Summer League Team : Russell smooth 21 (1-4)

I don't know what the hell he was thinking drawing up that last play but that was horrible.

 

No... that just what they would be looking for. Stanford Grads are way to smart for that.

 

i think it's safe to say madsen won't be up for a head coaching job anytime soon

wow that last play was brutal. did he think kobe was playing?

 

Apparently our coach madsen was using summer league to shake the rust off as well

 

Randle playing well is a win to me, and D'AR had some good moments, and solid defense. But in all honesty the refs in this game were horrible! Some of the calls were favoring the mavs big time. So many times JR or JB would get hammered and the refs didn't call, but one slight body up on the other side was whistled every time.

 

I'm encouraged. Very encouraged.

 

Madsen should be terminated for that last play he drew up. I don't care if it's summer league lmao.

 

What this group is missing is consistent knockdown shooters. They do a great job of drawing defenders toward them. Help is on the way in Kobe, Lou and Swaggy. I'm encouraged.

 

That's..... uhhh..... an.....umm......"interesting" theory. And with your avi I would expect nothing less....

 

Yeah I commented while watching the game that they thought they were real comedians. Annoying voice on the one guy.

 

I haven't posted in here, so I'll comment on the Dallas game but I want to drop my overall impressions from Sunmer League.

Of course I have to start with Randle and show him some love for finally having a decent game. When his jumper is falling like that, he's going to be a pain to guard for most PF's, because we already know he'll smoke them off the dribble if they start playing him close on the perimeter to stop the jumper. Overall I still have a lot of concerns. When his J isn't on fire, he's way too predictable. Hopefully he finds a few go-to moves in the post and off the ball, or else he's going to be a charge and turnover magnet trying to barrel his way to the rim constantly. His defense leaves a lot to be desired. He doesn't effectively contest shots inside or out. The 1 bright spot on D is his quick feet. He rotates very well, if he can learn to follow that up with smart plays on the ball and good contests, he could be an excellent help defender. Rebounding is also an area of concern. 20 MPG obviously isn't going to yield double digit boards, but 3.7 is just sad. To put it in perspective, Nance, a SF, is equaling JR's RPG in the same 20 MPG. Tarik is pulling down 7 boards in just 2 more minutes. He needs to work on this more than anything imo, the defense might not hurt us as much with Hibbert inside, but we can't have 2 starting bigs that can't rebound. Looking forward to seeing how much he can improve this year.

Russell. His play hasn't looked bad, while his numbers haven't been that impressive but with that said, the kid just seems to have IT. I can't pinpoint exactly what makes me feel like he's going to be a star, I guess that's why it's just called "it".

Clarkson. What can I say that isn't obvious to anyone watching him. Best player on the floor for us every game. If Kobe isn't better than he was last season, I could see JC also being the best player on the floor during the season. 1 thing I'd love to see him do is become a defensive stopper. I want to see him play heavy minutes in a significant role to develop him as quickly as possible, and I think defense is the best way for him to steal minutes from the other Guards. They can all score and Kobe/Russ can pass, but none of them are above average defenders.

Tarik. He's been our best big in the SL overall. I don't have any delusions of him becoming an allstar, but his rebounding and toughness is going to be much needed with our roster as it currently stands.

Nance. I don't know if I'd say Mitch got another steal, as #27 isn't an extremely late pick where you expect a bust. That said, arotation player at 27 is certainly a pick well spent, and I fully expect Larry to find his way into the rotation. Like Tarik, I think he brings a lot that our feature players don't, and as a result should be a great fit.

Upshaw. Nearly 4 blocks PER48 as advertised. Loved the block party on Towns, you can tell he's a competitor. Nothing to write home about outside of that, but I expect him to improve in other areas as the season progresses and he plays himself into shape. As long as he keeps his head on straight, at the very least he should put an end to the Sacre era.

J. Brown. Either he got a lot better since last season or he's just really good at scoring on Summer Leaguers. I'm hoping it's the former, obviously. Going to be tough for him to get minutes unless we run 4 Guards, but there's no such thing as too many talented played.

A. Brown. Hasn't been especially impressive, but he atleast shows some promise to be a 3&D SF, which is something we badly need.

Miscellaneous notes on players from other teams:

Am I the only 1 that thinks Okafor is already severely overrated/tired of reading that we should have taken him over Russell? Everyone and their mother projected him to be able to be able to contribute right away with his post play. The question was and still is will he be above average at anything else? I projected Greg Monroe 2.0 and that's exactly what I see. No defense. Glued to the floor, which lead to his shot getting blocked 5X the other night against the Knicks. No. Thank. You.

Speaking of shots getting blocked, WCS has looked much better than I expected. If he carries this over to the regular season, Sac is going to be kicking themselves for tying up $ in Koufos. If they like Kosta too, it could even lead to them coming off their unrealistic asking price for Cousins. Interesting situation brewing.

Looks like a lot of posters here were right on the money with our SF wish list before we got the #2/if we traded down. Stanley Johnson looks like an absolute stud.

The gameday chat during the draft was full of disappointment when Justin Anderson came off the board. To make it worse we were teased with the idea that we could steal him for Lin. Now he caps off an impressive SL with a good game against us including that block on Tarik. I'm beyond happy with our offseason, but jeez that fairytale Lin for Anderson swap would have been some sweet icing on that cake.

 

Man, if only Justin Anderson landed to us or we were able to get in via that Lin S&T.

He looked really good out there.

 

He looks fantastic.

 

It seems like Russell pulls off at least one elite play a game.