The Official Summer League Thread

[bobheckler]

Hey, somebody had to start one...

Here's blogs from Julian Benbow of the Globe about some of the summer league players:

As of 7/4/10


Luke Harangody


At one point, Luke Harangody was dubbed "the other Tyler Hansbrough," the other decorated four-year player that was generally doubted by everyone when it came to playing in the NBA. He's the only player in Big East history to average 20 and 10 for his career, but he fell to the second round. He wasn't terribly happy about it, but he's rolling with it, trying to earn a spot with the Celtics this summer.

What Celtics president Danny Ainge likes about him besides his knack for scoring and his willingness to do the dirty work is his attitude.

"He just has a great attitude and approach and I think that’s why he was such a system college player," Ainge said. "He doesn’t overwhelm people with just his talent. He’s just a hard working kid, and that hard work, playing every possession day in and day out, I think that’s how he’s been able to be successful. That consistent effort and attitude."

What Celtics summer league coach Austin Ainge likes is how Harangody's played so far. He got up and down the floor so well in today's practice it almost surprised Austin Ainge. But the fact that Harangody can score doesn't shock Ainge at all.

"Luke is smart and tough and skilled," summer league coach Austin Ainge said. "His obvious deficiencies are just his size, which will hurt him on the defensive end, but offensively, he’s got all the moves and a knack for scoring."


Oliver Lafayette and Tony Gaffney

Summer League: The familiar faces

So, these two guys sort of have a leg-up. Oliver Lafayette and Tony Gaffney have been around the Celtics since the end of the regular season. They know the system, they watched the Celtics' playoff push, and among all the summer leaguers, they almost look like veterans.

They're comfortable. You can see it in the way they play, especially Lafayette, who's done nothing but impress in the first four practices.

"I’m very comfortable," he said. "I know what these guys want. So it’s very comfortable for me just being here last year to see what they want. Plus being in the D-League."

For everything they picked up watching the Celtics' playoff run, as ballplayers, they were itching to actually see some time on the floor. Practice minutes were hard to come by.

"It just feels good to get out here and really play," Lafayette said. "It’s good to get on the court, work on things."

Lafayette did pick up some things playing behind Rajon Rondo and Nate Robinson.

"Rondo, he’s a great player and he’s an all-star in the league," Lafayette said. "So of course you’re going to take behind somebody like that. He plays good defense. He’s great at passing the ball, watching the court. I’m trying to watch what he would watch. Seeing him a lot, seeing what he does helps me a lot with my game."



Artsiom Parakhouski

He had only played basketball for two years before leaving Belarus to head to Southern Idaho, ultimately moving on to Radford. There was a point when he didn’t know what the NCAA tournament was. Soccer was his game, until he realized he was outgrowing it and ultimately drifted to the basketball court. And, of course, when you’re 6-feet-11-inches, the upside is obvious.

In two years at Radford, he racked up points, rebounds and awards. He was a two-time Big South player of the year. This past season, he put up big numbers in marquis matchups. He put up a couple of huge double-doubles against Duke (23 points, 14 rebounds) and Kansas (21 and 13). The buzz was that he would be drafted in the second round, but he fell out of the draft.

SI.com talked to him about wanting to be the first Belarusian player in the NBA:


Radford center Artsiom Parakhouski has one goal: to become the first Belarusian to play in the NBA.

It's a lofty goal, no doubt. But when one reviews the road Parakhouski has traveled so far, there is little reason to believe he can't make it. You may not have heard of him yet, but the NBA sure has.

The Toronto Raptors had a scout at Radford's practice on Monday, in fact, as the 6-foot-11, 260-pound senior continues to play his way onto the radar of a draft lacking center prospects.

Parakhouski leads the nation in rebounding at 12.9 per game, is second in field goal percentage at 63.2 percent and third in scoring with 24.1 points per game. He had double-doubles at Duke (23 points, 14 rebounds) and Kansas (21, 13) and has scored in double-figures in every game. NBADraft.net projects the senior to go early in the second round, while DraftExpress.com has Parakhouski as the last pick of the first round -- a spot that would make history in his home country.

