Re: A report from the NBA Summer League

[Jon Macomber]

A couple people were yelling at Cuban - jokes about his "benefactor" show
and even pleas to trade Dirk for Shaq.  The best was these guys wearing
T-shirts that read "F Kobe - Keep Q" - and they were pretty vocal about it
during the Clippers game - in a funny way though.  The game was on NBAtv -
don't know if anyone gets that.  The SoCal league goes for another week and
a half - I don't know if they're showing more games or if that was a one
shot TV deal.

Box scores are now up at http://www.proexposure.com   DJ ended up with a
brutal 1-10 (but 9-11 FTs) to go along with 6 TOs and 1 Assist.  Tony ended
up 6-13 with 4 TOs and 0 Assists.

I forgot to mention how many fouls there were.  Sure the play was typical
Summer league sloppy, but the refs sure liked to blow those whistles.  75
fouls for the game - that more than a foul every 40 seconds for the entire
game.  Kinda like a UC/UL game...

Jon


----- Original Message -----
From: "jon breiner" <address@hidden>
To: <address@hidden>
Sent: Monday, July 12, 2004 4:17 AM
Subject: Re: [UC Basketball] A report from the NBA Summer League


> 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