Cruisin' Courtside with CruzDude

CruzDude

Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
Tonight will be First time at summer league with both laptop AND new DSLR. Will check out the WiFi situation shortly to know what I can upload. Will be at earlier games and seeing who is interesting.
 
first quarter, Kings-Blazers
Jason Thompson is better, right now, than Shelden
Douby is playing a level above anybody at summer league
Singletary is good, but was guarding the 6-4 Koponen all the way
Douby guarded Bayless
Hawes shooting outside too much (IMHO) unless being told to
Thompson is fast, out ran Bayless on a their breakaway and got an offensive foul on Bayless!!
Kings playing Sanders, Hawkins, McCalleb who did not play last game

SECOND QUARTER
Bayless has Singletary on him like a second shirt. The only way Bayless can shoot is off a screen. His "D" is really good. Stripped Bayless twice but had ticky-tacky fouls called both times.
Hawkins was ordinary in his stint
Noel Felix played for first time, got 3 fouls in 90 seconds then worked out jitters a bit. Too little time to tell about him.
Hawes not having very good game. Has no fouls all of first half and only 6 points. Jason and Douby have 8 each,
Kings defense cranked up 2nd quarter, only 34-34 at half (patrick ewing Sr just walked by)
 
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THIRD QUARTER
Well, one thing for sure, taking (learning to take at a ƒast BB game) pics with a big DSLR and telephoto lens, trying to make and blog notes and watch a basketball game, ain't easy or practical. Any two oƒ*the three works. But all 3...huh-uh!

Anyway the 5 starters: singletary, douby, hawes, williams and ewing jr, began the 3rd but Jason comes in pretty soon. for a summer league game this was one oƒ*the most defensive games any of us in our section had seen before. The 3 bigs, hawes/thompson/williams really block up the middle, but then they should, 3 first round draft choices that they are!!!! Shooting % were way down for both teams 37% and 35% for the Blazers.

Singletary started getting taken to task by Baylesss who screen and rolled him to no end. After a bit Sean was getting banged up quite a bit by their 4's and 5's.

Hawes had a real off*game and didn't get his first foul until 5 min into the 3rd then he got 3 in the next 3 min. Both his off and def disappeared as 3/13 shooting and 0 assists indicates.

Ewing is sort of invisible out there. No off, some defense but nothing to note at all.
Same thing with McCalebb, Hawkins and Sanders. On the other hand, Hawes, Singletary, Douby and Thompson all got more than 33 min with Shelden getting 25+ min.

Thompson just looks more ready than Williams. Shelden did get a bunch of rebounds and many were fought for down low but overall just focusing on Jason showed a really good basic set of skills and he just might be the second fastest guy on the team running the floor. I mean that kid can run and fast!!!

Without Douby in there the Kings loose by 15. And his is the 4th first-round draƒt pick in the basic starting group.

FOURTH QUARTER
All the momentum the Kings had in the 3rd they literally threw away in the 4th. They were tired and it showed. They let the Blazers back in and could not match their energy. But Douby and Thompson held on to get them to overtime. Then those same 2 won the game when everyone was gasping and panting and grabbing their shorts.

I'm processing a bunch of pictures as I just got back to the hotel at 9:50. Any that are decent will post up shortly.

Bottom line: Thompson is the real thing. Singletary might make a PG backup but it might take a year. Douby looked better than any time in the past 2 years and had 6 steals. Hawes had an off night. Shelden had a lot of rebounds but not a lot oƒ put backs. Ewing hasn't shown much at all, neither has McCalebb, Sanders, Hawkins or Felix. Wednesdays game becomes critical for the and Ewing.
 
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lakers-76ers, Marresse Speights on 76ers...really skies bit not very aggressive....Coby Karl shoots, that's about it......my boy Caner-Medley in ... Speights is all offense, has the moves and shots but not much on defense (maybe he's holding back).

Donnie Nelson sitting 5 seats to my right, lookin and watchin. Scotty Sterling, one oƒ the most senior scouts in the league, and the Kings chieƒ scout sitting in his customary end zone seat.

Interesting comment behind me ƒrom older Laker ƒan talking "... we don't need no guards, we need some big guys who can deƒend." I interjected, "like maybe a Ron Artest?" Hell no was the response!!! interesting......

Jerry Reynolds, Geoff Petrie and several other Kings staff are about 10 rows up directly behind me, just watchin' and waitin'...... Chatted with Jerry briefly....

