FanPost

Summer Scout: Day 7 wrap up

So now you've heard about the big eye-openers in Jerryd Bayless and my disagreement about Arron Afflalo. Here are the rest of my notes from Thursday, sprinkled in with some other tidbits I found...

DETROIT/DALLAS
  • Spotted: Paul Mokeski. Guy sitting next to me said he saw Floyd Mayweather.
  • Nice to see Richie Frahm of Gonzaga working a little extra on his game (three-point shooting and dribble-pop). I can envision him stepping into a random gym and people wondering who is this tall white guy? Well, according to the program guide, it's at least his 4th year removed from Gonzaga and he will be 31 years old as of August 14th. I think this could be the end of the rope for Frahm. Btw, he looks more like 6'6" than 6'5". He's got a nice stroke from downtown, but it isn't automatic. He almost got called for an up-and-down (where you first intended to go up for a jumper then decided not to). He is the stereotypical stand-up face-the-basket type player, i.e., he's too slow to make an NBA roster and isn't lights out like Jason Kapono to make up for it. I wonder where he will end up.
  • OK, I think we can officially call the Amir Johnson project a bust. He's too slow making his moves, can't relentlessly crash the glass, and doesn't really know where to go on the floor. He was drafted #56 out of high school in 2005. So what we have here is the culmination of 3 years of NBA experience. Not good.
  • As I sprinkled before on previous posts, both teams' players, except for Gerald Green of Dallas, have difficulty penetrating the paint and, instead, settle for jump shots and fadaways. There's no real post play to speak of. Even the burly 6'8" 220-lb Charles Rhodes of Dallas tends to avoid the contact on posts.
  • Apparently, Green hasn't gotten the memo on the 6-second end-of-quarter-last-shot rule. He makes his move with 4 seconds left at the top of the arc and by then, it's too obvious he will shoot the trey. He misses, of course.
  • On the defensive end, Green does not seem to know the concept of help defense, especially when paired against an non-consequential offensive player. He tends to watch, as evidenced by the drive/dunk from 6'11" center from BYU, Trent Plaisted.
  • Speaking of Plaisted, why are the Mavs playing zone? You can't expect a hash group of 5 almost-random guys to learn and play zone together. What's the point? NBA championships aren't even won with zone. Eventually, a NBA roster player has to know how to play man-to-man defense. If you don't do that in Summer League, then where do you start? Take, for example, the fact that Plaisted just got open real easy down low for a jump hook as Green was wondering whether or not to bite to the high elbow on his side of the zone.
  • Walter Sharpe just threw an alley-oop to Deron Washington. Was that a 1-3-1 the Mavs were in? Ugh.
  • Shan Foster gets complacent standing outside and facing up and shooting his top-of-the-head-release jumper. I can see how he used that to his advantage at Vanderbilt, being named SEC Player of the Year, but he'll need to expand his game to play as a regular in the NBA.
  • I'm not sure if Foster has stepped foot in the paint this entire game!
  • Foster also doesn't come off screens tight enough.
  • The Detroit coach at one point took out all their better players, including Afflalo. Then Dallas took a big lead. Rule of thumb for all teams, all levels, no matter Summer League or not: never take out all your best players. Have at least one in there.
  • Jason Maxiell just walked by.
  • Foster sat for a long time, then came in for Green. They didn't spend much time on the floor together. Makes sense since they are both 3's.
  • Detroit's diminutive point guard Will Bynum is like an Energizer Bunny. I think he's played the entire game. Unfortunately, he's too small and not particular extraordinary in any category to be picked up on an NBA roster.
  • Aaron Miles seems to be getting inside a lot on defender Bynum, but I haven't been able to study Miles. He's getting more minutes than Keith McLeod. However, at about 6'2" 195 lbs (he's not listed in the program), Miles does not have an NBA body.
  • Wow, this 6'9" kid Sharpe can really shoot the trey. If he's been doing it all Summer League, then he's for real. Something tells me he hasn't been.
  • JaVale McGee draft pick of the Wizards and former Nevada-Reno player just walked by and is getting mobbed by kids for autographs.
NEW ORLEANS / LA CLIPPERS
  • Spotted: Journalist David Aldridge and Mike Dunleavy, Sr..
  • Bucking the "jumpshot/fadaway" trend, 6'11" 235-lb Hilton Armstrong from UConn seems to relish absorbing contact, but he also has a fadaway. He's got a longish neck and torso, kind of like a smaller version of Elden Campbell. I'm surprised Armstrong went undrafted. The Warriors could use a Summer League player like him, just for kicks. At least here's a guy who likes to create contact, unlike the entire Warriors roster (well, okay, I haven't actually seen the Warriors' summer squad, but their NBA roster lacks such guys!).
  • Nick Fazekas still has bad footwork, but I've noticed he has pretty good coordination with his hands. I guess instead of C3PO he is now C3PO with stickum!
  • I'm not sure Julian Wright is worth analyzing. He just seems to be a bit out of control. The best players in this game are Armstrong and point guard Bobby Brown. Al Thornton is not doing much.
