The evolution of the “blog” is amazing. No longer do you have to write for a major newspaper or work for a national outlet to gain access to events. While beat writers are still considered the prime channel for news and stories, blogs have advanced enough to where they’re now a respectable source for news and insight.  As a result, blogs are now now considered equals to those purist forms of journalism, also known as print.

With this in mind, I was lucky enough to gain a media credential for NBA Summer League this year and represent WarriorsWorld and ESPN.com. This was my first time covering an official NBA event, my only other time having a credential being at the We Believe vs. Dubs game last year in San Jose.  So let me get this straight, I was given the opportunity to cover the NBA…in Las Vegas…for WarriorsWorld. Not a bad way to spend a weekend.

My Summer League experience began Saturday, as I arrived shortly after 2 PM for the Warriors 3 PM game. Special entrance, “ESPN.com” printed on the credential, media packets everywhere, a bunch of lonely men in front of their laptops; I was now living the life of a journalist. I quickly noticed I was the youngest one of the bunch, not necessarily a shocker, but still a cool title to have. It may not sound attractive or fascinating to some, but for an aspiring writer in the beginning stages of his potential career, this experience was unforgettable.

As I walk into Cox Pavilion and head downstairs towards the media room, I was greeted by stacks of media guides for every team playing that day. The Warriors media guide – the largest guide, the only one spiral bound and the only one with color – were all gone.   Lucky enough for me, VP of Public Relations for the Warriors Raymond Ridder was in the room and was able to find me a guide from his secret stash.

In the next room over rest the food and drink. All were complimentary, but for good reason. Remember the cheeseburgers from the middle school cafeteria? The cheeseburgers in the media room were of identical look and taste, but in slider size. As for drinks, the standard water bottles and assorted sodas were available, although the cooler was practically water as the ice was all mostly melted. Some popcorn was there as well, but not in a machine, in a basket. So in summary, the food at Summer League wasn’t anything to write home about, but I could really have cared less.

While this was my first time actually covering Summer League, this wasn’t my first visit there. I was lucky enough to attend Summer League in 2008 when then Warrior Anthony Morrow dropped 47 points on his way towards setting a Summer League record. If only Summer League were the NBA Finals.

Up the elevator, through the concourse and into the gym I go. The media sections are on both baselines, and with the Warriors being the biggest draw in Summer League this year, both media section were filled 45 minutes before tip-off. It wasn’t until about 10 minutes before tip that I found a seat, due to some MEM-NY beat writers leaving. I found my seat, opened my laptop and proceeded to connect to the Cox Pavilion Wi-Fi. Much like my MLK Library experience at San Jose State, the connection was in and out, and it took a good 4-5 reconnects to finally get a stable connection.

Seat found, laptop open, internet connection active, water bottle on my left and a bag of stale popcorn on my right. I was finally ready for this game.

Festus Ezeli was the most impressive rookie on the court, while Jeremy Tyler looked as lost as ever. Draymond Green looks like an immediate contributor while Harrison Barnes has the offensive skills of a seasoned veteran (and knows it). Charles Jenkins continues to improve on both ends and Klay Thompson continued to show why Monta Ellis was expendable.

I don’t agree with management often (how could I?) and I surely don’t sing the usual Warriors swan song (I’ve learned better), but I must say this: the Warriors young players are as impressive of a group as I’ve seen. Really. Expect immediate impact from all three of the Warriors first three picks. And yes, I’m ignoring Ogjen Kuzmic, who will never play a game in the NBA.

As the game concluded, the Warriors headed to their “locker room” (a curtained off section to the side of the bleachers) and I moved from my post and waited for the go-ahead to head in for interviews. Every player and front office member I interviewed was gracious and respectful, the highlights: Festus showed great gratitude towards the Warriors, Draymond is funny and extremely driven, Harrison has a swagger to him, David Lee was professional and spoke the company line, Jerry West was extremely knowledgeable and engaged (teaching Barnes offensive moves in the locker room) and Bob Myers was personable and not afraid to give me a scoop (Klay likely finished with Summer League).

The entire weekend was a memorable experience and hopefully just the first of many events I get to cover for WarriorsWorld. From first sitting down in press row to interviewing Jerry West to having to pay a bouncer $40 to bypass the underage excuse only to get dissed by a divorcé (I guess the “I’m 20, can you buy me a drink then I pay you back” line isn’t impressive enough); all the experience and knowledge I gained this past weekend was something I’ll never take for granted and I appreciate everyone that made it possible.

