SB Nation - DeAndre Jordan

Orlando Magic 97, Los Angeles Clippers 86

Ben Q Rock — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 07:32:59 -0000

Dwight Howard's stellar all-around play keyed the Orlando Magic's 8th consecutive road win tonight as they defeated the host Los Angeles Clippers, 97-88. On his 24th birthday, Howard tallied 25 points, 11 rebounds, 5 assists, 2 steals, and a season-high 7 blocked shots, leading Orlando in all 5 of those categories. He also shot 7-of-10 from the field and 11-of-15 at the foul line. His brilliance took the spotlight away from Vince Carter, Rashard Lewis, and Jason Williams, the other Magic players to score in double-figures. Lewis and Williams hit 4 three-pointers apiece and Orlando drilled 14 as a team. Second-year shooting guard Eric Gordon led L.A. with 21 points on 12 shots, while point guard Baron Davis traded poor shooting (7-of-19, 18 points) for solid playmaking (11 assists, 0 turnovers) which helped keep the Clippers in the game.

Team	Pace	Efficiency	eFG%	FT Rate	OReb%	TO Rate
Magic	88	109.8	54.9%	26.8	19.4	19.2
Clippers	93	92.0	43.5%	14.1	19.6	13.9
Green denotes a stat better than the team's season average; red denotes a stat worse than the team's season average.

Tonight's contest followed a pattern that we've seen from this Magic team in recent years: it jumps out to an early lead, the opponent grinds back into contention in the two middle periods, only for the Magic to shut its offense down in the fourth period. The Magic's frequent turnovers, especially in the second quarter, led to easy transition baskets for the Clippers. In a halfcourt setting, though, their offense didn't muster much against Orlando. The Magic assigned small forward Mickael Pietrus to cover Davis, which took away his driving lanes. The crossmatch forced either Williams or Anthony Johnson to cover Gordon, who looked to post up in order to exploit the mismatch. This strategy worked for a bit, but the biggest factor in limiting the Clippers' offense was Howard's defense on Chris Kaman, an unheralded player in his seventh year posting All-Star-caliber numbers here in the early going. Kaman took 22 shots, the most of any Clipper, but Howard limited him to 8 makes, for 16 points. Excellent work by Howard, who was not whistled for a defensive foul at all, in 43 minutes of work.

Kaman did have his moments defensively, ending the Magic's first 3 possessions of the second quarter with a block and consecutive steals, including an impressive deflection of a Matt Barnes alley-oop intended for Howard. This came after Howard scored 12 points in the first period. From the second quarter on the Clippers' defense adjusted, sending quick double-teams at Howard and daring the Magic's outside shooters to beat them. This strategy worked, to a certain extent. Howard didn't make another field goal until the fourth quarter, and the Magic shot 8-of-26 on three-pointers after a blazing, 6-of-8 start in the first quarter. Orlando won this game with its defense, without question.

To be fair, an extraordinary number of the Magic's shots bounced out after going halfway down; the unkind rim victimized J.J. Redick twice in the first half alone.

Credit the Clippers' defense for holding the Magic to 39 points in the second and third quarters after surrendering 34 in the first quarter alone. Orlando's turnovers and L.A.'s own deft passing on the perimeter helped them surmount what had been a 13-point Magic lead midway through the second quarter. With Kaman's post game neutralized, the Clippers had to rely on Gordon, Davis, and Al Thornton to score with a jumper or a drive to the hoop. Howard's help defense down low challenged numerous shots--and he blocked 7 others, remember--so the game would ultimately come down to whether or not the Clippers could get hot from midrange and beyond.

No such luck. DeAndre Jordan gave the Clippers their last lead at 69-68 with a dunk at the 2:55 mark of the third. The Clippers didn't mak another field goal until the 7:24 mark of the fourth, on a Thornton dunk after he rebounded his own miss. Prior to that dunk, Orlando had gone on a 14-2 to wrest momentum away from L.A.

I'm not sure what the big takeaway from tonight's game is; these sorts of wins (not to be confused with "wins" in general) have become sort-of routine. Enjoy Howard's growth, Lewis' sharpshooting, and Williams' efficient play (16 points on 11 shots, 3 assists, no turnovers), and the knowledge that you're watching a Magic team that just improved to 17-4 for the best start in franchise history.

This loss raises a few red flags... (Nuggets/Clippers recap)

Andrew Feinstein — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 08:11:25 -0000

LOS ANGELES - Simply put, last season we didn't lose games like this. It just didn't happen. And thus, what will hopefully be a just brief aberration in the middle of an otherwise great season raises several red flags.

First off, let's be clear about one thing: tonight's lethargic and often lazy performance by the Nuggets isn't a cause for panic or alarm. It's still too early in the season for that. That said, our two greatest offseason concerns finally reared their ugly heads tonight: the lack of a true big man and the absence of a no-one-believes-in-us spirit, the latter being of biggest worry for me.

The Nuggets had (semi) legitimate excuses for their first three losses at Miami, at Atlanta and at Milwaukee. Those were all tough, playoff bound teams (yes, it looks like the Bucks may be playoff bound) who had the advantage of catching the Nuggets on either back-to-back nights or just generally fatigued from having to play multiple back-to-backs within a few weeks.

But while sitting in the Staples Center stands watching our Nuggets waltz through three-and-a-half quarters, I couldn't figure out what the Nuggets excuse for a bad effort was tonight. After all, since returning to Denver from that six-game road trip, the Nuggets had a walkover victory against the Lakers, three full days rest followed by another walkover victory - this time against the Raptors - followed by two full days rest leading into tonight's affair against the injury-riddled, struggling Clippers. And then it hit me: the Nuggets had NO excuse for a bad effort tonight and served one up nonetheless.

In fact, the only person on the Nuggets side of the affair exhibiting any emotion tonight was head coach George Karl (maybe I got to Karl about the whole working-the-refs thing, because he's been visibly more animated with the officials since our lunch last week...I'm just saying) who pulled several Norman Dale impersonations, desperately trying to get tossed on at least two occasions as assistant coach John Welch fought to hold him back. As I was yawning midway through the second quarter, I was secretly hoping someone would toss me out of there, too.