Laker game near end of 3rd..... Coby Karl getting big minutes for a summer league game. Doing better each year. Joe Crawford their 6-4 first rounder from Kentucky doing really well too. ON 6ers Thadeaus Young is their best player
 
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lakers-76ers, Marresse Speights on 76ers...really skies bit not very aggressive....Coby Karl shoots, that's about it......my boy Caner-Medley in ... Speights is all offense, has the moves and shots but not much on defense (maybe he's holding back).

Donnie Nelson sitting 5 seats to my right, lookin and watchin. Scotty Sterling, one oƒ the most senior scouts in the league, and the Kings chieƒ scout sitting in his customary end zone seat.

Interesting comment behind me ƒrom older Laker ƒan talking "... we don't need no guards, we need some big guys who can deƒend." I interjected, "like maybe a Ron Artest?" Hell no was the response!!! interesting......

oh caner medley is playing is he doing good?
the comment by the old laker fan is funny
no one wants him he is to crazy
it would be funny if he ended up going 2 the t-wolves or 2 the grizlies
since he wants 2 play on a championship calibur team.
 
first quarter, Kings-Blazers
Jason Thompson is better, right now, than Shelden
Douby is playing a level above anybody at summer league
Singletary is good, but was guarding the 6-4 Koponen all the way
Douby guarded Bayless
Hawes shooting outside too much (IMHO) unless being told to
Thompson is fast, out ran Bayless on a their breakaway and got an offensive foul on Bayless!!
Kings playing Sanders, Hawkins, McCalleb who did not play last game

Sounds good so far! Thanks, Dude!
 
oh caner medley is playing is he doing good?

I thought Nik played very well tonight. His vertical is incredible, he is a great hustler, good ball handler and has an excellent mid-range and 3pt shot, and is a leƒty. If he is on the Kings tonight he is in the top group of 5 or 6.
 
Thanks Cruz. You pretty much saw the game the same way I did. One of the things I posted in another thread was the ability of Thompson to run the floor, and his quickness. This kid could really be something in a couple of years.
 
Pics, such as they are... the only decent ones

Jason doing (and making) a one-handed put back oƒ a Justin Hawkins miss.
 

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Singletary doing good job on Bayless....
 

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Gavin dribbling and talking to a rapper....
 

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The one meager NBA TV broadcast crew with backup camera.
 

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My bad guys and gals. The multitasking oƒ*picture taking, note taking and game watching was a disaster on Tuesday. Won't happen again. Todays game will be real-time notes on the plays and players. Sorry 'bout that. New camera is lots more complicated indoors than outdoors.
 
You do a great job with Summer League reporting, sir, and I just wanted to let you know that this Kingzfan appreciates your fine work to give us your on-the-scene insights.
 
Cruz how long are you going to be there for, I should be there some time from Thursday-Sunday. Will be 1/2 Asian wearing a retro Jordan jersey.
 
Cruz how long are you going to be there for, I should be there some time from Thursday-Sunday. Will be 1/2 Asian wearing a retro Jordan jersey.

toay only. At the Knicks-Spurs game now 2:08pm, hawiian shirt bright red laptop (a MacBook) across from team benches. BTW which half of you is the Asian part? :)
 
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THIRD QUARTER
Bottom line: Thompson is the real thing. Singletary might make a PG backup but it might take a year. Douby looked better than any time in the past 2 years and had 6 steals. Hawes had an off night. Shelden had a lot of rebounds but not a lot oƒ put backs. Ewing hasn't shown much at all, neither has McCalebb, Sanders, Hawkins or Felix. Wednesdays game becomes critical for the and Ewing.

Thanks for the report, always interesting to hear what others think about the games.

You are certainly welcome to your opinion, but I would be a little more cautious about making definitive statements about any player's future based on a couple of summer league games. A players performance in summer league doesn't always translate to the NBA, so I wouldn't call any young player the "real thing" until after they have proven it over an extended period in actual games.
 
toay only. At the Knicks-Spurs game now 2:08pm, hawiian shirt bright red laptop (a MacBook) across from team benches. BTW which half of you is the Asian part? :)


Probably the left side, since the left hemisphere of the brain is good at math. :rolleyes:
 
You are certainly welcome to your opinion, but I would be a little more cautious about making definitive statements about any player's future based on a couple of summer league games. A players performance in summer league doesn't always translate to the NBA....
Cruz knows that as well as anybody here and has attended many summer league games. He has a pretty solid base for making comparisons. The fact that JT has impressed our CruzDude impresses me.:)
 
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