But next year I’ll be 21…

Follow @JRAM_91

Fresh off their 40-point beat down on the Lakers last night, the Warriors’ Summer League team continued their impressive start in Las Vegas with their second consecutive blow-out victory over the Nuggets, 95-74.

Yes, it’s Summer League and the result of these games means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things, but it does give us a glimpse of what we can expect from a few of the rookies and second-year players on Golden State’s roster.

Here’s a quick look at how the notable names looked in these first two games.

Klay Thompson

In case you didn’t know, this guy can flat out shoot the ball. He hit nine shots from three-point range in the two games and continued to display the confidence in his game that he displayed toward the end of last season. He also showed the ability to create dishing out five and four assists respectively which has to make the Warriors’ brass very happy given their need for a second playmaker outside of Curry this season.

With the way he played against the Lakers and Nuggets and his involvement with the U.S. Select team, it’s safe to say that Thompson won’t be playing much, if at all, for the rest of summer league. He should be giving more of the guys on the bench more playing time anyway. Did you see how many of them are sitting there? It looks like an elementary school team where everyone who tries out makes it.

Harrison Barnes

The top pick in this year’s draft proved that his shot was as good as advertised against the Lakers scoring 23 points in what could have been a “whatever you can do, I can do better” mini-battle with Klay. Although he struggled against the Nuggets, he’s been perfect from long distance over two games hitting all six of his attempts. If he can find a way to expand his game and get his teammates involved more, he will be a very dangerous weapon for the Warriors.

Charles Jenkins

Jenkins carried the Dubs’ offense in game two dropping a game high 24 points on 9 of 12 shooting. His mid-range game was absolutely on point thus earning him the nickname “Mr. Midrange” from teammate Stephen Curry on Twitter. It’s likely that he will also see less and less minutes as SL progresses since the team more or less knows what to expect from him, but with the recent acquisition of Jarrett Jack, he might want more court time to prove that he belongs in the mix at point guard this upcoming year.

Jeremy Tyler

To put it nicely, Tyler hasn’t gotten off to a very good start. As of right now, he’s committed more fouls than he’s scored points (seven to six) and still looks absolutely lost whenever he’s in the game. He’s been relatively invisible so far with his only highlight being a sequence where he didn’t catch the ball, managed to recover it…and then traveled. Womp womp.

Festus Ezeli

The rookie out of Vanderbilt has showed flashes of why the Warriors were thrilled to grab him with the number 30 pick in this year’s draft. He’s a big body who can clog up the lane but he’s also very active as demonstrated by his three blocks today (one of which I’m convinced almost broke the backboard). His offensive game isn’t much as of right now but if he provides the defense that he’s showed so far, he’ll get his fair share of court time this season. He might have already passed Tyler on the depth chart.

Draymond Green

Green appears to be a jack-of-all-trades-type of player. He’s rebounded well, made good decisions with the ball, played decent defense, and even showed off some of his long-range capabilities. With his long arms, his role this season will ultimately be to rebound, rebound and oh yes, rebound.

Follow @cruzkontrol

From poster Top Dog in the forum, discussion here

1) It would further clog our already crowded front court, which would…

2) Limit the development of our young 4s and 5s. Whatever you think of AR, BW, or EU, the only way we’ll find out what we really have with any of them is via playing time, which will already be at a premium because of Beans and Ronny.

3) Lee is many things, but a true center ain’t one of ‘em. The Knicks got away with playing Lee at the 5 because the East is still pretty weak overall. The West has teams with legitimately huge power forwards and centers: Bynum/Gasol, Cousins, Yao, TD, Nene, Kaman–I’ll even include Sideshow Bob Lopez in Phoenix because he really showed me something last year, and he’s definitely enormous. The point is, David Lee is barely a 5 in the East, and wouldn’t be able to hang physically in the West. As a result, his rebounding numbers would go down and our already porous frontcourt D would erode even further.

4) If you’re comparing Monta and Lee, you can’t just put their numbers up side by side even though Monta comes out looking pretty good in that analysis. Basketball is such a team sport that you have consider the context. And the Knicks provided Lee with an incredible environment for putting up gaudy numbers last year.

-D’Antoni’s system inflates offensive numbers by running constantly and requiring the players to play absolutely no D, which leaves them with more energy on the other end

-Shitty team = lots of touches
-Plenty of blowouts = opponents’ putting their scrubs in early on
-Weak competition at his position on the team = ample minutes

Now before you say that Monta enjoyed the same advantages (which he did, with the possible exception of the touches), you have to consider whether those advantages would be there for Lee in the case of a trade. And they wouldn’t. Lee wouldn’t get as many minutes or touches because our front court is too crowded. The W’s will not be great, but they’ll be more competitive than the Knicks were last season, which means there will be fewer blowouts. The competition in the West will mean Lee has to work a hell of a lot harder to get his.

