Time to dig into the archives and post some unseen summer league photos.

John Wall, determined to get to the hoop.

What I like about Wall’s game is that you can pick up more elements of discipline than you can from most other young point guards. Again, I’ll reiterate that turnovers, more than his jump shot, is the foremost issue Wall will have to address. But most of his turnovers are not the result of him trying to be ‘cute’ (just sometimes, if not rarely), but rather from him getting used to how to handle his own speed, the increased pace of the game and competition, and where his teammates best want to receive the ball. But in the beginning and in the end, attack he must … with both discipline and instinct.

I feel like Trevor Booker is one of those giant flying sharks and is targeting an attack on his prey … the rim.

A John Wall pre-game throw down. Sue Yue looks impressed/guarding himself from harmful physical repercussions.

Read more »

[Okay sneaker heads, last time we checked out what some of the Wiz kids were wearing for summer league. Now here's the first part of what players from other teams wore in Las Vegas.]

Bill Walker, New York Knicks

[via Kansas State, Washington Wizards (draft, 47th overall in 2008), Boston Celtics (trade), Main Red Claws (D-League)]

Read more »

Lester Hudson acquired the nickname “Mini-Vinnie” from Washington Wizards team personnel while playing for their summer league team in Las Vegas … as in Vinnie “The Microwave” Johnson. The great Detroit Pistons bench player is listed at 6’2″. Hudson’s pre-draft measurements list him at 6’1″ (other “official” listings boost him up to 6’3″). We’ll call it about even. The combo-guard is still trying to latch on with an NBA team, but the Memphis native has already accomplished far beyond what was ever expected of him.

Hudson’s story comes from the same setting as Baltimore Ravens offensive tackle Michael Oher, subject of Michael Lewis’ book, The Blind Side: Evolution of a Game. The former gym class star, where he was discovered in ninth grade, not playing organized basketball, comes from a tough neighborhood in the Home of the Blues. “It’s hard coming out of Memphis because most everybody is from the projects and struggling trying to make it,” he told me after the last Wizards summer league game.

Maybe a rich, white family didn’t take him in, but Hudson did have a coach, Andre Applewhite, who fought tooth and nail to get him to overcome his academic struggles as a kid. Having repeated the ninth grade and already 19-years old, he was declared ineligible for his senior season of high school after playing just one season of competitive basketball as a junior. Hudson tried to stick around for class, but eventually dropped out of Memphis’ Central High without a diploma. This according to a December 2007 profile of Hudson by the Washington Post’s Eric Prisbell, the same writer who authored the most accomplished profile of John Wall to date.

Applewhite then pushed Hudson to Southwest Tennessee Community College, where he had to earn a GED during his first semester to keep attending. Hudson didn’t graduate from Southwest Tennessee CC, which ultimately forced him to sit out a year before he could play for a D-I program. Obviously some schools backed off recruiting him because of this. Hudson eventually wound up at the University of Tennessee-Martin, where he turned 23 before ever stepping on the basketball court.

Prisbell’s article was written just nine games into Hudson’s career at UT-Martin, one where he accomplished the first quadruple-double in NCAA D-I history (25 points, 12 rebounds, 10 assists and 10 steals) in just his third outing. He stayed with the Skyhawks for two seasons, testing the NBA waters in between, and averaged 26.6 points, 7.9 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.6 steals and 45.6% shooting from the field (37.2% from deep) for his career. In 2008-09, Draft Express ranked his 33.5 PER sixth in the nation.

Read more »

[Jerome Randle, meet Omar Samhan. He's now going to box you out.]

Thinking about summer league, and I have more posts to come regarding, but if there’s a regret I’ve paid for, it’s not talking to Jerome Randle. He’s fun to watch. He’s nice (in a basketball handles sense). He’s 5’9.25″ without shoes.

And I honestly believe he’ll be in the NBA someday (he was also the 2010 Pac-10 POY, BTW). Out of him I saw flashes of a jumper, aggressive defense, and the ability to lead a team. If he improves in each of those areas, especially the jump shot, my belief will come true.

In lieu of all that, I present some pictures of Jerome Randle, performing sweetness.

>>>

Read more »

[Cartier Martin shoots a jumper near the onlooking Ernie Grunfeld and Flip Saunders.]

One thing I’ll take from being around Cartier Martin is that he’s an earnest guy. No frills. No shadowing of his persona. Just a guy named Cartier.

He was out there communicating with his summer league teammates, trying to be leader … not because such acts make him look good, but because they make the whole team look good. This point was driven home when I spoke with Martin about what he would’ve done differently since pursuing a pro career after college.

“I picked up the work ethic kind of late,” he readily admitted, something many players wouldn’t be so willing to shed light upon. He said it took being away from his family and the unideal pursuit of basketball money overseas to realize that he needed to work on his intangibles.

