SB Nation - Blake Ahearn

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.

Dakota Wizards Looking Good For This Year

Jon L — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 15:06:17 -0000

The return of Renaldo Major and others should help the Dakota Wizards get off to a good start this season.

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(I shouldn't have to do this, but just to be on the safe side I'll say that while former RU writer Ridiculous Scott has moved on and now has a job with the Wizards, he had nothing to do with the writing of this piece. I saw a news article and needed something to post today other than a fanshot about some college player I'm unfamiliar with.)

It's early, of course, but the Dakota Wizards look like they'll have a pretty good squad early on this season. That's because they're returning at least five players from last year's playoff team. Maurice Baker, Romel Beck, Renaldo Major, David Bell and Carlos English are all coming back to the Wizards, and David Monds may or may not be joining them (if coach Rory White is to be believed, anyway). It's possible but doubtful that all of those guys will finish the season with the team - Beck and Monds are both call-up candidates, plus there are trades, injuries, what have you - but that experience and talent should help the team get off to a good start.

Baker returns as the starting point guard, though those duties were split somewhat with Blake Ahearn. Baker doesn't rack up a ton of assists, averaging a little over five per 36 minutes last season, but he's a very good rebounder for his position (over six per 36), especially when you consider that he's 6'1". Bottom, he's a solid veteran.

Beck can be a scoring machine, as long as he doesn't try to go 1-on-5, which unfortunately he does quite a bit. He was a late cut by the Rockets this preseason, and he's been pegged for an eventual NBA call-up for a while, but injuries and that isolationist tendency have kept it from happening thus far. He's 27 years old, so this should be the year when he finally "gets it" - should be.

David Bell could slide into the starting lineup with Blake Ahearn playing overseas this year. He's a catch-and-shoot player, and a pretty good one. Baker shot 40.7 percent on three-pointers, so he should be able to replace Ahearn in that area. He also handed out three and a half assists per 36 minutes last season, so he can chip in there as well.

Renaldo Major is a small forward who can defend well, rebound a little bit, handle the ball a little bit, and give the team some energy when needed. The article I linked to focused on Baker, but Major may be the key to the Wizards getting off to a good start, as he can help compensate for some of the other guys' weaknesses. Major made the all-D-League third team last season.

Carlos English didn't play a lot last season, averaging seven minutes game, but he's quick, which he uses to his advantage on both sides of the ball. He doesn't shoot particularly well (.265 last year), but if he can maintain his per-minute assist numbers while (maybe) playing a larger role he'll be a solid bench contributor.

If David Monds goes back to the Wizards, then their frontcourt won't quite be as decimated as it otherwise would be. Monds played very well for the Lakers' Summer League team this year, averaging over 13 rebounds per 36 minues, leading the team in per-minute scoring and shooting over 60 percent from the field. That comes after averaging 14 points and 10 rebounds per 36 minutes last year. Richard Hendrix is playing overseas now, so Monds will be the team's key post player to start the season

D-League vs. Europe: Another Look

Jon L — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 13:00:12 -0000

Othyus Jeffers is playing in Europe this season. Could that be a...good thing?

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Yes, we're talking about playing in the D-League vs. playing in Europe again. But this time I want to look at the phenomenon of all the veteran D-Leaguers (for lack of a better term) who are headed overseas this year rather than sticking it out again in Idaho or Fort Wayne or wherever. A few things prompted this. First, a lot of the D-League's premier players won't be there next year. Some of these we know (Othyus Jeffers, Brent Petway, Kasib Powell - and those last two are official by the way, and I'll have more on them in tomorrow's transactions post), and some of them will be making that decision soon.

For instance, take Blake Ahearn. Ahearn's gotten a call-up or two in his time, but has spent the majority of the past few seasons playing in the D-League, where he's a lights out three-point shooter. Ahearn played for not one but two Summer League teams, New York and the combined Philly/New Jersey squad. Unfortunately, he played pretty poorly in both instances, and is now mulling offers from several European teams in addition to being able to go back to the D-League. On this last point, though, this is what Ahearn thinks:

"I've literally accomplished all I can in the D-League," he said.

