dtheriault

I’ve been going to the southern california summer league for 10 years now. It’s cheap and you get to see tomorrow’s stars before they become famous. Here’s my report on what’s going on in the Los Angeles summer league.

don't forget that this is summer league I’ve seen guys light is up for 30 every night during summer league and then average 4 points a game during the NBA season.

My Lakers report:

luke walton has great court sense, and has been averaging 6-10 assists a game which is pretty good for a forward, but he's way too slow, has no handle and no shot. he would get eaten alive by any decent forward in the league.

The lakers 1st round drarft pick Brian Cook looks pretty good. more aggresive than i had heard. He’s averaging about 20 points and 8 rebounds a game.

The former Jayhawk Eric chenowith looked okay. He’s about 7 feet tall with a decent 8 foot turnaround.

Kareem Abdul Jabbar jr. was terrible, but the crowd loves him.

#22 for the lakers leon smith was pretty good. but he never really stands up straight, even when jumping... he should learn to stretch out more it would add several inches to his blocking and rebounding. he was drafted staight from HS 3 years ago and has been bouncing between the NBA and CBA.

they're playing Kareem Rush at the 1 quite a bit. looks like phil thinks he's found his ron harper replacement. Rush has been averaging 25-30 points a night.

Guys for other teams.

Houston and Memphis look terrible. It’s weird seeing VanGundy behind the Rockets bench. Also, Patrick Ewing is coaching for the Rockets.

The 1st round pick of the Mavericks- Josh Howard looks great. He’s averaging 25 points and 10 rebounds a game so far. Also, Marquis Daniels a 6-6 forward from Auburn is lighting it up for 30 points a night.

Chris Bosch a 6 foot 10 inch rookie real young and raw playing for Toronto averaging 20/10.

Mike Dunleavy for the Golden State Warriors had a 34 point game, but he was 9 for 28 from the field.

For the clippers: Chris Wilcox a 6 foot 10 forward who played at Maryland 2 years ago looks good.

Nick Collison looks good for the Supersonics.

I’m going to see Carmelo Anthony play today. If you have any specific questions about players from your favorite teams let me know. Also it would be cool to hear from the other summer leagues around the nation.

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"Remember, it takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen." -Homer

Unless you are the freakin Highlander, what is the point in learning how to fight with a sword?

gov135

I thought this guy had all the skills in college... I think he was a steal in the draft. When Cook gets knocked, its for things like heart and toughness. But I think those things will come to him when he is playing with superstars. He has very good range and should have the NBA-type frame to fit into what the Lakers are doing. I'm just not sure he'll get a chance to play much, but perhaps that is a good thing.

Halx

This is what I've been reading: Brian Cook doesn't get to the free throw line.

Oi, how disappointing. He's gonna need to rough it up a bit.

Also, I enjoyed watching Chenowith in the NBDL last year - I always rooted for his team on those boring weekday afternoons when nothing else was on. He doesn't get a lot of talk on the Laker fan forums though.

And one more thing, fans are also groaning about Rush's performance at 1. It's obvious Walton has a better 1 mentality... Rush is a scorer, not a playmaker. Besides, we allready have 3 PGs. I am a Pargo fan.

Let us know how Carmelo plays out.

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dtheriault

here's the stats from last year:
kobe: 5.2 assists per game
fisher: 1.8 assists per game
devean: 2.2 assists per game
shaq: 3 assists per game
pargo: 1.3 assists per game at 10 minutes a game so if he played 30 minutes = 4 assists

the biggest numbers that jump out are fisher's horrible numbers and kobe and shaq having pretty good assist numbers. the triangle is one of the reasons.

if kareem rush just learns to play defense and gets more comfortable scoring in the league i'm sure phil will be happy enough. then after a year or two of payton maybe rush will be ready to play point (he's not even close now). if not then he'll make a great backup shooting guard.

__________________
"Remember, it takes two to lie. One to lie and one to listen." -Homer

Unless you are the freakin Highlander, what is the point in learning how to fight with a sword?

Halx

I have more confidence in Rush's shot than I do Horry's for some reason. It's true that the triangle eliminates the need for a true PG, but I think this year we are going to be seeing a lot more traditional b-ball with GP running point. This is going to be killer. Deep bench, and more offensive sets means Lakers will rule.

But back on subject, Rush was a scorer in college, and I dont think you can just convert someone to a 1 if they have not been so in the past. I am very content with him as a backup for Kobe. Rush and Pargo became the Laker safety net late last season, the catalyst to spark several 4th quarter comebacks.

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pmb145

I think the Lakers really dropped the bomb taking Rush over Boozer.