Summer League

I hope to go to a game or two, I think they play 5 during the league. The young guys seem to be responding favorably to the practices so far and the new style. Hopefully that translates well into real games.

 

Well, went to the game last night. A few thoughts from the game. The starting group of Walker, Taylor, MKG, BB and Mullins played really well together, high energy and seemed to feed off of each other. I didn't realize they only played 40 minute games.

MKG was clearly the best player on the court last night for either team, he had 18 pts, 8 rebs, 5 asts and 4 stls, very nice line for only 21 minutes. The high energy started with him, there is no worry about him giving 100% start to finish. He shot the ball really good this game, even hit a three.

Taylor looked really good, he added 17 pts. Him and MKG really seem to like playing together. I have no idea how this kid slipped to #31, he is a lot better talent than that. The only thing that sucks is that he plays SF, but maybe he can be plugged in at SG some as well, that's what he played last night and hit several 3's.

Walker did good, looked to be having fun, seems to like the new guys a lot. Shot was a little off. I really worry about his size, he really is gonna have to work on how to counter that in his game.

Mullens, bleh, started out 0-5, but finished with 20 pts. I think he only had one shot inside, the rest were either 3's or long 2's.

BB, did good, still very limited on the offense.

Only other player of note for me was Hunter, he seemed to play well and all over the court. Only problem is that he plays small forward, so no way he makes the team unless Taylor plays another spot.

Higgins should be gone, too many shots and just not good enough. I would like to see more of what Sampson can do, played well in very limited minutes.

Final score Bobcats win 121 to 87 over Sac.

Side notes - Robinson had 19 points, 8 turnovers and just seem pissed the entire time with his play. So MKG got round 1 for sure.

Barnes looked better in his game for Golden State than he did all last year for UNC, what a puss! Maybe he does better in the pros than college I guess.

 

Thanks for the report. Good to hear the positives about MKG. It wouldn`t bother me to see Walker as an assist only pg. Some dudes just don`t have the concentration to be jump shooters.

 

Great stuff man. I'd love to read any more thoughts you have. Good to hear about the two rooks.

 

Good to hear that they played hard. Maybe Boris Diaw and his laziness is gone for good now. A guy like him is bad for a young team.

 

Yeah I hope to make it to at least 2 more games live, maybe more depending on schedule. I figure this is as close as I will get to watching the team now. It's $22 for a day pass for all 4 games, which is not bad at all, although I only got to see 2 games yesterday.

One thing I forgot to mention, is that Charlotte played a lot of press on D, they were picking Sac up on the inbounds a lot during the game which helps a lot with keeping the energy up.

2 moments of the game that I liked both involved MGK. One play he was pressing Robinson as he brought the ball up court, steal, break away dunk. The other MKG had the ball at the 3 point line, started to drive, 2 players cut him off, so he made a super nice pass to Taylor who was cutting down the baseline to the basket.

Not really sure why Robinson was handling the ball so much for Sacremento, but he certainly wasn't getting any help from his team, I kinda felt bad for the guy.

I was reading a report online today and the guy said Taylor is pretty much a spot up shooter and nothing else. I guess he didn't know about the D Taylor plays, great hustle guy as well, and it seemed a lot of the time he made the pass to setup the assist person. First time I have ever seen him play, but seems like a smart, smart player. Trying to think who he reminds me of.

 

Nice article on the summer league game.


Daily Dime - ESPN

 

Yeah, that's pretty much spot on. I sure hope it will keep building, because Charlotte did have three of it's core from last year starting, but the two rookies were the better players, so I hope that helps.

Picking up Haywood will help just to replace Diop and take some minutes from Mullens should help as well. If the rookies can be a little consistent, no reason this team can't win 25 games.

 

Picking up Haywood on the cheap is a nice move. Mullens can slide over to PF since he's too soft for center.

 

Well game number two thoughts ---

MKG didn't play, I am guessing it's from whatever he tweaked in the game from the other night.

Well the game started out really bad, probably the worst half of offense I have seen from a team. Charlotte only scored 23 points, bad shot selection, forced shots and just plain stupid shots. Mullins has to stop shooting as many 3's, when he played inside this game he looked decent but 0-7 from 3pt land.

Walker just doesn't seem to have a plan when he shoots, he just forces way to many bad shots no matter when or where on the court.

The defense is the only thing that kept the game remotely close at the half, Cleveland up 33-23.

Not sure what was said or happened at the 10 minute half, but the team came out playing a lot more relaxed, the guys on the bench were all standing up and cheering a lot during the 2nd half, was almost like a college game.

Bright spots and also turning point in the game were Carlon Brown and Josh Owens off the bench combining for 17 points.

Taylor still impressed me, although he didn't shoot as well. He hit a three late in the game for the tie, ending up with 12 points and 7 rebs. He hustles and just seems to be after the ball and playing really nice D.

Biz is limited but he is all out start to finish and just doesn't stop. I sure hope he can improve on his inside game on offense and learn to keep both hands firm on the ball and not turn it over.

For all the Carolina people out there, Zeller looked good for Cleveland 14pts, 5rebs and 2 blks, plus had a few nice outlet passes. Waiters I liked for them as well, but he didn't shoot well but did good in other areas of the game.

Bobcats come from way back to win 68-64.