Fun at Summer League in Sin City

[CruzDude]

This is just a summary of some little Who and What at the Kings-Rockets summer league game.

There will now be three more articles, each a separate thread from summer league:
v1.0 Summer League overview
v2.0 Kings interviews
v3.0 Eye Candy, who you can see at summer league from 4 different perspectives

****************************************
Starting and primary lineup for Kings in game-3:

Jimmer and Tony Mitchell G
Robinson and Michael Lee F
Darnell Jackson C

Had chance to chat with Coach Bobby Jackson before the game - Asked him how he liked his trial under fire at coaching? "Its great. A learning experience. You're learning every day. It's Fun. It's sure a lot different than being a player"

During the game watched Coach Jax gaining experience working with the rookie refs here at summer league. He uses a disarming sense of humor in his dialog with them. The training never stops.v

Chatted briefly with a pleasant George Maloof and will followup more with him later.

Nice group of KingsFans at the game including the sign lady here for first time, jdmhv over from Edwards AFB with his grandson and niece. While I was chatting with Coach Jax he brought his grandson down who got Coach Jackson to autograph his Kings ball. Others here include Uncia03 (Mr & Mrs), bajaden, and Tyler Honeycutt's family. Didn't see Tyler but suspect he was down on the bench. Will get with him and other Kings to get their personal inputs for the benefit of KingsFans.com

Jimmer going to basket strong and taking shots but not finishing, 1/6 in 1st Q. Much better game today, better movement; Jimmer making some 3s now. TRob still struggling down low, but def is good, was one-on-one with Marcus Morris most of time, a tough guard for the rook.

Sat next to Sean Cunningham a beat reporter and video guy for Ch10 who has access to the Kings locker room and practices in Sac and at summer league. Nice guy who has to wear some 3-4 hats to get and publish his insights for the Kings. He is also another KHTK alumni.

The summer league are tryouts and training for referees as well, from the D-league and the NCAA mostly. Under the watchful eyes of the lead NBA referees they are trying out to make it to the next and ultimate level, the NBA. They are learning in a much faster game environment with bigger and quicker players than at the college level. They miss calls but not nearly as much as the FA's miss basic basketball plays and make silly mistakes.

One last item on Fun in the Sun at summer league. Here it is all about player evaluation, seeing how players perform and handle themselves in this, an intermediate level on the way to the next level, the NBA. Wins are nice but not the goal at Summer League.

 

[Bricklayer]

Speak with BJax again. Ask him to please please PLEASE run some postups, or at least pick and rolls with TRob.

 

[CruzDude]

Now the reality and not so good.......

TRob is indeed struggling, and on both ends. In first half played just under 15 min, was 0/5 shooting, 0/2 FT, 2reb, 2ast, and 1 stl. His man, Marcus Morris, now in his second year, was 5/11 from field, 8 reb and only 1 TO. Outplayed. Down low just wasn't banging and competing as he can. By the half you could see in his eyes that his confidence had faded.

In the third quarter he got some of his mojo back and in just over 15 min in second half had 6 reb and shot 5/8 from the floor finishing with 10 pts and 8 reb. Overall one of his two worst games but against competition with a full year of NBA under their belt.

On the other hand SF Tony Mitchell and SG Michael Lee showed they had hops, stayed in front of the man much of the time and shot 10/17 between them. Lee of the really big hops also had 3 blocks.

Jimmer was aggressive all game. He had listened to Coach Jax alright. His best shots were of the stop-and-pop variety along with some tough moves to the bucket. He dribbled well, moved the ball and showed improvements in defense as well. Was. 2/6 in 3's and was high scorer on the floor at 19 pts due in part to 8/8 FT's.

What did I learn courtside at game #3 in this summer league?
- Jimmer is learning rapidly to be more aggressive
- Lee and Mitchell are gradually earning an invite to training camp, maybe
- Darnell Jackson seems about where he was a year ago or two
- TRob has a ways to go. You can see the potential and upside, where he is a different "tweener", a SF in a PF body. Lets see what my interview with him yields on Wednesday.
- In two of their first three games, their opponents had 3-4 players each with at least 1 year of NBA and in the case of Motiejunas for Houston several years in Euro leagues.