And you know what? He's probably right. There are still some holes in his game, to be sure, for instance his defense and the fact that he doesn't really collect enough assists to play a lot of point guard, which is where he's been playing the most and where his physical profile slots him. The D-League is a good place to work on those skills, but Ahearn is 25 at this point, and barring some late-in-life commitment to defense is what he is. He's been a D-League all-star and was named to the All D-League first team this past season. What exactly, would he gain from coming back to the D-League this year? The same could be asked of Kasib Powell, who will be playing in China next year. He was the D-League MVP in 2008 and had a great Summer League this year, but apparently not well enough to get an NBA offer. At 28 years old, Powell likely has an increased number of factors that he has to consider when deciding whether to take low five figures at work his tail off in the D-League for maybe a chance at getting a call up, or head overseas and try again next season.

What I'm trying to get at here is that it's different for players who have been out of college for several years. This isn't a Jeremy Tyler situation or even a Brandon Jennings deal. There's not really anything that these guys can improve on from an individual skill perspective that would make a year or two in the D-League more beneficial than spending that time in Slovenia. Does there come a point in a player's career when the D-League just doesn't make sense anymore?

This may not seem surprising coming from me, but I don't think so, or if there is then it's not a player's mid-late 20s. And even then, older players can play in the D-League, learn how the system works, and move from the court to the bench as an assistant. But I think what we're seeing this season is just a reflection of current NBA economics. There already were a limited number of open roster spots around the league that D-League guys had to compete with older veterans (and washed up guys like Jason Williams, apparently), but this off-season several teams have decided to go with the bare minimum 13 players as a way to save money, meaning there are only a few teams that will have players on their roster who they didn't draft, trade for or have last year. For players like Powell and Jeffers, I would imagine that playing in the D-League this year would be ultimately pretty frustrating, having already shown that they're talented enough and ready for the NBA while having an even slimmer chance than usual of making it while making not very much money.

In some ways, while teams are feeling the crunch, the players we refer to as "D-League guys" may end up benefiting a little bit. While I remain confident that the D-League remains the best route for making the NBA for guys who aren't in the league already, that just doesn't seem like a realistic possibility this year or maybe even next? So why not head to Sweden or Greece or China or Israel for a year or two, earn ten times or more what the D-League pays (assuming you get your paychecks), then come back to the D-League and Summer League and try again when NBA teams are willing to carry that 14th player? There's another point that Ahearn makes in the above article that I think may be relevant here:

"I haven't had a break from basketball in two years," the former Missouri State player said. "So I'm ready for one."

If players are serious about trying to make the NBA, which a lot of the players this article is concerned with are, then they basically have to work hard all the time to make that happen. They can't rest much. A week here, a week there, sure. But between the offseason workouts organized by various teams and the D-League, work done with individual coaches and trainers to improve a player's skills, Summer League and the D-League season (plus any summer basketball camps a player might run or participate in), there's not a lot of time to relax. Playing in Europe or Asia for a year or two without worrying about making an NBA roster will give some of these guys a needed psychic break and let them relax and just enjoy playing basketball, and that's important too. So as much as I'm going to miss watching guys like Jeffers and Powell and Petway and Hendrix on Futurecast or when teams come through Austin, playing overseas this season might be what they need for their careers.

Ridiculous Transactions

Jon L — Sat, 25 Jul 2009 16:00:11 -0000

Hello! I hope you're enjoying your weekend. Today we debut a new (hopefully-) recurring series of posts detailing transactions for the previous week. What kind of transactions? I plan to mainly focus on, well, the type of players this site focuses on. That means a lot of D-League players and teams, but also players who previously played in the D-League but are now in Europe, players who saw some action at this year's Summer League, and maybe the occasional recent draft pick or player. This isn't meant to be comprehensive with the European signings (I'm not looking to compete with Ball in Europe), nor will the bulk of NBA trades and free agent signings be covered. Sorry, Andre Miller. I will, however, be providing some brief commentary below all (or most) of the transactions listed. This is a new feature, so any suggestions on what you'd like to see format- or content-wise is welcome. So here we go, with a look at "Ridiculous Transactions" for July 17-June 24.

July 17: Cartier Martin - signed with Treviso (Italy)

Martin played decently in Summer League for Golden State, doing a good job of getting to the free-throw line and not turning the ball over much, but he made only a quarter of his three-pointers, and needed one good game to get up to even that mark. Martin played for Iowa in the D-League last season, and since he can score, he should do well over in Italy.

July 18: Marc Salyers - signed with LeMans (France)

Salyers has been in Europe for a few years where he's a terrific scorer, and while he played for the Hornets' Summer League team, he never really got his shot to fall consistently in Vegas. He has a variety of offensive moves but little defense or rebounding, so Europe is probably where he belongs.

