NBA Summer League Day Two Recap - The Breakouts

Yours truly rebounded from his day one exhaustion to go to all four games of day two. We had three very good games and one stinker. I performed my first interview. I was well prepared. I chickened out of other interviews because I felt poorly prepared.

Onward my friends, into the brink for your day two data dump.

Game One - Pistons vs Raptors

The Pistons squad rolled on again with a 91-87 victory and Joe Dumars has to be thrilled. His three 2009 draft picks were again solid and his second rounder from last year proved to be the best athlete playing today. In the second half, it seemed like the guys all gelled and things got easy for them. The best evidence I can present is that they only 7 turnovers for the game with only 1 in the fourth quarter. In an attempt to appease OClatinD, I will separate the players by team so as to not confuse the anal retentive out there.

Detroit Pistons

• Austin Daye - Daye looked fabulous, especially early. He had 18 points and 9 rebounds. 2 assists and 1 turnover. He didn't score or get a reobound in the fourth quarter. He did play the entire game. He looks GREAT. I can't emphasize this enough. He's composed. He can handle. He can shoot. To paraphrase Bon Scott from Whole Lotta Rose, "You could say he's got it all".
• DaJuan Summers - The day one standout was not spectacular today, just very good. He had 19 points and 6 rebounds. He was only 7-17 from the field with 1-4 from distance. He did hit all his free throws and only picked up 3 fouls in 36 minutes. He looks like an NBA player. He has great body control in the paint, he can bang, he spent some time guarding DeRozan. He's a keeper.
• Jonas Jerebko - The victim of my interview had a solid game. He had 12 points on a not so good 5-14 shooting including 0-3 from three and 2-6 from the line, 7 rebounds, and 8 very hard fouls.
  
• Deron Washington - Last year's second round pick had two spectacular dunks off missed shots. Other than those two dunks, he was 2-9 from the field and 4-12 from the line. He's quite the leaper, but his offensive game is not good. I didn't really pay attention to him on the defensive end so I can't say if he has a future. If he does, it's because he can lock guys up. Not because he can score.
• Michael Bramos - aka The Gross Pointe Gunner. I stole that from somebody, but I'm not sure they want to be credited. Yesterday he had 13 points in 15 minutes. Today it was 5 points in 4 minutes. I love this guys attitude. He has a nice shot and he isn't complacent with it. He also like to take it to the rack.
• Clay Tucker - He has quietly had two very nice games. He hasn't received a lot of minutes but he has been very efficient with them.
  

Toronto Raptors

• Demar DaRozen - Demar got all the post game attention. Mostly because he was the highest draft pick, and the biggest name, and he had a good game. He didn't have a great game. He did have 20 points, but he took 20 shots and he only got to the line for one free throw. He had 0 assists, but also 0 turnovers. What you should take from this is that when given the ball he can score some. He took a lot of jumpers and is able to create some space for himself. He doesn't create for others and he wasn't a playmaker. For the most part, he was taking jumpers. That's not to say he wasn't impressive. He was. He was aggressive against his man and he showed a decent handle. One big ATS thumbs up. Or, if I may borrow it, a JTU. He has work to do, but he's a good player. Us dorks in the back row did have one obsrevation about Demar. You don't get the sense that he's explosive. I'm not sure what to make of it, but we did talk about it. I'll keep my eye on that one.
• Quincy Douby - The one-time Kings guard was feeling it today. He was the games leading scorer with 21points and he did it efficiently on only 13 field goal attempts. Quincy is a scorer and his place in the league, if he has one, is scoring points off the bench. He is aptly named. When he comes in, he fires one up. Get it?
• Patrick O'Bryant - He had a double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds, but he wasn't nearly as effective offensively in this game. I think it is because he was playing against some size in this one where he wasn't yesterday. He'll continue to get some interest from teams because of his size I'm sure. He has some potential as a banger and I like his demeanor.
• Smush Parker - He wasn't as effective today. He picked up 7 fouls in 13 minutes. He was 1-3 from the field, 0-2 from 3-pt, 2-4 from the line, and had 3 turnovers to go with his 2 assists. Meh!

Game Two - Cavaliers vs Lakers

This game was a dog. My cohort left in the first quarter to save himself from seppuku. The Lakers, by some miracle, are 2-0 making them the worst team to ever start 2-0 in the 2009 Vegas Summer League.

Los Angeles Lakers

• Adam Morrison - He tickled the twine 22 points. He had it going from 3-pt with a 4 for 6. He had some REALLY bad passes on drives though. I don't know if he has shown enough to pick up his $7 million qualifying offer for next year. Well, in fact, I am sure. He has not. No knock on Adam, but $7M is a lot of dough and the Lakers are in luxury tax land. Ain't. Happening.
• Ben McCauley - Dude's a baller. 10 points and 7 rebounds. He only took 6 shots.
  