Don’t get me wrong: I like David Lee as a player. If we didn’t have so many similar players already, I’d be more interested. But other than a dominant low post force–which, to quote Rick Pitino, ain’t walkin’ through that door–this team needs a legit 2 or 3 more than anything.

So the W’s should try to trade Monta for Granger or Iguodala or just wait. Monta will put up impressive numbers again, and eventually the offers for him will improve. He’s a special, if frustrating, offensive player, and we can’t afford to further f#$% up our team just get him off of it.

One perk of having such a large Warriors community is that there is someone at every event. John C in the OC doesn’t disappoint this season with his impressions to date of the Warriors summer league team.

In the 4th quarter against Detroit Curry pulled up for a 3 pointer about ten feet beyond the 3 point line. The shot was a little long and there was a foul on the rebound. During the stoppage things got very quiet and a guy yelled out “Don’t worry Steph, you’re in Golden State now”. Keith Smart turned to the crowd and loudly replyed “Not This Year”. HMMM!

Don Nelson is getting quite overweight. I am not trying to be funny. At his age I would be quite concerned, especially with what seems to be a very stressful job.

To the players. I know you are all excited about AR’s 42 points (he would have had more except for that idiot Law) but there is a good reason he was getting those looks. Nash to Stoudamire. Stockton to Malone. Curry is going to be an awesome point guard. Bobby Knight was right. The kid is a great passer. Over and over I would marvel at his ability to see things that most players could never see. Even under great pressure he calmy reacts to the big picture developing on the floor. One play in particular stood out for me. He was deep on the left wing being tightly guarded. He always keeps his dribble alive and he was holding off a bigger defender with his off arm. Three Warriors were on his side of the floor and AR had posted a smaller player on the opposite block. Most guys would not even see the mismatch and if they did would need to make station to station passes to get the ball to the far side. The defense would adjust by then. Off of one dribble he shot a perfect lob pass across the defense to AR’s outstrecthed hand, just out of reach of the defender. No time for the defense to react, and AR was fouled on his move to the basket. I could not believe he could see the mismatch, let alone make the pass. He is great on the pick and roll and handles the attacking big men calmly and patiently. His size could be a problem against 1′s who are big enough to post him up (ala Baron) but he does have one great attribute that will help him. He never gets flustered. EVER! Early in the Chicago game they tried to post up Nelson on him. Curry picked his pocket on both plays. They never tried it again. He has an uncanny ability to get his hands cleanly on balls for steals or tie ups.

If I had to pick one player he reminds me of it is Steve Nash. We all marvel at how such a small player as Nash can see so much, remain so calm amongst the giants, and always know where the ball needs to be. Even when Nash throws a bad pass nobody thinks “what an idiot”. We all can see what he was trying to do. Curry’s mistakes are the same. It is not AR dribbling too much or Jackson taking a stupid three at the wrong time in the game. I can’t think of one dumb play he made in the games I watched. Just good ideas that did not work out quite as planned.

Finally, what a shooter. I really believe he no longer shoots in warm ups just to make a shot. He is trying to make each one while moving the net as little as possible. Unbelievable.

To AR. Not much to say. I am so encouraged to see the obvious results of how hard he has been working. He is stronger , quicker, and is learning how and where on the court he can be successful. He is still thin on the bottom half and gets pushed around pretty easily under the basket, but he is doing better. Last summer he would drive to the basket and try to use his athleticism to avoid defenders to get to the basket. Just like Monta has learned he now seeks out the defender and gets fouled. His added strength is allowing him to still get a shot off once he is hit as well. Did you all see “the dunk”? I am guessing you did. I have never seen Nelson smile at a basketball play in all the years I have been going to these things. He was actually on his feet grinning from ear to ear after that play. (Maybe a Chris Gatling dunk made him smile as well)

Morrow was OK. I actually think he was trying a little too hard. He is the opposite of Curry. When he gets doubled he gets very flustered and loses track of “the big picture”.. His hands are bad to OK and we all know his dribbling needs quite a bit of improvement. Get his feet set though and its money. I have to give him credit for working hard on D. That really seemed to be his focus this summer.

