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2009 Summer League Breakdown - Philly/NJ

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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.

Philadelphia

Marreese Speights (6'10" F) - Speights showed flashes of being a very good player last season.  He's not a great defender, and he doesn't rebound as well as you'd expect from a guy who's 6'10" (his rebound rate was 13.9), but he's really athletic and he had the third-highest PER on the Sixers last year (after Andres Iguodala and Miller.  He's kind of stuck for now behind Elton Brand (who can't move over to center while Dalembert's around), but for now I like him a lot.

Jrue Holiday (6'3" G) - As with many players in this year's draft, Holiday's projection was all over the place.  Making it tougher was that he only spent a year in college compared to a lot of other guards who were juniors and seniors, so there's still a lot of potential for variance.  Holiday is ostensibly a point guard, though he's probably closer to a hybrid guard along the lines of current Sixer Louis Williams.  There's a good chance that Andre Miller won't be back next season, so with Williams likely taking over he'll need a backup, which is what Holiday is expected to be.

Dionte Christmas (6'5" G) - Christmas is a local guy, having attended high school in Philadelphia in addition to Temple University, so he was pretty much a lock for this team if he didn't get drafted, which he didn't.  He's mostly known for his toughness, as his outside shot isn't great.  Still, he had a good run to end his season during the Atlantic 10 tournament, and he was considered a potential late first round/second round pick.

Blake Ahearn (6'2" G) - We've talked about Ahearn a lot on this site, but for those of you who are new here Ahearn's a really good three-point shooter.  He's a bit undersized to play shooting guard, though his passing isn't quite good enough to play point.  But man, can he shoot.  He was fifth in the D-League last season in three-point percentage (43.1), anad he made first team all D-League.  He's also had a few NBA call-ups in his career, so he knows what he has to do.

Gary Forbes (6'7" F) - Forbes does several things fairly well, but more than anything else he's a really efficient scorer.  He doesn't shoot a ton of threes, and is mostly okay at it, but he can certainly make his other shots.  He's also an inconsistent rebounder, though he has some ability there as well.  He's also a pretty good passer.

Rob Kurz (6'9" F) - Did you know that Rob Kurz appeared in 40 NBA games last year, including five starts?  I did not.  The Golden State Warriors, everyone.  He's not a very good rebounder (his rebound rate was 10.0, which is pretty bad for a 6'9" guy).  He shot 39.5% on three pointers, though, which I imagine is how he ended up in Don Nelson's rotation.

Marcus Slaughter (6'8" F) - Slaughter is a Summer League vet, having played for Charlotte and the Lakers in previous years.  He's also spent time playing in Germany, France, Israel and Turkey.  He's athletic more than anything else, though reports I've read say that he's a decent offensive rebounder.  Think James Singleton.

New Jersey

Chris Douglas-Roberts (6'7" G/F) - I liked Douglas-Roberts a lot coming out of college and wanted the (Washington) Wizards to draft him, but the Nets grabbed him instead.  He had a somewhat rocky first year, and can stand to improve his outside shooting, but overall I still think he has potential.  Now that Vince Carter has moved to Florida I wonder if CDR will see some increased minutes at shooting guard or backing up Courtney Lee.

Terrence Williams (6'6" G/F) - Williams is very athletic, but hasn't yet translated that into efficient production.  FreeDarko has already adopted Williams as one of their own.  He can also stand to improve his ball-handling.  He has the potential to be a very good defender, though.

Jason Ellis (6'7" F) - Ellis is a small forward who can really, really rebound.  He was the second-best rebounding forward in the D-League behind Richard Hendrix.  He's not much of a scorer, though, and he has no outside shot to speak of (he took only two three-pointers this past season, missing them both).  He might be an interesting guy to pair up with Yi Jianlian.

AJ Abrams (5'11" G) - Abrams is more of a scorer than a distributor (he had only 46 assists in 35 games for Texas last year).  He's a very good three-point shooter, though, but it's hard to project him into the NBA at his size given his total lack of point guard-ness.

Jeff Adrien (6'7" F) - Adrien played power forward at U-Conn, though I wonder if he'll be able to stick there in the NBA.  His post defense was decent, though he had a harder time guarding guys further out, and he has prettymuch one move offensively.  He's active, though, and a solid rebounder, and he might just need a year or two in the D-League.

Chris Johnson (6'11" F/C) - The name of Johnson's game is pretty much raw athleticism and little else.  Game-wise he probably profiles more as an SF, though he played PF in college and the Nets website has him listed as a center.  He's also going to need to bulk up a bit, as his listed weight is 190