July 20: Nick Lewis - signed with Roanne (France); Sergiy Gladyr - signed with Manresa (Spain)

Lewis effectively replaces Salyers, who played with Roanne last year. Lewis is late of the Bakersfield Jam, where he showed some decent if inconsistent rebounding ability. He fancies himself somewhat of a three-point shooter, and he made almost 38 percent of them last year, decent for a 6'10" guy I suppose, but that number was quite a bit higher than his career mark, and I have doubts as to whether he'll sustain it. Gladyr was a second-round pick by the Atlanta Hawks in the most recent draft, and he's a shooting guard with emphasis on the "shooting." Some have questions as to whether he's athletic enough for the NBA, though pre-draft reports were decent on that front.

July 21: Jimmy Baron - signed with Mersin (Turkey); Dakota Wizards - hired Rory White as head coach

We've already discussed White's hiring, so let's turn to Baron. Baron was a very good three-point shooting in college, though he's a bit like Blake Ahearn in that he's "point guard-sized" without having a lot of point guard skills (though Ahearn is obviously a bit ahead on that since he's had longer to work on them). Baron got invites to both the Orlando and Vegas Summer Leagues, though he didn't play much for the Jazz and Washington cut him before they actually got to Vegas. This is probably a case where he could go to the D-League and have a chance to work on the non-shooting parts of his game, but I'm sure he'll get a chance to get his shooting on in Turkey.

July 22: Christian Eyenga - had his contract with DKV Joventut (Spain) extended for three more years; Maine Red Claws - hired Austin Ainge as head coach

Again, we've covered Ainge's hire. Eyenga was the Cavaliers' first-round draft pick this year, and I find it interesting to think about his situation in the context of the Cavs' roster. Clearly Cleveland is trying to win as soon as possible - they made the conference finals this year, and LeBron James is under contract for just one more season. But what happens should James re-sign with Cleveland? I wonder if he'll allow Cleveland to keep drafting players like Eyenga in an attempt to adopt at least part of what could short-handedly be called the "Spurs model," or whether he'll keep saying "I've never heard of these guys, I want you to sign Joe Smith again." The Cavs aren't on the hook for Eyenga's salary or anything, but it will be interesting to see how they use the draft if James is under a long-term contract again.

July 23: Bobby Jones - signed with Banco Tercas Teramo (Italy); Gerry McNamara - named as Grad Assistant for Syracuse University

Remember when Jones was going to get called up by the 76ers? Whatever happened with that? Jones may feel that if he had gotten that close without making it in the D-League he has nothing left to play for here, but I do wonder how a primarily-defensive player such as Jones will fare over in Italy. Then again, I also wonder why I didn't see him on any Summer League roster. Jones is a decent scorer, so he'll probably be fine, but I do think he still could have made his mark in the D-League and gotten a call-up. Gerry McNamara was last seen being released from his D-League contract for "personal reasons," and whether it's related or not he seems to be headed for the coaching route.

July 24: Ryan Forehan-Kelly - signed with Scafati (Italy); Dominique Coleman - signed with Dexia Mons-Hainaut (Belgium)

Forehan-Kelly has been all over the place, playing in China, Venezuela, Mexico, Croatia and with the Los Angeles D-Fenders. Europe is probably the best place for him, as he's decent at several things (including three-point shooting) but wasn't really among the top few tiers of D-League players who could've seen a call-up. Coleman, well, this is slightly disappointing. Regular readers (which I think is TorosGirl and the people currently writing for the site) know that I was a big fan of Coleman's last year, and he does a lot of things very well, including defend and rebound. Hopefully he makes his way back to the States at some point, as I think he could develop into a solid NBA bench player.

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.

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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.

SummerKings 84, SummerKnicks 71

Seth — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 12:38:28 -0000

The more things stay the same, the more they stay the same. The Knicks' Summer League squad remained winless in Las Vegas last night, bowing to the Kings, 84-71. The defense was ugly, the shooting was worse, and this one was over long before the final whistle. Nobody's counting wins and losses, though, so let's get to the individual reports.

Toney Douglas- Early on, I wrote in my notes that I'd like Toney to draw contact more often. There were a few plays in which he'd found a seam, but wasted it by forcing a kick-out, sometimes to an unexpecting teammate. As the game progressed, though, Toney grew bolder and more willing to take some hits. The good thing is that he's already strong enough to finish with contact. His and-one attempts kept rimming out (this will be a theme of the recap), but 7-10 from the line ain't bad. The rest of his offense was as it has been: speedy drives, simple passes, and inaccurate shooting. In fact, one of Toney's best outside attempts was a mishandled pass that somehow found its way towards the rim, but clanged out. He did add a few successful righty floaters into the mix, which gets the P&T stamp of approval.

