NBA Summer League in LV

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

He has a pretty good midrange shot. He is not a great long range shooter but does shoot the ball good enough to play in the NBA. Maybe not play a lot but there are a lot worse shooters in the NBA

Sure there are worse shooters in the NBA. I didnt say he is the worst shooter i have seen. I said his shot is inconsistent...hence his sub 40% from the 20 ft college three point line which would fit into the "midrange game" in the NBA.

I think we are pretty much on the same page with Buddinger. . He is too laterally immobile to guard anyone on the perimeter and too small to guard anyone in the post. If you cant guard your position, you better be able to at least shoot. He shoots inconsistently and can't shoot for range. They don't pay midrange NBA shooters that cant get their own shot and can't play defense. There are a 100 guys every year that come out and fit those qualifications.

So what would his role be? You got it. He would be a faster, higher leaping adam morrison...that doesnt shoot it nearly as well.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by dalakhani

Sure there are worse shooters in the NBA. I didnt say he is the worst shooter i have seen. I said his shot is inconsistent...hence his sub 40% from the 20 ft college three point line which would fit into the "midrange game" in the NBA.

I think we are pretty much on the same page with Buddinger. . He is too laterally immobile to guard anyone on the perimeter and too small to guard anyone in the post. If you cant guard your position, you better be able to at least shoot. He shoots inconsistently and can't shoot for range. They don't pay midrange NBA shooters that cant get their own shot and can't play defense. There are a 100 guys every year that come out and fit those qualifications.

So what would his role be? You got it. He would be a faster, higher leaping adam morrison...that doesnt shoot it nearly as well.

He is a 10th or 11th man who you pay a touch over minimum, plays 5 or 6 minutes a game, usually padded by blowout minutes, who will play hard and wont bitch at the DNP-CD's.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

He is a 10th or 11th man who you pay a touch over minimum, plays 5 or 6 minutes a game, usually padded by blowout minutes, who will play hard and wont bitch at the DNP-CD's.

If he is lucky enough to find a coach/gm that likes him. Sure. he could do that. So could 100 other guys that are in the d league or overseas.

[Cannon Shell]

Originally Posted by dalakhani

If he is lucky enough to find a coach/gm that likes him. Sure. he could do that. So could 100 other guys that are in the d league or overseas.

Not exactly. Finding a good 10-12th is not easy as it seems because they are the guys that you arent paying to play, you are paying them not to play. Very few even semi-talented guys accept that role well. He is talented enough to improve enough to perhaps play limited regular minutes and probably smart enough to accept that role. He is a pretty good athlete and does shoot enough to make him an asset at a low price. Not a valuable asset but an asset. The D-League is full of malcontents and europlayers are too expensive.

[dalakhani]

Originally Posted by Cannon Shell

Not exactly. Finding a good 10-12th is not easy as it seems because they are the guys that you arent paying to play, you are paying them not to play. Very few even semi-talented guys accept that role well. He is talented enough to improve enough to perhaps play limited regular minutes and probably smart enough to accept that role. He is a pretty good athlete and does shoot enough to make him an asset at a low price. Not a valuable asset but an asset. The D-League is full of malcontents and europlayers are too expensive.

The guys you are talking about usually have a defined role though. Maybe they can play 5-6 minutes of aggressive defense. Maybe they are 7 ft and can give you a couple of fouls or merely be another big body for practice. Maybe its an aging guard that is a good influence on the younger players.

If it is a young guy, like buddinger, he better be someone that has a role he can fit into already for spot minutes or you see light at the end of the tunnel and you think he has talent to develop in a year or two into someone that can play decent minutes. Or he lucks out and finds a coach that just likes him.

Buddinger can't shoot well enough where you would overlook his defensive issues and he cant get his own shot well enough to offset his inconsistency from range. So what does he have to contribute? What similar player can you think of that was successful?

[King Glorious]

This kind of gets back to the whole argument about contested shots versus open shots but with Buddinger, he was one of Arizona's key offensive guys. Defenses paid a lot more attention to him than they will in the NBA and he didn't get the same kind of shots that he will in the NBA. It's not uncommon to see guys that are good shooters to have their percentage go up a little in the NBA because the defense won't be keying on him and he'll get more open looks. Buddinger has played within the offense so far and has taken good shots. In three games, he's 19-30 from the field and 3-6 on three point shots.

Jordan Hill looks like he'll do really well. He absolutely killed Thabeet. Thabeet had no answers for Hill in the post. He got great position and has a real nice turnaround/fallaway. The thing I liked was that he made quick decisions. He didn't shoot so well overall but he got good shots and looked comfortable and he's got some athleticsm. He'll be fine.

