CruzDude
Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
Bit the bullet on Monday and wizzed the 123 mile drive in from the desert to the Laker Practice Facility in El Segundo for the Reno BigHorn vs. LA Defender D-League game, mainly to watch Ray McCallum. The basketball court is just over a mile in from the ocean and 1/2 mile south of I-105 and LAX. Most of the facility is 3 full size ice skating rinks one of which hosts the LA Kings NHL hockey team. A basic gym attached is the Laker Training gym with 4 rows of seats on the north side at 25$ each and one row of $100 court side seats.
Then read today, tuesday, that McCallum got called up today, Tuesday and told to report to New Orleans for the game tonight. This seemed curious at first given Kings have this an another road game before finishing their road trip. But Reno doesn't have another game until the weekend after the Kings return.
D-League games are played exactly like NBA games, same 12 min quarters, same rules but the refs tend to let them play with fair amount of banging not resulting in fouls. But the Kings minor league team still managed to get 23 TO's whereas the D-Fenders managed only 11 but they were not as good defenders as the BigHorns either.
BigHorns starting lineup:
Ray McCallum, G
Trent Lockett, G (SG, played for Kings summer league team last year)
Mickell Gladness, C (all 6-11 of him)
Tyrell Biggs, F at 6-8 and 250
DeQuan JOnes, F 6-8 and 230
McCallum shot 8/14 for 20 pts including 7 assists, 1 BS and only 2 TO’s in 33 min
Lockett shot 5/12 for 12 pts with 11 reb, 4 ast. 1 BS and only 2 TO’s in 35 min
In first half McCallum looked somewhat average, OK not great defense but in 2nd half came alive, was more aggressive on D and basically kept the D-Fender guards from doing anything: only 18 pts among the Defenders 3 Guards in a total of 71 min for all 3! His assist total should have been 11-13 as many of his passes resulted in poor shots or easy misses. Liked his game at this level, clearly the best guard on the floor. He, like McLemore, needs more playing time at the NBA level to gain some confidence. Ball handling very good, seeing open court very good and shot selection excellent with no real forced shots. Boy, what a new thing for me as a Kings fan!
As a team BigHorns seemed to follow their parent team, our Kings with 23 TO’s as every player but Tyrell Biggs had only 2 TO’s with Tyrell stacking up 6 TO’s, many using hands for defense instead of that 6-8 250 body. As said earlier, the BigHorns were the better defensive team.
I was impressed with Trent Locket the starting SG who grabbed a number of rebounds in the middle of the “bigs”, amazing considering he is only 6-5. Good ball handling and great outside shot. He seemed to always be in the right place on offense and kept his many away from the bucket better than most. His catch and shoot was deadly and making his own shot was very good. Will become a good bench SG sooner than later.
Great customer service at the Toyota Sports Facility containing the Laker Practice Gym. Had Will Call tickets, and being a first-timer was escorted up and over the ice rinks by LA Defenders jack of all trades, Benny Garcia. Very helpful and easy to deal with.
For all you SoCal Kings Fan this is an easy venue to get to including the LA Metro light rail which has a station less than 100 yd from the gym. It is 1/2 mile south of I-105 and LAX at 555 N. Nash Ave, El Segundo.
As for McCallum, has the basics but just needs minutes and minutes and more minutes to build confidence and perhaps work his way into Kings rotation. Has an excellent 3-pt and perimeter shooting style both for stop and pop as well as making his own shot.
Then read today, tuesday, that McCallum got called up today, Tuesday and told to report to New Orleans for the game tonight. This seemed curious at first given Kings have this an another road game before finishing their road trip. But Reno doesn't have another game until the weekend after the Kings return.
D-League games are played exactly like NBA games, same 12 min quarters, same rules but the refs tend to let them play with fair amount of banging not resulting in fouls. But the Kings minor league team still managed to get 23 TO's whereas the D-Fenders managed only 11 but they were not as good defenders as the BigHorns either.
BigHorns starting lineup:
Ray McCallum, G
Trent Lockett, G (SG, played for Kings summer league team last year)
Mickell Gladness, C (all 6-11 of him)
Tyrell Biggs, F at 6-8 and 250
DeQuan JOnes, F 6-8 and 230
McCallum shot 8/14 for 20 pts including 7 assists, 1 BS and only 2 TO’s in 33 min
Lockett shot 5/12 for 12 pts with 11 reb, 4 ast. 1 BS and only 2 TO’s in 35 min
In first half McCallum looked somewhat average, OK not great defense but in 2nd half came alive, was more aggressive on D and basically kept the D-Fender guards from doing anything: only 18 pts among the Defenders 3 Guards in a total of 71 min for all 3! His assist total should have been 11-13 as many of his passes resulted in poor shots or easy misses. Liked his game at this level, clearly the best guard on the floor. He, like McLemore, needs more playing time at the NBA level to gain some confidence. Ball handling very good, seeing open court very good and shot selection excellent with no real forced shots. Boy, what a new thing for me as a Kings fan!
As a team BigHorns seemed to follow their parent team, our Kings with 23 TO’s as every player but Tyrell Biggs had only 2 TO’s with Tyrell stacking up 6 TO’s, many using hands for defense instead of that 6-8 250 body. As said earlier, the BigHorns were the better defensive team.
I was impressed with Trent Locket the starting SG who grabbed a number of rebounds in the middle of the “bigs”, amazing considering he is only 6-5. Good ball handling and great outside shot. He seemed to always be in the right place on offense and kept his many away from the bucket better than most. His catch and shoot was deadly and making his own shot was very good. Will become a good bench SG sooner than later.
Great customer service at the Toyota Sports Facility containing the Laker Practice Gym. Had Will Call tickets, and being a first-timer was escorted up and over the ice rinks by LA Defenders jack of all trades, Benny Garcia. Very helpful and easy to deal with.
For all you SoCal Kings Fan this is an easy venue to get to including the LA Metro light rail which has a station less than 100 yd from the gym. It is 1/2 mile south of I-105 and LAX at 555 N. Nash Ave, El Segundo.
As for McCallum, has the basics but just needs minutes and minutes and more minutes to build confidence and perhaps work his way into Kings rotation. Has an excellent 3-pt and perimeter shooting style both for stop and pop as well as making his own shot.