It's the defensive end, though, that's really got me hot and bothered about Toney Douglas. Tyreke Evans is a big fellow, but Toney gave him all he could handle in the backcourt. Douglas was quick enough to stay in front of him and sturdy enough to withstand many of his drives. If I have any criticism, it's that ducking under picks when Evans has the ball might not be a terrible idea. A few of his baskets came when Douglas got hung up fighting over screens. I'd say you challenge Evans to can a few jumpers before you trail him that closely on the perimeter. Otherwise, Douglas more than held his own against the draft's #4 pick. The man can defend.

Jordan Hill- Hill continues to show that he's a project. He's got most of the movement down, at least on offense, but he's just not strong or active enough to avoid getting bulldozed. He reminds me of a player I created in FIFA '09 the other day. His name was Francois Rampage. He was black with a white afro and a red mustache. He was 6'9'' and weighed 114 pounds. He had all the offensive talent in the world (Literally. I gave it to him.), but was just too light and flimsy to withstand any sort of contact. It's tragic, really.

Anyway, we need to be patient with Jordan Hill. He's got room to grow, and I believe he will. Just channel your draft-related druthers into Darko Milicic worship for now.

Morris Almond- If it's up to me, Morris Almond will make the team. Then again, if it were up to me, Brian Greene would be starting at all five positions. Nonetheless, Almond can shoot holes in the nets, but it's the rest of his game that continues to impress. For one, Mo Nuts has shown off some very fluid diagonal drives to the basket. His finishes just wouldn't fall, but he's got the right combination of size and speed to score in the paint. Just ask Omri Casspi, who became the first Israeli player on an NBA poster. Meanwhile, Nuts showed that he's no slouch when he commits himself on defense, hounding Casspi into a couple of bad, bad misses. Morris Almond deserves to be a Knick, and I believe he will be.

Blake Ahearn- I've heard great things about Blake Ahearn as a player and person, and I really feel for the guy after these last three performances. The man just can't get it done on defense, and has far from made up for it with his offensive play.

Mouhamed Sene- I wonder if Mou's ever played volleyball?

Warren Carter- Warren Carter's got a delightfully presidential name, and he's making me wish the Knicks had room for him in the frontcourt. I feel like a Renaldo Balkman comparison is cheap, what with the hair and all, but that's who his energetic play brings to mind. Hustle harder, Warren. You'll get yours.

Yarsolav Korolev- Poor, sweet Yarsolav.

Nikoloz Tskitishvili- Nothing new here. Just more dominance in absolutely every aspect of the game. He even pulled out a few behind-the-back dribbles, thus adding "Skeet to my Lou" to his already lengthy list of brilliant nicknames.

Speaking of which, the announcer for this game must have been the last cut at Rucker Park. Mike Lisboa said it best on Twit: "I think he just called Blake Ahearn "The Professor".

And that's it for now, amigos y amigas. We're back in action at 6 p.m. tonight, so come right on back to join the thread. Summer League's gonna be over soon, so get your pithy comments in while there's still time.

Vegas Summer League Recap: Day 5

Jon L — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 14:00:22 -0000

There's apparently no evidence of Collins dunking on Japan yesterday, so here he is against Minnesota.

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Okay, what gives? I know it's just the Japanese national team, and that it's just a "scrimmage," but no box score? Again? Was this some deal worked out with the good people of Japan to prevent being housed by the D-Leaguers? Anyway, the D-League Select team played the Japanese national team again, and won big again, 92-64. Here's the D-League's game write-up. Coleman Collins was getting some mentions on Twitter, and he finished the game with...well who knows. All we know about this game is that Jasper Johnson scored 15 points and Othyus Jeffers had 14. The only play that's described is a Collins dunk. Whee. I also read that Kurt Looby was playing well, but all evidence of that seems to have been erased. This is really annoying. Hey D-League, if you're going to bother writing a game summary, just go ahead and post the box score as well. The D-League is playing Sacramento tonight, so there will be some stats from that, but is it too much to ask to find out how well people are playing, you know, every night?

Games that were deemed worthy of paying attention to after the jump.