But Karl's much welcomed outbursts at the refs weren't enough to salvage one of the more poorly played Nuggets games in some time. And even though the Clippers tried desperately to hand this game to our Nuggets in the fourth quarter (they are, after all, the Clippers), the Nuggets wanted nothing to do with securing a victory tonight. Worse, they ran away from victory, allowing the Clippers to steal a win they should have never been in a position to take in the first place.

For those who didn't see the game and will only read the box score, you'll wonder how the Nuggets lost. After all, Carmelo Anthony shot a splendid 12-20 from the field and 12-13 from the free throw line (when Melo shoots over 50% and gets to the line over 10 times, the Nuggets are usually assured of a victory). The field goal percentage was fairly even. As was the rebounding. And of course you'll note that the three-point shooting was dominated by the Clippers while the Nuggets shot themselves out of the game with a four-of-17 night behind the arc.

What the box score won't tell you is that J.R. Smith rushed a lot of bad shots. That Melo was routinely late to close out on Rasual Butler (pronounced "Russell" by the Clippers inept P.A. announcer) who ultimately smoked us. And that the Nuggets never had a defensive presence inside whatsoever, mustering just three blocks - all from Kenyon Martin - and none from the center position. (To be fair, Nuggets backup center Chris "Birdman" Andersen wasn't even there but this game again showed us that Nene belongs at the four-spot, not the five.)

But more than anything, the box score won't show you that the Nuggets - with the exception of a quick burst in the opening minutes - never owned the energy of this game. The "every game is important" and "no one believes in us" swagger that had this team playing hard and competitively on a nightly basis for the first half and then the latter part of last season was completely absent tonight.

Like their football-playing brethren in Denver, the Nuggets need to get their mojo back...and fast. Oh, and just for fun, when the Bulls come into Pepsi Center to face the Nuggets tomorrow night, it will be our Nuggets fourth back-to-back affair out of 13 total games played. Had the Nuggets played the right way tonight, they might have had a legitimate excuse to lose tomorrow. But given that they exerted as little effort as possible, whatever excuses remained are no longer on the table.

Some quick observations from the not-so-cheap seats...

...I haven't seen Karl this hot with the officials in years. Literally years. I don't know if it was caught on TV or not, but at one point Karl threw such a tantrum that he slipped and fell over (belly first) onto the scorer's table and almost knocked some fans food over. It was pretty funny.

...J.R. Smith's 360-degree layup was totally unnecessary, totally unreal and totally amazing.

...What's it going to take to get the Clippers DeAndre Jordan into a Nuggets jersey? The guy has a giant wingspan and giant hands. Oh, and he's a legit 6'11" to boot.

...Melo hurt his hand during the first half and was continually shaking it throughout the game while grimacing, too. Did they mention on the broadcast what happened there? We couldn't tell from the stands.

Photo courtesy of AP Photos: Mark J. Terrill

RECAP: LA Clippers 118, Golden State Warriors 90- It's a Great Time Out for Clipper Raj!

Atma Brother ONE — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:17:08 -0000

Seriously, what is going on here?

Preview/ Game Thread (1015+ comments)

Final Box Score

Blog Buddy: Clips Nation : Now THAT's Really More Like It

Warriors Nation and Clippers Nation. Clippers North and Warriors South. We're like peanut butter and jelly, Redman and Method Man, milk and cookies, Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen, Donald Sterling and housing discrimination, Chris Cohan and tax evasion, Windows Vista and Cntrl + Alt +Dlt-- we just go together. So naturally I went to tonight's festivity at the Roracle (or should I say the Boracle?) with my main man Clipper Raj. Getting blown out at home by a long time frenemy tonight was pretty unexpected, but hey at least Clipper Raj had a great time out!

Final - 11.6.2009	1	2	3	4	Total
Los Angeles Clippers	30	27	34	27	118
Golden State Warriors	19	26	16	29	90

Complete Coverage >

Jump for the reasons why our buddy Clipper Steve decided it was an opportune time to kindly host Clips Nation + GSoM Night 1 in SoCal.

Clippers Backcourt vs. Warriors Backcourt

Let's get this one out of the way first. The Bad News: Stephen Curry (-13) probably had the worst night of his NBA career tonight. The Good News: At least he got that one of his system early. Curry was shooting blanks (1-5) and getting abused on defense (fouled out) by the bigger and more imposing Clips guards for the entire duration of his 21 minutes out there tonight. We'll go easy on the rookie.
Monta Ellis (-29) just doesn't look like that Ellis to the Rim of 2008. Baron Davis not being there to guard the opposing team's best backcourt player and provide low-mistake ball handling and distributing the rock sure does hurt. But as my man Feltbot will tell you things have changed, Monta Ellis is not a star. Not anymore. Monta's J is way off and his court vision and decisions were very shaky tonight (SIX turnovers).
To go cliche on you for a second Baron Davis (+26) looked like a men among boys tonight. BD looks absolutely chiseled and in fantastic shape. He pretty much had his way with anyone the Warriors threw at him. He was savvy. He was smart. He was hungry and diving for loose balls. He was picking pockets (4 steals). He even hit 61.5 of his shots coming into the game shooting well below 40%. He is missed.
Eric Gordon (+29) also looked like a men among boys tonight. Gordon looked wise beyond his years. He abused the Warriors backcourt with his scoring. The Clippers have had their fair share of bad draft picks over the years, but they sure got this one right. A Dizzle-Gizzle backcourt is more than serviceable.
I'm easily in the top 1% of Anthony Morrow (-10) fans, but that was a sad performance. He looked like a one-trick pony out there and that trick wasn't quite working right. What made Morrow particularly intriguing last season was his rebounding in addition to his stellar shooting. It didn't look like Ammo was that interested in trying to clean up the glass tonight. His usual scrappiness and effort on defense wasn't there at all either. Not that he was the only Warrior in this regard, but Morrow was a defensive liability all night long. Very disappointing.
Oddly enough even Stephon Marburry's cousin Sebastian Telfair got in on the fun. The Warriors backcourt (particularly Morrow) just couldn't hang with this guy. 13 points (50% FG), 6 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block in under 20 minutes? Telfair outplayed both Ellis and Curry in Oakland. That's not supposed to happen... ever.
By the way what's up with all those losers booing Baron Davis at the Oracle? What's there to boo? Boom Dizzle is not here because 1) Robert Rowell couldn't wait to get him out of here so he could foolishly build around Monta Ellis and 2) Elton Brand pulled a sucka move. Not once did BD ever publicly whine like "Captain" Jack about his teammates. BD lost a prime year thanks to the silly roster Chris Mullin assembled around him and Coach Mike Montgomery's complete incompetence as Warriors head coach. Did you see BD complaining about that? Boo the "Captain", not the beard. Along with Nellie, Jason Richardson, Al Harrington, Mickael Pietrus, Matt Barnes, and yes even Stephen Jackson, Baron Davis made this team relevant for one fine spring and then some. Show some gratitude and class.
C.J. Watson sighting! Acie Law sighting! That means 1 of 2 things- 1) the Warriors are blowing out some unsuspecting squad or 2) the Warriors are somewhat expectedly getting blown out. Unfortunately tonight it was the latter.