 

[CruzDude]

Speak with BJax again. Ask him to please please PLEASE run some postups, or at least pick and rolls with TRob.

Will definitely ask him about those items. However, from floorside TRob looks to be playing more like a SF!?

No Kings game on Tuesday so will see if Tyreke is in town and maybe working out at Impact Basketball, in Las Vegas.

 

[VF21]

Thanks, CruzDude! I'm very glad KingsFans.com has you and bajaden and uncia03 (and mrs. uncia03) repping the board in LV. Nice work!

 

[kennadog]

Thank you CruzDude. Nice to have a you and other kingsfans members there watching in person.

 

[jcassio]

Thanks for the independent reporting!

 

[CruzDude]

Tuesday, an off day, finds the Kings squad in a late practice session 5pm-7pm at an offsite facility. Will get an update on the practice later I hope. No significant injuries for the rag tag squad. With Tyler Honeycutt and Tyreke observing Tuesdays game it was left up to Jimmer to finally get his mojo going hitting for a summer league high 30 points doing what he does best, long range jumpers and learning aggressive moce to the basket.

TRob is still figuring out the increased competition and always battling 3-4 other forwards trying to make a team by being a bit more aggressive than normal. He'll figure it out, just like he'll find out if he is a 3 or a 4. His 3 skills can be seen but his 4 skills at this level are having a bit more trouble.

One issue against him is the lack of experienced players on the Kings squad. Darnell Jackson, a Sacramento resident, is holding his own in the middle with his 260-270 and with his 4-yrs experience (last year playing in the Ukraine) should get to training camp in October. Michael Lee at 6-9 and 215 and Tony Mitchell at 6-6 and 210 have done well for summer league but Lee is another SF and Mitchell a SG. I can see Lee going against Honeycutt and Johnson in camp in October. He is 26 years old and played with Darnell at BC Donetsk in the Ukraine last year. But looking good in summer league carries no guaranrees come October.

 

[Bricklayer]

Will definitely ask him about those items. However, from floorside TRob looks to be playing more like a SF!?

No Kings game on Tuesday so will see if Tyreke is in town and maybe working out at Impact Basketball, in Las Vegas.

Yeah, generally I leave Vegas to you frisky kids, but this time through there are definitely questions I wish I could ask. Good luck with the TRob interview. Outside of the standard cliche answers I would love to know if he thinks this is actually his normal game, or whether the coaches have told him to play like this, or just what's up.

 

[mac]

Yeah, generally I leave Vegas to you frisky kids, but this time through there are definitely questions I wish I could ask. Good luck with the TRob interview. Outside of the standard cliche answers I would love to know if he thinks this is actually his normal game, or whether the coaches have told him to play like this, or just what's up.

Robinson needs to lighten up if you ask me. He's too emo and is way too hard on himself. He needs to stop trying to prove that he should have been the #1 pick and just focus on rebounding, playing good D and running the floor hard. It's never ever a good thing when rookies/young players force things. Just ask JT.

 

[CruzDude]

Wrap up for Fun in the Sun at Summer League

- Coach BJax did not coach last two games so could not interview. Last 2 games coached by Alex English
- Good interviews published with Coach English, Tyler Honeycutt, Jimmer, The Sign Lady and a Sacramento fan group and a not so good interview with TRob,
- Kings finally played a decent game vs. Celtics. TRob started to come around and show what he can do
- Got published Kings Summer League v1.0, v2.0 and v3.0
- Mitchell, Lee and Akognon showed good game and likely will get invites to training camp, maybe....
- Ticket prices went up this year $28 per day adults and $18/day for seniors.
- Will research and publish a story on the history of the Las Vegas summer league and how in 2004 it started based on a conversation back in 1972.

enjoyed covering summer league and getting all the detail updates from bajaden and Uncia03. Will go back next year for sure.

