B-Team VS Miami 7-11

[birdsanctuary]

Sorry about the delay but got back home at 8 PM tonight and my kid had diareah pretty much the whole second half of the trip back.. man that sucked.

Visited relatives in LA over the weekend and was able to drop in and check out the B team versus Miami. I was also able to video tape highlights from the game and got a number of good footage of the 4 Mavs mentioned below. I'm heading out tomorrow to LV to catch the game vs Sac on Friday.. but I'd love to get the clips online.. any help would be greatly appreciated.

Overall Impressions of LA summer league
This was my first time to a summer league game and I was pretty impressed with the ease at which fans can get access to the players. 12 bucks pretty much got me a seat anywhere in the arena except the floor level. I was able to catch the last quarter of LA vs Toronto and the first half of the Mavs B vs Miami. My wife got a bit ancy and wanted to eat dinner early and since the games all ran late, I missed the second half, but it couldn't have been any worse than the first half. First of all I thought they should change the name from LA Pro Summer league to the LA Summer Brick Laying convention, because virtually no one could hit the 7 to 20 foot jumper. Got to see the big names... Riley and Pfund were there sitting by Fratello on the other side of the arena scooping the game was Carlisimo and Pops. $hip even Dwane frickin' Wade made an appearance before the game.

(I want to preface this by saying that I have not read any other comments posted at Dallas-mavs.com or even the box score for this game... don't want to be influenced)

What I saw:

In the Laker Toronto game the only three players stood out and they were Sasha Vukovich that high school kid they drafted and some big white guy from Toronto named Euro Bla (Euros Slokar)or something like that. The guy from Toronto looked like a poor mans Raef La Frenz, he was a bit slow with NBA size and a pretty good 3 point shot.

Lakers:
Sasha Vukovich(Vujacic)- This guy really impressed me, he looked very comfortable at the point guard role and had a pure shooting touch. They guy made virtually every shot in the 4th quarter.. which didn't mean much given the fact that the Lakers were way up on Tor. His quickness was above average and he very good at getting the ball into the block, which he did to the high school kid. He looked a little lazy on defense but he has quick hands and it seemed to balance things out. When this guy is ready...he looks like he's got the confidence now, LA could have a pretty potent backcourt with he and Kobe. Sasha wasn't shy about shooting the ball so I'm not totally convinced he's a good mix in LA with Mr. Bryant and his 30 plus shots per night. Clearly the best player on the court period... no one better from Toronto.

Andrew Bynum
aka the big high school kid. Not too woried about this one. For those that remember he looks just like Duane Causwell. Something was a bit weird about his head, like not proportionately sized to his body. He had pretty good hands and above average footwork for a kid that young, and he was willing to bang in the low post. Still he had only one move kind of a lame fade away shot which wasn't very effective. Still he held his own on the block. His upper body needs a lot of work...it's much smaller than his lower body, probably because he's still growing. This guy's 3 years away and for a 7-1 center he didn't appear that much larger than some of the defenders Toronto was putting on him. Still the LA fans were going ape shit every time he got the ball and he clearly was trying to work the 2 man game with Vukovich. The LA times had a brief article with Shaq's comments on Bynum..

"There was other talk of the future from O'Neal, specifically about Andrew Bynum, the Lakers' first-round selection in last month's draft. Bynum, 17, invited a comparison to O'Neal on draft day, with one exception — he makes his free throws, he said.

Tell him Shaq doesn't respond to juvenile delinquents without a college degree," O'Neal said. "Tell him to get his degree and we can talk. In the meantime, he should call me Dr. Shaq because I'm working on my PhD." [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]
Link to LA Times article

Ok Now to what you've been waiting for:

Maverick Standouts: Only 4 players stood out to me as someone to take notice from the Mavs B team. All in all most looked pretty bad.

Scott Meritt I was very impressed with this guy's seriousness during the warm ups. There were a couple of fools one was a #40 (played the point about 6-3) and he absolutely sucked, and Keith Langford who were acting all stupid during the warm ups laughing and dancing around. Not Meritt his seriousness was very tangible. The guy was very good in the post and appeared very comfortable there. There were a lot of big guys in the game and Meritt didn't look particulary tall, but he had muscular arms and had above average quickness for a guy supposedly 6-10. He was very good on the offensive end going after rebounds and he easily had the speed to defend his man. He also has a very quick first move to the basket. NBA comparision Horry-Jaimison (Body type like a Robert Horry, but the game more like Antawn Jamison). This guy is non existant outside of 10 feet.

