About the Summer League and Toronto Point Guards
Yet again, I decided to put my family life on the edge for basketball, like it was before with the March Madness and playoffs. I got myself enough beers, take-out phone numbers handy, paid the $15 ransom to the NBA and started getting excited.
Although strangely familiar to the game I love to love, it's difficult to call them basketball games. It's a rookie watch. I don't really care who wins and by how many points, I'm more interested in personal performances, to see what we're getting for the next season.
First game for the Raptors was against Lakers, second against Pistons.
In the first game Smush Parker looked better as our point guard then Ukic or Douby, although he screwed it up in the second game. Ukic is not an NBA point guard. Neither is Douby. Roko simply sucks and Douby hogs the ball as a wannabe Allen Iverson. He scored 21 points in the second game, but didn't bother very much with dishing the assists.
Brent Petway was channeling Pops Mensah-Bonsu in game 1, trying to prove us that D-League plays better ball than Raptors second unit. Like we didn't know it before. He didn't have very much impact in the second game, which had most of the offense going through the guards.
DeMar DeRozan looked rather good in game 1, his jumper not bad, some high-flying. Had some problems with ball in the traffic, but nothing to raise serious doubts. He really warmed up in the game 2, though, 20 points, 4 rebounds. I didn't see him as a game starter after first game, but in the second game, he got his rhythm going and might be as good as advertised. I have to see more games, to know him better.
Patrick O'Bryant is a misunderstanding. Luckily, he comes cheap. He is soft as a kitten, soft enough to make other Raptors players look like hockey thugs.
Other notable rookies:
- Detroit seems to hit a jackpot with their rookies: both Austin Daye and DeJuan Summers are simply killing it.
- Stephon Curry is a definition of a volume shooter. As Golden State Warriors seem to have more shoots available than your standard NBA team, he seems to be a good fit there.
- Tyreke Evans lives at the free throw line. He drives, drives and drives. And his impressive wingspan seems to extend from one end of the court to another.
- Brandon Jennings sucks.
- After watching (or half-watching) 8 summer league games, my huge book about C++ starts looking tempting. Basically the games are not really exciting.
After 2 games it was easy to notice, that our backup point guard position screams for an NBA worthy player. If Marcus Banks was watching these games in TV, he must have been thinking that his year was coming and he'd get some playing time. How wrong he was. Raptors offered 4 year 20 mln sheet to Jarrett Jack. Jack is a solid backup combo guard. Maybe the money is too big, but on the other hand it can put us on the safe side, if Pacers want to match the offer. They may not be able to offer him this kind of money.
Jarrett Jack as a Raptor puts Marcus Banks on the top of the LVP (Least Valuable Player) run this season. Oh, wait, wasn't he already there? Jack is also Bosh's buddy from Georgia Tech. Another move to seduce Chris in staying in Toronto?
The Cavaliers might be interested in getting Joey Graham. Seriously, is this a move to keep LeBron in Ohio? Or maybe they want to replace Bron with Joey, when he heads to New York?
Paul Millsap signed an offer sheet with Portland. If Utah Jazz doesn't match, we will have helluva of a Trail Blazers team next season.
Although strangely familiar to the game I love to love, it's difficult to call them basketball games. It's a rookie watch. I don't really care who wins and by how many points, I'm more interested in personal performances, to see what we're getting for the next season.
First game for the Raptors was against Lakers, second against Pistons.
In the first game Smush Parker looked better as our point guard then Ukic or Douby, although he screwed it up in the second game. Ukic is not an NBA point guard. Neither is Douby. Roko simply sucks and Douby hogs the ball as a wannabe Allen Iverson. He scored 21 points in the second game, but didn't bother very much with dishing the assists.
Brent Petway was channeling Pops Mensah-Bonsu in game 1, trying to prove us that D-League plays better ball than Raptors second unit. Like we didn't know it before. He didn't have very much impact in the second game, which had most of the offense going through the guards.
DeMar DeRozan looked rather good in game 1, his jumper not bad, some high-flying. Had some problems with ball in the traffic, but nothing to raise serious doubts. He really warmed up in the game 2, though, 20 points, 4 rebounds. I didn't see him as a game starter after first game, but in the second game, he got his rhythm going and might be as good as advertised. I have to see more games, to know him better.
Patrick O'Bryant is a misunderstanding. Luckily, he comes cheap. He is soft as a kitten, soft enough to make other Raptors players look like hockey thugs.
Other notable rookies:
- Detroit seems to hit a jackpot with their rookies: both Austin Daye and DeJuan Summers are simply killing it.
- Stephon Curry is a definition of a volume shooter. As Golden State Warriors seem to have more shoots available than your standard NBA team, he seems to be a good fit there.
- Tyreke Evans lives at the free throw line. He drives, drives and drives. And his impressive wingspan seems to extend from one end of the court to another.
- Brandon Jennings sucks.
- After watching (or half-watching) 8 summer league games, my huge book about C++ starts looking tempting. Basically the games are not really exciting.
After 2 games it was easy to notice, that our backup point guard position screams for an NBA worthy player. If Marcus Banks was watching these games in TV, he must have been thinking that his year was coming and he'd get some playing time. How wrong he was. Raptors offered 4 year 20 mln sheet to Jarrett Jack. Jack is a solid backup combo guard. Maybe the money is too big, but on the other hand it can put us on the safe side, if Pacers want to match the offer. They may not be able to offer him this kind of money.
Jarrett Jack as a Raptor puts Marcus Banks on the top of the LVP (Least Valuable Player) run this season. Oh, wait, wasn't he already there? Jack is also Bosh's buddy from Georgia Tech. Another move to seduce Chris in staying in Toronto?
The Cavaliers might be interested in getting Joey Graham. Seriously, is this a move to keep LeBron in Ohio? Or maybe they want to replace Bron with Joey, when he heads to New York?
Paul Millsap signed an offer sheet with Portland. If Utah Jazz doesn't match, we will have helluva of a Trail Blazers team next season.
Labels: Blazers, Brent Petway, Cavaliers, Demar DeRozan, Jarrett Jack, Joey Graham, Marcus Banks, Patrick O'Bryant, Quincy Douby, Raptors, Roko Ukic, Smush Parker, Tyreke Evans