Two scrubs I loved. First Cartier Martin. Hard worker and strong. The guy has the biggest butt I’ve seen since Barkley and knows how to use it. Can use both hands and is a pretty good passer. He moves really well with out the ball and uses his large behind to finish around the basket. Works real hard on defense. As someone mentioned before he sort of duplicates Buke so I don’t know how he would fit in but I think he will end up in the league someday.

2nd scrub. Joe Ingles. Wow! The tough guy you would want with you in a bar fight. Junk yard dog sort of player. Active hands on defense and plays with a cool reckless abandon. He actually has a very good feel for the game. Might be a little slow for the NBA but at his size and his handles there might be a spot for him.

Patrick O’Bryant played for the Raptors. I think I finally figured out why he sucks. He does not like to play basketball.

C.J. was there watching. What is up with him? Is he still a Warrior?

I want to say one more thing about Curry. I cannot find the right word to describe how “in the moment” he is able to stay during the game. The whole Chicago team was pounding on him yet he never lost focus. 6 foot 9 guys drive hard to the basket and suddenly the ball is gone because Steph was there seeing the play and anticipating the moment when the ball would be available to him. Focus, composure, relaxed intensity, basketball IQ. I don’t know. It is something special though!

Today had everything bad about summer league. First: The idiot behind
me would not shut up for the entire game. Second: The crying baby in
front of me was cute but only for the 10 seconds crying baby's are
cute. Not for 20 minutes. 3rd, and most importantly, the Dallas team
was poorly organized, poorly coached, with all average to bad players.
It is hard to get a sense of any of the players in a game like todays.

I was fascinated by AR today. He had one of those games where he could
not get any flow going at all. Summer league is very guard oriented and
even more so when the teams play sloppily and disorganized. He was
struggling on defense and I found one of the first plays of the game
pretty interesting. AR was guarding Greene in the srong side corner.
The ball was on the strong side wing and Greene swung under the basket
to the far wing. AR followed him but only to a point at the weak side
low block. I could see his intention was to double onto BW's guy when
the ball was fed down low. Welcome to the pros AR. The ball was quickly
swung to the weak side and Greene hit a wide open three. I thought to
myself there lies an interesting problem for AR. Guarding 3's that play
like 2's. Greene, who is not very good, seems to want to camp out on
the 3 point line all the time, as alot of 3's can do. AR likes being
near the basket to rebound and block shots. It will be interesting to
see how he adjusts and how the coaches adjust to "small ball" sort of
line ups where the 3 has a 2's skill set. I think he will be a pretty good shooter. He shoots fairly stiff legged
which leaves his three point attempts looking more thrown than shot. He
shot one with his feet on the ground and it looked quite a bit better.
The good ole "set shot".

He has really great footwork in the post. In both games he was doubled
teamed in the block and each time was able to calmly (I emphasize
calmly) get off a "good" shot using his great footwork. I like him more
today than I did yesterday. He had an off game but you could still see
the skill set. Passing, shooting, ballhandling and point forward
skills. By the way. He threw a beautiful no look pass to Wright for a
lay up in the first quarter. I am assuming you all saw it. It was the
same pass he threw yesterday the scrub missed. Last thing about AR. I
saw something in warm ups that convinced me he will be a good shooter.
He was just messing around and took a dribble to about ten feet away
and calmy threw in a little right handed jumper. I thought WOW! It
looked smooth and easy, not awkward and girlish like most guys when
they shoot with their opposite hand. Love AR. He could be something
special. It's only summer league so we will see when he faces Koby and
KG.

Marco had one of his "get everyone excited games". I enjoyed his
passing more than his shooting but I would really like to see it
against a team playing a step quicker as The Sixers played on Friday.
He has a great feel for basketball. If he can't do what he does against
quicker and stronger players I hope he can still be a potential Vinnie
Johnson type spark-plug off the bench. (anyone old enough to remember
the bad boy Pistons?)

Lou A. looked very good today. Aggressive and tough. He has some hops
and decent post moves. Who knows if he will make the Warriors but I
would guess he will be in the league.

The best play of the game was BW going up VERY high for a lay up and
then AR going up VERY high to dunk in the miss. I had a great angle for
that one. BW was about four inches higher.

BW was great. Nothing really new to report. Twice he went up for dunks
over Singleton and I could not tell if he was beating him to the rim
with his quick jump or just surprising him with his long arms. Each
time they both left the floor at the same time but BW beat him to the
rim each time.
CJ was steady as usual. I like him although again I am not sure he has the quickness to hang in the league.

