NBA Summer League 2013

  

  Some of my thoughts from the NBA Summer League for 2013.  First of all we didn't get to see a lot of the lottery picks due to injury.  The #1 pick (Anthony Bennett), #5 (Alex Lin) & #6 (Nerlens Noel) were all out with different injures. Picks #2(Oladipo) #8(Caldwell-Pope) #9(Burke) #11(Carter-Williams) #12(Adams) & #13(Olynyk) were all in the Orlando Summer League. So that only left picks #3(Porter) #4(Zeller) #7(McLemore) #10(McCollum) &#14(Muhammad) left to play in Vegas. Standouts in Orlando to me were Reggie Jackson (19.5ppg) & Jeremy Lamb (18.8ppg) for OKC.  They alternated games played, won every game and ultimately won the Orlando Summer league championship.  R.Jackson dominated pick & roll play scoring 23 of his league high 35 in the 4th qtr of one game.  J.Lamb not to be outdone dropped 32 the next night and proved he is ready to step in and make up for the loss of Kelvin Martin this upcoming season for OKC. Other standouts there were V.Oladipo (19ppg) who proved he can shoot from the outside and run the point. Kelly Olynyk (18ppg) who proved he can score from the inside and out, and Andre Drummond who avg a lead leading 14.8 rbs.  My sleeper from this league was Dwight Buycks whose play earned his a partial guaranteed contract with Toronto.
    Standouts from the Vegas Summer league were Reggie Bullock (18ppg) from UNC. I'm not sure how many mins Bullock will get behind Reddick & J.Crawford, but he proved he is ready for the NBA game with the way he shot the ball and defended.  CJ McCollum (21ppg) Jeffery Taylor (20.3ppg) and John Henson (14.7ppg & 13.7rbs) proved they are ready to contribute next season.  Cody Zeller (16.3ppg & 9.3rbs) was a pick I didn't agree with for the Bobcats at #4, but he has impressed in Vegas. Ben McLemore (15.8ppg) the player I thought the Bobcats should've taken at 4 struggled with his shot in Vegas but showed what he is ultimately capable of last night scoring 19 of his game high 27 pts in the 3rd qter on 7-8 shooting from the field.  He proved he needs to work on shot selection but showed he could be one of the few stars of the 2013 draft.  Another sleeper I think has the potential to become a star is 18 yr old Archie Goodwin from Kentucky.  To me this kid has Russell Westbrook potential, and it appears he is still growing. They list him at 6'4 but when standing next to other players he looks to be approaching 6'6 already.  He fell to 29 in the draft but could definitely prove to be a top ten talent.  He just needs to work on his jump-shot and cutting down on turnovers. 

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Charlotte Bobcats 2013 Draft

   

The Charlotte Bobcats are terrible at being terrible.  They screw up there chances of having the best odds to get the #1 pick by winning a meaningless game on the last game of the season.  I'm not going to waist time by giving you all the reasons why this was dumb.  I'm just going to get right to the point and give you my expert advise on who they need to draft this year.  Ben McLemore.  The 6'5 shooting guard for the Kansas Jayhawks.  The bobcats biggest need is a post player that can score inside.  So everyone is saying they should take Nerlens Noel (the 6'11 Center from Kentucky).  I have concluded everyone saying this obviously don't know what the hell they are talking about.  First of all Noel can't sore from the post.  He is a defensive player with a limited offensive skill set.  Basically he is a similar player to Bismack Biyombo so drafting him would be dumb and just duplication as player they already have on their roster. Bobcats biggest need is scoring and it's been the biggest need for the last 3 years.  This is why I said they should've taken Klay Thompson and Reggie Jackson when they had two lottery picks in 2011.  And Harrison Barnes in 2012.  Reggie Jackson has been stuck on *OKC bench until this year so I've been getting flack for suggesting that pick, but he is finally getting backup PG minutes and showing flashing.  There is no doubt in my mind this kid will be a star.  I think the same of Ben MacLemore. He scores better than anyone else I've seen in this draft.  MacLemore is a knockdown shooter in the mode of a Ray Allen.  MacLemore however is way more athletic than Ray Allen and a great finisher in transition.  He can spread the floor for Kimba Walker and last years #2 pick Michael Kidd-Gilchrist.  Two non-shooters who need room to penetrate and drive by defenders.  If the Bobcats want a post player that can score I say they go after Al Jefferson from Utah.  The best scoring big in this draft is UNLV freshman forward Anthony Bennett, but his size has come into question and the last thing the Bobcats need is an undersize forward who can't score over length.  The only knock on MacLemore is that he can be passive at times.  He shot 50% from the field 42% from 3, and 87% from the free-throw line.  He average 5 rbs a game from the guard spot and he is a pretty good defender.  If the only knock on a guy is for being to passive at times when he is the only starting Freshman on a team full of Seniors then I'm OK with that.  Bobcats better take Ben MacLemore if he is available or they will regret.  Just like they do Klay Thompson from 2011, and Harrison Barnes from 2012.