[King Glorious]

7/14
NY
I like Jordan Hill. Nice post up game and good athletic ability. Gets good shots. Dominated Thabeet inside and has a decent face up game. Needs some obvious size but he'll be ok in the league. Toney Douglas couldn't throw it in the ocean but I like the way he attacked and led the offense. Looked comfortable out there and his shot will come. Hill had 13-8 (6-14 shooting) and Douglas only had eight but had 11 assists. Shot only 2-13 and 1-4 on 3s.

Memphis
As mentioned Thabeet was dominated by the smaller Hill. He did show a flash of offensive potential with a nice jump hook. Nice rhythm but much too little from him. Totally disappears from the offense. Not agressive enough asking for the ball and not a real factor on the offensive glass. Very disappointing performance. Finished with 6-6 and one block. Marcus Williams wasn't as dazzling as the previous game but was solid with 16 and five assists. Still can't shoot (5-15) but was good at getting into the lane and getting shots. Darrell Arthur was the star for the Grizzlies. He was efficient from the field (8-15) and very aggressive with 22 and six boards.

Washington
The established players (Nick Young and Andre Blatche) dominated as expected. Watched Alade Aminu and Tyrese Rice. Not too impressed with either. Aminu was a total non-factor. He scored four and had one board. Rice was a little better with 11 points on 4-9 shooting but didn't shoot the three well (1-4) and for a six-foot point guard, didn't pass too well (one assist).

Cleveland
Danny Green is still going backwards. Off the strong debut, he's not doing much else. He was 0-5 last night and scored only four points. Played decent defense though and that's going to be what gets him in the rotation if he gets there.

Golden State
Anthony Randolph continues to impress. He has the makings to one day be an all-star. He's tall and lanky and reminds you a lot of Lamar Odom. He can rebound and play defense and he can take the ball up the floor. He's a matchup nightmare. He completely dominated again with 42 more points. Didn't offer much on the glass here but you didn't notice it. It's like the lightbulb went off in his head and he sees how good he can be. Stephen Curry continues to struggle hitting shots. He was only 3-15 last night and missed all four threes. On the good side, he continues to show that he can play point guard. He's an excellent passer and his teammates are getting used to his passes. He passes a lot off the dribble and catches people off guard but it's getting better.

Chicago
James Johnson showed a lot of people that he can play. I was very surprised. I thought he had talent but he's better than I thought. He is physically tough and very good at getting the shot he wants. Shot very well from the field (9-13) and even showed a little more range than expected. Finished with 21-8. Taj Gibson was as expected. He's a hard worker on the glass and not too bad on the offensive end. Ran the court pretty well and played solid defense. Finished with 14-12 on 5-11 shooting.

Oklahoma City
James Harden decided to show up last night. Much, much better than his opening game and he looked like he might prove me wrong. Finished with 23-5-5 and shot 9-14 from the field and added a couple of threes. The thing is that he looked like the only pro on the court. Plays with a lot of confidence. Shaun Livingston was also better with 8-4 assists. Might make the team as the backup to Westbrook. BJ Mullen was also much improved. He was much more assertive inside and on the glass. Finished with 10-5 and looks like he could give them some minutes at the center spot this season.

Denver
The debut of Ty Lawson didn't go so well. He's playing with an absolutely horrible team but he didn't look too good. Missed all seven of his shots and only had three assists. The assist numbers can be excused a little cause he plays with guys that can't shoot. But you don't like that he didn't make a shot. Did get to the line eight times and made all eight. He just looked tentative out there. Like he wanted to try to take over but didn't want to step on toes. I expect next game, he takes over more.

SA
Dejuan Blair didn't play and Jack McClinton looked like he didn't either. Nothing to report here.

LA Clippers
Blake Griffin came back down to earth. Still solid but just not spectacular. He scored fine (16 on 7-11 shooting) and added nine rebounds. Struggled again at the line. Even banked one in. With a guy that's going to get fouled a lot, that's a concern at this point. What was most impressive with him tonight was his passing. It's a very underrated part of his game and he's VERY good at it. Continues to show surprising ball handling ability for a guy his size and he easily could have had more than the five assists he was credited with.

New Orleans
Once again, I was impressed with Darren Collison. I just didn't expect this from him. Scored 23 more points and added four assists. Plays with control and takes good shots. Knows he's not a 3pt shooter so doesn't take them. You forget he's so small at times because he has a presence. Marcus Thornton was also solid again. He finished with 19 on 8-17 shooting (3-6 on 3s). Didn't add much else though. Didn't hit the boards and is not a willing passer. But he can get you buckets and that's what the Hornets need is someone else they can go to that can get buckets on their own. Julian Wright was so-so. You'd like to see him take the step that Randolph has taken in Golden St. but it's not there. He played ok but you want a little more than ok at this stage. He's getting by on talent, not on knowing how to play the game.