Sung-Yoon BangHoly crap Mav fans would shit if they saw this guy. Bang's got long hair down to his shoulders kind of poofy on top and looked more like one of those Asian rockers than a basketball player. When his warm up Tee came off I was shocked to see the guys biceps they pretty big, not at all what I expected. The guy looked like a rock, solid legs big arms. Bang can shoot and definitely has an NBA three point shot. During warm ups he made like 5 3's in a row and then walks over to Larry Bird behind the basket territory and rains one in. His shooting came back to reality when defended though. Bang pretty much hung out on the perimeter and at first I thought he was just a 3 point specialist, but they ran a couple of screens off the high post and he showed the ability to penetrate quickly and pass well. Man this guy had good hands. Bang can pass, and he was very unselfish especially given the pitiful shooting ability of those around him. He got a couple of assists to guys in the 17-20 foot range for open jumpers. One dude shot a wide open airball. Bang made one play that drew a lot of oohs and ahhs from the audience and I got it on tape. I had to watch it over and over to see what really happened, because at the time it one of those "what the hell, what just happened moments." Bang came around a pick high in the key with the ball and drove down the lane toward the basket two defenders rolled onto him and he jumps and brings the ball up to his left shoulder still facing the basket. Somehow he pops the ball backwards to a trailing Erick Chenowith who makes a wide open sick dunk. I watched it again to see if it was somehow deflected, but the defender Matt Walsh's hands are away from the ball. When Bang was in a backcourt with David Logan the mavs backcourt was pretty strong on defense forcing two 24 second shot clock violations. Bang is a running machine and didn't even look winded after about 3 minutes of racing around on defense trying to pick up the open man with the ball on the perimeter. Matt Walsh on the Miami team who is taller still had no problem shooting over Bang...at 6-5 he may be too small to be an effective 2 guard in the NBA. NBA Comparision= Rafer Alston?

Ismail Muhammed This guy played way bigger than his listing of 6-6. I think it was because of his serious hops. This guy could really jump, and I got a very powerful dunk on tape from the warm ups. He does this 360 windmill jam during the warm up and you never see it coming. Muhammed was very active on the offensive and defensive boards. He did a great job of boxing out his opponents and getting the rebounds. One one play he gets the ball right under the basket goes up, gets clobbered by two defenders and still gets his own rebound he goes up again gets fouled misses the shot and makes both free throws. Muhammed looks like he could come in and contribute at the 3 spot for the Mavs right now behind Jho. I think he can defend the bigger small forwards with his strength (muscular dude) and can be quick enough to guard any swingmen. Muhammed appears more comfortable getting down under the basket and scrapping with the big guys. He appears to be an above average freethrow shooter, but one can never tell. NBA Comparison= Josh Smith (That dunker in Atlanta)

David Logan Logan reminded me very much of Avery himself. Very quick, very small. Logan may have a step up on Avery in that he might have a better outside shot at this point in his career. Logan definitely has an NBA 3 point shot with deep range. Logan has average passing ability for a point guard, and I didn't see much penetration and dishing from Logan. I dont' blame him because he was clearly the smallest guy out there from both teams. Mostly he ran picks off the wing and would dish it to big guys or pop out for a shot on the perimeter. Logan has quick hands and appears to be an average to above average defender. NBA Comparision - Avery Johnson-Damon Stodimire (looked like a pee wee version of Stodimire tattos and all)

Beyond these 5 nobody really struck me as being very good. Erick Chenowith looked like a big stiff, but did have good NBA size and good hook shot in the low post. Still he was a below average rebounder for a guy that big so I wouldn't expect him to get an invite to training camp. Edit: Ryan Kelley got a good deal of playing time, and looked to have NBA size at the 2 spot, but he didn't really take any outside shots and looks too slow and short to defend the big 3's in the league. He looked a bit tentative at times, still they gave him the starting spot, I still would take Muhammed over him any day especially given the lack of a true 3's behind Josh Howard at the moment, muhammed is definitely a small forward, and would be limited to that role.

