Summer League, Day-2....Meh

CruzDude

Senior Member sharing a brew with bajaden
Could easily have titled this “The Bad and the Good” ‘cause it was. The bad was the play of the Kings regulars: McLemore, McCallum, DWill and Acy. Again Acy was the better of that bunch as was Stauskas. Really disappointing as they did the same poor/bad things all over that they did in game one.

McCallum did not control or direct the game and had a quiet 6 pts and only 2 Ast in 24 min.

McLemore had only 3 TO’s so that was an improvement but in 28 minutes had 1 Reb, 0 Ast, 0 Stl and 0 Blks with 5 fouls and again was not in control of himself way too much.

DWill in 24 min had only 2 Reb, 0 Stl, 0 Blks and 8 pts on 2 for 8 shooting. He just didn’t look very involved and was out of position many times on defense and rebounding. He guarded and was guarded by Noah Vonleh much of the time who got 18 Reb but only 10 pts on 3 for 10 shooting.

Acy in 31 min had 9 Reb, 2 Ast, 1 Stl and only 1 TO. Better than Game-1, more in control of himself but still not in correct positions many times.

Stauskas in 34 min had only 1 TO with 10 pts on 3 for 10 shooting but 2 for 4 from 3. Played his game.

Today Eric Moreland recently from Oregon State played his first summer league game and in 21 min had 9 Reb, 1 Ast, 1 Stl and 4 Blocked Shots!! A little raw at times but showed flashes of what he may bring in rebounding and shot blocking. Marshon Brooks had a good game with 11 pts in 17 min with only 1 TO. His experience showed in this kind of game with his cleaver shots and low risk play. Ra’ashed James had 12 pts hitting 2 of 3 from 3 and 3/6 from 2 and 4/4 FT. Our Really Big, Sim Bhular, got in for just over 3 min and did ok on defense, once acting as a brick wall to a Hornet driving but he has quite a ways to go mostly to get his conditioning better and loose some big weight.

The Kings got out rebounded 47 to 30 but won most other stat categories as Charlotte committed 39 fouls (to 25), had 17 TO (to 13), only shot 26 FT (to 40 for Kings) and generally were not that good a team.

From my view the “naughts” (Kings players whose number ends in a zero ‘0”) played the best when on the floor together: Brooks (0), James (20) and Stauskas (10) at the guards and Moreland (40) in the middle with Acy or DWill at the other frontcourt spot. I’m not a big believer in giving much credit to the +/- stat now showing up but it is a relative indicator of offense when in the game. Moreland, Brooks and James had the highest + numbers of everyone. McLemore and McCallum were in the “-“ and DWill was a zero “0”.

Not what I want to see from a summer league game from players who played good minutes in the NBA this past year. They still tend to revert to 1-on-1 play rather than keeping the ball moving. Some of that could be from lack of movement of the others, a stat we’ll never see. Best + today was the play of Moreland a big who can block shots.

For Monday's Game-3 we need to see more team play and more passing.
 
I think Moreland played awesome. I really hope he gets minutes tomorrow. He's exactly what we need and apparently, has a decent bball iq
 
McLemore had only 3 TO’s so that was an improvement but in 28 minutes had 1 Reb, 0 Ast, 0 Stl and 0 Blks with 5 fouls and again was not in control of himself way too much.

Box score must be wrong cause he had a pass to Stauskas in the corner for a 3.
 
Meh indeed. Ben looked out of control and like a headless chicken. Ray didn't impress, he looks slow and his reaction time isn't there right now. Nik's shots looked flat footed to me, not much leg on the J. Acy is what he is, hustle and defend guy. Watching Gary Harris makes me wonder why we didn't try to nab another pick, he is a 3 & D type player we could use.
 
Meh indeed. Ben looked out of control and like a headless chicken. Ray didn't impress, he looks slow and his reaction time isn't there right now. Nik's shots looked flat footed to me, not much leg on the J. Acy is what he is, hustle and defend guy. Watching Gary Harris makes me wonder why we didn't try to nab another pick, he is a 3 & D type player we could use.

We did try. The thing with trying is that it's sometimes rather hard to turn try into do.
 
Ben had some good moments and some not so good moments....his defense was solid. I thought Nik was disappointing, some good moments but I thought his D was shaky and had trouble in the lane offensively. Ray was a non-factor. Acy was solid, Moreland was interesting....a big with length, blocking shots....more of that please. DWill just doesn't cut it.
 
Not worried about Stauskas. Shots were short and he missed FTs. That's a sign of tired legs. Of course, that means he may be awful tomorrow, too. See if he can find a second wind. I've pretty much given up on Ben. DWill's lack of making the extra pass really frustrated me. Morehead was nice, but I'd need to see more of him to form an opinion.

However, Ray is my biggest letdown right now. I was expecting him to have a real good year and right now he's fumbling back into a limited score-first ball handler.
 
Ray not playing well bothers me too. I had high hopes for him. He has the ability, but it's about consistency.

It appears Ben has been told to work on driving the lane. If he can do that consistently, draw some fouls and play decent defense, he becomes an asset for us. I can deal with his mistakes during the game if there is effort being put out. But missing wide open shots is gut wrenching.
 
Ray has been terribad, Ben looks like he does not belong in the NBA.

