Posts tagged ‘nba summer league’

Made it to Vegas safe and sound and just got finished watching the Lakers and Nuggets square off. I said it on draft night and now I’ll say it again, the Lakers did very well to pick up Devin Ebanks and Derrick Caracter. Ebanks has a lot more smoothness on offense than you’d anticipate and Caracter’s body can’t be handled. On Friday Caracter had 20 points, 10 rebounds and today he put up 17 and 12 to go with four assists.  Ebanks notched 21 points on 9-16 from the field on Friday and 24 points on 8-16 shooting on Saturday. But it’s also summer league, folks.

Okay …. John Wall time. He and the Wizards are set to face the Golden State Warriors (who are playing the Detroit Pistons as I type) at 5 pm Vegas time tomorrow (8 pm on the East Coast). Set your dials and DVRs. But until then, here’s something to tide you over … a compilation of clips from scrimmaging at the end of the first day of Wizards mini-camp last Thursday evening. While you’re waiting for John Wall, a little John Wall. Enjoy.

flickr/Roadsidepictures

I watched the Wizards take on the Timberwolves and Clippers in the Las Vegas Summer League long ago, but am just getting my notes/observations on those two games posted.

So in the spirit of better late than never, here goes ….

(Note: I still need to get my post up on the Knicks game and hand out the summer league grades … but only to the players who ‘count’ — Blatche, Young, McGee, Crittenton and McGuire.)

Wizards vs. Timberwolves : Summer League Game 3

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With Thursday off, the Wizards will be back in summer league action tonight against Oleksiy Pecherov and the Minnesota Timberwolves at 8 pm. I won’t be able to catch the game live since I’ll be checking the John Legend concert at Merriweather … so I’ll depend on the usual Twitter suspects to keep me updated on the goings-ons. But until then …

Not this guy again .... (flickr/wizardsdotcom)

More positive signs regarding Andray Blatche? The DC Sports Bog reports:

Many of you have expressed doubts about Blatche’s recent promise to take advantage of his latest opportunity, and it’s understandable, given the relationship between what he’s said and what’s done in the past. I can say that, without a doubt, he’s made some weird quantum leap in talking with the media. I’ve never seen him anywhere close to as good with the media as he’s been this week. Here’s what he said about his teammates, and bear in mind, I asked the question, he wasn’t just offering this up.

“JaVale’s a great player,’ Blatche said. “If he focuses on the things he does the best, that make the crowd love him–blocking shots, rebounding, and then if he’s at the rim and he’s got a put back, put it back. That’s what I want him to focus on more. Because he’s a great player, if he just sticks to that. And Nick, I see a big improvement in Nick. His shot is more efficient, and they have him playing defense this year. Dominic, you know what to expect from him, he’s gonna play defense no matter what. He’s a real hustle player, a lot of energy. So everybody’s making improvements.”

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No, this isn't Ernie Grunfeld, it's Keith Sweat (clearly) - flickr/gwen

This Wizards lost their second summer league game against the Nuggets, and as a unit, they did not look good. But Ernie Grunfeld’s not sweating. He’s probably sitting poolside at the Hard Rock, requesting that the waitress blast some Skynard “Simple Man” over the sound system while he snacks on a cucumber and plays it cool in the 108 degree Vegas heat.

But should the Wizards’ Pres. of B-Ball Ops. (GM) be breaking a sweat over what he’s seen so far in Sin City?

On one hand, as we keep telling ourselves, it’s just a summer league game. The roster players out there will be playing vastly different roles come the regular season. They will be asked to do specialized acts and play within themselves, leaving the bulk of the scoring/defensive/creating duties to the ‘big boy’ players.

On the other hand, Grunfeld must be wondering, “are we really depending on JaVale McGee, Andray Blatche and Dominic McGuire (who might be counted upon to play the four spot) to be key cogs, supporting the efforts of Brendan Haywood and Antawn Jamison down low where the dirty work is done?”

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flickr/Christopher Chan

Checked out the Wizards’ foray into the summer league last night. They won, almost blew an 18 point lead to Cleveland. Andray Blatche came out shaky. His version, via the DC Sports Bog recap, “I came out real hyper, real real hyper.”

Yep, in the beginning he looked like the same ol’ Blatche … ill-advised long jumpers early in the shot clock, turnovers while trying to carelessly push the ball on the break instead of passing to a guard, etc..

Eventually, after a talking-to by Dominic McGuire and assistant coach Don Zierden, he settled down, started hitting the boards hard, and played like a summer league veteran.

Question is, why is a guy with 238 ‘real’ NBA games under his belt nervous-in-the-service when it comes to a summer league game?

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flickr/Roadsidepictures

Well, by the time I posted ‘Knowing The Wizards ‘09 Summer League Team: Part 1‘ on Sunday, covering James Lang, Alex Ruoff, Jimmy Baron and John Edwards, Lang was cut (this made the DC Sports Bog especially sad). On Monday, both Ruoff and Baron were cut.

Sorry guys, guess it wasn’t in the cards or blogs.

Last night after the practice, the team began their journey to Vegas, and will play Cleveland’s summer league squad today at 6:30 pm EST. For a reminder on summer league rules, check out the Washington Wizards Blog.

Both Bullets Forever and Ridiculous Upside previously posted some quick facts about the players on the summer league roster, but I wanted to dive a bit deeper, not only to find out what type of player each is, but also what composes their background.

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With the Wizards set to being summer league play in Las Vegas on Tuesday, the team has been holding a mini-camp in D.C. for the players on the team. The camp began on Saturday and will finish on Monday. Both the Washington Post and Washington Times have first day wrap-ups posted on their respective Wizards blogs, but with limited media access (essentially being able to watch the players shoot), there wasn’t much to report.

Both Bullets Forever and Ridiculous Upside previously posted some quick facts about the players on the summer league roster, but I wanted to dive a bit deeper, not only to find out what type of player each is, but also what composes their background.

Part one will focus on James Lang, John Edwards, Alex Ruoff, and Jimmy Baron. Lang, who previously spent time with the Wizards, gets a more formal write up. The rest of them get a short-cut … bullet points.

James Lang (A ‘Should’ve Gone To College’ Case)

[6'10" power forward/center - second round draft pick out of high school, pro basketball vagabond]

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flickr/Roadsidepictures

On June 16, the DC Sports Bog posted odds to win the 2010 NBA championship from Bodog. The Wizards were in a three way tie with the Knicks and Nets with the 18th best odds to get a ring at 75-1.

On June 24th, the Wizards made the trade for Mike Miller and Randy Foye. Increased team depth, Grunfeld is “comfortable” with what he has … better odds to win it all, right? Not exactly.

(For the record, overall I’m very optimistic about the potential of this Wizards team … there are just some holes that need filling, and I’m not talking about some gross porno you probably just watched online.)

On July 2nd, Ball Don’t Lie posted updated odds from Bodog (which ‘should have’ included the Wizards trade among others such as Shaq to Cleveland, Richard Jefferson to San Antonio, and Vince Carter to Orlando).

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