Summer Suns Update!!!

[AnotherHOMER]

Strawberry and Lopez

I just got done watching a half of the game between the Spurs and Suns. What can't D.J. Strawberry do? He used his explosive first step to get into the lane at will and once there he caused havoc on San Antonio. Sometimes he drove and kicked it out to open teammates for jumpers. Other times he went to the bucket hard. He seemed to be playing at a different speed than everyone else. What was refreshing is that he gave the same kind of effort on the defensive side of the floor. Completing my observation of him was how he embraced his leadership role. After a busted play between himself and Jared Jordan, he took 20 seconds to explain what he was thinking and where he wanted Jordan to be on the floor.

Strawberry had 11 points and three rebounds at the half for the Suns, who led by eight.

With his three brothers watching, Robin Lopez put on quite a performance. He followed up one miss with a thunderous dunk. He tipped in another miss. He caught a pass on the break and made a gorgeous feed to Strawberry in stride for a jam. And most importantly, he was a force on the glass, grabbing seven boards to go with his 10 points.

Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!Strawberry!!!

Give the kid a chance coach!!!!

****

 

[Mainstreet]

Then based on the summer league play, you must really like Tucker.

 

[HooverDam]

I didnt realize pulling down 7 rebounds was a 'force' like performance.

 

[AnotherHOMER]

Strawberry > Lue

I wanna see Strawberry play this year.

****

 

[binkar]

I didnt realize pulling down 7 rebounds was a 'force' like performance.

I am pretty sure this was at the end of the first half.

 

[Mainstreet]

I didnt realize pulling down 7 rebounds was a 'force' like performance.

Robin Lopez had 14 points, 9 rebounds and two blocked shots. I consider that a decent performance. Also DJ must have only scored 1 point in the second half if he scored 11 in the first half (for a total of 12 points). He also had 3 assists and four rebounds. I'm just wondering why Tucker isn't getting any love since he scored 24 points on 8-10 shooting from the floor and 8-11 from the FT line.

See link:

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2008/games/boxscore.jsp?gameId=1520800033

 

[shazaam6]

I like to watch DJ play defense, he is tough like Bell. Now if he could improve his shooting like Bell.

 

[YouJustGotSUNSD]

Everyone bashes DJ for his sub par shooting, but shooting can be improved, and he has the potential to bring so much more to the floor.

 

[Treesquid PhD]

we should run the offense through DJ, I am pumped. To all you losers the summer league is as good as the NBA, it's NBA players, yeah there are some scrubs but I don't care, why would the Suns send DJ to the summer league if it wasn't a place where he could be evaluated?
Also Majerle is proving before our eyes that he is one of the top upcoming coaches in the NBA. I watched his analysis the last 3 years and it was the bomb, holla! How could players not love playing for a guy like this???? He isn't EJ of course who would be instantly a top 5 NBA coach but Majerle is definitely a top 10 NBA head coach in terms of potential.

 

[Mr Bottomtooth]

DJ was very impressive in today's game.

 

[shazaam6]

we should run the offense through DJ, I am pumped. To all you losers the summer league is as good as the NBA, it's NBA players, yeah there are some scrubs but I don't care, why would the Suns send DJ to the summer league if it wasn't a place where he could be evaluated?
Also Majerle is proving before our eyes that he is one of the top upcoming coaches in the NBA. I watched his analysis the last 3 years and it was the bomb, holla! How could players not love playing for a guy like this???? He isn't EJ of course who would be instantly a top 5 NBA coach but Majerle is definitely a top 10 NBA head coach in terms of potential.

detector going off

 

[Covert Rain]

I have seen alot of guys dominate in the "D" league and when they get to play with the "big boys" they disappear. Both Tucker and Strawberry dominated at times in the "D" league and it didn't help them last year. I hope that was more D'Antoni then how they played with starters during practice.

What I like about the Summer League is you have a little bit more NBA talent playing for various reasons. It's still not a great litmus test but if Straw and Tuck continue to improve I would like them to get some NBA experience. Nothing can replace that.

Lopez?? It sounds like the guy can play some "D" and do some things around the basket. However, am I the only one a little concerned that a 7 footer in the Summer league isn't averaging more then 10 rebounds per game in the Summer league???

 

[scotsman13]

one of the all time high scorers and rebounders for the vegas summer game is a player by the name of bo outlaw. i think we can all understand while he is a hard worker no one ever said he was great score. take it for what it is worth.