Martin’s best summer league game came in the Wizards’ third outing against the Mavericks, where he served as the perfect compliment to John Wall.  Twenty-three points (6-11 FGs, 3-5 3PM, 8-10 FTs), five rebounds, an assist, a steal and a turnover later, my friend Mr. Townsend was getting all Buddhistic about The Cartier Affair.

Read more »

Prior to last week’s Wizards-Mavericks summer league game, in what had to be one of the shortest, most unconventional interviews ever, I talked to Omar Samhan about his matchup with JaVale McGee.  I knew that Samhan was stronger and more skilled in the low post, but I also understood that McGee was longer, more athletic and more experienced in terms of how the NBA game is played.

I asked Samhan, via Blackberry Messenger of all places, what his approach to guarding McGee would be. He typed:

“Try to outsmart him. Be physical with him.”

Unfortunately for Samhan, me, and the fans who watched both on television and in person, that classic, low-post type battle never materialized. And McGee took full advantage.

McGee finished with 18 points on 9-of-10 shooting, most coming via alley-oop dunks. Offensively, he and John Wall seemed to really connect for the third consecutive game. However, McGee only had four rebounds (three offensive), and he failed to make an appearance at the free throw line.

Read more »

[Trevor Booker snatches a pre-game warm-up rebound away from teammate Corsley Edwards.]

What exactly does Trevor Booker do? That’s the question.

Booker’s summer league stats don’t jump off the page. In 28.2 minutes over five games he averaged 8.2 points on 51.6-percent shooting, 4.2 rebounds, 1.4 steals, one block, 0.6 assists and 2.6 turnovers. His best game came in the finale against the New York Knicks when John Wall, JaVale McGee and Raymar Morgan didn’t play — he tallied 15 points, seven rebounds, two assists and two steals in 31 minutes.

After game three against the Dallas Mavericks, Mike Prada of Bullets Forever wrote, “I’m getting a bit concerned that the Wizards don’t exactly know what to do with Trevor Booker, aka ‘Grown-Ass Man,’ on offense.”

And while it’s not yet time to elevate the levels of concern, it should be curious that Booker was not often able to assert himself when the Wizards had the ball. He had a couple nice dunks. Let’s watch real quick ….

Read more »

I finally made it back to D.C. from Las Vegas after a bit of travel adventure. Below is John Wall’s Summer League ‘exit interview’ video, if you will, and below that is a recap of his time in Vegas that I wrote for ESPN’s Daily Dime on Sunday. More follow-ups on the Summer League to come.

The hype surrounding John Wall has been akin to a well-crafted campaign by Don Draper of “Mad Men,” as good as advertised. His product, basketball-speaking, was flying off the shelves during a four-game stint at the 2010 NBA Las Vegas Summer League, but he performed better than expected in areas that don’t require physical talents, such as leadership and communication.

Wall sat out of the Wizards’ fifth and final game on Saturday, a 109-107 overtime loss to the New York Knicks, Washington’s only defeat of the summer. Afterward, Wall cited tendinitis in both knees as the need to rest, something the 19-year-old said he’s always dealt with.

But Wall’s fans need not worry. He will be healthy, and he will be more than relevant on the NBA scene. Cast aside notions of “it’s just summer league”; this kid has proved he has the mental capacity to succeed.

Read more »

[The yell after the dunk.]

I’m pretty sure you’ve seen it by now, JaVale McGee’s monster dunk over New Orleans’ Kyle Hines in the fourth quarter of Friday’s game. It was pretty damn insane … and definitely would have been nice to see. I was right there, mere feet away taking pictures from the baseline. And right there in my way was the referee. Thankfully in this day and age there is a YouTube, so let’s take another watch.

[video courtesy of @jose3030]

After the game McGee spoke about his dunk, saying, “I surprised myself to tell you the truth. I thought I was going to dunk it, but I ain’t think … I felt like the rim was at my waist.”

In the video below, McGee also credits the Hornets’ Sean Sonderlieter, depicted as “that white guy with the hair down to here,” as being the spark that ignited the Wizards’ third quarter where they outscored New Orleans 30-16. Evidently Sonderlieter said something to John Wall after he expressed his excitement over a Trevor Booker blocked shot. “Everybody just jumped on that guy’s back. We just all came as one and everybody just started going crazy. We all just started feeding off each other,” said McGee.

Read more »

JaVale McGee has played with a bunch of NBA point guards, if you use that term liberally. Gilbert Arenas, Randy Foye, Earl Boykins, Dee Brown, Mike James, Javaris Crittenton — not exactly the most pass-first bunch. Aside from a brief time spent receiving the ball from Shaun Livingston, McGee has mostly had to look out for himself on offense.

OK, that’s taking some liberties given that many of McGee’s non-dunk field goal attempts mimic a game of hot potato. This is largely of his own, impatient design. Still, he’s never played alongside the capabilities of someone like John Wall, a player who relishes in the assist.