"That is my goal," Parakhouski said of the NBA (heavily emphasizing the "N" in his Russian accent). "I'm trying to prove that people in my country can be in the NBA if they want to be."

"He understands he's not a finished player," said Greenberg, who has spent several years in different capacities in the NBA, including general manager of the 76ers. "He wants to play in the NBA. He realizes it doesn't happen overnight. He's just scratching the surface of what he can become. He wants to get better and better."

Ryan Wittman

First, let's get the obvious out of the way. Ryan Wittman comes from an NBA pedigree. He's the son of former Timberwolves head coach Randy Wittman. The thing is, you would never know it from his time at Cornell. He prefers it that way. He’d rather be known for being the Ivy League player of the year and Cornell's all-time leading scorer.

Now the important detail: He can shoot it. He knocked down 42.6 percent of his 3s for Cornell last year and Celtics president Danny Ainge even handed out a couple of compliments on his spot up shooting. Still, certain perks come with having a father who played nearly a decade in the league then coached and has pretty much been a lifer ever since. Shooting lessons being one of them. "It started out at a pretty young age, obviously with my dad playing basketball growing up, he had a basketball in my hand pretty early. So as far as I can remember, I've always been working on my shot with him, especially at a younger age, he always taught me proper technique and it's kind of built from there."

DeShawn Sims

There are a ton of storylines on the Celtics' summer league squad. DeShawn Sims has one of the more amazing ones. To be just 22 years old, he's seen a lot in his life. He's seen his father thrown in prison. One of his brother was shot dead. Another was locked up for homicide. Yet, Sims has been resilient enough to deal with it all. He earned a scholarship to Michigan and became the first male in his family to graduate from college and now he's trying to catch on in the league.

Sims was the first person at Warden Arena yesterday, getting to the gym before they turned the lights on. He can rebound and shoot from the outside and likes to think of himself as the same type of player as Jared Dudley, a player that people passed over as a "tweener." Winning is a big deal to him, as well. The Celtics were running an odd-man rush drill that started with a player taking a free throw. When they started keeping score, the first thing Sims asked was if free throws counted. Told that they did, he knocked it down and got his team an early lead on an easy shot.

Erik Brady of USA Today profiled Sims in April.

Michigan's DeShawn Sims is set to become the first man from his family to graduate from college this Saturday. "We are all so proud," says Vanessa Pruitt, his aunt. "He grew up to be a good man."
DeShawn Sims graduates Saturday from the University of Michigan. His mother, sister, grandmother and aunt will be there to see him get his degree and hear President Obama speak. His father and brothers will not be there. The men in his family are in prison or dead.

"The men are gone," Sims says. "I'm the last man."

Sims comes from the decaying State Fair neighborhood in Detroit. He was just 12 when his father was convicted on drug trafficking charges. DeShawn Sims Sr. is serving a 14-year sentence at the Federal Correctional Institution in Morgantown, W.Va. That made Sims the man of the house before he could shave. His orthodontist removed his braces because when his father went away, so did the payments, always made in cash.

Sims looked out for Tamisha Pruitt, his older sister, and little brothers Marcus and Marshall Pruitt. And Sims flourished on the basketball court at Pershing High, which led to a college athletic scholarship. Sims hoped it would be the same for 6-11 Marcus, who followed him at Pershing. But Marcus was shot dead three months into Sims' freshman year at Michigan. Sims remembers waking up from a nap to 300 missed calls and 40 text messages, all telling him Marcus was shot in the head walking home from the store.

"I didn't deal with it" emotionally at the time, Sims says. "I put it in the safe, locked it up. Now, I try to sort it out day by day. If I tried to deal with it all at once," and here his voice trails off.

Sims has often talked publicly about Marcus, whose case made headlines. But he has rarely talked publicly about Marshall, who was convicted of second-degree homicide in an unrelated and less publicized case last year.

He is 19 and serving a sentence of 28 to 42 years at Michigan's Bellamy Creek Correctional Facility for homicide and two years for felony use of a firearm.

"It feels like the same kind of loss," Sims says, "because I can't have my brother."

