Saturday, July 18th, 2009 at 10:45 am  |  24 responses

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NBA Summer League: Day 8

Austin Daye joins the list of rising prospects.

by Rodger Bohn

Another day, another 10 hours of basketball. Many NBA head coaches, GM’s, and scouts were seen skipping out of town far before their team concluded their play. The gyms are less crowded, the action is less exciting. However, for hoop heads like ourselves, it’s still worth every second.

Detroit Pistons vs. Cleveland Cavaliers

– Austin was the story of this Daye. Bad joke? Maybe. Serious game? Absolutely. He has been making his case (a la Kevin Durant) to disprove that the NBA’s bench press test mean’s completely nothing when you are a skilled guy standing 6-10 and above. Daye has been a mismatch nightmare, taking bigger forwards off of the bounce and simply shooting over smaller forwards. The production backs that up, as seen by his 20 and 10 performance tonight. Yes, he’s still weak and very foul prone against stronger guys. However, he’s proven that he is going to be a nightmare to guard given his ball skills at 6-11 and could very wind up being one of the biggest steals of this draft.

– Second round pick DaJuan Summers had an up and down game. On one hand, he showed flashes of how versatile he could be due to his ability to play either forward slot. On the other hand, he showed his lack of discipline both in terms of shot selection and defensive fundamentals. The defensive part was evident, as seen by his 10 personal fouls. There’s still a whole lot of promise left in the former Georgetown star, and Detorit fans shouldn’t be worried by his one lackluster summer league performance and forget the 18 points per game he’s averaging.

– Swedish forward Jonas Jerebko got it done bigtime with his unorthodox style of play. He knocked down a number of jumpers from mid-range, stepped out to the three point line, and even got to the basket against more athletic wings. The guy has the pretty boy look, but definitely backs it up with some serious game. Jerebko is definitely going to need to get stronger both physically and as a defender before he’s ready to crack the rotation seriously though.

– Ex-Virginia Tech high-flyer Deron Washington turned some heads with an unbelievable tip-dunk as well as a couple attempted (but failed) posterizations. He made some super athletic plays and there’s a ton of Sports Center top 10s waiting to happen, but he just doesn’t have the skills yet to back it up.

– Cavs first round pick Christian Eyenga is an athletic freak show, but really lacks the skill level to play right now. He’s honestly one of the most elite athletes in the League, but is also one of the least skilled at this point. Congo’s finest has a chance to be a monster on the glass and a sick penetrator from the wing due to his blazing first step, but has a ways to go in terms of skill development. Given the Cavs’ situation with the luxury tax, you can’t blame them for taking a chance on a high-risk guy who won’t effect their cap for quite a few years.

– Bruiser Darnell Jackson also had a nice game for the Cavs en route to a 12-point, 11-rebound effort. The ex-Jayhawk is certainly not the most skilled player in the League, but he’s a fan favorite due to his hustle play and the fact that he sets arguably the hardest screens in the NBA.

Sacramento Kings vs. New York Knicks

– Jason Thompson paced the way for the Kings with 23 points and 10 rebounds. He’s continuing to show that despite the fact that he played in at an incredibly low D-1 school (Rider), he can still get it done in the League. Thompson is nearing the 7 foot mark and has a super soft touch. Throw in the dude’s big body and good hands, and you’ve got a pretty interesting big man to look towards in the future.

– Speaking of the future, the Kings combo guard of the future Tyreke Evans also had a nice game. Anyone who saw him play in high school or college knows that he will never be a pure point guard, but he’s making strides towards being able to run a team at the highest level. Sure, he’s a ball dominant guard. Sure, he prefers to shoot rather then pass. However, the selfishness and awful shot selection that plagued him early in his career are slowly beginning to disappear and we’re starting to see how good “Too Easy” really can become. At 6-6, not only can he create space on anyone off of the bounce, but he can also shoot over most guards. Throw in his super long arms, and you can see his potential on the defensive end. Reke is never going to lead the League in assists, but I’m sure the Kings feel pretty good about their pick at No. 4.

