Today had everything bad about summer league. First: The idiot behind
me would not shut up for the entire game. Second: The crying baby in
front of me was cute but only for the 10 seconds crying baby's are
cute. Not for 20 minutes. 3rd, and most importantly, the Dallas team
was poorly organized, poorly coached, with all average to bad players.
It is hard to get a sense of any of the players in a game like todays.
I was fascinated by AR today. He had one of those games where he could
not get any flow going at all. Summer league is very guard oriented and
even more so when the teams play sloppily and disorganized. He was
struggling on defense and I found one of the first plays of the game
pretty interesting. AR was guarding Greene in the srong side corner.
The ball was on the strong side wing and Greene swung under the basket
to the far wing. AR followed him but only to a point at the weak side
low block. I could see his intention was to double onto BW's guy when
the ball was fed down low. Welcome to the pros AR. The ball was quickly
swung to the weak side and Greene hit a wide open three. I thought to
myself there lies an interesting problem for AR. Guarding 3's that play
like 2's. Greene, who is not very good, seems to want to camp out on
the 3 point line all the time, as alot of 3's can do. AR likes being
near the basket to rebound and block shots. It will be interesting to
see how he adjusts and how the coaches adjust to "small ball" sort of
line ups where the 3 has a 2's skill set. I think he will be a pretty good shooter. He shoots fairly stiff legged
which leaves his three point attempts looking more thrown than shot. He
shot one with his feet on the ground and it looked quite a bit better.
The good ole "set shot".
He has really great footwork in the post. In both games he was doubled
teamed in the block and each time was able to calmly (I emphasize
calmly) get off a "good" shot using his great footwork. I like him more
today than I did yesterday. He had an off game but you could still see
the skill set. Passing, shooting, ballhandling and point forward
skills. By the way. He threw a beautiful no look pass to Wright for a
lay up in the first quarter. I am assuming you all saw it. It was the
same pass he threw yesterday the scrub missed. Last thing about AR. I
saw something in warm ups that convinced me he will be a good shooter.
He was just messing around and took a dribble to about ten feet away
and calmy threw in a little right handed jumper. I thought WOW! It
looked smooth and easy, not awkward and girlish like most guys when
they shoot with their opposite hand. Love AR. He could be something
special. It's only summer league so we will see when he faces Koby and
KG.
Marco had one of his "get everyone excited games". I enjoyed his
passing more than his shooting but I would really like to see it
against a team playing a step quicker as The Sixers played on Friday.
He has a great feel for basketball. If he can't do what he does against
quicker and stronger players I hope he can still be a potential Vinnie
Johnson type spark-plug off the bench. (anyone old enough to remember
the bad boy Pistons?)
Lou A. looked very good today. Aggressive and tough. He has some hops
and decent post moves. Who knows if he will make the Warriors but I
would guess he will be in the league.
The best play of the game was BW going up VERY high for a lay up and
then AR going up VERY high to dunk in the miss. I had a great angle for
that one. BW was about four inches higher.
BW was great. Nothing really new to report. Twice he went up for dunks
over Singleton and I could not tell if he was beating him to the rim
with his quick jump or just surprising him with his long arms. Each
time they both left the floor at the same time but BW beat him to the
rim each time.
CJ was steady as usual. I like him although again I am not sure he has the quickness to hang in the league.
One other player I saw really surprised me. (that he would be drafted
so high). DJ Augustine is too small. He is a very good basketball
player, very smart and quick. But I don't see how he is going to
survive against the Baron Davis's beating him up and the taller longer
point guards taking away his vision.
I am kinda bored sitting here in my hotel room so I may post some other stuff as it pops into my head.
See you Tuesday night around 10:30
Thanks for all the nice comments last time.
PS: AR is very tall. My daughter and I walked by him near the food line
after the game. No exaggerating with this guy. 6'10" WITH HANDLES.