Clippers 1, Warriors 0

Clippers Frontcourt vs. Warriors Frontcourt

Chris Kaman (+19) must have had his calendar marked for this game or something. He looked very, very good. Sure the Warriors were physically overmatched all night long against him mostly due to injuries to Andris Biedrins and Ronny Turiaf, but that was an All-Star caliber performance tonight from Kaman. 22-9 through 3 ain't no joke, especially when it looks that easy. Don't be surprised if Kaman is donning an All-Star jersey in February. His competition in the West really isn't that tough either. Our man Matt Steinmetz has more in It's Early, But Chris Kaman Breaking Out. (Seriously Matt got off easy! He can choose to write about the Clips and not the Warriors for FanHouse.) Elton Brand made a really dumb decision ditching Kaman- that would have been a top 4-5 combo, especially with Dizzle-Gizzle in the backcourt and Camby up front.
In addition to Kaman the ever-underrated Marcus Camby (+26) really protected the rim tonight. His 12 boards, 4 assists, 4 steals, and 2 blocks were a fantasy hoops delight. The Warriors found out the hard way why this guy has a Defensive Player of the Year trophy at home. Andris Biedrins should be studying tape of this guy nightly. It's a reasonable goal for him to try to be Camby 2.0. The jumpshot won't be there, but there's no reason why the D and overall savvy can't.
Thanks to Biedrins and Turiaf nursing injuries and Anthony Randolph's current funk, MIKEY! Moore (-20) got the start. When Larry Riley signed MIKEY! in the offseason I don't think he envisioned him playing 18.5 minutes in a single game, but honestly the Warriors really had no other options especially with Randolph racking up so many pointless fouls. He wasn't quite Ronny Turiaf Sr. out there tonight.
It was pretty much more of the same from the big money veteran players on this team Stephen Jackson (-30) and Corey Maggette (-15). Lots of blanks (8-21 FG "good" for 38.1% FG) and questionable decisions with the rock (Jack with twice as many turnovers as assists). Thanks to poor front office decisions these guys have been thrust into roles they shouldn't have. Both are nice complementary vets, but nothing more. Sorry I know this is all like a broken record.
Anthony Randolph's night (-8) can be summed up in one word: CLUELESS. For all those Nellie haters demanding the Randolph "play through his mistakes" this game is exactly why that's not a good idea. To reinforce or encourage anything Randolph did tonight would be a huge mistake. From not cutting off the baseline against an infinitely slower Kaman to trying random And 1 moves at the top of the key and launching several ill-advised jumpers (5-15 FG), Randolph was just not playing smart tonight. His statline of 13 points and 14 points (mostly collected in garbage time) are incredibly misleading. If he's going to routinely play like he did tonight and play for 30 minutes a game, the Warriors are not winning a single game the rest of the way. It's frustrating because we all had so much hope for the guy.

By the way did you know Stacey Dash was 29 when she played the part of teenage BBF Dionne in this movie? Amazing.

Clippers 2, Warriors 0

Sadly both The Forward and The Guard had horrible games.

Garbage Time in the 4th Quarter

Clipper Raj: So it looks like this game is about over.

AB1: You kidding man? We got you guys right where we want you.

Clipper Raj: You wanted us to be up by 30?

AB1: 30 points? That's only 10 makes from downtown from Anthony Morrow.

Clipper Raj: Riiiight. Keep dreaming.

AB1: How about I dream about the Warriors winning the lottery sweepstakes for a gifted power forward destined for greatness, but then that dream quickly turns into a nightmare as he injures his left patella, probably costing the team any chance at the playoffs, before he even plays his first game?

<golf clap> <golf clap> Blake Grffin: "That's not very funny at all."

Clipper Raj: Hey Grffin picked up 6 less fouls than your GQ boy Masala tonight.

AB1: Okay, yeah that's pretty "Unstoppable Baby!"

Clipper Raj: Speaking of the Unstoppable-ness...

AB1: Yeah what about it.

Clipper Raj: You know how you cats over at GSoM have that world famous mantra:

"UNSTOPPABLE BABY!"

Golden State Warriors rookie Marc Jackson to the Mavericks' bench, after hitting a lay-up during a 29-point loss (2000)

Well a new Clipper one for matches against the Dubs is about to be formulated today.

AB1: Whatchu mean man?

DeAndre Jordan's dunks and celebrations during garbage time were pretty hilarious.

Clipper Raj:

"UNSTOPPABLE BABY!"

LA Clippers DeAndre Jordan to the Clips' bench, after throwing down a nasty jam for the umpteenth time during a 28-point win in garbage time (2009)

AB1: Good one.

Clippers 118, Warriors 90

Tonight's award goes out to Coach Don Nelson. Nellie's about to irrationally get bashed left and right by the histrionic and randomly vengeful "Fire Nellie" crowd. I'm not sure why. Honestly what is the man supposed to do? Tonight was on the players. Injuries happen (Andris Biedrins and Ronny Turiaf), but the guys who were out there tonight were absolutely awful.

Did Nellie have the greatest coaching performance tonight? Doubtful, but tonight the players and their collective low hoops IQ, limitations, and raw-ness were the problem. Coaching was not the problem tonight. I give Nellie credit for not going AWOL.