One other player I saw really surprised me. (that he would be drafted
so high). DJ Augustine is too small. He is a very good basketball
player, very smart and quick. But I don't see how he is going to
survive against the Baron Davis's beating him up and the taller longer
point guards taking away his vision.
I am kinda bored sitting here in my hotel room so I may post some other stuff as it pops into my head.

See you Tuesday night around 10:30

Thanks for all the nice comments last time.

PS: AR is very tall. My daughter and I walked by him near the food line
after the game. No exaggerating with this guy. 6'10" WITH HANDLES.

That was fun. Although getting a lot more crowded than the last two years.

AR is really fun to watch. He does not duplicate Wright in any way at all. My favorite thing about him is his vision. He sees the floor very well and uses that skill not only to make good passes but to put himself in good position to rebound, block shots and take advantage of mismatches. It is very exciting when he takes a rebound or steal and immediately goes into attack mode. I could feel the tension in the crowd as we all waited to see what he would do. Some comments I heard. "I can't believe he is 6'9". " He looks like Chris Bosh".

A couple "non stat" things. In the 1st quarter he was leading the break and threw a no look bounce pass that slid by one of the "bench scrubs" who was not ready for it. (if he had caught it it was a sure dunk) It was not a perfect pass but a better player would have caught it. He was pissed. He slapped his hands, looked over at Smart as if to say "get this guy out of here", then took a somewhat nasty look at the player. He immediately checked that attitude and went back on defense. He also seems to like contact. He actually goes and looks for it and sometimes seems to try to use his elbows to get under the other guys skin. Got into a "wrestle for the ball" moment with Speights and actually yanked the ball from him as he fell to the floor. His "thin-ness" is not an issue at all. The coaches used him well. He brought the ball up when the mismatch called for it. Drove around bigger guys with no problem and pulled up over shorter guys who could stay with him. (Thaddeus Young guarded him most of the time.) I am not going to comment on his shooting yet. Two more games (for me)to go. He shot pretty well today. Relaxed and confident. His range is about 18 feet and in. (he missed one three pointer by about a yard and a half) I really like his little pull up jumper at about 12 feet. When he gets his defender backpedaling there is no way they can get a hand near him.
He is quite out of shape and seemed to tire fairly quickly. I don't think that will be a problem as he is quite "cut" and obviously takes care of his body. He is definately a 3. He needs space to operate in. Teams will try to crowd him. He reminds me in a wierd way of Montay. Fearless and skilled. Sometimes questionable in their decisions, but always aggressive.
Wright is a skinny 4. Very active and has a great feel for being around the ball near the basket. Got his hands on everything. His problem will be that bigger 4's will be able to knock him off his jump. Hopefully his long arms and quick first and second jump will make up for that. (he has an awesome 2nd jump.) He can't really play facing the basket. I think he will be an incredible garbage guy. He certainly has the physical tools and smarts to develop a "go to" move. I guess we are all hoping for the swing to the middle baby hook. It would be unstoppable.
Hendrix did not play. Hurt??
CJ was steady. Not quite quick enough to play allot of minutes but a very good player. A tough kid and a good defender. When he was in the game the score went in our favor. When he sat it went the other way.
Marco was OK. He played point for about two minutes and I thought he did OK. Good to know the coaches are thinking of that as a match up advantage. He seemed to play harder on defense this summer. Last summer he seemed to think the rep that the Warriors don't play any defense was actually true. Same ole same ole. Forced a few shots but you always think he is going to make them. Beautiful stroke.
Admunson is pretty good. Very active. He duplicates Hendrix and I think Hendrix is bigger and stronger. Who knows.
Speights is going to be good. Unlike Wright, when he goes up he does not get bumped off his jump. Explosive leaper. Lacking in offensive skills but should be a good player with his physical make-up.
Thaddeus Young was very fun as well. Very athletic and plays with a cool swagger.
No one else on the Warriors roster is worth writing about. Probably the worst group of non draftees I have seen in my 15 years of going to these games.

On the court there was some good action with five games on the dockett
including the two games that I had a chance to watch. Wizards vs.
Knicks and Warriors vs. Cavs.

Wizards vs. Knicks.

The Knicks have one of the better teams here in vegas. They have both
small and big players that are very talented and a nice collection of
complimentary players.

Nate Robinson had another terrific game and he has proven that he is
the real deal. He had 19 points and ran the team very well. He was not
credited with an assist, but he had at least four that I remember. I
think the official scorer may have been sleeping. I am calling right
now that Nate will enter and win the dunk contest this year.