“I know at least two out of three times I roll, I’m going to be getting the ball or he’s going to throw it up at the rim or he’s going to draw everybody to him when he lays it up, and I’m going to score and get the rebound,” McGee said after the Wizards’ 88-82 win over the Mavericks on Thursday evening.

But it’s not just about scoring opportunities for McGee; it’s about Wall’s ability to get those to rally around his energy and passion, also known as leadership. “When we go out there, we’re just together,” McGee said. “Everybody is just amped up because of his leadership and the way he’s amped up.”

“They loved to get assists; they both like to make everyone else on the team happy,” newest Wizard Hilton Armstrong said when asked what he knew about Wall’s game, considering his time with Chris Paul in New Orleans.

Read more »

Here are my favorites of the photos I took during Monday’s summer league game against the Clippers, check photos from game one against the Warriors here. Wizards vs. Mavericks tonight at 8 pm est.

It starts with a John Wall pre-game dunk.

And then a jumper against former Kentucky teammate Eric Bledsoe.

Read more »

When Omar Samhan came to work out for the Wizards, I was impressed by his personality and character. How could I not be? He took the time to shake the hand of every media member after he was interviewed. In fact, because of his laurels coming into that May 13th appearance, a Sweet Sixteen 2010 NCAA Tournament run with 10-seed Saint Mary’s, I had a post focusing on Samhan before and after his Washington audition.

Samhan left attending members of the D.C. media hoping the Wizards would draft him, or at least that they’d put him on their summer league roster. But alas, it wasn’t mean to be. The Wiz won the lottery, John Wall, and the need for freak athletes to match Wall’s transition speed became the preference. Samhan is a skilled big with great footwork and hustle, but he’s far from NBA quick, conditioning being the area most teams are telling him to work on.

Although ultimately undrafted, Samhan did make it to Vegas on the Dallas Mavericks roster. Unfortunately for him, the Mavs have since acquired a number of big men (Ian Mahinmi, Tyson Chandler and Alexis Ajinca), which likely leaves Omar out of Mark Cuban’s shuffle. But he doesn’t let that change his spirit or hard work on the court. By the way, Dallas plays Washington tonight at 8 pm EST, giving Wiz fans a chance to see how Samhan fares against their team’s young bigs.

While here, TrueHoop Network Mavs blogger, Rob Mahoney of The Two Man Game, worked through the Dallas PR folks to arrange an exclusive interview with Samhan, which included taking a ride on the New York-New York Casino roller coaster. Rob needed a photographer/videographer (of the Flip Cam variety) for his piece and I was more than happy to go along. I mean, how many times would I get the chance to ride a roller coaster with NBA hopeful Omar Samhan? And I’m not even a roller coaster guy (I don’t think Samhan is either).

Go to The Two Man Game to check out the fruits of our labor — well, it was all Rob, he wrote an outstanding profile on Samhan. So what are you waiting for?

Here are some pictures I took during the Wizards’ summer league debut against the Golden State Warriors on Sunday … my favs (that I’ve yet to already post).

To start, John Wall.

This is how you avoid having the ball hit you in the face after a pre-game dunk.

Corsley Edwards gets up.

Read more »

[Editor's note: I would like to welcome Rashad Mobley to the staff of TAI. Rashad has covered the Wizards with media credentials over the past two seasons for HoopsAddict.com. He's also written several guest posts on this site. Now, I'm excited to announce that Rashad will be bringing his writing skills to TAI full-time. And for his debut as 'officially' official, he dives further into Nick Young's one game in Vegas. Enjoy. -Kyle]

[Nick Young gains separation from Trey Johnson
heading toward a screen from Corsley Edwards.]

Last Thursday when the Washington Wizards PR staff allowed bloggers and writers to watch mini-camp practice, I had some things I expected to see.  I expected to see up and down play from John Wall;  I expected to see JaVale McGee and Hamady N’Diaye doing friendly battle in the post;  and I definitely expected to see Sam Cassell barking instructions out  because, well..that’s what’s Cassell does.

But I can honestly say that I did not expect to see Nick Young on that practice court.  Yet there he was, taking passes from Wall in stride and launching jumpers, playing pressure defense, and matching the intensity of players not guaranteed a roster spot like he seemingly is.

Young did not talk to the media after that particular practice, so it was up to Flip Saunders to shed light as to why Young was there, and whether he’d play in the summer league.

Read more »

You know Clipper Darrell, right? He’s the famed fan of the Los Angeles Clippers who, according to his website, has attended 385 straight Clipper home games. He was even once recruited by Mark Cuban to come to Dallas and become Maverick Darrell. Unfortunately for Cuban, Clipper Darrell is faithful to his team, which means, of course, he and his multi-colored suit made the short trek to Las Vegas to support the Clip Show in the 2010 NBA Summer League.