A Team Vegas vs Kings and More

[birdsanctuary]

I'm now back from the LV summer league, and overall I rate it a great experience. My goal was to get Devin and Pavel sign a new basketball, Devin's obviously hurt and I easily picked up Pavel's, got Benga, Darius Rice and Josh Powell too. Also put a little thanks in to the equipment manager guy for his role in punking Dirk. He really got a kick out of it cause when I went up to him I was real serious and then he started cracking up.

On the Equipment Manager Guy: Thanked him and he said "oh you saw that" like nobody knew it was even on TV and I said it was pretty funny and I downloaded it onto my computer. I asked him if Dirk got him or Fin back and he said not yet, he thinks Dirk has got somthing brewing up. I asked him how Nowitzki didn't figure it out when the kid kept bringing him more stuff and he said that's "his personality" he's kind of oblivious to things like that.

Enough with that lets talk summer league.

Watched 3 games for 10 bucks and didn't tape the Kings Mavs game, because 1 NBA tv was really anal about people in the stands with cameras and 2 figured you all would watch it on NBA tv. (Sorry if you don't have it)

Game 1: Detroit vs Celtics
Tons of Celt and motor city fans were there for this one and I've got some pretty definite news to report.
Darko This guy is done, he is absolutely horrible. Bottom line he's too slow for the NBA. He should have been dominant in this summer league, he was not. The guy had no inside game, and looked very tentative to go inside. He tried to hit some outside shots, but threw up bricks. And worst of all the guy has nothing on defense. On one play he showed no understanding of when he needed to rotate off his man and attack the offensive player driving to the basket. The celts had this guy named rickenbacher or something, but he was like a 6-10 white guy and this guy was looking like an all star against Darko. Don't be fooled by his summer league numbers, anybody 7-0 should pull down those rebounds, and on contested offensive rebounds they guy was just absoultely patetic. If we ever hear serious interest from the Mavs front office on acquiring this guy we should all have serious doubts of confidence. Darko must be the devils son and they made a deal with the dark lord himself as part of the deal for winning a championship. (See notes on Pavel below in comparision to Darko)
Al Jefferson This guy is the real deal and he might be a superstar in this league very soon. Very quick, and very strong for a player of his size. Clearly the best player between these two squads.

Game 2: Portland vs Cleveland We should all say a prayer for Nate MacMillan cause this guy is gonna have it rough for a few years in Portland. Ericka was very kind in saying that Telfair is overrated, he's a great ball handler, looks good, but that's about it. In summer league ball, he looked below average. The other kid Outlaw too, he's big and skinny, with long arms, but that's about it. I counted about 4 open outside shots where he passed it up to try to drive to the hoop, the guy showed no signs of any kind of an outside shot.

Luke Jackson I was really impressed with Luke Jackson. He had a very good out side shot, drove repeately to the basket and make fantastic passes to open teammates. He was used as a 2 guard, but he showed that he can run an offense and repeatedly he got on players who were out of position. One time in a half court set a guy got out of position and snatched up a pass meant for Jackson and he just turned to the coach and put up his hands like ???? Did Cleveland draft him? If this guy went undrafted! I am not sure what cleveland is doing with acquiring Jackson, he clearly won't play with LeBron and Larry Hughes ahead of him.

Marty Andriviscious very immature mentally and physically, basically looked like a 14 year old kid's head stuck on Shawn Bradley's body. Very skinny, and his neck was really fricking long. It looked like a freak of nature. Marty didn't play but instead dorked around like a 14 year old with two other injured teammates mostly drinking gatorate.

Game 3 Dallas vs Sacramento
DJ BengaDJ is ready to play! DJ looked great, he was most definitely the most dominantdefensive player I saw in the 3 games. What was exciting is that DJ definitely had put in some time and hard work on his body, His arms are even bigger than last year and and he's got a pretty decent offensive game now. What is most exciting is that DJ exerted confidence, he was so confident out there, you could see on his face that he knew he was the best player on the court. DJ's had some really nice moves around the basket he had a low block turn fade away, kind of a floater hook shot and he shot these with a real high percentage. DJ looks ready right now to give us significant minutes behind Damp.