[gyso]

Summer League Schedule from NBA.com

http://www.nba.com/news/features/2010.summer.league.schedule/index.html

How to Watch All 2010 NBA Summer League Games:

http://therookiewall.com/2010/07/01/watch-all-2010-nba-summer-league-games/

NBADraft.net Orlando Summer League Schedule & Rosters:

http://www.nbadraft.net/orlando-summer-league-schedule-roster

[Sam]

I'm currently watching the Jazz-Bobcats summer league game on NBA-TV (which is Channel 599 on my cable service). The Celtics-Thunder game will start at 5:00 pm EST on the same channel. I guess it may also be accessed on NBA.com, although I think one has to pay for that.

Following is a little information I stole on the Celtics' team, which includes 770 pounds of centers.

Sam

Opportunity knocks at summer league

Their roster thin, Celtics will give a good Gaffney, Lafayette, Erden a good look

Forsberg By Chris Forsberg
ESPNBoston.com
Archive

ORLANDO -- When the Charlotte Bobcats take the floor for the opening game of the 2010 AirTran Summer League on Monday, their roster will include Darius Miles, the NBA veteran with eight years of NBA service.

Miles, who nearly made a comeback with the Celtics in 2008 after microfracture surgery on his right knee sidelined him for two seasons, is attempting another run at an NBA return with Charlotte this summer.

Miles boasts 446 NBA games and 11,729 minutes played for his career. By comparison, the Celtics' entire 12-man summer roster features a total of one regular-season game of NBA experience.

Not much was thought of 7-footer Semih Erden when the Celtics drafted him at the end of the second round in 2008, but with the Green lacking big men they're giving Erden a look at Summer League.

Yes, the summer league is geared more toward rookies and the league's youngest players, so Boston's lack of experience isn't exactly shocking. And while a few notable names like Miles' dot the rosters of the eight teams competing here this week, you're more likely to be Googling the game's leading scorer to find out exactly who they are.

The utter lack of NBA experience on Boston's roster -- save for the 22 minutes and seven points logged by Oliver Lafayette in this year's regular season finale against the Milwaukee Bucks, the same day both he and Tony Gaffney were signed with eyes toward the summer on April 14 -- is somewhat different for Boston.

Just compare this year's roster to last summer, when the Celtics had a handful of familiar names and recent draft picks like J.R. Giddens, Gabe Pruitt, Michael Sweetney, Robert Swift and Bill Walker, all of whom had NBA experience.

Pruitt, one of Boston's second-round picks (32nd overall) from the 2007 draft, taken three spots before Glen Davis, is back here hoping to resuscitate his NBA career by playing for the New Jersey Nets. Boston's roster is overflowing with fresh faces, with the most familiar names likely to be Gaffney, Lafayette, and this year's second-round pick Luke Harangody (52nd overall).

Boston's top pick in the 2010 draft, Avery Bradley (19th overall) in this year's draft is sitting out the summer league after undergoing minor ankle surgery last week. He is expected to be ready for training camp.

With Boston's veteran-heavy roster, the natural inclination is to think that none of these youngsters have a chance to make the team. But with only six players currently under contract, one of which is Kendrick Perkins, who will start the year sidelined by the ACL surgery he will undergo Wednesday, and another being Rasheed Wallace, the 15-year veteran likely to retire, the Celtics have as many as nine open roster spots (one of which will go to soon-to-be re-signed Paul Pierce) they must fill by summer's end.

With that in mind, here are three things to watch as the Celtics prepare for summer league games this week:

1. Gaffney, Lafayette have jump on competition

With Boston operating with a pair of open roster spots late in the season, the team spent minimal dollars to bring in free agents Gaffney and Lafayette on the final day of the regular season.

Gaffney had been among the final cuts for the Lakers before the 2009-10 season, while Lafayette shined in the NBA Development League. Boston ensured first-crack at their services for the 2010-11 campaign by bringing them along on a wild postseason adventure.

Having spent two months with the team and working out at Boston's practice facility in Waltham, the duo clearly has a jump on the rest of the roster. Gaffney didn't appear in any games as he recovered from ankle surgery that ended his brief pro career in Israel, while Lafayette showed some nice potential, even if the final regular season game amounted to little more than an exhibition.