 

[Irish]

I
Lopez?? It sounds like the guy can play some "D" and do some things around the basket. However, am I the only one a little concerned that a 7 footer in the Summer league isn't averaging more then 10 rebounds per game in the Summer league???

You did notice that Lopez had 9 rebounds in 23 minutes. That's a rate of 0.39 per minute which is outstanding.

 

[Covert Rain]

You did notice that Lopez had 9 rebounds in 23 minutes. That's a rate of 0.39 per minute which is outstanding.

Yeah but I thought his minutes have been limited because of foul trouble. If you can't stay on the court you can't rebound. If your foul prone in the Summer league....how is that going to translate in regular season games?

 

[Cheesewater]

I have seen alot of guys dominate in the "D" league and when they get to play with the "big boys" they disappear. Both Tucker and Strawberry dominated at times in the "D" league and it didn't help them last year. I hope that was more D'Antoni then how they played with starters during practice.

What I like about the Summer League is you have a little bit more NBA talent playing for various reasons. It's still not a great litmus test but if Straw and Tuck continue to improve I would like them to get some NBA experience. Nothing can replace that.

Lopez?? It sounds like the guy can play some "D" and do some things around the basket. However, am I the only one a little concerned that a 7 footer in the Summer league isn't averaging more then 10 rebounds per game in the Summer league???

In one paragraph you admit it's not a great litmus test and in the very next paragraph you say you are a little concerned at the results. Which is it? A rookie 7 footer...after two summer league games. I think I agree with your former paragraph..not enough data to be concerned.

The 4 summer leaguers who are averaging over 10 rebounds per game are averaging more minutes per game than Robin Lopez (though NONE of them even sniff 7 feet so I'll give you that one). Shelden Williams had 14 rebs in ONE game? In 28 minutes? Good job kid.

 

[LV-Suns]

He wasn't in foul trouble. I caught the 1st half of the game, he had around 6 offensive rebounds at the end of half.

 

[Irish]

Yeah but I thought his minutes have been limited because of foul trouble. If you can't stay on the court you can't rebound. If your foul prone in the Summer league....how is that going to translate in regular season games?

The rules are terribly different between college and the NBA. iN any case, you commented on rebounding and not on staying out of foul trouble..

 

[ArizonaSportsFan]

Yeah but I thought his minutes have been limited because of foul trouble. If you can't stay on the court you can't rebound. If your foul prone in the Summer league....how is that going to translate in regular season games?

He had one foul in the whistle-happy game (61 fouls called). He did have 7 last game though. Also, the majority of his rebounds are offensive, so he still has a lot of work to do. But nine boards isn't too bad and he seems to get a lot of "team" boards (I saw two in the few minutes that I watched on-line).

 

[mojorizen7]

As long as D'Antoni's volleyball tip-drill method of team rebounding is gone i'll be happy.

 

[Andrew]

I didn't watch because I was in line all night for the dark knight, how do you rewatch summer league games?

 

[carey]

I have watched both games and I haven't changed my mind about Lopez. He's basically Jake Voskul. Zero post moves, mediochre J, and his redeeming quality is he's really active. I sure hope I'm wrong.

 

[Kolo]

I have watched both games and I haven't changed my mind about Lopez. He's basically Jake Voskul. Zero post moves, mediochre J, and his redeeming quality is he's really active. I sure hope I'm wrong.

I've watched a grand total of about ten minutes and I saw a left handed hook and a right handed hook and pretty good ball handling, and via the boxscore he did sink about 8 of 10 free throws. He looked a lot more like Brad Miller than Jake Voskhul, but maybe I'm just an optimist.

 

[Mainstreet]

Robin Lopez is much more agile and athletic than Jake Voshkul and Brad Miller. IMO, summer league games do not provide much more than a glimpse of what skills a player already has, how well they follow instruction (under game conditions) and if they have a fire inside.

 

[Irish]

Unless the scouting reports are wrong, Robin is a lot quicker than Jake. My memory of Jake was that he was ALWAYS lote in his rotation and thus was a foul machine trying to take charges. Also, Jake seemed to have short arms and rarely if ever got a contested rebound.

I always felt Jake was an OK hustle guy in the Frank Johnson defense, but laked shot blocking skills and was medicocre as a straight up defender. It was notable that Steven Hunder got the minutes on the 2004-05 team rather than Jake.