Washington Wizards 96, Cleveland Cavaliers 93

Yes, these two teams continued their simmering rivalry as LeBron James and Gilbert Arenas went at it...oh right, it's just Summer League. Washington actually has a fair amount of its regular roster here, including new Vegas addition Andray Blatche. This is Blatche's fourth season in the league, but he's still just 23 and still a bit erratic, so another round of Summer League couldn't hurt. He admitted to being nervous in the beginning, and he finished with seven turnovers, but he also had 21 points on 13 shots, 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Nick Young started his transition to a new offense which requires him to come off of more screens, and he had a decent day (though he took about 30 percent of his team's shots) with 36 points on 19 shots, and he made five of his eight three-pointers. Christian Eyenga has had an up-and-down start to Summer League, but he was solid yesterday with 17 points on 13 shots in almost 23 minutes.

Jawad Williams has been relatively quiet so far, but he had a nice game off the bench for Cleveland with 14 points on eight shots, including making two of his three shots from behind the arc, and he contributed a pair of rebounds and a steal. Tyrese Rice had a decent shooting night for Washington, going 4-9, though he dribbles the ball too much. Maureece Rice didn't get much playing time, just under four and a half minutes, but he made both of his field goals and added a rebound

San Antonio Spurs 78, Denver Nuggets 76

Ian Mahinmi is still a work in progress (due partially to development time lost to injury), and while he had ten fouls yesterday he also had 12 points on nine shots and 16 rebounds along with two blocks. Jack McClinton finished with a game-high four assists in 11 minutes, though he also missed both of his shots.

Coby Karl had a nice all-around game, shooting 6-7 (including 3-4 on threes), three rebounds and a steal, and he also had three turnovers, he generally looked pretty good. We knew Romel Beck can score, and he's been pretty efficient for San Antonio so far. He had 14 points on 11 shots yesterday, though he hasn't been doing much else. Malik Hairston has been about the same, with nice, efficient scoring (7-11 yesterday) but contributing less in other areas than he's capable of. CJ Giles had a nice six rebounds in 13 minutes, though he missed both of his free throws. Squeaky Johnson finally got on the court but not for very long, less than four minutes, but he had two turnovers in that time which is completely uncharacteristic for him

Memphis Grizzlies 90, New York Knicks 86

I can spend a lot of time focusing on the non-NBA guys with this game, so I think I will (unless you want to hear about Sam Young's 3-10 shooting or Toney Douglas going 2-13). Nikolosz Tskitishvili had a good game. Yeah, it's Summer League, but it's still nice to be able to say it. 12 points on 4-8 shooting, four rebounds and three blocks. It's the blocked shots that jump out at me, because I don't remember that being part of his game before. Then again, because these boxscores don't keep track of blocks against, I don't know who Skita blocked. For all I know it could be Daniel Ewing. Ron Howard also played well, with 11 points on nine shots, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Hamed Haddadi had a decent game off the bench, with six rebounds and two blocks in less than 12 minutes, though he also needed six shots to get four points. Trey Gilder became an RU favorite over the course of last season (as did about half of Colorado's roster, come to think of it), and he had a nice all-around game yesterday with nine points on 4-5 shooting, five rebounds, a steal and a block. I know I keep saying I don't want to do this (and I know I keep saying that I know I keep saying that I don't want to do this), but Blake Ahearn has had a really rough few weeks. He was inconsistent in Orlando (to put it charitably), and yesterday he shot 1-8, though he also made all six of his free throws and had three assists. Ahearn's a much better shooter than he's been demonstrating, but he needs to start showing it.

Los Angeles Clippers 88, New Orleans Hornets 86

DeAndre Jordan continued his solid play in Vegas with 21 points on 10 shots, 12 rebounds and three blocks. TrueHoop's David Thorpe said on Twitter that out of all of the players here, Jordan may have improved the most in the last year. Eric Gordon's also been playing solidly, and he had 22 points on 14 shots, helped along by going 10-10 from the free-throw line. Darren Collison and Marcus Thornton had played well together, and they combined for 42 points on 31 shots, while Thornton shot 3-6 on three-pointers and Collison had four assists.

Kevinn Pinkney (who preceded/played with Nick Fazekas at Nevada-Reno and spent some time with the Bakersfield Jam) didn't have a great shooting night, though five rebounds in less than 13 minutes is solid. Earl Barron had six points and five rebounds in 15 and a half minutes, which is decent enough.

Los Angeles Lakers 74, Oklahoma City Thunder 68

James Harden's been really solid all-around, both here and in Orlando. He's been shooting the ball efficiently and picking up a fair number of rebounds, assists and steals. Case in point: he had 23 points on 14 shots yesterday, five assists, five rebounds and two steals. Kyle Weaver had eight rebounds, three blocks and two steals to go with his ten points. DJ White had a nice shooting day, going 4-5, though he didn't rebound as well as he has/can.