Bruno Sundov finally awoke from his slumber and had a decent
performance. The guy has great size and is fairly athletic. He is
basically automatic from the outside but he just has no motivation. He
shys away from contact and is a terrible rebounder and defender. He
looked a bit more motivated than usual today and was able to go 4-7
from the field in 19 minutes.

David Lee is a very impressive player. He is a terrific athlete and
uses his superior athleticism to absolutely dominate the offense and
defensive boards. He is Mr. put-back for the summer league, constantly
getting offensive rebounds and dunking them home. He has good
fundamentals and can handle it a little. He is quick enough to guard
threes or fours and is a heady player that rarely makes mistakes.

Channing Frye, Trevor Ariza and Rueben Douglas had off-games for the NY
squad but they still managed to hold off the Wizards 80 to 71

The best player for Washington was high school draftee Andray Blatche.
Blatche was much better than I expected and is going to be a very good
player in the league. He is a highly skilled player that doesn’t fit
the mold of a typical PF. His game is similar to Lamar Odom or Kevin
Garnett but he is a bit taller than Odom and a bit smaller than
Garnett. A unique talent for sure. He has a very smooth jump shot out
to the NBA three point line and an excellent handle for a big man. He
was easily the best player on a heavily overmatched Wizard squad.

Peter John Ramos is a huge 7’3 Puerto Rican Center that is not a stiff
but also not as good as he could be. This is a huge man, well over 300
lbs and not nearly as plodding or mechanical as say Pavel Podkolzin.
Ramos had a nice baseline spin move and finished with a reverse dunk.
He needs to improve his defense and rebounding and he is not the most
coordinated man in the world, but he runs the floor ok and can catch
the ball.

Donnell Taylor had a tough night and still managed to put up decent
numbers. He is an athletic slashing combo guard that shows some
promise. His night began badly as he was benched after the second
possession of the game along with starting PG Gerald Fitch for not
getting back in transition. He came back in the game half way through
the first and was stripped by Trevor Ariza. He then made an unbelivalbe
recovery and caught Ariza from behind to block his shot. He was able to
work himself to the free throw line five times and converted 7 of his
10 attempts. I wasn’t overly impressed with his game, but he showed
some promise and might be worth another look.

The nightcap was a contest between the Warriors and the Cleveland Cavs.
I use the word contest loosely, but the two teams did play a game and
David Graves fans were treated to a long look at their hero. This team
was poorly constructed and without major scoring contributions from
Andris Biedrins, Ike Diogu or Monta Ellis they have absolutely no
chance of winning any games. There was a total lack of rebounding by
anybody including Taft and Diogu who both played well, but need to do a
much better job on controlling defensive rebounds.

I guess the only David Graves fans are the Warriors summer league
coaching staff who played the 6’6 unathletic and unskilled SF for the
majority of the second half. The starting linuep was changed so that
Monta Ellis could start at PG while European combo guard Damir
Miljkovic started at the two and immediately came out of the game never
to be seen again. The frontcourt was the same with Zarko Cabarkapa, Ike
Diogu and Andris Biedrins.

They hung in the game for a quarter before the doors started to fall
off and then they really never had a prayer in the second half outside
of one brief stretch of defensive energy late in the third quarter.
Despite the poor team performance there was some nice individual
performances by the key young pieces.

Monta Ellis was brilliant yet again. Outside of Mickael Pietrus he is
currently the Warriors best defensive player. He goes over the top of
screens and absolutely hounds his opponents. He frustrated a much
bigger player in Luke Jackson with his pestering defense all night. He
is not above diving for loose balls at one point, he hurdled himself
into the floor seats and took out an entire section of chairs. His
offensive game was much more subdued as he was consciously trying to
get teammates involved and take better shots, but he can still get a
shot up any time he wants. He had some pretty bad turnovers but every
time he turns it over he runs down and plays tough defense rather than
hanging his head.

Fantaftic! Chris Taft was solid again and got more minutes this time
due to the extremely poor play of Andris Biedrins. Taft badly outplayed
Andris and earned most of the second half minutes at Center. He had
several nice offensive post moves and his go to move appears to be an
unstoppable baby hook shot across the middle of the lane. He plays very
good defense and gets good rebounding position. He has shown no signs
of having a bad work ethic to this point. There was one time when he
tried to get cute with a putback attempt and coach Ellie yelled at him
to “Dunk The Damn Ball”. The next possesion he threw down a savage two
handed jam but was whistled for a push off, but it was nice to see him
accept the challenge.

