Summer League Games Quick Recaps
by Sebastian Pruiti
Jul 8, 2009 2009 Offseason, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Orlando Summer League, Terrence Williams
Before I start talking about the Nets’ first two summer league games I just wanted to say that I think you guys should definitely check this article on the whole Nets/Sixers situation from Truehoop. It is an interesting read, so yeah, check it out.
One could argue that the team that is impacted the most from the happenings of the Orlando Summer League is the New Jersey Nets. They have two guys who should be getting significant minutes this upcoming year, so it is interesting to see how they play against “NBA-level” talent. The results of the games don’t really matter at all (We lost one game to the Pacers’ squad in OT and we lost the other in blowout fashion to the team representing the Utah Jazz), and while I was only able to watch one of the two games so far (the first one), I do have some thoughts about the games.
The Good:
CDR. He is second in the league in scoring right now averaging 23.5 points (20 in game 1 and 27 in game 2). It isn’t really the point totals that are impressing me, it is the way he is getting his points. He is shooting over 50% from the field, and he is getting his points on not of lot of shots (6-12 in game 1 and 8-14 in game 2). He is also getting to the line a ton (24 foul shots – he made 19 of them), and hasn’t shot a three pointer yet. This means he is set on improving his driving ability, and he isn’t settling for bad shots. From the game I watched he is being very decisive, and he isn’t really hesitating. Last year he seemed awkward when he attacked the basket. Not this year (or at least in the summer league).
Terrence Williams’ disruptive play – In this case the word disruptive isn’t a bad thing. From the first game I watched it seemed like Williams was flying all over the court. Granted he didn’t shoot well (look farther down), but he crashed the boards very effectively (9 rebounds in game 1 – 6 in game 2). Seeing this really made me happy. It shows that even if Williams isn’t getting it done on the offensive end, he is willing to go all-out and contribute in other ways. It shows how versatile Terrence Williams is.
The Bad
Terrence Williams’ Shooting – This was Williams’ biggest weakness entering the draft, and while he is working hard on improving it, he hasn’t really shown much improvement during the summer league games. He was 1-8 from the field in game 1 and he was 3-11 in game 2 (a total of 0-3 from 3). Now some of it may be nerves and some of it may be getting used to the speed of the game, but it is becoming obvious Terrence needs to continue to working on his shot.
The Shot Happy Sixers’ Pros – Many people who saw the summer league seemed very impressed with Marreese Speights’ 28 points. I wasn’t. He did it on 11-26 shooting. Jrue Holiday also went kind of shooting crazy for the guy who is supposed to be playing point on the team (3-11 in game 1). While the guys slowed it down in game 2 (Speights went 3-12 and Jrue went 2-6), it just bothers me a bit seeing these guys taking shots from the Nets’ players. I know it was bound to happen, but it is such a weird situation and I seem to find myself cursing out Speights every time he throws up a crazy fade-away jumper.
The Perception of “The Disease” – In case you don’t know what I am referring to, the announcers covering the summer league for the web broadcast decided the Nets/Sixers needed a team name, and that is what they came up with, with help from e-mailers. The team was also referred to as “The Cheapskates”. I know this is all in good fun, and these are just jokes, but it just goes to show that the Nets are looking cheap to not just us Nets fans. Everyone else is starting to see how cheap that the Nets have become. It was also strange to see the players playing in standard non-descript blue practice jerseys.
Our Invites PT – The one guy I was real interested in seeing play was Jeff Adrian. Out of all our invites, I thought that he would be the one guy that we would think about signing. So how is he playing? I wouldn’t know. He has only played about 12 minutes in the first 2 games combined. Now maybe he hasn’t impressed coaches in practices, but it is becoming obvious that he won’t be getting minutes. I know the Sixers are looking for a PF, so they probably aren’t really pushing to see Adrian get minutes.
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Game 3 is tomorrow at 7, so I will be able to watch it and I will be taking notes as the games go on. Who else is going to be playing at 7PM tomorrow? Ryan Anderson. He has been killing it in the summer league so far (leading the league in scoring), so it will be fun to see him and CDR go at it. Hopefully he doesn’t torch us too much.
Remember, you can watch the games here:
http://www.nba.com/magic/2009_Orlando_Pro_Summer_League.html
July 8th, 2009 at 10:12 AM
Yeah I am really tired of seeing Speights just grab and shoot on almost every possession. Between him and the college esq announcers it is hard to watch the games.
FT% is going to be so important to the Nets this season because CDR, Alston, Harris, Lopez all seem to draw fouls, and shooting FT might be the difference in a 15 win season, and a .500 season.
July 9th, 2009 at 12:43 AM
The announcers have been real bad and have forced me to mute the games most times actually.
As far as our invites go, I’m pretty intrigued with Chris Johnson from LSU. He’s long and athletic. His body is limited right now as far as bulk and I wonder if that will hinder him for his whole career, but he does intrigue me.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:13 PM
You know what, I think the announcers are fantastic. Obviously they’re there to just have a good time…but they call out who’s playing well and who isn’t.
Well last game is tomorrow afternoon, so I’d like to catch some of it. See if CDR picks it up.
July 9th, 2009 at 9:34 PM
@ TRC – I do think they are funny, so it’s not that. I mean I guess it is just because they bash the Nets more often then they do other teams…Like I said, they are funny when they don’t bash the Nets.