David Monds had another decent game with 11 points, five rebounds and two steals. Dominique Coleman only played four minutes (he's on the Lakers squad), but he had a pair of assists in that time. Forget Adam Morrison, play Dominique Coleman!

Golden State Warriors 95, Chicago Bulls 83

Congratulations to Anthony Randolph on matching the Summer League single-game scoring record with 42 points (and he also had four steals and three blocks). A lot of people are (maybe) going to talk about how remarkable it is (so go read Golden State of Mind or FreeDarko for that), but I'm a pretty cynical guy, so I'll just temper everyone else's enthusiasm with the fact that he managed only three rebounds in over 34 minutes. You're the next generation or power forward and Stephen Curry can out-rebound you? Speaking of whom, remember when everyone said that Curry would have a smooth transition to the pros because he was such a good shooter (did they say that)? Well he probably should start making those shots. He went 3-15 yesterday, and has shot the ball pretty terribly in every game. He's doing all the other things well, though, with eight assists, five rebounds and a block. James Johnson played well with 21 points on 13 shots, eight rebounds, three assists and a block. Taj Gibson had a decent performance with 5-11 shooting and 12 rebounds, though he also had nine fouls. James Augustine mostly played well, going 10-11 with seven rebounds and three blocks, though he also had seven fouls. TorosGirl would probably hurt me if I didn't mention DeMarcus Nelson. He played okay, shooting 4-12 with five turnovers but sinking all five of his free throws, grabbing five rebounds and picking up six assists (you thought I was going to say five again, didn't you?)

SummerGrizz 90, SummerKnicks 86

Seth — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 05:43:34 -0000

Day one of Knicks basketball in Vegas was full of promise, and did not disappoint for those of us watching the youngsters closely. Assistant coach Phil Weber played 10 different men, several of whom turned some heads throughout the evening. The Knicks dropped the contest due to a late-game flurry by Marcus Williams and the Grizzlies, but we all know wins and losses don't count. Weren't the Knicks like 6-0 in Summer League that year they went 23-59 in the regular season? If anything, the loss is a good omen. Anyway, it's all about the individual this time of year, and I paid diligent attention to the guys of note. Expect massive generalizations about players based on 20 minutes of exposure. It's the American way. My impressions, after the jump...

Jordan Hill- The 8th pick in the draft showed both the promise that made him a lottery selection and the weaknesses that had experts scratching their heads. Here's what we saw:

- Hill's incredibly useful on the boards, but in a different way than someone like David Lee. Where Lee has that seemingly magnetic quality of always being in the right place, Hill's often out of position. Instead, Hill uses his height, long arms, and even a dreadlock or two to corral rebounds that appear to be out of reach. His instincts may not be there yet, but he gets after it. That said, I'd like to see him grab rebounds with both hands instead of slapping at them, and also look to follow on offensive boards.

- That last part has a lot to do with Hill's feeble tendencies under the basket. I don't think the guy had a single dunk tonight. Even when he had good position, he tended to fade away and try to finesse the ball in. Hill was probably nervous and is still working into game shape, so I expect that'll change. You just can't shoot 6-inch fadeaway jumpers in the NBA. Once Hill gets his sea legs, I'm sure he'll go up strong and posterize kids.

- Hill's footwork with the ball is still a bit awkward (he's gonna draw his share of charges and travels, I assure you), but his movement without the rock looks sharp. He knows where to be on the pick and roll (more on that later), and can seal his man on a post-up too.

- The mid-range jumper was a little shaky (I think one of them hit the far bottom corner of the backboard. Said guest announcer Mike D'Antoni, "Keep it in the gym, Jordan!" ), but Hill canned a few and has solid form. We also got glimpses of a righty hook and a turnaround fadeaway J from the high post. Not bad.

- The ends of Hill's dreads are dyed, right? That's what that is? It gives him a sort of hystricine-chic look. I kinda think he's gotta chop them off, though. His hair's weighing him down.

- If Hill can block some shots, I think D'Antoni can get away with playing him at the five spot.

Toney Douglas- Despite 2-13 shooting, Toney was the game's standout player. Notes:

- First, the 2-13. I can explain all 11 of those misses. A couple were heaves to beat the shot clock or final buzzer, a few were rim-outs of good shots, and another few were force-ups. His jumper was shakier than advertised and a couple attempts were fairly silly, but it wasn't as bad as the box score might tell you. There's your major drawback. Most of what follows is positive.