A picture says a 1,000 words.

via s3.images.com

Video "highlights" courtesy of our friends at Yahoo! Sports and the NBA

Postgame video courtesy of our friends at CSN Bay Area

Poll

Who gets your vote for tonight's main Warrior Killer?

Eric Gordon with an easy 25 points

154 votes

Baron Davis picking pockets with 4 steals and more

88 votes

Chris Kaman with 22-9 through 3 quarters

180 votes

Rasual Butler with the best +/- of the game at +31

12 votes

Marcus Camby using Windex to collect 12 rebounds

7 votes

Sebastian Telfair outplaying Monta Ellis and Stephen Curry

43 votes

DeAndre Jordan's garbage time dunkfest and celebrations

66 votes

550 votes | Poll has closed

Ryan Hollins, pt. ii: defense

Stop-n-Pop — Thu, 13 Aug 2009 11:36:49 -0000

OK, I want each and every one of you to close your eyes and think back to last season. The Wolves are playing the Atlanta Hawks and Mike Bibby is bringing the ball up the floor. As he crosses the mid-court line he begins to angle to the left just as Al Horford pushes off from the low block and moves towards the right wing. At this point it becomes obvious to everyone in the entire building that the Hawks are going to run a screen-and-roll with Bibby and Horford. One would think that Horford's guardian, Big Al Jefferson, would be preparing himself to hedge on the screen or to pass off coverage in a switch or to even jump the whole damn thing in a trap with a relatively slow point guard like Bibby initiating the action. One would be thinking incorrectly.

Instead of any of these three options, we Wolves fans are all too aware of what happens next: Big Al meanders out in the general direction of the screen and flaps his arms in the direction of Horford as the big fella makes a dramatic cut to the basket the second he sees Big Al lollygagging out towards what would have been the point of attack.

Repeat this sort of ineptitude a couple hundred times throughout the season. Rinse. Repeat again.

Folks, there are no two ways about it: last season, the Wolves' front court displayed some of the most atrocious pick-and-roll defense I have ever witnessed. Between general indifference (Jefferson), rookie inexperience (Kevin Love), and role-playing levels of non-excellence (Mark Madsen + Brian Cardinal) the Wolves 100%, absolutely, completely, and terminally lacked a big man who could properly switch, hedge, or jump a pick-and-roll...which, funny, just happens to be the single most important play that makes the NBA go 'round.

Enter Mr. Ryan Hollins.

Do not get me wrong. Hollins is not the be-all/end-all of defensive pick-and-roll prowess. What he is is the only player on the Wolves' roster who a) has size and b) can move well enough to be an effective defensive big on the pick-and-roll. I think Love is a smart and savvy enough player to eventually master this sort of thing but Hollins gives the Wolves a 7-footer who can provide...ummm...what's the word (we Wolves fans haven't seen this sort of thing in quite a while)...defensive flexibility, albeit in short stretches and with something of a negative pull on the offensive end of the court.

Hollins is a remarkably agile big man. He can handle switches, hedges, and jumping the point of attack for a trap with enough athletic juice to recover to his proper spot in the lane. Again, I'll remind our readers that we're talking about a backup big who will be the 3rd or 4th front court player on the roster, but this is a skill that is foreign to the current roster. Hollins may not be the best athletic defensive big; he may foul a ton and rely on overly-aggressive plays on the ball, but the simple fact remains that he is the only forward or center on the current roster who can show on a screen and make his way back into position strictly on the basis of his physical gifts. This is a big thing. KG was the last player who was able to perform this sort of task with a Minnesota across his chest, and no, I'm not comparing the two players; rather, I'm simply saying that Hollins is athletic enough to do something no other big on the roster can do and that, by itself, means something.

Beyond physicality, there are some things that stand out about Hollins' defensive game:

(via the always-excellent Basketball Prospectus)

First of all, let us clearly state that we are dealing with Small Sample Size Theater (Brian Cardinal factored in about 290 more possessions than the Wolves' newest big). Secondly, the thing that most stands out about Hollins (in his very limited court time) is that he holds his opponents to production well below what they normally put up (dMULT). The kicker is that he plays against competition that is significantly less than NBA average (dQUAL). Let's take a quick look at his on/off numbers (via the wonderful 82Games.com)

Many stats are shown on a 'per 48 minute' basis

Stat	ON Court	OFF Court	Net
Minutes	260	3700	6%
Offense: Pts per 100 Poss.	106.2	111.8	-5.6
Defense: Pts per 100 Poss.	108.1	109.1	-1.0
Net Points per 100 Possessions	-1.9	+2.7	-4.6
Points Scored	513	7830	-7317
Points Allowed	532	7649	-7117
Net Points	-19	+181	-200

Here are his numbers from Charlotte:

Many stats are shown on a 'per 48 minute' basis

Stat	ON Court	OFF Court	Net
Minutes	184	3801	4%
Offense: Pts per 100 Poss.	111.9	105.5	+6.4
Defense: Pts per 100 Poss.	97.6	107.8	-10.1
Net Points per 100 Possessions	+14.3	-2.3	+16.5
Points Scored	376	7301	-6925
Points Allowed	336	7445	-7109
Net Points	+40	-144	+184

Please keep in mind that Hollins is a 10 mpg backup (and that we're talking about less than 500 minutes of floor time), but what we can see here is that he is a better performer on defense than he is on offense. This general sentiment is also played out in his adj +/-. As always, the kicker with +/- and on/off stats for guys like Hollins is that they often log minutes without all of the team's best players surrounding them. Does that mean something for the Wolves? We'll have to wait and see.

The bottom line with Hollins the defender is that he is an incredibly athletic and agile big who has the potential to defend the pick-and-roll, get back into position, trap, and provide some weak-side shot blocking help. He brings a skill set to the Wolves that simply did not exist on the roster before his acquisition. Love and Big Al are not athletic dynamos and they will never be able to do the things that Hollins is naturally capable of. That being said, we're still talking about a guy who will likely play under 20 mpg (my guess is 13-17 mpg) and who will put up most of his numbers against non-starting 5-man rotations. If Hollins can maintain his dMULT numbers, and if he can perform at or slightly above replacement-level, the Wolves will have made a fairly savvy move.

