Summer League Roster

[Kolo]

per today's Republic:

Rookie/free-agent camp
The Suns invited 19 players to their rookie/free-agent camp Monday and Tuesday. Eleven will play in the Reebok Vegas Summer League, which starts Wednesday.

The group includes six undrafted rookies whom the Suns had worked out - Stephen Graham of Oklahoma State, Yakhouba Diawara of Pepperdine, Rory O'Neil of Southern California, Jan Jagla of Penn State, Mindaugas Katelynas of Tennessee-Chattanooga and Lucas Tischer of Brazil. Tischer played on Brazil's junior team with Leandro Barbosa.

European pros Ricky Minard (Italy via Morehead State), Lynn Greer (Russia via Temple) and Michael Haynes (Israel via Fordham) also were invited.

Tischer is an athletic Brazilian center, doesn't speak any English. From DraftExpress:

Lucas Tischer is an exclusive post player, who loves to bang and wrestle inside. Looking at him, the first thing you will notice is his huge frame. He is 6-10, blond and light skinned, weighs 270 pounds, and has wide shoulders and great upper body strength. Very muscular, in the way Alonzo Mourning used to be, Lucas lights up the game with his explosiveness and energy when he is on the floor. He uses his long arms to throw down thunderous dunks and block shots, making him a fan favorite. Also, he is quick off his feet, contrary to what his weight might suggest. The kid is very athletic, runs the floor extremely well and has a nice vertical leap to go with his speed. His first step is good, but not great, as he is able to take advantage of it in Brazilian competition. Around here he outmuscles everybody, being challenged only by Estevam Ferreira Jr. (7-0, 250lbs) and Murilo (Becker) da Rosa (6-10, 250lbs).

Tischer is basically a defensive player at the moment, he patrols the paint swatting and altering shots, grabbing rebounds and tipping the ball off directly to his teammates to start fast breaks. He puts forth great effort on the defensive end, but can’t do it for long periods as he finds himself in constant foul trouble. His positioning needs work as well and he tends to keep his hands down most of the time, near the basket, when he should keep them half way up or totally up, the way Tim Duncan does. This alone, would definitely help him rebound better and alter/block shots. He does play nice defense, switching with teammates and pressing his man, but he isn’t the space eating defender he could be, considering his size, nor can he lock down his man consistently.

Tischer is limited offensively, however, he has shown signs of potential on the offensive end. He is a solid post player, restricted to the post, but solid. Possesses a solid baby hook and when given a little space takes off for powerful dunks which few players can stop. He suffers from not being involved enough in the game as he is given the ball, always strictly in the paint, only two or three times a game. In the past, Lucas has delivered several games of 20 points or more, playing in top tournaments against top competition. One game a couple of years back sticks out in particular, when he went head-to-head with Murilo (Becker) da Rosa, probably the top big man in Brazil these days, and both of them had huge games with 20 points and 10 rebounds.

Stephen Graham is Joey's brother, played out of position in the post at Oklahoma State. Here's a write-up about Graham:

At a chiseled 6-6, 215 pounds, Graham already has an NBA body, complete with a pair of huge arms, wide shoulders, large hands and a very strong lower body. This is always the first thing mentioned by players who have went up against him in high school, college and lately in NBA workouts, just how tough he is to put a body on and how physically impressive he is. With his strength and tenacity, he is not a fun matchup for most players to go up against. He has a prototypical body for an NBA shooting guard, and is even big enough to log some minutes as a small forward without giving up too much.

Graham is also an excellent athlete, much like his brother Joey, but much more fluid in his movements. Watching him move with or without the ball in his hands, it's hard not to be impressed by how much bounce he has in his step. He is extremely quick off his feet and possesses a very nice vertical leap. His lower body strength and good body control make him more of a long jumper (which comes to play in the many memorable soaring put-backs he had at Oklahoma State) than a high jumper, but he can get off the floor to snatch rebounds, alter shots and dunk just fine.

What makes Graham somewhat of an intriguing prospect for the next level, despite his paltry production in college, is his versatility. Restricted almost exclusively to the post at Oklahoma State, he never really got a chance to showcase any of this versatility, but he actually played PG throughout high school and for most of his first two seasons in college before transferring to Oklahoma State. Watching him handle the ball on the perimeter, it's not hard to see that his PG instincts are still there. He is a very creative passer who understands ball movement and is very good at setting the table for his teammates just where they like it. He makes crisp passes and has a knack for anticipating things and finding the open man. He's an unselfish player, probably too unselfish actually, which hurts his NBA potential. He is very good moving with and without the ball, picking his spots well and understands where to place himself in the offense to maximize his time on the floor.