Cleveland Cavaliers

• Danny Green - He proved to be a VERY good spot up shooter. When he set his feet and let it fly, he knocked them down. He was 4 of 6 from long range. One of those misses was a forced shot off the dribble. He just might be a very good option for the Cavs as somebody to play of Le B.
• Darnell Jackson - The Cavs second round pick from last year looks out of shape and wasn't very impressive.
• David Harrison - The former Pacer and big man from Colorado is, well, big.
  

Game Three - Warriors vs Kings

The Warriors 98-95 overtime victory over the Kings featured two top picks in the 2009 draft showing why they were top picks. The downside of this game is that Evans and Curry almost never went head to head.

Golden State Warriors

• Stephen Curry - He was abysmal in the first half going 0-8 from the field and scoring 2 points. In addition, he twisted his ankle and had to leave for a while. The second half was a different story as he went for 27 points after intermission. He was 10-11 from the line -- for some odd reason when the Warriors were awarded a technical Anthony Randolph shot the free. And missed of course -- and made everything down the stretch when the Kings were sending him to the line.
• Anthony Randolph - He's still unstoppable on the move. He racked up another double-double with 24 points, on 10-13 shooting, and 11 boards. He cut his fouls down to 4 this game, but did have 6 turnovers.
• Cartier Martin - He, much to my surprise, finished with 27 points. He's a very strong two-guard, and he made his living at the line. He showed the ability to make the 3-ball tonight. I will definitely have to keep my eye on this guy next time.

Sacramento Kings

• Tyreke Evans - He was very impressive even though he didn't have a great shooting night. He was 8-19 from the field, 2-5 from wayback, and 7-12 from the line. Add it all up and it is 25 points. The impressive part was his work on the glass. He pulled down 10 rebounds, all on the defensive end. He was even able to initiate a fast break off the defensive glass. One JTU to Tyreke.
• Donte Greene - His stats weren't good, but I like him more than I thought I would. He seems to be involving himself in the rough stuff. 5-17 isn't what you want to see from a guy who's a shooter, but he's not drifting around lost.
• Jason Thompson - He had another unimpressive outing. He should be standing out. He is, for the wrong reasons.
• Jon Brockman - 7 rebounds in 9 minutes for Marcus Williams' old high school rival. Enough said.

Game Four - Mavericks vs Rockets

This was a Rockets runaway that turned into the Rodrigue Beaubois show. Represent, Eti. The Mavericks hit 4 straight 3-pointers in the last two minutes to make it an interesting game. Beaubois and Jackson missed 3 balls in the last 4 seconds to avoid a second straight overtime game for me.

Dallas Mavericks

• Rodrigue Beaubois - I hammered on him about yesterday. Naturally, the dude went OFF. To the tune of 34 points and 8 assists. He was 7-12 from range. He didn't miss a free throw. He finished around the rim. He did pick up 9 more fouls. I like his 8 assists and 2 turnovers. He showed a hell of a lot more than he did last night. His attitude was much better.
• Ahmad Nivins - He wasn't nearly as good tonight though he did finish with 11 points and 8 rebounds. He struggled with his outside shot and didn't show an ability to score when asked to do it on his own. On the other hand, he did get his points by crashing the glass which is exactly what the Mavs will ask of him.
• Curtis Jerrells - He's solid but unspectacular. He handles the ball well. He works the team into the set. Honestly, he reminds me of The JV.

Houston Rockets

• Chase Budinger - Another guy I ripped who responded in the second game. Coincidence? I think not. I call it the "Putting it in ATS' face" syndrome. Budinger was 9-10 from the field and 6-7 from the line for 25 points. I still don't think he's going to be able to handle the physical defense, he did show that he can shoot.
• Jermaine Taylor - The Rockets other second round pick showed he can also score by getting 15 points. He's definitely one to keep an eye on.
• Joey Dorsey - The Beast Mugabi had a double-double with 13 points and 15 rebounds. He reminds me of the OLD Spurs. He's a Bruise Brother(search for 'bruise')
  
• Will Conroy - Another JV clone. Effective. Does what he needs to do.

More on the refs

For the 8 games, they have run one female ref in each game. Tonight, in the last game, it was obvious that the lead ref was the woman, Kim Hobbs. We were watching her up in the stands during an early game. From a distance, it was interesting to see her critiquing different parts of the official's game. For a while, she was exercising the correct way to signal numbers with her fingers like she was calling a foul on a player. It was one of those odd things where from a distance you know exactly what somebody is doing and they have no idea anybody is watching.

During her game, I was playing a little closer attention to the way the refs worked. From up close, I could tell that one time she got aggravated about the way one of the other refs called a play. The most entertaining part to me was when, at the time out, the three refs met to discuss. The two guys pulled out their handkerchiefs to dab their sweat and she didn't. It was like she made them nervous and they couldn't contain their nerves. If I was reading poker players, I'd say she would have out played them every time. Girl Power!!!