Zarko was up to the challenge tonight and had a brilliant game. He is
still not hitting his outside shot, but he was the teams best Point
guard tonight setting up his teammates for easy scores and getting
himself to the rim with nifty fakes and ball handling. He earned
several trips to the line and was a positive factor on offense. His
defense was still very bad and I am not sure he can guard anybody at
this point.

The Beast was never unleashed tonight but Ike was solid. He had a few
nice post moves and some tough rebounds but he never took over the game
like he did for a stretch yesterday. He draws a lot of attention in the
post when he gets the ball and he is going to have to learn to find the
open man a little better. He will bennefit greatly from playing with a
real PG. It’s almost not fair to judge these big guys with the stiffs
they have playing with them. Ike needs to do a better job of getting
defensive rebounds because absolutely nobody else on the team outside
of chris taft can get a rebound.

Andris was dreadfull tonight and didn’t get many minutes as a result of
his poor performance. It wasn’t a lack of effort for the kid, he came
out with great energy and had quick and decisive moves, but it’s like
the opponent knows exactly where he is trying to go every time. He had
like four of his shots blocked inside and simply missed at least four
others. He can’t get anything going offensively and on defense it’s
just an endless string of whistles. To me he really just looks akward
on the court and I am not sure why he can’t seem to get anything going.

Ross and Marigney who didn’t play in the first game saw there first
action of the summer but were not factors in the outcome. I am not
going to comment on anybody else because there is absolutely no chance
of any of these scrubs making any team in the league let alone the
Warriors. I would say except for Jawad Williams, but he was awfull
tonight and I am not sure he will play in the league now either.

Two Cavs of Note were Euro Rookie Martynis Andriuskivicus and undrafted
Maryland PG John Gilchrest. Gilchrest looked pretty good and all I can
say about Marty is thank god the Warriors were smart enough to steer
clear of this guy. He is basically a seven foot five stick figure with
average small forward skills. He will never be able to play the post in
the NBA.

The game got off to a rocky start with the first possession. Biedrins
was given the ball in the post and having allready made his mind up
about what he was going to do he was unable to react to the defensive
pressure and turned the ball over. The very next Golden State Warriors possesion
Monta Ellis airballed his first three point attempt. I was starting to
get a little nervous. Then things turned around a bit.

Ellis made some nice plays including setting up Diogu for an easy dunk
and although his shooting was eratic he appeared to be able to get to
the rim at will. He won’t have problems getting shots up at the next
level, and he is a very good rebounder for his size. He did a nice job
guarding Webster in the first half as well. He is clearly the best
guard on this team and In my opinion has a strong chance to be the
third PG/Combo guard on the roster. His transition to the Point will be
tough, but he is a good enough combo guard to play in the league right
now.

Biedrins, as usual, had some nice strong finishes around the basket and
looks to have improved his footwork in the post. He has a knack for
getting to loose balls and tipping rebounds. Unfortunately his downfall
is going to be free throw shooting. He is simply awfull and other teams
know it. Another problem I see with Biedrins is the fact that he has no
concept of passing out of the post. When he is double teamed or
pressured down low, he will turn the ball over or get fouled and when
he goes to the line it’s the same as a turnover.

Zarko was dissapointing at best finishing with only 9 points in 24
minutes. He simply has too much talent to not be the leading scorer for
this Warriors team. He was forcing the issue on offense, trying to do
too much and his defense was non-existant as he was often out of
position and could not even contribute defensive rebounds. Hopefully he
will bounce back in the next game. If he continues to play inconsistant
minutes he will have a difficult time cracking the rotation next season.

The tale of two halves:

Ike Diogu was non existant in the first half and appeared to be lost.
At one point he even forgott to take the ball out of bounds and left
the PG alone on the other end of the court. Another mental lapse almost
cost the Warriors a possesion when he nearly caught the inbound pass
while standing on the out of bounds line. In his defense, he had
limited touches and the two post up moves he made he was able to get to
the foul line and convert.

For whatever reason, late in the third quarter, something just clicked
with this kid and it was like a light bulb went off. He became a low
post monster the likes I have not seen since Larry Smith for the
remainder of the game. He brought the crowd to there feet no fewer than
four times in the fourth quarter with thunderous put back dunks, two
handed power moves and ferocious blocked shots.

His fundamentals on both ends are flawless and he can’t be guarded one
on one in the painted area. He hasn’t mastered passing out of the
double team yet and he is going to have to figure out a way to maintain
his intensity that he had late in the game. But after his display in
the fourth quarter I am very optimistic about the future of Mr. Diogu.