While this is cliche on several levels, at the end of the day, Hollins' performance will be measured by how much he hustles. There is no pressure on this guy to not foul. There is no pressure on this guy to make big shots. All he has to do is go out there and go 150 mph. I really don't know if this is his type of personality (it could be judging by what we saw in the playoffs) but he is going to be placed in a position where an up-tempo athletic game such as his should be rewarded on both ends of the court. If he can use his athleticism to be an effective defender on the p-n-r with Love or Big Al, he will immediately have found a good home, as both of these guys need the things that Hollins brings to the table.

All in all I'm pretty happy with this signing. While Hollins seems to be a fairly awful 1/2 court offensive player he does have some interesting potential when it comes to transition play and defense. In terms of improvement, he looks like he could bulk up a bit, hit the boards with more aggressiveness, and avoid as many jump shots as possible. Running, dunking, defending, and crashing the boards should be this guy's MO from day one. As for his contractual worth, frequent poster McCleak put it nicely in a recent comment thread with this little ditty:

Hollins had a Win Score last year of 1.0. If you look at centers with a WS between 0.5-1.5 (DeSagana Diop, Theo Ratliff, Aaron Gray, DeAndre Jordan, Kosta Koufos, Jamaal Magloire, Robin Lopez, Hollins, Spencer Hawes, Robert Swift, and Olekisy Pecherov)*, you see that they earned $19,420,831 last season, for an average of $1,618,402.58 per player. So it’s more than the average contract for a center of his caliber last season. However, if you limit it to people who have signed second contracts (Diop, Ratliff, Magloire), than you see a contract total of $7,180,162 or $2,393,387.33 per player. And that’s almost exactly what Hollins received.

The guy is being paid at (or very near to) market value and he has some potential within the style of ball the Wolves hope to play as well as the roster they are shaping up to have. For me, the biggest thing about this deal is that Hollins represents a player that a) cost the Wolves' front office a considerable amount of scouting and research and b) is about as far away from a McHale-type signing as could be imagined. This is a guy you take a swing on only after a significant amount of research and you do so to have him play in a fairly specific role. That has to be worth something by itself, right? It sure as hell beats Mark Blount. Would Kevin McHale have even known about Hollins? Did UCLA play an NCAA game at the Dome during Hollins' time in Westwood?

What say you ?

Friday Notes: Clips in for Sessions, Knicks waiting, and Bucks getting some love

Frank Madden — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 02:59:29 -0000

Woelfel: Clips back in for Sessions?
A week ago there seemed to be no stopping the New York Knicks from finally getting Ramon Sessions' signature on an offer sheet. After all, the Bucks' decision to sign Hakim Warrick to a one-year, $3 million deal meant they were only about $2.3 million under the tax, and Sessions' preference for New York was something of a no-brainer. Yet despite reports that the Knicks are simply biding their time with Sessions (see next bullet), Gery Woelfel reports the Clips have also re-emerged as a potential destination.

The scuttlebutt around the NBA is the Clippers and Bucks are discussing a sign-and-trade scenario with Sessions, a restricted free agent, being the central figure.
The Clippers would ideally like to include point guard Sebastian Telfair in the deal, and have also tossed out some other possibilities, including a draft pick.

If the Clippers can't come to an agreement with the Bucks on a sign-and-trade arrangement, there are growing indications they'll extend an offer sheet to Sessions.

The Clips have a sizable trade exception ($7.3 million per ESPN) which would greatly simplify the BYC issues I usually harp on with any Sessions S/T scenarios. That could also work out from the Bucks' perspective, since they'd like to get something of value but don't have a lot of flexibility to take salary back in return. Realistically, a protected first round pick or perhaps DeAndre Jordan would be good value for Sessions at this point--Telfair I couldn't care less about--especially given the likelihood that the Bucks could lose Ramon for nothing. Still, that leaves a couple other important questions. Is L.A. willing to pony up a real asset for the right to sign Sessions long term? And would Sessions really want to back up Baron Davis instead of taking a cheaper deal to start for Mike D'Antoni? My initial reaction is that as much as the Bucks and Clips might want to deal, Sessions will prefer to hold out for a Knicks' gig. Besides, if the Clips want Sessions they have their full MLE with which to make him an offer--and it doesn't seem likely the Bucks would match anything close to that.

Newsday: Knicks biding their time with Sessions
Alan Hahn has been expecting a deal for Sessions to get done and remains optimistic that Ramon will end up a Knick.

So what's the holdup? Seems simple: Donnie Walsh doesn't want to just hand Sessions a blank check to fill in the full MLE (five years, $33.9M). To paraphrase an NBA executive I spoke with about the situation recently, "that's how you wind up with Jared Jeffries."
So here's where, if you're a GM, you take a breath, hold your cards and glance across the table.

Sessions' agent, Jim Wells, has only one client. He also doesn't have many other viable options. The Clippers are in the periphery, but if they were hot for Sessions why haven't they made an offer yet? And with Baron Davis, Sebastian Telfair and Eric Gordon in the backcourt, there is far less minutes for Sessions -- a combo guard -- in LA.

So is it a coincidence that the Clippers get back in the picture as soon as the Knicks appear to be getting smug? Doubtful. L.A.'s reemergence could certainly be Wells' attempt to manufacture some leverage for his client, despite reports that Sessions quite understandably doesn't want to go to L.A. As much as I'd prefer to get something for Sessions, a straight offer from the Knicks still seems the most logical outcome.

MacKenzie: Jennings' Swagger
All aboard the Bucks bandwagon! Sure, you'll have a hard time finding anyone in the media willing to endorse the Bucks as playoff contenders, but that doesn't mean the Bucks aren't getting some love. Following in the footsteps of Sam Amico and Skeets (kinda), I'm pleased to report that Holly MacKenzie of SLAM and The Score has officially named the Bucks her "pet" team of the season.

I'd prefer "pick to win NBA title" but for a team as chronically irrelevant as the Bucks, I'll take it. In what will hopefully be the first of many articles about the Bucks this season, Holly has her take on Brandon Jennings from Vegas--fitting when you consider that Jennings' promise has as much to do with the Bucks' newfound street cred as anything else.