 

[VF21]

Thanks again, CruzDude. It's pretty nice to know KF was represented so well at the summer league games.

 

[Section 101]

- Coach BJax did not coach last two games so could not interview. Last 2 games coached by Alex English

They said on the telecast he had a family emergency.

 

[bajaden]

I highly recommend going to the summer league games in Las Vegas. You can watch up to 4 games a day at the minimum. Sitting at the 50 yrd line in the 10th row is a piece of cake. But your never in a bad seat or far from the floor. In the concession area, you likely to run into retired NBA players, that will tax your memory as to who they are, along with GM's, current players, and of course all the summer league players. On my second day, I was meeting Uncia03 at the Thomas & Mack center. We always sit in the same area in both venues. As I reached our row, I said excuse me to someone sitting on the aisle seat. As he stood, I realized that it was none other than Sam Cassell.

This is not unusual, and really quite the norm. I was able to talk to Jeff Petrie in the concession area, as well as Anthony Johnson, and ex-King. You can find rooms that are very affordable, especially if you share a room. If your a senior, the tickets are $18.00 a piece. $28.00 if not. Unfortunately, I was never carded. I need to look in a mirror to see whats giving me away.

The biggest disappointment this year of course, was watching the Kings team. T. Robb was just simply lost his first 4 games. Ditto Jimmer his first two. But both saved the best for last, in a game that unfortunately wasn't televised. Jimmer made huge strides in his last 3 games. He attacked, instead of playing timidly. He refound his cross over dribble, and in the last game, he found his shot. The biggest improvement, and its far from perfect, was his defense. He never looked lost, and for the most part stayed in front of his man. He discovered how to influence his man to go the way he wants, which is a huge part of team defense.

Here's a cleverly hidden secret. Very few players can always stay in front of thier man, but the smart one's force their player into the heart of help defense, and occasionaly, a trap. So, as I was so nicely corrected, "Baby steps, baby steps". T. Robb's defense was horrible in his first 3 games, but then so was his entire game. But he improved his last two, and was almost a good defender in his last game. He gave Sullinger fits. But lets remember, he had played against Sullinger before. Of the course the opposite is true as well, and that didn't seem to help Sullinger, who I think has far more long range problems than Robinson.

So I went from deep depression, and considerable consumption of alcohol, to singing Kumbaya, and flaunting my Kings jersey. A little premature perhaps, but even a drop of water looks good after treking through the desert for 4 days. For the moment at least, all's well that ends well.

 

[Capt. Factorial]

T. Robb was just simply lost his first 4 games. Ditto Jimmer his first two. But both saved the best for last, in a game that unfortunately wasn't televised.

Actually, that last game was televised on NBATV as normal. Right at the beginning of the game they cut away from the middle of another game in the other venue, so I wonder if there were regional feeds on NBATV.

I was also disappointed in Robinson until the last game, though there were signs of improvement all the way through. I thought his court positioning for defense and rebounding improved by leaps and bounds over the course of the Summer League, he started to get his hands up on defense and be a bit more active as well. There were still a few times where he just didn't contest a guard coming in to the lane, and he'll need to be real careful about defensive three-second violations because they were really letting those slide for him, especially in the Celtics game where he probably committed 10-15 three second violations and might have been called for one.

 

[bajaden]

Actually, that last game was televised on NBATV as normal. Right at the beginning of the game they cut away from the middle of another game in the other venue, so I wonder if there were regional feeds on NBATV.

I was also disappointed in Robinson until the last game, though there were signs of improvement all the way through. I thought his court positioning for defense and rebounding improved by leaps and bounds over the course of the Summer League, he started to get his hands up on defense and be a bit more active as well. There were still a few times where he just didn't contest a guard coming in to the lane, and he'll need to be real careful about defensive three-second violations because they were really letting those slide for him, especially in the Celtics game where he probably committed 10-15 three second violations and might have been called for one.