– Third year man Donte Greene isn’t progressing anywhere near where we thought he would at this point of the game. He’s a legit 6-10 and can do basically anything on the floor, yet his production never seems to mirror that talent. It’s a contract year and he’s really going to have to step it up if he hopes to make some serious cash come 2010.

– Toney Douglas had an off night for the Knicks, especially in terms of playmaking. Known as a shoot first guard since his days at Auburn, he has made some crazy improvement in his point guard skills, as seen by his two double digit assist outings in his first two stanzas. Douglas turned the ball over a number of times against the bigger Evans and didn’t appear quite in his element running the show. For a late first round pick though, there appears to be some value here based on the way the combo guard played the first two games.

– The Knicks trio of lottery busts (Yaroslav Korlev, Saer Sene, and Nickoloz Tskitishvili) all looked awful. I don’t understand how it’s possible to put so many underachievers together on the floor at the same time. And yes, there was one point in the game where these 3 were the Knicks front line. Well, at least they got they collected that lotto paycheck… something 99 percent of us can’t say we did.

– Jordan Hill has been up and down for the Knicks. You have to love the guy based on how hard he plays and his athleticism, but you also have to question how big of an offensive factor that he will be based on his limited skill set. The book is still out on him on anything more then a solid role player, in our eyes.

Washington Wizards vs. Minnesota Timberwolves

– The second point guard the Timberwolves drafted (after the de facto Ricky Rubio), Jonny Flynn, looked like he could hold down the land of 10,000 lakes until his campadre Rubio returns from abroad. He seriously got to the rim whenever he wanted, though primarily going towards his right. While Flynn can be a bit of a ball dominant guard at times, he was not selfish at all and always hit the open man. Calling him a pure point guard is a bit of a stretch, however. Flynn’s small stature really hurt him on D, though he used his jacked upper body to finish in the paint amongst the trees. While he’s not Ricky Rubio, he’s a damn good replacement for the time being.

– The T-Wolves’ other first round pick, Wayne Ellington, was also ballin’ outta control. He seems to have embraced the fact that he is going to be used primarily as just a shooter ant little else, which is a good thing. The Philly kid hit both spot up jumpers and pull-ups off the bounce. He didn’t step out of the realm of his skill set and looked like a really nice pick in the process.

– Gerald Henderson had some rough times playing with the Timberwolves. Of course that could be understandable due to the fact that he’s playing in a system that he is not familiar with in the least bit. He showed off a killer first step driving right, but really struggled when he put the ball on the deck with his left hand. Tons of potential, but doesn’t seem to quite be there yet in terms of skills.

– The Wizards Nick Young is looking like he can be an 18-20 ppg scorer down the road, no joke. We already knew that he had sick one on one skills, but the brass in Washington now has him coming off of screens constantly (a la Rip Hamilton) and working without the ball. Young did take some really tough shots like he always has, but he also made a ton of them. It’s becoming more and more apparent that he is the incumbent starting two guard and DC, with it not being out of the realm that he claims the job in the near future.

– Andray Blatche was frustrating as always. The guy is 7-0 tall and can do basically anything that he wants on the floor, yet his numbers never back it up. He showed no desire in playing defense or rebounding the ball, yet plenty of passion in jacking up jumpers from the perimeter. If someone were to give him a shot of toughness, we’d be looking at a potential all-star. Unfortunately, he hasn’t went to the doctor yet.

– Oleksiy Pecherov, who has had a really nice summer league for the Timberwolves, had the bonehead of the summer award with his play on Friday. His team is up 3 with the ball and a nearly full shot clock. The clock reads 28 seconds and the Wizards will surely have to foul. What does he do? Pull an errant three pointer in transition. The Wiz got the rebound and luckily for his sake, missed the shot. The crowd was buzzing about that play all the way through the conclusion of the next game. It was THAT BAD.

Rodger Bohn is a former director of prep scouting for DraftExpress.