The highlight of Ike’s evening was his incredible blocked dunk on
Travis Outlaw late in the third quarter where he came from the week
side and just swallowed him up, took the ball away and sent him
hurtling to the ground. He was whistled for a foul on the play even
though he got all ball but he got a raised eyebrow from Mr. Mullin
sitting to my right. Chris Mullin has seen a lot of basketball and
doesn’t react to much…but he reacted to that.

He is going to be a crowd favorite in Oakland. He is definately a blue
collar guy…He brings his lunch pale and goes to work. There is no
showboat in this guy. He maintains even keel and works hard…but when
you push him past the edge…He becomes…THE BEAST!!!! “You will like
him when he’s angry”!!!!

Other Notables:

The debut performance of Chris Taft was impressive. He tallied 5 points
and 4 rebounds in just twelve minutes of action. He played under
controll and didn’t try to force the action. When he touched the ball
on offense he seemed to have soft hands and a nice back to the basket
game. He doesn’t have the smooth release on his shot like Diogu but he
seems pretty comfortable in the low post.

I overheard Chris Mullin talking to one of the Warriors equiptment
managers about Taft and Mullin appeared to be very high on Taft and
laughed about the “So Called Motivational Issues”. The equiptment
manager was impressed with all three rookies and there work in
practices earlier in the week.

Jawad Williams is the living embodyment of Joe Smith. He played well in
his 12 miutes of action putting up 6 points on 2-3 from the floor and
2-3 from the line. He also added three rebounds. I think he will play
in the league, but probably not for the Warriors.

Damir Miljkovic has a perfect looking shot from three point range, but
might be the worst Point Guard at running a club or setting up
teammates that I have ever seen. Marque Perry was not much better,
imagine Nate Robinson without the jumping ability, shooting ability,
passing ability or quickness and you have Marque Perry. Obannan was
awfull, Gay was…well not very good, Ray Young and Guy Moya were just
taking up space on the court.

Despite there total lack of a true Point Guard, the Warriors actually
competed in the first half of the game due to there defensive intensity
and a bit of a hangover by the Blazers backcourt… but in the second
half, Webster, Telfair and Outlaw just simply took over the game.

Other Games:

Oh yeah, there was other games today. The Celtics played the Mavs and
the Pistons played the Suns and I didn’t stick around for the Bulls
Magic or Wizards Hornets.

For the Celtics it was my first glimpse of Gerald Green and he gets a
mixed review. While his athleticism is clear, he is very raw in terms
of his Basketball IQ. He was not very aggressive in terms of looking
for his shot and from what I could tell his role in the offense was to
catch it beyond the arc immediately pass it to a teamate without
dribbling then run directly into the lane, getting in everybody elses
way while bringing his man toward the ball handler causing chaos,
turnovers and terrible floor spacing. He has the tools to be good in
four or five years, but I can definately see why the Warriors passed on
him. He isn’t as good a prospect as Monta Ellis at this stage in my
opinion, let alone Martell Webster.

For the Pistons, Acker and Maxiel both looked good and Carlos Delfino
is an intriguing prospect. Milicic is simply not a good five on five
player…I don’t know any other way to say it…Perhaps he was at one
time and his confidence is just gone, but he looks like he really
doesn’t care and is just going through the motions. You would think he
would see this summer league as a chance to show what he can do but
unlike Skita he doesn’t even want to dominate at this level. He did
look really good during layup drills however. Other than that…Pistons
SL=Boring.

The Suns are Barbosa…Barbosa is the Suns. He is pretty much the only
notable member of there summer league team other than some interesting
european players that look good in warmups and Joey Graham’s brother.
Dijon Thompson is a decent player along the lines of a Jawad Williams
and will probably play in the league. I am quite sure nobody in this
league can stop Barbosa from getting to the rim.

The Brothers:

Stephen Graham gave me a good indication of why his brother went so
high. This guy is an amazing athlete with not many basketball skills,
but if his brother even has a few skills he is going to be a serious
player in the league. Rodney Billups played only four minutes for
Detroit and contributed nothing.

A Giant Sighting:

Pavel Podkozin suited up and played for the Mavs today as owner Mark
Cuban looked on from the bench. Pavel is Huge and fairly agile with the
ball in his hands. If you can get into a halfcourt game and walk the
ball up he can be a Mark Eaton type player without the shot blocking or
rebounding ability of course. If teams are up and down in transition he
will be lucky to make it past half court. He is the slowest most
plodding man I have ever seen and I am including Gheorge Mureson in
this equation.

Preview:

Tomorrow I will be reviewing three games, The Suns Clippers, Knicks Wizards and Warriors Cavs. Until then… -30-