Ridiculous Upside - Where Potential Is Way Cooler Than Reality

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How many years later and that logo still looks dumb?

View full size photo uploaded July 3, 2009

And this time, it's personal.

In my other basketball life I'm a Wizards fan, so with this team I know of what I speak. With the Wizards players, anyway. I still don't know much about Tywain McKee. To bring you up to speed about where the Wizards are in this process, prior to the draft they traded the #5 pick in this year's draft, Darius Songalia, Etan Thomas (and his dumb contract) and Oleksiy Pecherov (and his 2010 expiring contract) to the Timberwolves for Randy Foye and Mike Miller. That left them with only four big men on the roster out of 13 players. That is not hyperbole. Antawn Jamison, Brendan Haywood, Andray Blatche and JaVale McGee, that's it. The team also traded its second round pick to the Rockets and passed up an opportunity to draft DeJuan Blair. The Wizards have said they're not going to be very active in free agency, and there's a chance they'll throw all or part of the MLE to a guy who may not (or will not) be worth it.

So with all of that as prelude, I'd been hoping that the Wizards would invite some solid D-League big men to camp, with the idea that they could act as both a solid backup and a bridge to next year or the year after, when McGee may be ready to start. That, uh...that didn't happen so much, as you'll see after the jump.

Also I finally remembered to include a poll, so there's that.

Poll

Are you excited about the Wizards' 2009 Summer League team?

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2009 Clippers Summer League Roster Breakdown

Rather than duplicating efforts, we thought we'd point you over to ClipperBlog for their break down of the Clippers' Summer League team, both because they know more about the Clipper players and because they're just generally good at blogging.

about 15 hours ago Jon L comment 0 comments 0 recs

2009 Summer League Breakdown - Philly/NJ

by Jon L on Jul 3, 2009 9:00 AM EDT Comment 3 comments

My Two Dads TV Theme Song (via batmek22)

(In lieu of mashing the two team logos together, I present you with this video.)

(FYI, if you ever have any questions about a where a particular player may have ended up, feel free to check the overall Summer League roster post. Scott and I have been updating it pretty regularly, so there's a good chance the information you're looking for is there.)

That's right, Philadelphia and New Jersey have combined forces, because two teams are better than one, or at least cheaper. I've separated out just who's playing for whom as best I could. We'll start with the Philadelphia 76ers after the jump.

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2009 Minnesota Timberwolves Summer League Roster Breakdown

by IcemanCometh on Jul 2, 2009 5:51 PM EDT in summer league Comment 4 comments

The first thing on everybody's mind in regards to the Minnesota Timberolves is not the Summer League roster, but rather the immortal genius (complete idiocy?) of one David Kahn. This man just drafted two of the best point guards in this class and promised to play them together. To borrow from the excellence that is Shamsports.com: KAAAAHHHHHNNNN!!!

But let's put that aside for a minute and just look at what we're dealing with for the upcoming Summer League games. Listed below is the Timberwolves Summer League roster complete with everything from High School BFF's to a genetically engineered wonder to a simple small town boy who takes it hard to the hoop.

No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Birthdate From NBA Exp.

22 Corey Brewer F 6-9 188 3/5/86 Florida 2

1 Bobby Brown G 6-2 175 9/24/84 Cal State Fullerton 1

23 Pat Carroll G/F 6-5 190 9/10/82 St. Joseph's R

19 Wayne Ellington G 6-4 200 11/29/87 North Carolina R

11 Jonny Flynn G 6-0 185 2/6/89 Syracuse R

17 Devin Green G 6-7 212 10/25/82 Hampton 1

12 Paul Harris G/F 6-4 230 10/15/86 Syracuse R

15 Gerald Henderson G 6-4 215 12/7/87 Duke R

51 Steven Hill C 7-0 248 11/14/85 Arkansas 1

31 Rob Kurz F 6-9 232 3/5/85 Notre Dame 1

4 Oleksiy Pecherov F 7-0 234 12/8/85 Ukraine 2

20 Garrett Siler C 6-11 305 10/25/86 Augusta State R

7 Ben Woodside G 5-11 185 7/1/85 North Dakota State R

Hit the Jump for a full rundown of the players

Poll

How stoked are you for the T-Wolves Summer League team?

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4 comments | 0 recs |

Luke Schenscher, NBA Summer League MVP

by Scott Schroeder on Jul 2, 2009 5:25 PM EDT in Player Profiles Comment 4 comments

Sexy, kinda..

View full size photo uploaded July 2, 2009

Book it.

I love my life.

Luke Schenscher is now my favorite ever Fort Worth Flyer, Chicago Bull, Adelaide 36er, Portland Trail Blazer, Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket and Los Angeles Laker.

My summer just got better x10000000.

Kthxbai!

4 comments | 0 recs |

2009 Indiana Pacers Summer League Roster - Breaking it Down

by Scott Schroeder on Jul 2, 2009 2:45 PM EDT in summer league Comment 3 comments

View full size photo uploaded July 2, 2009

In continuing our Summer League coverage, I decided to break down the Indiana Pacer's Summer League roster. The Pacers will be playing in the Orlando Summer League starting July 6th and their roster includes names you know and love such as Tyler Hansbrough, Josh McRoberts (wait, are they two different guys?), Roy Hibbert and Brandon Rush. It also includes names you've never heard of, which is why I decided to take on this task - though the Pacers didn't make a spot for my boy Josh Davis last season, despite an excellent Summer League last year, they may try to right their wrong and grab one of the fine fellows I've included here.