His ball-handling is very solid, and thanks to this attribute combined with his athleticism and PG skills, he is excellent on the drive and dish. Like his brother Joey, he is a solid mid-range shooter, but he's a little bit better at utilizing NBA type moves to free himself up from 14-16 feet to get his shot off, especially strong body fakes to get his man off balance and then pull up for the mid-range jumper.

 

[coloradosun]

Just posted on another thread about Stephan Graham, he could end up making the team.

Katelynas is suppose to be another sleeper, a Marion like player.

 

[Kolo]

Just posted on another thread about Stephan Graham, he could end up making the team.

Katelynas is suppose to be another sleeper, a Marion like player.

Here you go--Chad Ford:

Draft Projection: Second round

Similarities: A poor man's Andrei Kirilenko

Notes: A star at the Portsmouth Invitiational Tournament, the NBA's draft camp for college seniors. Averaged 13.3 ppg, 9.6 rpg, 2 bpg on 49 percent shooting at the camp.

Positives: This hard-working, super-athletic Lithuanian got the highest praise possible from one NBA scout when he compared Katelynas to a poor man's Andrei Kirilenko. Both are hyperactive on both ends of the floor, and take only high-percentage shots. Katelynas might have a little bit steadier jumper than Kirilenko.

Negatives: Katelynas doesn't quite have the size, length or shot-blocking ability that Kirilenko has. He's never going to put up big numbers on the offensive end. Could bulk up a bit. Have Kirilenko's thin frame.

Summary: While no one expects him to turn into AK-47 someday, he looks like he could be a nice second-round steal and a solid NBA rotation player. With a solid performance in Chicago, he might get a look late in the first round.

 

[Kolo]

More on Stephen Graham, from a pro workout at the Chicago Predraft Camp (where Stephen did not get an invitation):

Graham Brothers Workout

The workout featuring the Graham twins was much more competitive than most of the other workouts we saw over the course of the week. The Graham’s started out with some ballhandling drills, and eventually moved into shooting drills. They started out inside the free throw line and gradually worked their way out, shooting both set shots and off the dribble. The shooting made its way out to the three point line, where the results were mixed. Stevie shot 15/35, and while Joey started out on fire, he got a little tired and cooled off toward the end to shoot 20/35. Things got quite a bit more competitive from there. There were several different drills designed to show one-on-one play, one of which involved one player cutting to the wing, catching a pass, and attempting to score on the other. The full blown one-on-one drills were quite physical, with the twins playing to a virtual draw.

The first thing that bystanders noticed walking by the MultiPlex gym in Chicago were two 6’7 twins built like NFL linebackers, who seemed to be playing the wrong sport. Once you saw them with the ball in their hands, one realized that the brothers were indeed involved in the right sport. In the aforementioned ball handling drills, Joey showed a noticeable improvement in his dribbling ability from when he was at Oklahoma St. While he did not have quite the handle of his brother Stevie, he did a pretty good job in the cone drills in front of NBA scouts from four teams picking in the range in which he is projected on being picked. Graham still possesses the same low release point on his shot with little lift, but he made absolutely everything within 18 feet of the basket. As he stepped out to the collegiate three point line and beyond, he continued to show the ability to knock it down, just not at the amazing clip in which he was netting his midrange jumpers. Joey then had to knock down as many three pointers as he could within a 90 second time frame from the top of the key. He started 15/20, but then seemed to tire and finished 20/33. The reason that Graham was not as prolific as the drill went on was his lack of legs in his jumpshot, which virtually forces him to shoot the ball only with his arms. If he is able to consistently get more lift into his shot, I remain confident that Joey can develop into a threat from beyond the NBA three point line as well this year. Next up was the one on one duel of the brothers, which actually resulted in a draw. Joey showed a really nice first step, ripped the ball through very quickly into his moves, and did an amazing job creating space on his step back jumpshot. It was clear to anyone in the gym that Graham will be able to step in and contribute to a team immediately as a power small forward in the Ron Artest mold with his chiseled physique, great defense, and emerging perimeter game.