Rather than shutting out media and opting to shun some of those whom have tried to sell an image of him that isn't fair let alone factual, Jennings greets the reporters waiting with a smile and an ease that belies both age and previous experience. When questions are asked about Italy and his decision to be a trailblazer, when people choose to report on his rocky start rather than focus on his 8.2 assist-per-game average when it was over, Jennings smiles. He smiles and plays this game because he knows at the end of the day, he gets to wake up tomorrow and get paid to play his game.
For this reason alone, regardless of stats, he wins.

Rovell: Bucks quick and creative with ticket plans
Darren Rovell takes note of the good people in the Bucks' ticketing department.

The Bucks, whose entire schedule of games and offers was up within an hour of when the schedule came out, are offering a Click 'N Pick plan that enables fans to buy six- and ten-game packages featuring any combination of seats. For example, if a fan wants to sit close for the game against Cleveland and is fine with sitting up in the rafters for the Lakers game, he or she can mix and match and create their own a-la-carte plan. The six-game package comes with one free game and the 10-game package comes with two free games.

Vegas Summer League Recap: Day 10

Jon L — Mon, 20 Jul 2009 14:00:42 -0000

Gary Forbes. Coby Karl. The D-League was running things in Vegas.

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Well this is it: the final day of the 2009 Summer League season. All the players, coaches and journalists have left Vegas by now, and all of them have some evaluating to do. RU is no different, and we'll have some analysis in the coming days, but there's one more full slate of games to go over first, so let's get to it.

D-League Select 74, Portland Trail Blazers 73

Portland Trail Blazers, you just made a fool of yourself in front of T-Bone. On a day when no one on the D-League team played particularly well, the game was won on a Marcus Hubbard buzzer-beating three. Othyus Jeffers and Trey Johnson missed their third straight game and were joined by Walker Russell, meaning the Selects had just seven guys available to play.As I've said before, these guys are working harder than everyone else, fighting to show what they can do until the clock hits zero. Kurt Looby was decent off the bench with five rebounds and two blocks in a little under 18 minutes and seven points on 3-5 shooting, though he also had five fouls in that brief period. Jasper Johnson hit all three of his shots from behind the arc and shot 6-11 overall for 16 points. Will Frisby had some nice moves down low and finished with six rebounds, though he also needed 13 shots to score 16 points.

Jerryd Bayless also sat out this game meaning Pooh Jeter got the main point guard responsibilities, and while he finished with seven assists he also shot the ball pretty terribly. Dante Cunningham shot 7-14, though he didn't get to the free throw line much and shot just 40 percent when he did, though he also grabbed seven rebounds. There's not much else to say about the Blazers because did I mention that they lost to the D-League team that was without three of its best players?

The rest of final day's action after the jump.

Denver Nuggets 107, New Orleans Hornets 105

This one went to three overtimes, which I can't imagine anyone wanted. Not too many players shot the ball efficiently overall, but a lot of the misses game as the game dragged on and on, so I'm willing to cut some slack here. Ty Lawson started out Summer League with some poor performances but he picked it up towards the end, and yesterday he had 24 points on 17 shots, six rebounds and four assists. CJ Giles played fairly well, with 13 points on nine shots, 10 rebounds and three blocks. Julian Wright missed all five of his three-pointers but was otherwise solid, with 24 points on 21 shots, seven rebounds, three assists, two steals, a block and only two fouls and one turnover. Sonny Weems had a nice game, with 28 points on 23 shots and nine rebounds. Same goes for Coby Karl, with 19 points on 13 shots and five boards. Earl Calloway has had some nice moments in Vegas, and yesterday he had 13 points on 10 shots and six rebounds. Brian Cusworth hasn't played a whole lot, but yesterday he had 11 points on 5-8 shooting and five rebounds in less than 17 minutes.

Phoenix Suns 87, Los Angeles Clippers 70

Nik Caner-Medley has had some really solid Summer League performances, and yesterday was no exception with 13 points on nine shots, 10 rebounds and a pair of blocks. Goran Dragic may be sensing that his roster spot is on the line (or at least his spot in the rotation), and he stepped up with 21 points on nine shots, seven assists and five rebounds, though he also picked up six assists so perhaps he was trying a little too hard. Jiri Hubalek had another good-rebounding, mediocre-shooting day with seven points on seven shots, but also six rebounds in 15 minutes. The box score says that Hyland Jordan picked up two techs, but there's no Hyland Jordan on either roster. Do they mean DeAndre Jordan? Jordan shot the ball okay, nine points on 4-6 shooting, but he was better in other areas with eight rebounds and two blocks in a little under 23 minutes.

Washington Wizards 89, New York Knicks 84

JaVale McGee had another very solid game, with 31 points on 16 shots (he shot 9-10 from the free-throw line), eight rebounds and four blocks. Jordan Hill had a fairly good game as well, particularly compared to some others he had in Vegas, with 21 points on 9-17 shooting and seven rebounds, though he also picked up six fouls. Nikoloz Tskitishvili did almost all of his shooting from behind the arc (six of his seven field goals were from three), but his aim was pretty true and he finished with 12 points and eight rebounds. I've been fairly impressed with Warren Carter's rebounding ability, and he had five in a little over 15 minutes yesterday. Tyrese Rice had his best game of Summer League, with 17 points on 7-10 shooting, though he still doesn't pick up a ton of assists and he still dribbles the ball way too much

Chicago Bulls 93, Minnesota Timberwolves 85

Kevin Martin or no Kevin Martin, Garrett Siler had another efficient game with 12 points on five shots along with five rebounds and two blocks, though he also had six fouls. James Johnson had a nice game for Chicago with 18 points on 12 shots, seven rebounds and four assists with only two turnovers. DeMarcus Nelson had a really nice game with 18 points on 10 shots, though the rebounding wasn't there the way it has been in the past. Oleksiy Pecherov had an off shooting night, but he still managed to corral eight rebounds in 17 minutes. The same goes for James Augustine, who was held scoreless while grabbing nine rebounds in 21 and a half minutes. Jonny Flynn also had a poor shooting day after a fairly impressive Summer League, though he also picked up seven assists in 23 minutes.

