Re: A report from the NBA Summer League

[jon breiner]

Now I am waiting for the following post:

The weirdest place I ever saw a Bearcat logo was at halftime of an NBA
summer league game.  This guy won a t-shirt at halftime and he was wearing
the c-paw hat!

Since you sat behind Cuban, did you try to impress him?

Jon



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jon Macomber" <address@hidden>
To: <address@hidden>
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 4:29 AM
Subject: [UC Basketball] A report from the NBA Summer League


Currently in LA, I was able to check out the pro summer league at Long Beach
on Sunday.  Thought some of the Bearcatnews folks would appreciate an
account.

I saw the Sunday game - Lakers (with Bobbitt) against the Knicks (with
DerMarr).  The Knicks came back to take a late lead, but the Lakers won -
for whatever that's worth in a summer league.  For those who didn't see the
first day scores (Saturday) Bobbitt went 4-9 with 3 steals in 23 minutes.
DJ went 4-12 with 5 TOs in 28 minutes.  Scores and updates are at
http://www.proexposure.com/.

First, the Pro Summer League is EXACTLY like the Deveroes league in
Cincinnati.  The arena is a little bit bigger (played at the Pyramid in Long
Beach).  But the look, feel, and play was just like back in Cincinnati - if
you've been to a summer league game then you're familiar with the
atmosphere.  Except I sat behind Mark Cuban - that's a big difference.

Anyway, DJ started for the Knicks, and Tony was the first sub off the bench
for the Lakers.  DJ started off guarding Luke Walton and did a pretty good
job, but later he had a hard time when matched up with quicker guards.
Overall, DJ had a horrible game.  On offense he just hung out on the
perimeter a lot - rarely stepping in from the arc.  Made a couple shots, but
had some VERY ugly turnovers when bringing the ball up in traffic.  He
missed some lay-ups on breaks or on a rare drive to the basket.  A couple
Knicks fans near me were not impressed.  I couldn't tell if he had lingering
effects from his injury, but he played very soft.

On the other hand, Bobbitt played pretty well.  He was the Lakers' 2nd
leading scorer (I think he had 19) and played a lot with the "1st teamers",
including crunch time at the end.  He was typical Tony, shooting a lot of
3's and all over the place on defense - not necessarily a good thing, he
loses his man a LOT on defense - and was burned a couple times (including
once by DJ).  Tony and DJ matched up against each other for most of the 2nd
half - and both DJ and Tony took most of the Technical FTs for their teams.
Tony ran around a lot on offense, running through screens and across the
baseline, popping free for some catch and shoots.  He also streaked down the
court for some fast breaks.

As usual, Tony was talking and playing around a lot.  He was always talking
with Lakers Walton and Rush, as well as a lot of conversations with the
coaching staff.  After the game he headed for the Knicks' Ariza (they
matched up a lot) - reminiscent of the Memphis game.  I also noticed that
when on the bench he was either on the far end with a towel on his head, or
sitting right next to the coaches.  I don't know what that says about his
chances of making the Lakers' roster, but he fit in pretty well - other than
some "arguing" with Vijacic and some general complaints about not getting
the ball at certain times.  The fans took to him as well, and a couple
people asked me about him.  Anyone with a sports page knows that the Lakers
are very unsettled for next year and I have no idea what his chances are for
a roster spot.  New coach Rudy T was there, as well as the Lakers GM.
Bobbitt played pretty well, so maybe he opened some eyes.  I don't know if
anyone mentioned or saw this, but Tony was a 1st round pick for the Brevard
Ducks of the USBL (7th overall pick!)

Other players: The Lakers 1st round pick Sasha Vijacic (the Slovenian PG)
was very impressive - he won a lot of people over with some great passes and
good shooting.  I also saw the 2nd half of the Kings/Spurs game and Sato was
pretty impressive from what I saw - very athletic.  Chalmers started for the
Clippers, but I only stayed for the 1st part of that game.

On a side note - I won one of the halftime giveaways - one of those "If
you're in section X, row X, seat X" things.  Wow, what do I win?  A new car?
A vacation?, nope - just an ESPN T-shirt.  But everyone got a good look at
my Bearcats hat when I got the shirt.  Oh well, no complaints.


Jon M