NBA Blog

I took some time this weekend to watch some NBA Summer League Games, which was quite enjoyable.  True, these games are guard-dominated, and 95% of the players will be playing in Europe or the D-League, but I just enjoy watching basketball.  Here are some thoughts:

• Kevin Durant’s silky-smooth offensive game looks just as good when he shoots 5-17 as it does when he shoots 12-17.
• Rudy Gay may be poised to make the leap this year, because all the skills are there.  He doesn’t show much intensity, he just makes everything look easy and fun.  His demeanor reminds me of Carmello Anthony when ‘Melo flicks the switch on.
• The Memphis Grizzlies are going to shock some teams early by running and gunning. 
• The Celtics may actually have been lucky to trade for Ray Allen instead of Shawn Marion, because it looks like they found the bootleg version of Marion in Brandon Wallace.  Wallace is 6′10″ and oozes super-athlete out of his pores.  His body size and length even closely resembles Marion.  If he can play solid ball for the Celtics in his limited minutes this year, he could be a dominant rebounder at the small forward/power forward positions. 
• Gerald Green, on the other hand, still takes too many TERRIBLE shots.
• I really hope that Daniel Gibson did not seriously injure his ankle against Team China.  Gibson looked extremely confident in the first half of that game, and should be ready to start at the point for the Cavs next season.
• Shannon Brown is an athletic freak.  I’m looking forward to seeing what he can do when Larry Hughes goes down for an extended stretch of time this season.
• I would like to apologize to Team China for saying that the Houston Rockets’ uniforms look like theirs.  That was just wrong, the Rockets’ uniforms look MUCH worse.
• Speaking of Team China, Yi Jianlian looks pretty darn good against D-Leaguers.  He’s not dominating them like 5′6″ trainers or folding chairs, but Yi is definetly putting up a pretty good showing thus far.
• Trying to be a defensive force in a Summer League game while D-League-in-training officials are calling the game has not helped Greg Oden.  However, there have been faint glimpses of his monstrous ability, like his three point play on an offensive rebound in his first game.
• If I’m a Portland Trailblazers fan right now, I’m giddy.  The twosome of LaMarcus Aldridge and Greg Oden looks really impressive.  That team is loaded with young talent at every position.  At point guard, they have Sergio Rodriguez and Jarret Jack.  At shooting guard they have Brandon Roy.  At small forward, they have Martell Webster and Travis Outlaw.  At power forward, they have LaMarcus Aldridge and Josh McRoberts, and they’ve got Greg Oden at center.  Then they have five other players developing overseas.  In the words of my old friend Mox, ouches.

In other news, fairwell to Dan Patrick.  Patrick will be leaving ESPN Radio, and his final broadcast will be August 17. 

If you are like me, you are in full NBA mode right now.  The NFL season (and fantasy football is too far away), the MLB All Star rosters have already been set, and there is still some dead time until the game.  However, the NBA is in full off-season mode.  The Finals just ended.  I realize some of you probably did not know that, judging from the ratings.  The NBA Draft just happened, and the first rookie contract has been signed (Oden).  Free agency has kicked off, and the first major free agent has switched teams.  It has been released that Rashard Lewis has agreed to join the Orlando Magic this season for an estimated 5-year, $75 million deal.  To get this deal done, the Magic have renounced their rights to Darko Millicic, making him an unrestricted free agent.  I am intrigued to see who goes after him now.

For those of you still yearning to watch some hoops games, the NBA Vegas Summer League is set to tip off in a few days, and the Summer League rosters are beginning to trickle in.  For more information, and updates throughout the day, go here.  As usual, the Spurs are dragging their feet to post their roster.  You can already assume that Marcus Williams, James White, and Jackie Butler will be there.  The rest of the active roster will not, after all, they are the oldest team in the NBA.   Yet, I can’t help but wonder if the Spurs don’t make a push for Beno to play in order to increase his trade value.  He is in the final year of a contract, and there are too many teams in dire need for some point guard help, for Beno not to move on.  Luis Scola and Tiago Splitter have no reason to come over and play, because they continue to show what they can do against top competition in the Euroleagues.  I just wish Mahinmi had not gotten hurt.  I was really looking forward to seeing his development.  He’s a tremendous athlete for his size.

I scoured the rosters of the other teams and found a NBA HOOPS Blog favorite, Justin Williams.  You may remember some of my previous posts discussing the former Wyoming shot blocker.  Williams finally started to get minutes at the end of the season last year, and in the final 10 games of the season, he averaged a pretty impressive 9.4 points per game, 7.1 rebounds per game, and 1.0 blocks per game.  He was only getting about 20-24 minutes at that point as well.  Those figures would cause ESPN.com’s John Hollinger to jump out of his skin when getting into per-48 minute averages.  For the season, Williams only played 12.8 minutes per night, but still shot 61% from the field and put up 5.0 points per game and 4.4 rebounds per game.  The kid only played at Wyoming for three seasons, and I am not sure if he even played in high school.  At 6′9″, 211 lbs., the Kings may have something very special if they can be patient.  Hopefully, they won’t be patient enough to allow Williams to develop some more, and will let him walk away.  If you want to check out more on Williams, go to his realgm.com page here.

I will be back with more news later.