  • Brown has hops. And one cool thing he does is, he gets in the air just before the defender can react in time. However, he does not have NBA size at 6'2" 175 and it's not like he makes up for the lack of size with anything explosive.
  • Adam Haluska of Iowa was the Hornets' #43 pick from 2007? I've observed at least half the other players on all the Summer League squads I've seen are better than Haluska. Honestly, I don't get it.
  • Everybody calls Julian Wright "Ju-Ju".
  • DeAndre Jordan is an imposing 6'11", 7-foot-plus-wingspanned center from Texas A&M. However, he needs a lot of work. He's not slow-footed, but he's not fast or even medium-fast. Everything about him is about a half-second too slow. He does not have any moves.
  • Token Asian Guy spotted! On the Clippers' coaching staff, although I don't think he's said anything to anyone yet.
PHILADELPHIA/TORONTO
  • Silence for a few minutes as they try to cue up the Canadian national anthem. Some of us are wondering if there's even a single Canadian in the premises.
  • The Canadian flag is like 8 times smaller than the US flag, both hanging from the rafters. Guess the XL size is a bit hard to find in Vegas.
  • Wow, what a nice Star Spangled Banner rendition by UNLV student Brianna Milan. Sign her up for American Idol.
  • Spotted: Maurice Cheeks.
  • This one was a pretty tough game to stomach. A notch below the rest.
  • We love Rod Benson, we love his humor, his blog. But he does not belong out there. First off, he's too skinny. He gets knocked to the floor too easily. Secondly, he seems a tad bit gimpy with that knee brace. With the other 6'11" players at Summer League, he has no shot at making an NBA roster.
  • The Sixers have three lefties: big guard Jamont Gordon, shooter Pat Carroll, and Thaddeus Young.
  • Let's hope for Pat's sake that he's not confused with the boyish-looking JC Carroll of Toronto. Pat is way better than JC, but neither will likely make the NBA.
  • There's also a Jamon Gordon (no "t") on the Nuggets. Jamont has an NBA body at 6'4" 225 and can play the point, but the Sixers choose to have the smaller 6'4" 190-lb Junior Harrington run the point. I don't get it. You might as well give it to the body that might have a small chance at the roster.
  • Thaddeus was easily the best player on the floor. At 6'8", probably excluding his slight slouch (does that mean he could really be 6'9"?!), he's pretty quick and mobile. I'm sure after a year of NBA experience, most Sixers fans already know that by now, though.
SAN ANTONIO / PHOENIX
  • I only caught the 2nd half of this game (at Thomas & Mack) because of the Raptors/Sixers game (bad choice).
  • Robert Pack, who doesn't look a day older than the day he last put on a uniform, is on the Spurs' coaching staff!
  • Spotted: Darren Matsubara of Adidas, obviously checking out his protege Robin Lopez. Oh, and Brook Lopez too. Unfortunately the Nets are not attending Vegas this year.
  • Phoenix coach Dan Majerle is a beast. At 6'8", he still commands respect from the team. He's always encouraging his players and the pen in the mouth seems to add credibility. He's taller than most of the kids. You can't help but reminisce seeing him launch treys. There still hasn't been a three-point bomber like him ever since. Six-foot-eight!
  • DJ Strawberry has good handles, but his shot isn't the quickest thing. His body is NBA-ready at 6'5" 200. He needs to start adding to his skillset before it's too late. I don't see that much of an improvement since last year's Summer League.
  • No one seems to want to punch the ball into Lopez, the Suns' new big man. Have fun guarding Shaq in practice, dude.
  • The Spurs are doing a full-court press for what seems like the whole game.
  • Biggest surprise: Spurs point guard Brian Morrison, listed from UCLA and 6'2" 192, 26 years old, Caucasian. Given the talent pool available out there, he's probably too old to make it, but this guy is surprising the heck out of me. He cleanly picked Strawberry one time at half court. He's a superb ballhandler and passer. He can nudge his shoulder against your body and step back for a jumper. He even almost posterized somebody with a dunk. Didn't know he could get up that high. Btw, that was really not the best move at that time. He could have opted for a different approach. Maybe a layup instead of the dunk?
MILWAUKEE/DENVER
  • I only saw the last quarter of this game (at Thomas & Mack) due to going ga-ga over Bayless at Cox.
  • Denver's coaching staff concerns itself too much with the (poor) reffing. They're still complaining with under a minute to play, with pretty much no hope of winning the game. I mean, that is why you would complain, right? Or maybe they're upset that they don't get as many offensive sequences to develop their players?
  • Milwaukee's Ramon Sessions is a halfcourt assists-machine. He sees things most point guards don't. The fact that the program guide said he recorded 21 assists on April 14, 2008, should reinforce that he's a bonafide NBA player.

This FanPost is a submission from a member of the mighty Golden State of Mind community. While we're all here to throw up that W, these words do not necessarily reflect the views of the GSoM Crew. Still, chances are the preceding post is Unstoppable Baby!