You should have seen Fab Melo. He had to be the champion of 3 second violations. Someone forgot to tell him he wasn't in college anymore. As a matter of fact, he was downright terrible overall, and couldn't stay in the game.

 

[mac]

You should have seen Fab Melo. He had to be the champion of 3 second violations. Someone forgot to tell him he wasn't in college anymore. As a matter of fact, he was downright terrible overall, and couldn't stay in the game.

Fab Melo doesn't have the look of an intelligent player to me. I know it seems shallow to judge people based on how they look, but I think that there is somewhat of a noticeable difference in looks between an intelligent person and a not-so-intelligent one. For one, the less smart ones tend to look like they're thinking about butterflies fluttering around instead of what's happening around them.

 

[Kingster]

I highly recommend going to the summer league games in Las Vegas. You can watch up to 4 games a day at the minimum. Sitting at the 50 yrd line in the 10th row is a piece of cake. But your never in a bad seat or far from the floor. In the concession area, you likely to run into retired NBA players, that will tax your memory as to who they are, along with GM's, current players, and of course all the summer league players. On my second day, I was meeting Uncia03 at the Thomas & Mack center. We always sit in the same area in both venues. As I reached our row, I said excuse me to someone sitting on the aisle seat. As he stood, I realized that it was none other than Sam Cassell.

This is not unusual, and really quite the norm. I was able to talk to Jeff Petrie in the concession area, as well as Anthony Johnson, and ex-King. You can find rooms that are very affordable, especially if you share a room. If your a senior, the tickets are $18.00 a piece. $28.00 if not. Unfortunately, I was never carded. I need to look in a mirror to see whats giving me away.

The biggest disappointment this year of course, was watching the Kings team. T. Robb was just simply lost his first 4 games. Ditto Jimmer his first two. But both saved the best for last, in a game that unfortunately wasn't televised. Jimmer made huge strides in his last 3 games. He attacked, instead of playing timidly. He refound his cross over dribble, and in the last game, he found his shot. The biggest improvement, and its far from perfect, was his defense. He never looked lost, and for the most part stayed in front of his man. He discovered how to influence his man to go the way he wants, which is a huge part of team defense.

Here's a cleverly hidden secret. Very few players can always stay in front of thier man, but the smart one's force their player into the heart of help defense, and occasionaly, a trap. So, as I was so nicely corrected, "Baby steps, baby steps". T. Robb's defense was horrible in his first 3 games, but then so was his entire game. But he improved his last two, and was almost a good defender in his last game. He gave Sullinger fits. But lets remember, he had played against Sullinger before. Of the course the opposite is true as well, and that didn't seem to help Sullinger, who I think has far more long range problems than Robinson.

So I went from deep depression, and considerable consumption of alcohol, to singing Kumbaya, and flaunting my Kings jersey. A little premature perhaps, but even a drop of water looks good after treking through the desert for 4 days. For the moment at least, all's well that ends well.

Couldn't have been happier with Robinson's last game. Not only did he play well, but he took away from that last game that he needs to first and foremost concentrate on the rebounding and defense, and then the offense will follow. (Initially, it looked like he thought he had to go out there and be LBJ). If he abides by that rule during the regular season, he'll do just fine next year. By the way, Happy B-Day!

 

[bajaden]

Fab Melo doesn't have the look of an intelligent player to me. I know it seems shallow to judge people based on how they look, but I think that there is somewhat of a noticeable difference in looks between an intelligent person and a not-so-intelligent one. For one, the less smart ones tend to look like they're thinking about butterflies fluttering around instead of what's happening around them.

If Melo could just hang under the basket and block shots, he'd be great. Unfortunately, he's finding out just like Thabeet did, that you actually have to do other things to play in the NBA. He has zero offensive abilities, other than putting the ball back up. Away from the basket, he's totally lost. Doesn't have a clue how to defend the pick and roll. Remember, Syracuse played a zone 100% of the time. For him to leave the post, is like him going to a foreign country. Not saying he can't, or won't get it, but he has some learning to do.