Summer League 09

[tobiazz]

I still think the Suns are JC's baby and it hurts him to see want has happened. I don't think JC wanted for the Suns what happened to the Diamondbacks after he left. I really think JC thought Sarver had his heart in the right place. It would be great to see BC return as GM as well.

According to this, Colangelo didn't sound too happy about what has happened to his old team:

http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/13569440

 

[Mainstreet]

According to this, Colangelo didn't sound too happy about what has happened to his old team:

http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/13569440

Absolutely. As I read it, JC is clearly laying the transition and turmoil surrounding the Suns squarely at the feet of Sarver and Kerr. I think the comment below is very telling. JC was always so open in dealing with the fans about the franchise. Now most of the fans do not know which way the Suns are headed. Good article by Ken Berger of CBS Sports.

"That’s a hard thing to swallow after giving birth to the franchise and being so intimately involved in it after 40 years," Colangelo said. "There’s turmoil right now. There’s transition. There’s a lot of rumors and speculation regarding a coaching change and trades. For certain, because of the age of the players, there’s instability right now. A lot of things could happen in all of those areas. The only two people who can really comment and say something constructive about it are (managing partner) Robert Sarver and Steve Kerr. There’s a lot of stuff circulating and it appears there could be some things happening."

 

[tobiazz]

Final game starts w/ Clark hitting a long J in Blake's face
Then DeAndre Jordan got back and dunked before Lopez :-(
Then DeAndre gets a sick oop from Blake.
Then DeAndre gets a massive rejection on Dragic. Damn.
Then Lopez tries to score on Blake. You can guess the outcome.
Dragic just made a tough layup and one.
Then Clark snags it from Blake and then scored inside. Loving it.
Clark w/ another steal and then nice pass for score.
Lopez blocked Griffin after he faked out Clark.
Lopez alters a Griffin shot then gets jammed on by DeAndre.
Dragic tricks DeAndre into foul.
... scrubs in for rest of 1st Q

Clark strips Blake but gets foul.
Clark tries to drive on Blake and shot comes up way short.
Dragic high oop to Lopez
Lopez: block w/ foul
Dragic getting too fancy
Clark steal to Lopez
Clark pulls up and swishes on Griffin.
Blake oop broken up by Clark.
(Best game of the summer league so far)
(Missed a play: Clark stuffed Griffin on jump shot)
Griffin scores on Lopez then blocks Lopez.
Downs bombs a pretty three.
Clark a long two. His shot is so smooth.
Clark misses half court 3.
(... end of half. Dragic leads w/ 11pts)

Clark: lucky bounce on shot.
Taylor fails on reverse layup.
Nick Cater-Medley(?) stuffs Clark dunk :-\
Dragic low post turn around off the glass.
DeAndre tips in over Lopez.
Clark getting sloppier.
Dragic pass to Lopez in the lane for a tomahawk from further than I thought he could jump!
Dragic gets two defenders in the air and then makes the soft pirouette finger roll.
Griffin does the dunk Lopez just did, but better.
(... scrubs for rest of 3rd Q)

DeAndre Jordan gets ejected for swearing or something. I think Berzins flummoxed him.
Lopez a fair inside shot.
Lopez blocks Blake.
Dragic throws big oop to Taylor but Taylor muffs the dunk.
Blake blocks Lopez.
Clark almost hits another J on Griffin but does draw foul.
Dragic with the spin and layup.
Griffin backed down Clark and got a nice assist.
Clark drives and draws a foul. Probably a good block by Griffin though.
Dragic burns his guy on the baseline and jams w/ 2 hands.
(The feed is jumping around so much I can't really tell what is happening)
Lopez can't handle Dragic pass.
Lopez has long two goal-tended to end game.
(Gave Over)

(Blake is a 6'8" Tim Duncan or skinnier Karl Malone. I think you would have to trade an uninjured Amare for him.)

Goran looked much better today 21 and 7

Lopez did some great things but also showed his athletic shortcomings. I think he will probably play more minutes than Frye unless his offense proves too pathetic. It may still be too bad for another year.

Clark finally started taking it to the hoop with mixed results. Overall he is oozing potential but you never know. He still reminds me of a young Horry. Great athlete but not able to make full use of it. He will be better than Diaw because he will have better range and rebounding.

I would like to see them keep Downs around but they seemed to give Taylor more minutes. Taylor has some great attributes but he can't put the ball in the hole enough. Downs seems like a player that would have fit well on the 1992 Suns. He reminds me of an interpolation between Ainge and Dumas if you can imagine that.

I wasn't going to note all those plays but the game started off very exciting and stayed that way for most of it.

Box score will be here:
http://www.nba.com/summerleague2009/scoreboard.jsp?date=07/19/2009

 

[elindholm]

Thanks for the write-up, tobiazz!

 

[hafey]

According to this, Colangelo didn't sound too happy about what has happened to his old team:

http://ken-berger.blogs.cbssports.com/mcc/blogs/entry/11838893/13569440

That blog post is from February 13th....

 

[tobiazz]

That blog post is from February 13th....

That is why I used the past tense. I doubt anything has happened since then that has made Colangelo think the situation has improved.

 

[Mainstreet]

Again thanks for the write-up Tobiazz. You went above and beyond.

 

[tobiazz]

Done editing game summary above.

 

[Russ Smith]

Lopez has looked like the same guy he was at Stanford, goes for the block too much instead of denying position to his man. And on offense he doesn't actually shoot the ball he just throws it in the direction of the rim. It always surprised me how different he and Brook were in that regard, Brook is a VERY good shooter, and Robin can't shoot a lick.