With that said, it was actually his brother Stevie who stole the show here. Numerous times we had to make sure that we weren’t getting the twins confused, because Stevie was actually outplaying his brother for the first 2/3rds of the workout, and it times it wasn’t even close. We weren’t trying to look too hard or anything, but the huge letters in one Eastern Conference Coach's scouting notebook basically told us all we needed to know: “STEVIE OR JOEY?” referring obviously to the question of which of the two is better. The rumblings coming from other teams in attendance told the same. It wasn’t that Joey played badly, it was just that his brother was outstanding, surprising everyone in attendance. He showed a much better perimeter game and showed the ability to create his own shot and pull up from mid-range jumpers with ease. He has a certain smoothness to his game that will probably make his brother Joey an all-star once he acquires some of the same. His physique is extremely impressive and his athleticism more than you can ask for. Even though Stevie didn’t shoot the ball great in the 90 second NBA shooting drills, he was excellent in the perimeter shooting department in almost every other part of the drill. After watching him play twice over the past week in workouts, it’s time to go beyond what everyone else was saying in the gym about how in the world did he not get invited to Chicago and start thinking about the very real possibility of him getting drafted and making a team.

 

[elindholm]

So why wasn't he drafted?

 

[panfolk]

makes a person wonder if it was just bad luck that kept these guys from being drafted... these are glowing reports.

 

[meth]

Lynn Greer

Two years ago he was huge in Euroleague. Quick, smart player, very fast in transition. For me it would be ideal backup for Nash (with Barbosa of course).
He played for my home team in Poland, look for his stats in Euroleague (top scorer). I hope he will make it.

http://www.euroleague.net/plantillas/jugador.jsp?id=CRR&temporada=E03

 

[Kolo]

So why wasn't he drafted?

He played almost exclusively in the post at Oklahoma State. Or maybe because the DraftExpress guy who wrote the article is clueless, which wouldn't be surprising.

 

[coloradosun]

He played almost exclusively in the post at Oklahoma State. Or maybe because the DraftExpress guy who wrote the article is clueless, which wouldn't be surprising.

I watched a lot of OSU games last winter because they tended to be the biggest games in the Big 12. You have got to understand the way Eddie Sutton coaches, the guy does not promote individual play, if a guy does not run a play exactly as expected he yanks him out. There were times when he took Joey out and Joey just had this look on his face wondering what the heck was going on. Sutton is just like Bobby Knight.

Stephan did set a lot of picks down low to free up Joey or McFarlin. Plays were run through Stephan and not for him, so his ball handling and passing skill were very important to the offense.

In watching the games you could not tell the two apart, the brothers made it easier for the broadcasters because Joey would were white shoes with white socks and Stephan would were black shoes with black socks.

 

[George O'Brien]

College coaches are focused on winning, not developing guys for the next level. My read on why Oden is going to Ohio State is that he is convinced their coach will not harm his development by misuing him.

How do college coaches misuse players:

Playing 6'7" guys at center but not giving them a chance to develop outside skills

Playing 5'11" guys at shooting guard and not giving them PG experience

Playing 200 pound guys at power forward without giving them experience on the wing

Playing mostly a catch and shoot from the college three point line game, rather than helping the player learn to move without the ball, break down their defender, or shoot from NBA distance

Playing only zone so the players never learn to play man defense.

It goes on and on. The result is that even after four years, most guys are not really NBA ready. What is worse, most guys are not really taught overall fundimentals and are just limited role players in the coaches system.

 

[Joe Mama]

Yeah, that's nice and all, but it doesn't explain why Stephen Graham wasn't drafted. If he looked so good in all of his workouts someone would have definitely taken a flyer on him in the second round.

I've been intrigued by Stephen Graham since I read this report and a few others. I'm optimistically skeptical though. With his size, strength, and athleticism someone should have drafted him if he was as good as they were saying.

Lonnie Jones! Lonnie Jones! Lonnie Jones!

Joe Mama

 

[F-Dog]

So why wasn't he drafted?

For the same reason that Chris Taft and Martynas Andriuskevicius were drafted in the middle of the second round. There were a lot of good players in this draft--somebody had to fall.


Specifically, though, Katelynas bombed in Chicago after cleaning up in Portland, and Graham the Lesser didn't do anything in college.

 

[elindholm]

There were a lot of good players in this draft--somebody had to fall.