For Miami Wayne Simien was clearly the best player out there for either team. The guy had big arms (ala karl malone) and had a nice short range jumper. Matt Walsh G from Floriday (I think that's his name) was a pretty good shooter and was very tall and lanky for a two guard. Walsh looked like the love child of Doug Christie and Mike Bibby with his bald head and headband. Still a pretty good shooter reminded me of Rex Chapman without hair.

Edit: Link to the Box Score for Miami Vs Dallas 7-11
Note: Check out Muhammed's 6 steals in 27 minutes on 7 of 10 shooting, of course most were dunks... still impressive

Hope that gets your Maverick blood flowing for this summer and I will give you another report on Las Vegas.

Las Vegas Goal: Get Pavel and Devin to sign my basketball!

[EricaLubarsky]

Thanks much for the synopsis. The B team doesnt interest me so much, but its always nice to hear about the Mavs squad. If I remember correctly Merrit was on the squad last year and did a nice job then too.

[G-Man]

Erica. Did you get your car fixed, or see another summer league game?

[EricaLubarsky]

got it fixed friday night. I was waiting at the garage or I would have seen another.

[bobatundi]

Didn't know we'd picked up Muhammad. That guy was a defensive force at Georgia Tech...tremendous athlete, great defender on the ball, and all about the highlight reel dunk. I'd love to see him make the squad, he could be a great energy/athleticism/defense guy off the bench. Gotta love the Mavs' strategy of going for guys who played four years in a major conference and giving them a shot.

Here's Muhammad's college bio:

Ismail Muhammad Player Profile

[cripple balls]

Here's Muhammad's college bio:

Nice. I like what Avery is doing.

[DJ Mavs Fan]

Nice job Birdie...give us a nice evaluation when you are in Vegas..I can simpthize with you..I had a child who was like that when we traveled too...Yuk man..poor kid..Go Benga...Take a good look at Josh Powell for us...

[Mavs414]

Ismail Muhammed looks like a really good player i would love for him to make the squad and thanks for his bio

[Big Boy Laroux]

Let me preface this by saying i watch a lot of ACC games...

if muhammad had an outside shot, then i'd be interested. i'd compare him to freddie jones (inidiana, played college ball at oregon). great leaper. jones developed that outside shot. we'll see if muhammad can.

but damn can he jump. and a pretty good defender.

thanks for the recap of what you saw!

but no one has highlighted the most important part. ERIC CHENOWITH is actually still playing basketball!

[Nash13]

BBL, if you've ever visited NC, we eat, sleep, breath, and crap ACC. Trust me when i say this people, Muhammad is a huge liability on offense. His skills are extremely limited, that's why he didn't get drafted. He'd at best make it to training camp, but highly doubt he's capable of even making Avery's team.

[GP]

Just how good of a defender is this guy? If he has the capacity to be a stopper then the Mavs have got to keep him or attain his rights and send him to the NBDL. Who cares if he can shoot? This team is loaded with scorers anyway. What this team needs is a guy that you can put the clamps on somebody who is having a career night.

Oh, if the Mavs can't coach a guy like this up then why in hell do they have 500 coaches?

[cripple balls]

The idea is to fill out the bench with young athletic defenders. I like the potential of the guys they're bringing in.

[Big Boy Laroux]

I'm with Nash13, I don't think he's a good enough defender to afford going 4-on-5 on the offensive end.

[SlimBig]

Originally posted by: Big Boy Laroux
I'm with Nash13, I don't think he's a good enough defender to afford going 4-on-5 on the offensive end.

No doubt, I'm here in Atlanta so I saw a lot of him. Tremendous athlete with hops out of this world. His defense is suspect and his offense is nothing but putback dunks and fastbreak highlight reel dunks.

If he worked on his handles, D and jumper, maybe I'd be interested. But according to that report, it seems like he has the same mindset, crashing the boards so he can get that highlight reel put back dunk.


Peace

[green14552]

well, birdsanctuary, is there any more you can give us about David Logan...I read on an LA board from a guy who was watching him play against the Lakers that he was a serious baller...said he moved a lot like Iverson on the court...
and the Korean Jordan's box scores haven't looked that great, but you can tell a lot more when you see people play...was glad to hear about him...thanks for the report