*OKC has they best scouts in the NBA.  They are stock piled with talented players that can't even get minutes off the bench like Jeremy Lamb, Perry Jones III, and until recently trading Eric Maynor, Reggie Jackson.  If the Bobcats were really smart they would put up the money and try to hire some of them OKC scouts, especially if they intend to rebuild thru the draft and keep getting these high lottery picks b/c there picks have been shaky at best lately. 

UNC Tarheels

   So ole Roy finally decided to start his best player PJ Hairston and Carolina promptly goes 2-1 with 2 blowouts wins, a road win, and the only loss coming on the road @ #2 Duke.  It only took him 4 months and 8 losses to figure this out.  In just 3 starts PJ has scored 62 points and is averaging 20 ppg.  If he's doing this in games I can only imagine what was going on in practice everyday.  My question is this, what the hell took Roy so long to figure this out and make the change?  Check out my blog back in November when I first said PJ should be starting.  In my opinion Roy cost this team 4 losses by being so stubborn and not making the change when it became obvious PJ should be starting and playing more minutes. The Butler game, Virginia, the Miami game at home when they were only down 1 w/ 4 mins left, and no way in hell they lose that game to sorry as Texas.   In college basketball you got to play your best 5 players and not worry about position and there is no way in hell Roy didn't see that PJ was one of his 5 best players.  I still think he needs to play Brice Johnson more because it's obvious that he is there best offense post play.  One of the best things that happen to them was Joel James getting hurt and removed from the rotation because that boy is not ready.  I swear the travel every-time he catch the ball outside the paint and when he catch it inside the paint the double comes and he turn the ball over.  He probably would've been better off redshirting because he is not ready.  A lot of fans been complaining about this team not being as talented as previous Carolina teams, but what has been frustrating to me is Roy not playing the best players that he does have.  I'm just glad he figured it out or stop being stubborn long enough to make the change and not waist a whole season. 

NC State Fans

   NCSU fans are happy about beating Carolina and Duke this year.  And Carolina fans expected to beat State and were surprised when they lost?  Why?  State was suppose to beat Carolina and Duke this year.  They are the more talented team and they were at home.  State is currently undefeated in the ACC at home, but they are (as they lose to Virginia as I'm writing this blog) now 1-3 on the road.  State is the most talented team in the ACC this year other than maybe Miami.  They should be undefeated or only have one loss (Virginia) at best in the league so far this year. There was no reason to lose to a inferior Wake Forest when you're up by 16pts and if Scoot Wood can hit a wide open jump-shot, once in two tries, they beat Maryland.  Let me just say that I'm not like most UNC Fans, I'm from Raleigh and I pull for State unless they playing Carolina. But State fans love to hate Carolina.  If yall wanna be the best in the ACC you got to learn to win on the road.  No reason for this State team to not to be at least 7-1 in the ACC.  To be they are underachieving.  If Zo Brown play as aggressive as he did against UNC and the bigs can stay out of foul trouble, it's no reason this team shouldn't go to the final four this year and win the ACC like they were predicted to do in the preseason and like the Tarheels have done the past two seasons.  But State fans are only concerned about beating Carolina and Duke and not seeing the real potential in this team.  And for the State fans only concerned about Carolina and Duke, they still gotta play both of those teams on the road, where they have yet to prove that they can win at and is now just 1-3 in ACC play.