You mean like the Polish guy whose rights the Suns immediately sold to Orlando? It seems to me that if they had any real interest in Graham, the smart thing would have been to draft him then rather than "earn" a few bucks and hope that no one else would snap him up in the summer leagues.

 

[F-Dog]

There were a lot of good players in this draft--somebody had to fall.

You mean like the Polish guy whose rights the Suns immediately sold to Orlando? It seems to me that if they had any real interest in Graham, the smart thing would have been to draft him then rather than "earn" a few bucks and hope that no one else would snap him up in the summer leagues.

Oh, absolutely.

I think Dijon Thompson has no future in the NBA, but I would bet on his chances over the chances of any of the summer league guys. The league is expanding rosters and there's the NBDL minor league business, though; in that context, it's possible that one or more of these players is good enough to stick with the Suns for a year or two.

The team isn't going to trade Marion to make room for Katelynas, though.

 

[George O'Brien]

There were a fair number of Euros picked in the second round who will be left in Europe. I'm not sure the status of Dijon, but the Suns might suggest he go to Europe for a few years rather than sit on the bench here.

I think putting Dijon on a French team makes a lot of sense.

 

[jbeecham]

The Suns will have the option of putting players on an NBDL team so I'd rather see Dijon, S. Graham, Tischer, etc go there instead of Europe if they're not going to be on the active roster.

 

[PhxGametime]

I thought the Suns said the Summer League team was loaded?


IMO the team doesn't need another 1-3 position type player... 4 out of 5 bench players are 1-3 position types: Jackson, Bell, Barbosa, and Thompson

Maybe 1 more, if the team needs 13 players on roster but someone who's cheap and doesn't need minutes - 4 of the teams best bench players will be 1-3's, without much of a chance to add bigs.

 

[Errntknght]

Tischer sounds like a good addition for the team... heck, it will help just to have someone like that for the others to practice against if he never gets on on the floor. The same is true, to a lesser extent, of Graham. I suppose there may be an issue of paying Tischer enough so he can come here... but we have plenty of roster spots for guys like this. Maybe we could get some other team to sign Tischer and trade him to us for Voskuhl and a little cash.

I was hoping to see Basden's name on the list... but there's still the vague hope the team will sign him from someone else's summer roster.

 

[coloradosun]

There were a fair number of Euros picked in the second round who will be left in Europe. I'm not sure the status of Dijon, but the Suns might suggest he go to Europe for a few years rather than sit on the bench here.

I think putting Dijon on a French team makes a lot of sense.

That is probably why all the Euros were selected in the 2nd, teams were more willing to take a risk on a Euro that still could develope than draft an NCAA player, the San Antonio effect.

 

[overseascardfan]

Does anyone know who Morris signed with?

 

[lancelet's cousin]

Does anyone know who Morris signed with?

Morris may go back to school via waiver.
LINL

Lucas Tischer is an exclusive post player, who loves to bang and wrestle inside. Looking at him, the first thing you will notice is his huge frame. He is 6-10, blond and light skinned

What? So I guess he's Aryan enough to be a potential pickup for the Third Reich? Or am I just failing to see the importance of this information?

 

[overseascardfan]

Morris may go back to school via waiver.
LINL


That's a good rule. So they have a second chance, I bet they are glad they didn't sign with an agent maybe that's why they weren't selected. But I wonder why they haven't told the schools they want to come back yet. Maybe they are waiting on contract offers from teams. I hope the Sun's sign Morris to the NBADL where we would control his rights instead of him going to school and missing out on him when he gets better.

 

[Kolo]

What? So I guess he's Aryan enough to be a potential pickup for the Third Reich? Or am I just failing to see the importance of this information?

Maybe cheesebeef has been writing player evaluations for websites in his spare time.

 

[Joe Mama]

Morris may go back to school via waiver.
LINL


That's a good rule. So they have a second chance, I bet they are glad they didn't sign with an agent maybe that's why they weren't selected. But I wonder why they haven't told the schools they want to come back yet. Maybe they are waiting on contract offers from teams. I hope the Sun's sign Morris to the NBADL where we would control his rights instead of him going to school and missing out on him when he gets better.

The catch is that the player has to pay back every team for the time and accommodations during private workouts. If I remember correctly Morris didn't work out for many individual teams though.

Joe Mama