. It's about gauging the development of three or five young Suns players and draft picks

Returning players development

The Suns are one of the only teams that will start three guys with NBA experience (Lopez, Tucker and Dragic) and each one will come to these games with something to show.

Goran Dragic - Goran's summer so far has kept him primarily in the gym. I haven't seen him yet myself but several people have told me how much muscle he's put on and how cut he looks. Aside from that improving his chances with the young Slavic girls at ASU, this additional strength will help him finish after contact and fight through screens. That's the plan anyway and what I will be looking for.

Talent wise, we know that Dragic has average handle and above average court vision and decent shooting and defense. For his development at point guard I am hoping to see a lot more floor leadership. It is a lot to ask from this young kid from Slovenia and I don't expect him to show up and be Chris Paul but I will be looking for how well he handles this team.

Goran's a nice kid with an out-going personality. Good sense of humor. Smart. He's a guy you kind of want to like and perhaps date your daughter but I've yet to see the "eye of a killer" in him. My expectations aren't high in this regard but perhaps on the court against a lot of guys who he will have a significant advantage over he might put the hammer down on occasion. I definitely want to see him respond tough to some physical play. He can be a nice guy off the court. In Vegas he's going to need to starting earning his reputation as a guy that isn't going to be pushed around.

Robin Lopez - The key for Robin has long been his will and desire. He had a tough rookie season playing in the shadow of both a revitalized Shaq and his brother Brook who turned consistent playing time into a great rookie season. How Robin responds to that challenge could be the key to his entire NBA career.

After seeing him down right dominate at times last summer in Vegas, I am convinced he has all the physical tools needed to be a Chandler-like defensive center. He also has the ability to be a better post player than Chandler with decent improvisational moves and counters and the opportunity to have range out to 10 or 12 feet.

In other words, Robin has a LOT of untapped upside and next week will give us a peak into how much of that he's ready to show next season. Or maybe he's just a laid back kid who enjoyed his time off and will coast through his contract until he's out of the league in a few more years. That could happen too.

On the court we probably won't see much post play from the up tempo Gentry-led Suns but we will have plenty of opportunity to see if Robin plays defense with as much intensity as last year but with more smarts. His rebounding was also a big question in his limited minutes with the Suns last year so I will be looking for how much he's learned about cleaning the glass. Offensively, I would be shocked if we don't see him in the pick and roll on numerous occasions. He can catch and finish both over the top and on bounce passes. He's no Amare but he's not a stiff either.

Alando Tucker - Tuck had a fantastic summer last year on both ends of the court. He showed me a lot of maturity and leadership and is a big reason why I am still sold on his potential. Tucker has nothing to prove to me other then his health.

I want to see him fully recovered from his knee surgery and continue to selectively dominate offensively both attacking the rim as well as shooting off screens. Perhaps his biggest room for improvement will be his outside shooting. He's done pretty well from behind the arc but his flat shot is a problem and will limit his consistent range. I am curious to see if he's changed his form.

I fully expect Tucker to be the leader of this team and I think he will have a lot of fun in that role.

Paul Coro recently suggested that the Suns may not want to pay Tucker $1.9m next year to get limited minutes behind Barbosa and Richardson. As much as it pains me, Tucker's main purpose for being in Vegas might be to showcase him to other teams and to increase his trade value.

Rookies first look

Earl Clark - Having never seen Clark play it will all be new for me. I can't wait to see how he uses his size and athleticism on both ends of the floor and I want to see how he interacts with his teammates. There's a fine balance between being overly aggressive and too passive and on a team like the Suns it is hard for guys to get a feel for their role. Jason Richardson struggled with this last season and it might be a tough adjustment for Clark coming into this situation. Obviously, playing in Vegas in July won't be the same thing as playing in Phoenix in November but at least we will get a first look.

The one area that Clark doesn't need to hold back is on the defensive end. If he can come in as a rookie and focus on impacting the game on that end he will earn more playing time and buy himself time to let his offensive game develop.

With that in mind, it may seem boring but I don't want to see Clark taking many (barely any) jump shots and I am hoping to only see him with the ball in his hands on limited occasions.

Taylor Griffin - Taylor by no means is certain to earn a roster spot on this team. He was a bit of a flyer with a second round pick and while he might be a cheap 12th or 13th guy he also is easily replaced by some other non-drafted player that might stand out.

Playing as a tweener 3/4 he's fighting an up hill battle on the Suns team with Dudley, Amundson and now Clark all standing in front of him in line. While the Suns are deep in that 6'7" to 6'9" range they are thin at center. I would not be the least bit surprised if the roster spot Taylor is fighting ends up going to a cheap big man that the Suns see in Vegas. A guy like Steven Hill, Courtney Sims or even one of the two bigs on the Suns squad.