- Toney Douglas can totally play point guard. He dropped 11 dimes and didn't cough up a single turnover in 29 fun-filled minutes. His primary mode of attack was to power by his man, draw a second defender, then kick it out to the perimeter. His main targets were Morris Almond and Nikoloz Tskitishvili, who connected for three treys a piece. He also showed adeptness, particularly in the second half, at threading pinpoint passes to Jordan Hill on the block.

- Pretty Toney is by no means a pure point guard, though. He missed many a cutter (often Jordan Hill) after screens, and occasionally looked for his own shot when he had several superior alternatives. The flipside of that is that he didn't force passes. It's hard to argue with 11 assists and 0 turnovers when Douglas was playing with a bunch of relative strangers.

- It was immediately and abundantly clear that Toney Douglas is an excellent defender. Like reallllly good. He's got the long arms and quick hands to stalk passing lanes (2 steals), but also plays better on-the ball D than any Knick in recent memory. Douglas wrapped himself around picks instead of ducking them, bodied guys up all the way to the basket, and landed good, hard fouls when he had to. Save for one lapse (trying to pick Marcus Williams' pocket and letting him by late in the fourth), Toney's defense was splendid.

- Calling an on-court huddle to discuss defensive assignments? Easy way to impress the coaches. And me.

- Two style notes: 1. Douglas tends to grab boards and then kick it into high gear to start the offense. I like this. 2. Douglas likes to start his attack from near-halfcourt, perhaps to build up a head of steam. He also wastes a lot of picks by dribbling backwards instead of making a move towards the rim. Don't like this as much. I would've liked to see him reach the paint more, either for finishes or fancy dishes. I know he's got it in him.

Morris Almond- Mo Nuts can and will shoot. He hits them, too. I like his odds at making the team.

Joe Crawford- Joe's a champ at bullying his way to the rim. He's got strength for days, and also a very healthy beard. The Knicks could use both.

Nikoloz Tskitishvili- Skita is the goddamn truth. I'm hardly kidding. He looks much bulkier than I remember, and made his presence felt early on with a few blocks. We also got a glimpse of some big boy range (3-5 from downtown), though he mishandled more than a few passes. I was already on board for novelty's sake, but Skita's legit. I will do everything in my power to assure that he's a Knick.

Mouhamed Sene- Sene may be my favorite Knick ever. He's got this way of blocking shots that can only be described as "catty". He takes a long, limp-wristed swing that produces a wonderful popping sound when it connects with a shot. Mutombo had his finger wag. Sene should blow a kiss or something. While Mouhamed can certainly swat, his apparent attempt to headbutt the dunking Trey Gilder was a bit of a chink in the defensive armor.

Warren Carter- Warren Carter kinda looks like Dominique Wilkins with dreads.

Ron Howard- It's very cool to have that guy who directed Apollo 13 and narrates Arrested Development on the Summer League roster. Kind of a publicity stunt, though, to give starter's minutes to an Oscar-winner, if you ask me. Also, I never pictured him as being black. Or 26.

Some other notes:

- A second quarter timeout saw a shot of Donnie Walsh juxtaposed with "Who Let the Dogs Out" playing over the arena sound system, which I'l take as a hint that Donnie was once a Baha Man. I knew it.

- At halftime, we got to see video of Tina Cervasio's lunch with Toney Douglas and Jordan Hill. The two refer to themselves as each other's "wingman". In this supposed Top Gun scenario, I'd imagine that Toney is Maverick and Jordan is Iceman. Ron Howard is Goose, if you catch my drift.

- MSG brought their varsity squad to the broadcast booth: Breen and Clyde (dressed like he was in The Bucket List) covered the action, and even invited in a couple guests. Danilo Gallinari stopped by in the first half, and shared good news about his back rehabilitiation in much-improved English. It was a relatively unremarkable visit, except for one point when I'm pretty sure Clyde asked Gallinari out on a date.

- The second guest was Mike D'Antoni, who sat in for the entire third quarter. He was as corny and hilarious as ever, and elicited an LOL or two on my part. Regarding Darko Milicic's absence, D'Antoni said "I've called him like 15 times. It just keeps ringing". When asked about Chris Duhon's reaction to the Knicks' pursuit of Ricky Rubio and Jason Kidd, D'Antoni suggested, "I'll just lie to him and tell him it's not true". Meanwhile,the interview was peppered with a few bouts of mutual laughter between Breen and D'Antoni that lead one to believe that the two engaged in some kind of sordid hooker-drowning spree the night before. Wouldn't surprise me, knowing those two and their whacky antics.

