SB Nation User Blog: erivera7

Orlando Summer League Impressions: Courtney Lee Named to First Team, Marcin Gortat Named to Second Team

erivera7 — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 00:36:49 -0000

John Denton of Florida Today posted his Orlando Summer League impressions yesterday on ESPN. Here's the article:

Courtney Lee (20.2 PPG) was named to the First Team in the Orlando Summer League, as selected by over 2 million viewers of streamed video coverage.

Marcin Gortat (12.8 PPG, 8.6 RPG & 2.4 BPG) was named to the Second Team in the Orlando Summer League. Gortat was especially a force on the defensive end, with games where he had 4 blocks against the Pacers and 3 blocks against the Bulls.

Pretty impressive. Hopefully the good play will carry over to the regular season and each of these guys can make a positive impact in the rotation.

How Do You Score The East?

erivera7 — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 22:29:51 -0000

I felt this warranted its own discussion, considering how subjective the topic can become. I wrote in a comment a few days ago a rough outlier of how the East will look like next season, in response to the flurry of moves we've been seeing these last few days. To be clear, after Boston & Detroit, my list of teams was in no particular order. I just gave a quick assessment of what I thought each team will bring to the table next season, given a healthy roster and no freak accidents.

So without further ado, I think we can all agree that ...

1.) Boston

2.) Detroit*

After that, the fun begins. Below are a list of teams and a quick assessment of what that team brings to the table in the Eastern Conference. With that said, how do you score it? I'll go in chronological order to avoid confusion ...

Chicago - Add Derrick Rose. Potentially will lose Ben Gordon via trade ... nothing else, though, really changes.

Cleveland - They have LeBron and a full season with Delonte West at the PG helm. Other than that, nothing dramatic has changed for the team.

Miami - Add Michael Beasley & Mario Chalmers. The Heat also add a healthy Dwyane Wade. Whether or not they keep Marion for the full year remains to be seen, but nevertheless, this is a potential playoff team again.

Orlando - We went 52-30 last year and won the Southeast Division. We're going to lose Mo Evans, Keyon Dooling, Carlos Arroyo but we gain Mickael Pietrus, Courtney Lee and possibly Jason Williams (?). For the most part, our roster remains status quo overall.

Philadelphia - Acquired Elton Brand. Adding a perennial 20-10 guy onto an exciting Sixers roster will do wonders for that team. If Louis Williams and Thaddeus Young can continue to progress, this can be a very dangerous team to deal with. Adding Mareese Speights via the Draft, who's proj. PER was 15 (lottery talent according to Hollinger) is impressive as well.

Toronto - Acquired Jermaine O'Neal. Plug him in alongside Chris Bosh and you have a nasty front-court, if it stays healthy. Add in a full season with Jose Calderon at the PG helm and you have a potentially explosive team offensively.

Washington - Retain the Big Three (Arenas/Butler/Jamison). However, the team remains relatively the same. It should be important to note that when the Wizards are fully healthy, this is a potential 50 win team. Bad luck and misfortune hasn't allowed people around the NBA to really see that from Washington. Maybe this year will be different?

Alright, there you go ... how would you score the East (#1-#8)?

*If you think we're better than Detroit, smack yourself in the face. Until we beat that team in the playoffs, I'm giving the six-time Eastern Conference Finalists the benefit of the doubt.

Magic On Verge Of Signing Pietrus

erivera7 — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 22:55:02 -0000

From the FanPosts. My thoughts to follow. - BQR

Word is the Magic are going to sign Pietrus to the full MLE ... starting at 5.2 Mill. next season.

From the Florida Today ...

'The signing of Pietrus ends the Magic’s chase of free-agent shooting guard Corey Maggette and could end their chances of retaining combo guard Keyon Dooling.

Pietrus is especially appealing to the Magic because of his ability to defend. He is a strong defender with a long wingspan, traits that appealed to Smith. Smith, who used to work with the Golden State Warriors, is quite familiar with Pietrus’ toughness and defensive grit.

Smith said the Magic needed to upgrade their shooting guard position in order to make a dramatic improvement next season. He is expected to be the opening day starter at shooting guard.'