Pavel Podkolzin I'm a bit concerned about Pavel and I believe he's just not ready to contribute this year. I'm sorry to say it, and I'm a bit saddened too. the good news Pavel was absolutely awesome for the first 3 minutes he played. After this he just gassed out and was totally ineffective the rest of the game, so much that he lost his cool and showed a great deal of immaturity on his part. For the first 3 minutes (keep in mind he had a much smaller defender) Pavel was great. Pavel is much better than Darko, it's not even close when Pavel was down low defending his man he has the timing to drift off his man to go in for a block, Darko on the other hand repeatedly reacted way too slow in the exact same situation. Pavel has better hands than Damp. Sorry Damp, but until you show me otherwise next year, Pavel's got you here. When Pavel has position in the low block, he was absolutely unstoppable, and he was amazingly aggressive to the basket. When he got good position and then the ball, he slammed it home, and he did this surprising quick for a man of his massive size. Pavel was boxing out his man properly every time, Pavel is definitely out of grade school and is now in my estimation in 7th grade. the bad news Pavel appears not to have his priorities set on being a NBA basketball player. Maybe he's thinking more about his family and his wife, I don't know, but he's got to put more effort into his body, and his conditioning. Pavel was quickly winded, and this squad isn't even a fraction as quick as Dirk and co. Pavel also has no definition in his arms. His arms look exactly as they did in last year's summer league pictures with Dickau. Also Pavel needs to control his emotions better. He was tired lost his coordination and a quicker man beat him repeatedly, he got no help from officials. He became really mad when taken out yelled "that's truckin bullflack" and a few minutes later he got up and stepped toward the offical and had to be pushed back by the Mavs coach, I think it was Joe Prunty. Look for this when the game is replayed on NBA tv. (Side note) when I first saw pavel he was with his wife and he gave her two gatorades and had her sit in the stands behind the wrong bench. We were sitting nearby and she was sitting by herself when this really huge guy who probably didn't smell too good sat right next too her. She was incedibly polite, I would have moved after about 3 minutes but she stayed there for about a quarter. I approached Pavel when he was with her for an autograph and he said after, so I waited. My dad and I moved behind the Mavs bench, court side and Pavel's wife gave up sitting by this guy and came our way. We had spoken to her before so we offered her a seat by us and she sat down. You should see her sitting right behind the furthest side of the scorers bench. She was very nice and said that she met pavel in siberia and was liking the Dallas area, she said she hated Vegas and it was the first summer league game she'd seen. I asked her about her family and she said that Pavel was bringing his family here but her family was to stay in Russia. She also said that Pavel left the junior russian team to come play in summer league and that he was planning on joining Kirelenko and some other guy from Russia to join the Pro Russian national team in the future. She was very nice, and I was shocked when after the game near the bus loading area I walked up to her and Pavel and told Pavel not to worry about the bad calls, and he gets pissed and says "yeah trucking CBA refs, don't know shif" I was very surprised he said this right next to her, but he did and I was surprised he was still angry. In my estimation Pavel will be a bust if he dosn't begin to work on his conditioning and improving his upperbody muscularly. Maybe it won't translate to TV but when Pavel was fresh he was really good, and was smiling and confident, when he ran out of energy from running up and down the court...he started getting angry and lost all coordination. Pavel needs to be sent to the Developmental League and then reevaluated near the end of the year. I guess this could change after the Utah summer league, but I doubt it. Pavel is just not ready in my estimation to be a serious contributer. Sorry folks, but he did show Shaqlike glimpses in the Sacramento game, it's about the first 3-4 minutes of the game.

Darius Rice how in the hell this guy didn't get drafted is a major surprise. Rice has an excellent shooting touch has an inside game, and is a scorer, when this guy gets the ball he knows how to score, and is going to make good things happen. His only knock is that he had two 3pt. shots at the end of the game to win/tie and he missed them both. Still, Rice is unselfish and fit very well into the team concept. Rice is easily quick enough to guard 3's and can probably play the 2 spot on offense, hard to believe but he's 6-10. Only JET, Dirk, Devin are better outside shooters than Rice. Compared to Fin: Rice is a better ballhandler, slightly better defender, consistent shooter (not streaky like Fin). Seems to have an instinct for loose balls and rebounds like Quis. I believe Rice will make the final roster, and he very well could be this year's undrafted steal. Both Rice and Josh Powell were leaps and bounds better than the best players I saw play on the B team: Muhammed, and Merritt. I believe these two will be invited to training camp, but unless Fin, TAW, DA, and Hendu are gone, I only see Rice, and maybe Josh Powell making this team.

Josh Powell This guy looked very good. He was a rebounding machine, and scrapped after any loose ball on the offensive end. He had a very nice inside game, and scored fairly easily once he had good positioning on the low block. He did loose effectiveness when DJ or Pavel left the game and the team went small. I liked Powell's size and he appears bigger than Hendu. Powell is basically a younger quicker, more muscular version of Hendu. Hendu is a more experienced clever ballplayer, but Powell basically looks like he could fill the role of a strong rebounding specialist. Compared to Al Jefferson, Powell was a bit slower but taller, and physically stronger. His game around the basket was very similar to Jefferson in effectiveness. I believe Josh Powell has a great chance to make the final roster.

Overall the LV summer league was a better more physical brand of basketball. I've posted about the LA summer league players for Dallas, and I feel that every member of the A team was better than the B team players. It was a tangible difference. In my estimation the best two new players were Darius Rice and Josh Powell.