Memphis Grizzlies 76, San Antonio Spurs 75

DeMarre Carroll's performance hasn't impressed me much (though perhaps he's looked better in person), but he was able to capitalize on his versatility yesterday, as he had 16 points on nine shots, five rebounds and three steals. Ian Mahinmi's been inconsistent in Vegas, but yesterday he finished with 15 points on nine shots, nine rebounds and four blocks, though he also had six fouls. Romel Beck had nine points on six shots, which is nice, but he also grabbed five rebounds, which he hasn't really done much of during Summer League.

JaVale McGee stars in the Wizards' 74-64 Summer League win over the Clippers

Mike Prada — Sun, 19 Jul 2009 03:07:24 -0000

More photos » by Laura Rauch - AP

Nick Young didn't have a big game, but the Wizards won anyway.

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Everything I've learned in sportswriting boils down to finding a moment that encapsulates a story and describing the hell out of it at the top of the article. The problem today is that there are too many of those moments to describe JaVale McGee's game. The two-handed stuff on Mike Taylor at the end of the game. The throwdown on Blake Griffin late in the game that Javaris Crittenton insisted I note. The myraid times when he stayed on his feet instead of going for pump fakes.

Indeed, McGee was the key to this game, swatting seven shots and altering many others in what was easily the Wizards' best defensive performance in a Summer League game since ... well, since I can remember. He had the whole package, playing great man-to-man post defense on DeAndre Jordan, as well as solid help defense on everybody else.

The major thing I noticed was that that JaVale was staying down on pump fakes rather than flying around like a maniac whenever somebody flinched. Sam Cassell noticed it too. He told me that he tells McGee all the time that he doesn't need to jump around on pump fakes because he's the tallest guy on the court. Clearly, it resonated.

As for Blake Griffin, he had 19 points, but needed 16 shots to get there as the Wizards swarmed him with double- and triple-teams. The key to me was that he scored very few of his points in isolation or even in the flow of the half-court offense. He scored a bunch in transition and had some points on broken plays, but for the most part, the Wizards shut him down in halfcourt sets. It also helped that, without Eric Gordon, the Clippers had nobody who could make the Wizards pay for doubling Griffin.

Javaris Crittenton had a really solid game running the offense, with 17 points, nine from the free throw line, and just one turnover. I spoke to Crittenton for a while after the game about learning Flip Saunders' new offense. He told me that he was thinking all night last night about how to balance setting people up and still getting to the rack (yes, those were his words). He admitted to me that he wished he could watch some film right now to get better at that balance. He broke a couple plays today, but all in all, I think he did well with it. He created when necessary, drew enough fouls to shoot 12 free throws and didn't commit too many turnovers.

Other notes:

I asked Crittenton about his jumper. He told me, predictably, that it's all about confidence, not technique necessarily, and that right now, he feels very confident with it. He talked about not passing up shots that he should take because it hurts his confidence.
The other bigs on this team (Josh Heytfelt, John Edwards, Brandon Wallace Alade Aminu) all had strong games on defense taking turns guarding Blake Griffin. In particular, I really liked Heytfelt's post defense. He kept Griffin in front of him and made him shoot over the top. Cassell told me he thought they all played extremely well today.
Question to ponder: Is it a coincidence that JaVale's best game came with Andray Blatche sitting out? I mean that not to bash Blatche, but only to add more personal doubt to whether Blatche and JaVale can ever complement each other well on the court.
A couple of you guys told me through the site or Twitter how much you think Sam Cassell is a huge addition to the team as an assistant coach. This was Cassell's first game as a head coach, and I asked him about how it compared to playing or being an assistant. He smiled wide when I asked the question and told me this is something he's been looking forward to do, and that he's honored to be working under one of the best in Flip Saunders. (His words, not mine). He sounded like a guy who genuinely wanted to get into coaching, and not somebody who just became a coach because he has nothing else to do.

I'm catching a plane in a few minutes back home, so I won't be here for tomorrow's game. I'll throw a post up about Nick Young's development on running through screens tomorrow, but otherwise, this concludes BF's Summer League coverage.

NBA Summer League Day Seven Preview and Live Game Thread

Wayne Vore (ATS) — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 17:56:59 -0000

The exciting game today is the San Antonio Spurs against the Oklahoma City Thunder. The tip off is at 7:30 Spurs time in the Thomas & Mack Center. This will be my first game outside of the Cox Pavilion.

The Spurs will look to maintain their unbeaten record. You may think it is JUST Summer League, but these guys still want to win. As Ian said, "It just feels good to win those games".

The rest of the schedule gives me no excitement. We've seen everybody at least twice now.

Another 6 on tap today with the guys I would watch if you want to do your own microscope. Rosters are behind the links. The scoreboard and game feeds are at NBA.com. This will be your last chance to see the Raptors, Bucks, Rockets, and Warriors.

Raptors vs Bucks at 3:00 - DeMar DeRozan and Brandon Jennings. DeRozan is just magical. Jennings is the best point guard in the Summer League. Yeah, the best point guard in the Summer League. Nobody has better vision and ability to create easy buckets for his teammates.
Rockets vs Lakers at 5:00 - The Rockets are gritty and Chase Budinger has gotten steadily better.
Hornets vs Warriors at 7:00 - Anthony Randolph had 42 the other night. He's unstoppable with this talent level and the tight way these games are called.
Spurs vs Thunder at 7:30 - Spurs. Nuff said.
Mavericks vs Cavaliers at 9:00 - We'll see if Rodrigue Beaubois is healthy. I'd also like to see Ahmad Nivins dominate this match up with Darnell Jackson.
Clippers vs Grizzlies at 9:30 - Lot's of good young guys in this one. Blake Griffin, Mike Taylor -- who has struggled, DeAndre Jordan -- who has not, Eric Gordon, Hasheem Thabeet, Darrell Arthur, Marcus Williams, DeMarre Carroll, and Sam Young.

Identifying Potential Late Season Pickups

JakeTheSnake — Thu, 16 Jul 2009 16:00:40 -0000

More photos » by Paul Sancya - AP

Though he didn't help them to a championship, Joe Smith was a great late season addition for the Cavs last season after having his contract bought out with the Thunder.

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If you're looking for an evidence to support your claim that the NBA is a league where the rich get richer, look no further than the trend of veteran players signing with elite contenders after having their contracts bought out. Just last year we saw as Joe Smith, Drew Gooden, Stephon Marbury and Mikki Moore among others sign with contenders after their cellar-dwelling teams bought out the end of their contracts.