I've ranked these prospects from most likely to least likely being on an NBA roster next season. Enjoy!

Trey Johnson - Johnson played for the Bakersfield Jam alongside fellow Pacer camp invitee Derrick Byars. This is a good thing, as they made each other look good, and thus, Pacer fans shouldn't be disappointed in either player - at least not as much as they were drafting Hansbrough 13^th, anyway. Johnson was probably my favorite player I didn't talk about enough last season because he should be a known commodity at this point - he was scored 27 points per game at Jackson State and has played a couple minutes in the NBA! Anyway, he can score from pretty much anywhere (41% from deep), he's developed some limited point guard skills, and he's not a complete failure on defense. He's got a good feel for the game and should be able to come off the bench and score in the NBA, so I'm probably going to handicap Clinton Johnson III as the most likely player to earn an NBA contract via the Pacers.

Poll

Do you love this roster?

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3 comments | 0 recs |

Summer League Rosters - Oklahoma City Thunder

by Jon L on Jul 2, 2009 12:15 PM EDT in summer league Comment 2 comments

The Oklahoma City Thunder's Summer League roster is pretty intriguing, and they may actually get to play some backcourt combinations that will also see time together in the NBA.

NBA Players: Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Shaun Livingston, Robert Vaden, Kyle Weaver, DJ White, Serge Ibaka, DeVon Hardin, BJ Mullens
Russell Westbrook is exciting and Weaver is a solid backcourt-mate for him, focusing mostly on defense. Livingston is intriguing as he rebuilds his career, and both he and DJ White played for the Thunder's D-League affiliate (as did Weaver, though only for a game or two). Livingston didn't really stand out, though he can be excused for still getting his legs under him. White is a big man but spends a fair amount of time shooting from the mid-range, and he's pretty good at it. That's actually most of the roster. New draftee James Harden is an interesting companion to all of those guards. BJ Mullens seems to fit the role of "true center" that the team thinks it needs, though I'm really, really skeptical that he'll do well in the NBA. Ibaka and Hardin were both 2008 draft picks who then spent the year playing overseas (with their rights retained, which is why they're up here), and Vaden may or may not go the same route.

D-Leaguers: Moses Ehambe, Keith McLeod
McLeod spent a handful of seasons in the NBA before ending up in the D-League. He's kind of middle of the pack as far as scoring guards go. Ehambe played for the Tulsa 66ers last year and he's a pretty good three-point shooter.

Undrafted College Players: none

Others: Marcus Dove, DeAngelo Alexander, Richard Roby, Kyle Hines, Doug Thomas
Dove is likely here because he went to Oklahoma State, but he's also a good defender. He spent last year in Belgium. Alexander is a shooting guard who played in Germany, where he was pretty up-and-down (scoring 3 points one game and 12 the next, despite playing the same number of minutes), and he doesn't really have an outside shot. Roby is Kenyon Martin's half-brother and the University of Colorado's leading scorer. Hines is a forward, though he's listed at 6'6", and reading about him he sounds like a slightly less-good Dominic McGuire (that's not an insult to either of them). Thomas has bounced around between Sweden and the D-League, where he put up okay but not great numbers.

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Summer League Rosters - Boston Celtics

by Jon L on Jul 2, 2009 9:00 AM EDT in summer league Comment 1 comment

Our look at the Summer League rosters moves on to the Boston Celtics. They seem to be focusing on point guards, big men and three-point shooters, and they have some...interesting invitees.

NBA Players: J.R. Giddens, Bill Walker, Gabe Pruitt, Lester Hudson
Giddens does a good job of getting inside and scoring, but his outside shot needs work and he's not very good defensively. I remember Walker getting some time towards the end of last season as Boston's injuries mounted, and he was all kinds of not good (though he was playing out of position a lot). Pruitt I don't know much about, but they don't seem very high on him over at Celtics Blog, and they would know.

D-Leaguers: none

Undrafted College Players: Bryan Mullins, Kevin Rogers
Mullins is a point guard, which they need, but it's doubtful he's what they need. Rogers is athletic but had relatively disappointing junior and senior seasons at Baylor compared to his sophomore year.

Others: Mike Sweetney, Robert Swift, Coby Karl, Darius Washington, Chris Lofton, Bryce Taylor
The first three names are those that jump out the most. Sweetney is trying to work his way back into the league after eating his way out of it, but his rebound rate was always between respectable and good. Swift was an intriguing prospect at one point, and Ainge has apparently kept an eye on him for awhile. Karl spent time in the D-League and in Spain in addition to being with the Lakers. He's mostly known for being coach George Karl's son, but maybe Boston's bringing him in to feed them Lakers secrets the way he repeatedly did for his father's team. Washington is a former Memphis point guard who went undrafted and played in Greece, the Czech Republic, Russa, and the D-League. He got called up by San Antonio but never played. He's now a Macedonian citizen. Lofton and Taylor are both known as good three-point shooters, but Taylor's defense is also pretty good.

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