Oh, and did you hear his brother got drafted 1st and is supposed to be pretty good? I am guessing we will see a bit of Blake hanging around the Suns games.

Other big names

My primary mission in Vegas is to cover the Suns with a big fat eye on the items mentioned above. But there's a lot of basketball being played and it is a great opportunity to get a look at some other interesting names. Last year I got my first look at Kevin Love (impressed) and Joe Alexander (meh). I also saw Jerryd Bayless destroy DJ Strawberry's NBA career and was impressed with Aaron Brooks and CJ Watson. It was the last time Alexis Ajinca has been heard from despite being drafted 20th by Charlotte.

I can't wait to see what happens this year. Here's some guys I am going to watch for...

Chicago - Taj Gibson and James Johnson
Denver - Coby Karl, Sonny Weems and Ty Lawson
Detroit - Will Bynum, Austin Daye and Jonas Jerebko
Golden State - Stephen Curry and Anthony Randolph
Houston - James Flight White, Joey Dorsey and Chase Budinger
LA Clippers - Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon (this should be a fun tandem!)
LA Lakers - Adam Morrison?? (where's Sun Yue?)
Memphis - Thabeet and Hamed Haddadi (the biggest pair in Vegas since Dolly Parton)
Milwaukee - Joe Alexander, Brandon Jennings and Luc Richard Mbah a Moute
Minnesota - Jonny Flynn, Wayne Ellington and Gerald Hendeson (on load from the Bobcats)
New Orleans - Courtney Sims and Julian Wright
NY Knicks - Nikoloz Tskitishvili (!), Jordan Hill, Blake Ahern and Mouhamed Sene
OKC Thunder - James Harden!, Russel Westbrook, Shaun Livingston, BJ Mullens
Portland - Jerryd Bayless, Jeff Pendergraph, Patty Mills
Sacramento - Tyreke Evans, Jason Thompson, Spencer Hawes, Omri Casspi, Donte Green (this team is loaded!)
San Antonio - DeJuan Blair, Malik Hairston, George Hill, Nando De Colo
Washington - Javale McGee, Nick Young
Dallas - Nick Calathes, Mikael Gelabale, Luke Jackson
Cleveland - TBD
Toronto - Demar DeRozan, Nathan Jawai, Brent Petway, Roko Ukic, Quincy Douby, Patick O'Bryant
D-league Select team - Othyus Jeffers, Trey Johnson

Any other interesting talent

There should be a few guys you've never heard of that jump out. Last year a funny looking white guy with a pony tail really stood out for his energy and defensive effort. He was ALL over the court and really made an impression. He turned out pretty good.

Suns matchups

1. Dallas: Monday, 3pm

The Mavericks are one of many weak Summer League teams. It will be interesting to watch Dragic and Calathes hook up but beyond that there's not much here to get excited about. I've always like Gelabale and Luke Jackson is a very good D-league player that has a legit chance at a NBA contract. Rodrigue Beaubois might be interesting to watch as well. He's a 6' point guard from France that the Mavs picked 25th overall. That's all I know about him until I see him on Monday.

2. Toronto: Wednesday, 5pm

This one should be the best game of the week for the Suns. Ukic and Douby can play and should be a good test for Dragic and it will be fun to see how Tucker handles DeRozan. Up front they are thin but Petway is a great defender and O'Bryant and Jawai are...big

3. D-league Select: Friday, 7pm

Ugh...There's a lot of very good D-league players balling in Vegas but most of them are playing for an NBA team. That leaves this group as not much more then a gimmick with only a couple of decent (D-league) players. Othyus Jeffers is nice. Walker Russell is an interesting PG that got a try out from the Suns last year in their big 6 player PG audition. And Trey Johnson can play basketball.

4. Memphis, Saturday, 5pm

The Grizzlies present two big match ups for Robin Lopez and Thabeet and Haddadi. This should definitely be a fun one for Robin to battle those two. He should have the strength advantage on Thabeet and quickness on the big Iranian but still, they are tall. Darrell Arthur was a starting power forward last year in the NBA. That's something. Not much but something. There are no guards to speak of on this team.

5. LA Clippers, Sunday, 730pm

This might be a decent game if it weren't on the last game on the last day of the entire event and is the 3rd game in 3 days for the Summer Suns. In other words, even though Blake Griffin and Eric Gordon are exciting young players this isn't the match up to see them at their best. Shame the Suns aren't playing them on Wednesday or Friday but they aren't and based on last year there's a good chance the big names will barely play in this one.

Here's the full Vegas schedule

It's Vegas Baby!

Aside from having the opportunity for some quality beer, basketball and bullshit time with all sorts of basketball types, my main plan is to crank out a daily podcast with brief interviews with various folks that will be in town for the fun. If you have anyone your interested in hearing from or any specific questions...you know what to do.

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.