Robin will hang around the league, at that size with athleticism teams will be willing to wait on him to develop but I don't think he'll ever be a good offensive player he has zero touch.

 

[Brianellsworth]

Tobiazz does your signature really have to be that long? It's a little annoying reading a page where half of the page is just your signature over and over.

 

[carey]

Turn signatures off?

 

[mojorizen7]

Who cares? Complaining about excessive scrolling.....?
The guy takes the time to post a summer league game play-by-play and you're whining about his sig?
You're fired.
















































how do ya like me now?

 

[Brianellsworth]

Turn signatures off?

I'm nnot saying I want them turned off but you have to admit that tobiazz's signature is a little bit extreme

 

[Brianellsworth]

I never said anything about his write up so chill out

I just don't think the purpose of a signature is to give an analysis of every player in the summer league but that's JMHO like it or not

 

[mojorizen7]

I need said anything about his write up so chill the f down. Go drink a beer or something

Are you buying?
They're selling a sense of humor at the thrift store....it's on me.

 

[Brianellsworth]

Are you buying?
They're selling a sense of humor at the thrift store....it's on me.

I'll buy.....a 12 pack of natural light.

 

[elindholm]

Oh yeah? Well the jerk store called, and they're all out of you!

 

[mojorizen7]

Oh yeah? Well the jerk store called, and they're all out of you!

Nice...

You must be registered for see images attach

 

[mojorizen7]

I'll buy.....a 12 pack of natural light.

What the heck, I'll take a 12 pk of Steinshluginyourgut. Time$ are tough i know....

Somebody take this thread back please....

 

[binkar]

Somebody take this thread back please....

Gotcha...

I was really impressed the way this team bounced back tonight. Aside from the 6 turnovers, Dragic looked really impressive. He made some very athletic moves and was finishing well. I love to see point guards dunk for some reason and Dragic had a pretty nice one today.

Clarks defense is exceptional. He literally has the ability to be one of the best defenders in the game. His length and athleticism was giving Blake Griffin fits in the first half. My only complaint about Clark is that I wish he was more aggressive in taking the ball to the hole (as has been mentioned before). He has long and quick first step that can get him by anybody. If he gets the guts to take it hard to the hole and can couple that with his high release point shot, he could virtually be unguardable.

Lopez was just Lopez tonight. Had some incredible blocks, some nice finishes, some terrible shots, and was completely out of position at times. If he can get the mental side of the game down he will be perfect here. But as David Thorpe says, the mental side is often harder at this point than the physical side.

Taylor Griffin is all over the place for me. He rebounded better tonight (6) and defended well, but once again struggled to shoot the ball well and finish at the rim. I am not too concerned with his shot because he has a decent stroke and he is an extremely hard worker so that will improve. He has to continue to learn how to translate his athleticism to the game. His takes a quick first step to get the defender off balance and then rises up for a jump shot (often missing it this week). I just want to see him try to take the ball to hard to the hole and use his great strength and athleticism to either finish at the rim or get to the free throw line. I see him developing into a nice role player eventually, but he still has to learn how to be better perimeter player.

My feelings on Downs are the same. I really like some of the things he brings to the table with his ability to finish in trasition, length, solid defense, and ability to hit the 3. I hope somehow we can keep him under wraps because he could develop into a player that could really fit this system.

Thats all I got. Sorry to repeat myself often.

 

[Griffin]

Lopez ended up averaging 11.8 ppg, 6.6 rpg in 25.4 mpg this summer. For comparison, last summer as a rookie he averaged 14.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg in 28 mpg. Is he regressing? These averages may not mean much, but I did not notice any significant improvement from him in any area.

Dragic played well the last few games. With him it's all about confidence. If he has confidence, he can be productive.

I've liked what I've seen from Clark so far. Just as long as he doesn't settle for the outside shot too much. He only shot 38%. He did lead all summer Suns in rebounding at 7.0 per game.

I didn't really like anyone else on this roster. Downs had one good game, but that's all. Dowdell shoots too much, and doesn't seem to have any more skill than the countless other backup point guards that have come through here in recent years. Griffin couldn't find his stroke (31%). None of these players should make our roster this year.

 

[AfroSuns]

Thanks Tobiazz for that write up.

Dragic played really well today. 21pts, 5 reb and 7 Ast. Plus the dude can dunk. Not bad at all. Hope he gets the needed confidence boost at summer camp.

 

[cly2tw]

very impressed with Dragic's vision. Griffin and Lopez wasted two great passes when Dragic saw them cutting from far far away, in the fourth q. His splitting defense decisions were very nice too. very hopeful he'd contribute big time

 

[Arizona's Finest]

Well that Lopez bet was a stupid one TWO DAYS after I made it. I'll be regretting that one in about 9 months.

I don't know why I get so Kool Aided up on this team sometimes as more often then not they let me down.

Anyone see the Kidd quote from Tahoe?

Jason Kidd, on the struggles of his former basketball team in Phoenix:

"The way things are going for the Suns, they have to sign Amaré (Stoudemire) now, even if he only has one eye."

Friends we are officially a punch line around the league.

 

[jagu]

Well that Lopez bet was a stupid one TWO DAYS after I made it. I'll be regretting that one in about 9 months.

I don't know why I get so Kool Aided up on this team sometimes as more often then not they let me down.

Anyone see the Kidd quote from Tahoe?

Jason Kidd, on the struggles of his former basketball team in Phoenix:

"The way things are going for the Suns, they have to sign Amaré (Stoudemire) now, even if he only has one eye."

Friends we are officially a punch line around the league.

The wife beater isn't very funny, his Mavericks get spanked every year and have won nothing just like he has.