[dude1394]

Thanks birdman... It's obvious the mavs need a backup to damp, it would be great if dj can be that. If not I'd like to see both he and pavel in fortworth. Pavel for sure will be there and hopefully they'll run him ragged. I don't think he's caught up to his body yet, the medical probably last year surely wasn't a help, he's what 20, so he's got a long way to go maturity wise.

[dirno2000]

Thanks for the review...can't get much more comprehensive than that.

I'd be careful judging Rice's defensive abilities...the Kings don't have an NBA caliber 3 or 4 on the summer league roster.

[V2M]

Thanks birdsanctuary... excellent work!

I hope DJ gets to be the backup center, deservingly. He has a huge upside and could be our only answer to Amare.

I'm not too concerned of Pavel yet. He probably had a bit too much of wedding food, last few weeks. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-wink.gif[/img]
He probably won't contribute this year but given that he's only 20 yrs, we can afford to give him a few years to develop into the next Shaq. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-smile.gif[/img]

I hope Powell and Rice also make the roster. We certainly could use Powell's rebounding and Rice's shooting touch.

[bcrav4]

Awesome, and postive news. I'm glad to hear about Pavel and Benga.

[SaintofKillers]

You said Powell was taller and bigger than Al Jefferson? Did he bulk up or grew a couple of inches? Maybe 6'10, 235?

[Lebanese_Fan]

[i]

Luke Jackson I was really impressed with Luke Jackson. He had a very good out side shot, drove repeately to the basket and make fantastic passes to open teammates. He was used as a 2 guard, but he showed that he can run an offense and repeatedly he got on players who were out of position. One time in a half court set a guy got out of position and snatched up a pass meant for Jackson and he just turned to the coach and put up his hands like ???? Did Cleveland draft him? If this guy went undrafted! I am not sure what cleveland is doing with acquiring Jackson, he clearly won't play with LeBron and Larry Hughes ahead of him.

They drafted him last year at number 10. They expected him to be their 3 pt specialist, but he had a back injury that didn't allow him to play the entire season. He is going to be a great player in this league. He will get enough minutes backing up 2/3 if he proves he is capable.

Thanks a lot for this detailed review.

[The Miles]

Glad to hear DJ continues to impress. 2.8 blocks per game leads the Vegas League and by a good margin as the 2nd place guy, Jason Maxiell of the Pistons, is at 1.8.

I really, really hope the Mavericks run this guy as the backup C next year, he is a favorite of mine for sure.

[kg_veteran]

Great report, birdman. Thanks!

[SlimBig]

Great report Birdman.

How was Josh Powell's jumper? Was it Ben Wallace bad/good? Some scouts think that this is what may keep him out the league.
It's funny to me when I hear scouts say that though. They act as if every guy in the NBA has a Ray Allen stroke or something.

And Rice at the two at 6-10? I want to see this guy play because that sounds to good to be true. From the descriptions that I've heard
he seems to be Donyell Marshall like and I wouldn't want Marshall playing the two-guard.


Peace

[dude1394]

I think we get pretty spoiled by how good these guys shoot, especially with how hard they usually have to work for their shots, throw up stuff with shot clocks running down etc.

I'm always really impressed by how many wide open 3pointers these guys make.

[jayC]

I am cautionally optimistic on DJ. Before last year Nellie was saying that DJ would be the mavs backup center. If he could be he would be a huge part of the solution. The mavs should still try to acquire a back up big man. Chris Andersen or Stephen Hunter could fit with in the midlevel exception.

[Mavs414]

I'm glad to hear about Pavel and Benga thanks for the report

[birdsanctuary]

Originally posted by: SaintofKillers
You said Powell was taller and bigger than Al Jefferson? Did he bulk up or grew a couple of inches? Maybe 6'10, 235?

I sat at the same level and saw both guys play that day. Jefferson plays kind of hunched over a little like Benga does. Powell stands very tall doesn't slouch. Powell looked bulkier than Jefferson. Jefferson may be taller and be a bit more explosive in his hops, but Powell gives maybe the illusion because he stands so tall on the court. Kurt Thomas is a player that comes to mind in that regard, no slouching. Hope that answers your question.

[birdsanctuary]

Originally posted by: SlimBig
Great report Birdman.

How was Josh Powell's jumper? Was it Ben Wallace bad/good? Some scouts think that this is what may keep him out the league.
It's funny to me when I hear scouts say that though. They act as if every guy in the NBA has a Ray Allen stroke or something.

And Rice at the two at 6-10? I want to see this guy play because that sounds to good to be true. From the descriptions that I've heard
he seems to be Donyell Marshall like and I wouldn't want Marshall playing the two-guard.


Peace

Powell's jumper is pretty limited. His inside game is pretty good, akin to a corliss williamson, but with legitimate nba size. He never shot anything outside of about 6 feet.

Rice is a freak of nature man, this guy is big lanky and quick, and can really shoot well. He can shoot well enough to play the 2, but he'd be limited on defense to guarding 3's. However with Jho, I could see Jho on the perimeter on D and Rice matching up with the opponent's 3.