Two days ago Golden State Warriors power forward Anthony Randolph tied the Summer League scoring record with a 42 point output. Yesterday, Warriors guard Anthony Morrow broke the scoring record with a 47 point performance. He got his points in a variety of ways, shooting 18-of-26 from the field while sinking 7 of his 9 threes against the New Orleans Hornets. The Warriors were a high scoring team last season, second in the league in points per game last season, so these guys will fit in well to a young team built around offense. Problem is, they were the worst team in the league in opponent’s points per game, so someone is going to have to pick it up on the defensive end if they want to challenge for a late playoff seed.
Speaking of scorers on the Warriors, it wasn’t a great day for Stephen Curry. Curry got just 10 points and he shot a mediocre 4-of-10 from the field on his last day in Vegas. It’s still unknown whether or not Curry will continue his experiment at point guard for the Warriors or if he will start coming off the bench at the two guard. His size makes playing shooting guard in a division with Kobe Bryant a little dicey, but I don’t think you can give him time as a point guard when Monta Ellis is starting to grow into the position now.
For the Hornets, it was again the Marcus Thorton/Darren Collison show. Thorton had a team high 21 points on 6-of-14 shooting but he did miss five of six three point attempts. Thorton has a very good first step to the basket and he is very strong when he gets into the paint, hence the 14 free throw attempts. If Marcus can become a reliable free throw shooter, his deep ball should develop as he gets used to the NBA line, and you have a very solid wingman for Chris Paul that is playing for the hometown.
Collison seems to be the perfect back-up for CP3. Not to bash Antonio Daniels, but CP3 would have to play the whole game against Deron Williams or Tony Parker. Collison brings a good amount of speed to the bench for New Orleans and he is a good floor general as well. Darren ended up with just 14 points on the game, because of his poor shooting (4-for-14), but everything else I have seen from this kid so far makes me optimistic.
The Warriors ended up winning the game 104-84, making them 3-1 in Summer League play while the Hornets dropped to 0-3. It’s not like it matters. In baseball, the trend used to be the Rangers winning all the games in Spring Training and the Yankees winning almost none.
Other Observations:
T
he nickname Air Canada for Toronto’s DeMar DeRozan is dead on. This kid has some serious potential and can already jump out of the gym. He has fantastic size for a shooting guard at 6-foot-6 and if he can nail down a consistent jump shot and prove he can play defense against the elite guards of the NBA, I see no reason why DeRozan can’t surpass Vince Carter as Air Canada. DeRozan had 20 points against the Bucks on 8-of-13 shooting, and threw in six rebounds and three assists to make the box score look pretty.
Jodie Meeks continues to impress. Many thought he was not ready to make the jump to the pros, but he was able to outplay the ninth overall pick with a very impressive 29 points on 12-of-23 shooting. The biggest knock on Meeks was his outside shot, which makes his four threes that much better. Brandon Jennings had an off night. He had just 14 points and seven assists while turning the ball over an astounding eight times.
Chase Buddinger could be a major steal for the Rockets after he slipped out of the first round in the draft. His resume painted him as a scoring forward who had a shot, and that is exactly what he did against the Lakers. Buddinger had a game high 25 points on 7-of-9 shooting, making all three of his beyond the arc attempts. The problem with Buddinger? He had one rebound. Chinemelu Elonu had a fine 16 points and eight boards for the Champs, and I just love to see eight fouls on a score sheet.
The scoreboard tells me that Hasheem Thabeet won his match-up against Blake Griffin, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth. Griffin had a solid 18 points and 15 boards (though there were five fouls and five turnovers), while Thabeet only managed to get seven points (made one shot) and three rebounds while committing seven fouls. Remember, he is 7-foot-3, and he got three rebounds. Surreal. Why should the Grizzlies be happy today? DeMarre Carroll is a hard worker and he gets it done in every way. Carroll scored 16 points on 7-of-9 shooting and those shots came from everywhere on the floor.
Tomorrow: We recap today’s games, and watch some games in person.
[...] against the Chicago Bulls Summer League club (The record would later be broken by fellow Warrior, Anthony Morrow). Randolph definitely earned the Summer League’s Most Outstanding Player Award, but instead, [...]