My high hopes are quickly turning to look at the 2015 lottery. Thats not good.
 
Do point guards ever look good in summer league? Honest question. I don't get to see a lot of the games but it sure seems like they are always huge disappointments, even top draft picks.

More worried about what I am hearing about Ben.
 
point guards who can break down the defense and pass look good. jeremy lin did it, and elfrid payton did it. raymac isn't that kind of player though, which ain't good because he can't shoot either.
 
Livingthedream said:
It appears Ben has been told to work on driving the lane. If he can do that consistently, draw some fouls and play decent defense, he becomes an asset for us. I can deal with his mistakes during the game if there is effort being put out. But missing wide open shots is gut wrenching.


I agree completely... Ben's best quality that he was drafted for, was to hopefully make that open shot.
 
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I looked at the guide on dish for tomorrow and the game is not listed.

The Summer League runs simultaneous games (actually they are offset by 30 minutes). It's possible that NBATV is broadcasting the games in Cox Pavilion live, which would mean that the games in Thomas and Mack (like the Kings game tomorrow) would have to be on replay. The Kings' first two games were in Cox, so if you saw the first two live, that might indicate that tomorrow's won't be.
 
No one played particularly well but a lot of the struggles are a product of terrible offense. Putting players in unnatural positions with no option but to go one on one. I get they haven't played together much but it's not hard to come up and set a SCREEN that means put a body on someone. My god.
 
Ray has been terribad, Ben looks like he does not belong in the NBA.

My high hopes are quickly turning to look at the 2015 lottery. Thats not good.

So PDA can **** that one up to?

Not that I dislike Nik as a prospect, but Payton is looking like summer league Rondo.
 
There will be more than one player in this draft that makes you think "damn if only" simple as that. This draft was deep.

Time to accept that I'm afraid. Look what doug McDermott (the new Adam Morrison my ass) was doing last night. Gary Harris looked very smooth. All these guys can play.
 
So PDA can **** that one up to?

Not that I dislike Nik as a prospect, but Payton is looking like summer league Rondo.

Well in all fairness, so did Dennis Schroeder last year and we all know how that translated to regular season play
 
After watching both summer league games I wanted to post some quick thoughts as well.

McCallum: I don't know if this guy is going to make it in the league. I wasn't impressed last year even when he took over for Thomas. He just doesn't have PG speed, there is no threat for him to drive and his outside shot is inconsistent. I appreciate the fact that he actually moves the ball, but not in a manner which creates anything for anybody. Perhaps he could become a Derek Fisher type of PG, kind of a last option who plays good defense, but he must get better at the outside shot. I'm not sure this is a good type of player to have off the bench though, no spark to his game.

McLemore: We may have a problem. I'll start by saying that I think his ball handling when going to the rim is better, he finishes at the rim much better, and his one on one defense looks better. However his shot still looks horrible, they don't even go in and out, it is a combination of bricks, air balls, and misses off the side of the backboard. His ball handling around the perimeter is still bad, he loses it a lot. Still a lot of dumb mistakes, feet out of bounds, not where he should be on offense or defense, and bad passes. If he can't get his shot going then I really think he will be out of the league soon.

Stauskas: I like what I'm seeing. The most obvious thing is just the great feel for the game. He creates well for himself and teammates. His shot is outstanding, even the misses are in and out or were just short, he seemed a bit tired yesterday, heavy legs. I think his defense has been stellar, which is perhaps why he was a bit tired on offense. Things just seem to go better for the team when he is in the game. I think he would be averaging around 20 points per game if his teammates ever passed him the ball. I think he would be averaging over 5 assists per game if his teammates would ever convert their open shots.

Williams: Please stop shooting! How could he be just 1 of 8 yesterday? I don't think he ever passed, perhaps I'll watch the game again, I thought it would have been closer to 1 of 20. He stalls the offense and hasn't helped at all on defense, this is actually the worst I've seen him look.

Acy: You are not here for offense. If you have an open mid-range shot take it or if you have an open 3-pointer with little time on the shot clock then go for it. Otherwise pass the ball. No more driving, no more post-ups, and no more turnaround fadeaways. Time to get under the basket and start rebounding so we don't get outrebounded by 20 every game.

My overall impression is that this shows that you can't just throw a bunch of players together, no matter how good they are, and expect them to do well. This is a selfish team that doesn't move the ball where almost every player is trying to show off. They don't play team defense. There is no rebounding because there is no size on the front line, except for one giant player who can barely move.

Next game can we start McCallum, Stauskas, Brooks, Acy, and Moreland just to see how it goes? I would like to see more team basketball.
 
Yea Stauskas does seem to get phased out on offense while he is the only one who passes and the ball doesn't stick. I think he will become an average defender also you can see that he puts effort into that side.
 
Well in all fairness, so did Dennis Schroeder last year and we all know how that translated to regular season play

True dat. I'm just overly sensitive to Payton's good play because he was the guy I wanted going into the draft. I'd much prefer Nik turning out to be the better pro than getting to say "I told you so".
 
I looked at the guide on dish for tomorrow and the game is not listed.

Capt. is correct.
Since the Kings game is in the Thomas & Mack center it isn't going to be showed live.
Before I left for Vegas I did find the game (though I have cable and not dish) and it was showing one time at around 4am.

Hopefully you'll be able to find it.
 
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