Of note:
Mouhamed Sene 20:47 3-4 shooting 4 rebounds 6 fouls 5 blocks 7 points. All of Sene's points came in the first quarter.
Noel Felix had a very solid game with 19 points to lead the Sonics.
Next game: Saturday vs. Spurs at 2:00 Pacific.
Look for more in the next hour...
Generally I want to temper my own enthusiasm because I don’t want to read a lot into summer league play. That said Sene looked very good. His problem on the boards has to do both with not knowing exactly where to be and also simply terrible perimeter defense by our guards who forced Sene to jump out at wide open shooters all day giving up his solid rebounding position. He was flat out dominant early getting a great dunk on the opening posession while surrounded by three people clawing at the ball. My favorite part of his game was that he was not overly aggressive. The 6 fouls he drew were for the most part good fouls, again often a result of terrible guard play. I expected him to be hacking at everything but he showed nice restraint. I’ll tell you that the crowd and scouts were talking about him. PJ Carlisimo said “He looks excellent, excellent.â€
Our guards were bad. Patch and Yotan were just complete non-factors and Denham Brown is a black hole shooting 1 for 10. They didn’t get Sene the ball at all after the second quarter and the big man started to grow frustrated. Coach Ralph Lewis told me after the game that he complained about Fatigue and had trouble with the altitude.
Noel Felix was the player of the game. Draftexpress.com is probably going to write him up in a “one to watch†type feature and he played a total game with offense and defense. Noel also knows every player at the summer league after his years roaming the basketball circuit.
We lost this game 100% because the Sixers defended and we didn’t. They turned on a trap midway through the third quarter and the guards simply refused to pass out of it. They got their pockets picked, shot lousy shots, let the shotclock wind down. You name it they did it. We never made an adjustment and the Sixers literally ran a half-court press for nearly the entire second half. Of course we also played a team of fairly no-name players during that period.
Deron Williams was the best player on the court in Utah’s game and both Jazz Rookies look good. Ronnie Brewer had a really nice game and is going to be a good player. Dee Brown has a simply beautiful stroke. The game was definately highlighted by Aroujo drawing a second technical foul with a completely cheap shot throw down of Marvin Williams. Williams went after him and Aroujo was ejected. He stomped out of the hallway kicking chairs and the crowd booed Williams relentlessly.
I’ll have more details and notes tomorrow morning. Game 2 featuring Dallas and San Antonio was really not worth a lot of discussion. Ager sat out for Dallas and both squads featured lineups without any big names. I spent most of the first half in the locker room (it was cool to get locker room access this time around) and neither team could score a point.
Lots of good Robert Swift Audio today. Robert weighed in yesterday above 260 and is really putting in the effort. He is thrilled with big Mo, working hard, and has played some PF in scrimmage because “with two other big centers one of us has to play the 4″. He says it is helping with his ball handling.
Big Mo is a pimp in his bright pink shirt looking for the American ladies. He’s a shy dude.
Brian Robinson will fill this all in with greater detail tomorrow. Until then here is his comment that might get lost in one of the other threads:
Back up and ready to comment. It was a long day and I’ll have to give detailed reports tomorrow morning becuase I left for the airport just before 4am and it is now 10:45.
Generally I want to temper my own enthusiasm because I don’t want to read a lot into summer league play. That said Sene looked very good. His problem on the boards has to do both with not knowing exactly where to be and also simply terrible perimeter defense by our guards who forced Sene to jump out at wide open shooters all day giving up his solid rebounding position. He was flat out dominant early getting a great dunk on the opening posession while surrounded by three people clawing at the ball. My favorite part of his game was that he was not overly aggressive. The 6 fouls he drew were for the most part good fouls, again often a result of terrible guard play. I expected him to be hacking at everything but he showed nice restraint. I’ll tell you that the crowd and scouts were talking about him. PJ Carlisimo said “He looks excellent, excellent.â€
Our guards were bad. Patch and Yotan were just complete non-factors and Denham Brown is a black hole shooting 1 for 10. They didn’t get Sene the ball at all after the second quarter and the big man started to grow frustrated. Coach Ralph Lewis told me after the game that he complained about Fatigue and had trouble with the altitude.
Noel Felix was the player of the game. Draftexpress.com is probably going to write him up in a “one to watch†type feature and he played a total game with offense and defense. Noel also knows every player at the summer league after his years roaming the basketball circuit.
We lost this game 100% because the Sixers defended and we didn’t. They turned on a trap midway through the third quarter and the guards simply refused to pass out of it. They got their pockets picked, shot lousy shots, let the shotclock wind down. You name it they did it. We never made an adjustment and the Sixers literally ran a half-court press for nearly the entire second half. Of course we also played a team of fairly no-name players during that period.
Deron Williams was the best player on the court in Utah’s game and both Jazz Rookies look good. Ronnie Brewer had a really nice game and is going to be a good player. Dee Brown has a simply beautiful stroke. The game was definately highlighted by Aroujo drawing a second technical foul with a completely cheap shot throw down of Marvin Williams. Williams went after him and Aroujo was ejected. He stomped out of the hallway kicking chairs and the crowd booed Williams relentlessly.
I’ll have more details and notes tomorrow morning. Game 2 featuring Dallas and San Antonio was really not worth a lot of discussion. Ager sat out for Dallas and both squads featured lineups without any big names. I spent most of the first half in the locker room (it was cool to get locker room access this time around) and neither team could score a point.
Lots of good Robert Swift Audio today. Robert weighed in yesterday above 260 and is really putting in the effort. He is thrilled with big Mo, working hard, and has played some PF in scrimmage because “with two other big centers one of us has to play the 4″. He says it is helping with his ball handling.