With the cap going down and plenty of free agents hitting the open market, it's safe to assume that several teams will be looking to negotiate buyouts with players. Obviously, there won't be as many players available in the late-season market as there are right now, but there's a good chance that there will be some better talent available to sign for the veteran's minimum in February than there is right now to sign to the low level exemption. Of course, signing someone is contingent on being a contender before they sign. Otherwise, they'll just sign with a team that has a better chance of getting a ring.

After the jump, we'll narrow down the options and see what players could hit the open market later this season.

Beofre we begin, here's a list of all the free agents for the 2010. This is where the pool for our buyout candidates will come from, since there probably won't be any owners looking to buyout more than the last half of a season off of any player's contract. Just to be safe, we'll exclude restricted free agents and players who have options on their contracts. We'll also exclude guards and wings who might be nice additions, but don't address any critical needs in what's already a very deep backcourt.

Now that we've taken care of all the disclaimers, let's start paring down who's left to see what's available.

Step 1: Eliminate anyone on a contending team

Players already on contenders are already doing enough to make their teams good which gives the team no reason to want to get rid of him and the player no reason to hop ship for a team with a shot of winning it all. I'm only including Boston, Cleveland, Orlando, the Lakers, San Antonio, and Denver as true contenders at this point, though other teams could always insert their name into the discussion as the season goes along.

This eliminates: Brian Scalabrine, Shaquille O'Neal, Zydrunas Ilgauskas, Steven Hunter, Brian Cook, Chuck Hayes, DJ Mbenga, Josh Powell, and Matt Bonner.

Step 2: Eliminate anyone who wouldn't be desirable even if they become available

Needless to say, there would probably be some venom spewed if these players were brough in as the final piece of the puzzle.

This eliminates: Randolph Morris, Jerome James, Mark Blount, Francisco Elson, Malik Allen, Brian Cardinal, Mark Madsen, Etan Thomas, Mouhamed Sene, Kenny Thomas, Patrick O'Bryant

Step 3: Eliminate anyone who won't be bought out because they're just too good

Even if the player has a 100% chance of walking away in free agency, the negative PR backlash of buying out these players would just be too much to bear.

This eliminates: Carlos Boozer

Step 4: Eliminate all young players

You won't see any of these players bought out because their age still makes them valuable. Besides, do you think the veterans already on the team want to deal with another young player after last year's debacle?

This eliminates: Craig Smith, Amir Johnson, Louis Amundson

So who's left?

A mish-mash of veterans who can give the team something if they think the Wizards have a shot of giving them what they want: a championship. First, let's take a look at the guys with an outside chance of being buyout material if their respective team's find themselves in an unexpectedly down year.

Brad Miller
Kwame Brown (not that he'd come to D.C., but I had to throw it out there...)
Udonis Haslem
Jermaine O'Neal
Al Harrington
Darko Milicic

The chances of seeing any of these fine men bought out are extremely, extremely low. They'd have to be out of the playoff hunt very early and more than likely burn a few bridges with their current team. But in uncertain times, anything is possible so it would be premature to eliminate any of these possibilites.

Then there are the respectable players stuck on floundering teams who have the best shot of being buyout material. Since they have the most realistic shot of winding up on a contender, they deserve the most focus. So after a few hundred words of talking about who won't be bought out, let's take a look at the players with the best shots of being contributors to a contender one by one.

Marcus Camby: Camby is on tap to make nearly $10 million this season from one of the more tight-fisted owners in the league in Donald Sterling. On top of that, his presence (together with Chris Kaman's) creates a logjam in the low post where Blake Griffin and Deandre Jordan need minutes to develop. He'll be beneficial at the start of the year as he helps the young guys to understand the league better, but the reality is that the team likely isn't going to go anywhere this season and Griffin & Jordan have to be given the chance to sprout their wings at some point.

The Spurs nearly made a deal for Camby at the deadline last season and it wouldn't be the least bit surprising to see teams inquire about making a trade for him this season as well. The Clippers will probably do all they can to boost his trade value in order to get something useful in return, but it's hard to see anyone giving up a prospect and swallowing the rest of Camby's contract for what amounts to a rental. If Camby doesn't get traded, it probably won't take long for both sides to start talking about a buyout.

Kurt Thomas: San Antonio saved Kurt from lottery land in 2008 when they traded Brent Barry's expiring contract to Seattle for his services. Of course, Barry ended up having the rest of his contract bought out and he returned to San Antonio just in time for their final push last year. Now Thomas finds himself on the other side of the deal, sent to Milwaukee as part of the Richard Jefferson deal. His contract isn't terrible, (he's due to make $3.8 million) which makes it much easier for Milwaukee for the Bucks to work out a buyout without breaking the bank, but it also makes him much easier to trade for than Camby.

Tony Battie: Like Thomas, Tony Battie went from a great situation with a contender to finding himself on a lottery team after being included as part of the Vince Carter deal. He'll be a nice addition to a shallow frontcourt, but I don't think anyone is kidding themselves into thinking that they'll be contenders next season or that the 33 year old Battie has any kind of long-term future with the team. As is the case with Camby and Thomas, I wouldn't be shocked to see the Nets do everything they can to boost his value and get prospect for a late season rental, but in this market, I don't see many teams looking to buy at Battie's price (just over $6 million). Of the thee players listed, Battie probably has the most buyout potential

It will be interesting to see if these players do get bought out where they will land. Camby seems like a natural fit for San Antonio and the Spurs have a knack of getting the players they want. If he hits the open market, I don't think it will take long at all for him to end up in the Alamo, but you never know who might make a push to sign him. Thomas and Battie are much more interesting. If the Spurs do end up getting Camby, his presence along with the addition of Antonio McDyess would eat up most, if not all of his minutes. Likewise, it would be hard to see Battie returning to Orlando now that they have Ryan Anderson, Brandon Bass at their disposal, and they still have Marcin Gortat.

If the Wizards can stay healthy and show that they're an elite Eastern Conference squad next season like they think they can be, it might make sense to wait and see who has their contract bought out after the trade deadline. Not only will the players available at that point likely be better than the ones available for the LLE right now, but they'll come at a cheaper price.

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?)