- Blake Ahearn holds the record for highest free-throw percentage in NCAA history.

- I don't know where Phil Weber located a Knicks-licensed white linen shirt, but wearing it half-buttoned was Brosnan as hell. Respect.

- Highlight of the night: To end a halftime interview, Toney Douglas proclaimed that his second half plan was to "Do what Toney Douglas do." This is the early front-runner for the Official '09-'10 Posting and Toasting Motto. Video coming soon.

And that's all I've got for game one of Summer League. Thanks to everyone who commented along. Please return tomorrow at 4 p.m. for more comments and Toney Douglas worship. Goodnight.

Friday Island Foxes

Seth — Fri, 10 Jul 2009 15:50:39 -0000

Update: "Sources: Hill to stay with Suns". Discuss.

Merry Friday, everybody. We're now fully into free agency and a few days from summer league, so here are a few links from around the interwebs.

- Like I mentioned, Vegas Summer league kicks off today. The Knicks' first game isn't until the 14th, though. The bad news for all of you out and about in the world is that the NBA is charging for streaming coverage of the games. The good news for those of us in the area is that the games will be televised locally on MSG. The good news for EVERYBODY is that there will be game threads and recaps for each of the summer league games right here on P&T. PIT BULL! WOOF!

- Former Missouri St. guard Blake Ahearn is on the Knicks' Summer League roster, and he's one of Kelly Dwyer's guys to watch in Vegas. See, if anybody really cared about salary, these are the kind of guys we'd be hearing about. Ahearn's a certified baller who's never really stuck with an NBA roster. He's also 25 and wouldn't command tens of millions of dollars. Where do I sign?

- Meanwhile, the Grant Hill situation is still up in the air, and could be resolved today. Some think Hill's leaning toward the Knicks because his wife likes to sing, and New York has the best microphones or something like that. Whatever. In the meantime, it seems we've got another older dude in our sights, and this one looks like Richard Pryor.

- Now this is reporting. Check this article by Alan Hahn:

Eddy Curry has been ordered by the Knicks to report to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas so that team president Donnie Walsh and his staff can monitor the progress of Curry's offseason diet and conditioning program, according to Jerry Powell, one of Curry's offseason trainers.

Curry will not play for the Knicks summer league team but is expected to be on the court for the second workout of a two-a-day session Sunday at Valley High in Las Vegas, where the Knicks will work out before their summer league opener Tuesday at UNLV.

Powell says Curry, who began a strict diet and fitness regimen set up by California-based strength coach Tommy Weatherspoon in May and began workouts with Powell in June, has lost almost 50 pounds.

"They want to see what he looks like," Powell told Newsday. "They want to see him get up and down with the summer league team and practice."

50 pounds? FIFTY pounds? This is 50 pounds. This is 50 pounds. This is 50 pounds. If Eddy Curry lost 50 pounds, then may the force be with him. That is amazing. Congratulations, Eddy, and keep up the great work. (Update: Tommy Dee says Curry was well over 3 bills at media day last year, so we mustn't get our panties in a bunch. Oh well.)

- Interesting post by Steve at Clips Nation about blogging. I guess it's most interesting to me, but Steve's funny anyway, so whatever.

- Here's some more confirmation that the Knicks are, indeed, returning to Skidmore. Also, if they are actually playing preseason games in Albany, you can bet your ass that I'll do my darndest to be there.

- Ridiculous Upside's breakdown of the Knicks' summer league squad confirms that, unfortunately, it's a different Ron Howard. Also, "Rashaad Singleton" really doesn't sound like a big man.

- Knickerblogger's offseason report card of Quentin Richardson. I'm thinking that Mike's happy to see Q go.

- Island foxes are little doggy animals that are native to California's Channel Islands, which I didn't even know existed. The islands, that is. They're also endangered, so make sure you recycle them.

- Are the posts below this one on the front page showing up with the wrong numbers of comments displayed for you guys? They are for me. I'm trying to fix it, but if it's only my computer being a penis, then I won't sweat it too much.

That is all, you filthy pig dogs. Go take a bath. You smell.

Recapping Yesterday's Summer League Games

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

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

Utah Jazz 92, Orlando Magic 84

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

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

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

Indiana Pacers 91, Boston Celtics 88

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

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

Oklahoma City Thunder 82, Philadelphia/New Jersey Frankensteins

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

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