After paying $24 to watch 8.5 basketball games in 24 hours, I can say that the NBA Summer League is the most accessible NBA operation that there is. Players were walking around the concourse before and after games, and kids swarmed them for autographs. Brooks Lopez sat in front of me to see his brother, Sam Cassell walked in front of my camera as I was filming Jonny Flynn. Jordan Hill sat behind me for one game, I sat next to George Karl in another, and I sat behind Taylor and Blake Griffin’s parents in the final game of Summer League when the two squared off.
It was probably the best live basketball event you can experience because of how much you can see and do in a day. Too many options for a basketball fan.
Here are some observations from the two days worth of ball that I saw.
Let’s start with Jonny Flynn, who was easily my favorite player to watch. I only saw one game’s worth of him, but every part of his game was on show. His amazing handles, ability to get to the rim, court vision, shooting skills, and even his happy spirit and character, which seemed to give a boost to his club. When he was dishing, he got the ball right on target to his teammates, and they were connecting well with their shots. I really don’t see how the T’Wolves plan to use Flynn and Ricky Rubio – assuming they keep him – though. I think Minnesota should have kept Randy Foye, and started the season with Flynn, Foye, Corey Brewer, Wayne Ellington and maybe Ben Woodside playing the guard positions. Oh yeah, and if you haven’t seen it, here is Jonny Flynn’s windmill slam.
Besides Flynn, the player that I had the most fun watching was, surprisingly, Goran Dragic, the point guard of the future for the Phoenix Suns. In the two games I saw of him, Dragic had 17 and 21 points. The latter of which came against the Clippers, and yes, he did outscore Blake Griffin. He was a great ball-handler, most likely a product of playing with Steve Nash, and was able to finish at the rim with creativity. A good passer, but you can tell he when he wants to score. I am interested in seeing where Dragic’s career goes as Nash’s role goes down as he ages. Here is his nice assist to Robin Lopez for a slam.
Speaking of Blake Griffin, it is a complete disgrace that he won Summer League’s Most Outstanding Player. Griffin averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds. That’s all. How about Anthony Randolph? 27 points, nine rebounds, two steals and three blocks a game to go with a record setting 47 point performance and a 61% field goal percentage. Why not Andray Blatche of the Wizards? 20 points, 11 rebounds, three assists, two steals and nearly a block. But no, it goes to Griffin, who averaged five turnovers a game and is a product of hype and college stats. Paging JJ Reddick. I watched Blake’s last game of the summer, and he got shut down by Earl Clark of Louisville, missing 10 shots and four free throws.
The only part of the day I was disappointed about was not being able to see Darren Collison or Marcus Thorton play for the Hornets as the both sat out. New Orleans fought it out against the Nuggets, but lost by two in triple overtime. Here is Ty Lawson shooting an air ball against a coach.
Sam Young of Pitt came on strong in his final two games. I love his game as a shooter that uses his shot fake to become a driver. Young got 16 points without getting to the line against the Spurs, using his jumpshot and ability to get to the rack to torch the defense. Another Grizzlie that I have liked for a while is DaMarre Carroll. Carroll is another player that can score from anywhere on the court and gives a 100% effort on every play. Carroll also had 16 points, as well as five rebounds and three steals.
One Grizzlie that is starting to worry me: Hasheem Thabeet. Thabeet had another poor game, scoring just nine points on 4-of-11 shooting, and grabbing just five rebound. His eight personal fouls don’t make things better. His averages were poor to say the least, at eight points, four rebounds, two turnovers and five fouls. Is the 7-foot-3 nothing but tall, or is there a ball player somewhere inside of him? Too bad the Grizzlies had to pay the second overall pick to find out.
Coolest name in the history of basketball: Pooh Jeter.
That’ll do it for the Summer League. In the next couple of days I’ll be having some Las Vegas 51′s coverage (Toronto Blue Jays Triple-A Affiliate) and then on the 23rd, I’ll have some vids on Team USA Basketball.