"We believe that both of these players have good potential to help us in the future and we are looking forward to evaluating them during the summer," Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said in April.

Look for both players to get every opportunity to win a job at the end of Boston's bench, particularly at the bargain basement salaries ($762,195) they'd earn if they do make the team. Merely being in meetings and soaking up some Ubuntu on the practice court should undoubtedly set these two apart at the start of the summer.

2. The legend of Ryan Wittman

The son of former NBA head coach and player Randy Wittman, Ryan Wittman comes with both a pedigree and a growing legend.

The website/Twitter feed "Completely True Facts about Cornell's Ryan Wittman" includes some Chuck Norris-like myths about Wittman, such as: "Ryan Wittman was signed by the Boston Celtics to help show Ray Allen how to shoot a basketball," and, "In a final effort to improve his shooting, LeBron James has asked to have an elbow transplant from Ryan Wittman."

Here's what's undeniably true about Wittman: He averaged 17.5 points per game for Cornell in his senior season, shooting a robust 42.6 percent from beyond the arc. At 6-foot-7, he's got nice height for a wing player. If he gets hot in the summer league, it could raise some eyebrows giving his family ties.

3. The Semih Erden Era begins

While profiling three of Boston's foreign big men on the summer league roster last week, we touched on Erden's growing lore.

Like most players selected in the back end of the draft, little was expected of Erden, the 60th overall -- and final -- selection of the 2008 draft. Keep in mind that's five spots after a guy like Kris Clack, Boston's not-so memorable second-round selection from the 1999 draft, who never even signed with the team.

But two years overseas playing in both the Euroleague and in his native Turkey have turned Erden into a bit of a potential savior. With Boston facing a height deficiency, any 7-footer with NBA potential is going to have hype around them. All of which makes Erden possibly the most intriguing player of the summer.

Yet we have really no idea if Erden can even play at this level. He's sacrificing quality money overseas to give an NBA career a whirl. But his stats overseas -- a Darko Milicic-like 6.2 points and 5.4 rebounds per game (and, hey, Darko just got $20 million in Minnesota) -- are not eye-popping, but if he can simply be an efficient backup center who rebounds consistently, there's a chance Erden could stick here.

The details

Here's a look at the Celtics' summer league roster:

41 -- Jaycee Carroll -- G -- 6-foot-2 -- 180 pounds -- Utah State
50 -- Semih Erden -- C -- 7-0 -- 240 -- Turkey
27 -- Tony Gaffney -- F -- 6-8 -- 215 -- Massachusetts
45 -- Rodney Green -- G -- 6-5 -- 190 -- La Salle
55 -- Luke Harangody -- F -- 6-8 -- 255 -- Notre Dame
46 -- Matt Janning -- G -- 6-4 -- 198 -- Northeastern
60 -- Vyacheslav Kravtsov -- C -- 7-0 -- 270 -- Ukraine
40 -- Oliver Layafette -- G -- 6-2 -- 190 -- Houston
58 -- Art Parkahouski -- C -- 6-11 -- 260 -- Radford
47 -- DeShawn Sims -- F -- 6-8 -- 225 -- Michigan
48 -- Ryan Thompson -- G -- 6-6 -- 220 -- Rider
49 -- Ryan Wittman -- F -- 6-7 -- 215 -- Cornell

And here is Boston's five-game schedule:

Monday, July 5 - Boston vs. Oklahoma City, 5 p.m.
Tuesday, July 6 - Boston vs. Philadelphia, 5 p.m.
Wednesday, July 7 - Boston vs. Charlotte, 1 p.m.
Thursday, July 8 - Boston vs. Indiana, 3 p.m.
Friday, July 9 - Boston vs. New Jersey, noon

Sam

[bobheckler]

It looks like some of our usual suspects are covering them too.

atdhe.net
justin.tv
channelsurfing.net

[gyso]

Sam,

Bob had started the official Summer League thread last night. I thought I'd tuck your post into that one.

gyso

[Sam]

Hmmm, I didn't see that one. Thanks.

Sam

[cowens/oldschool]

the kid from Notre Dame looked really good,has nice perimeter game,hope he can develop into a 3.

[bobheckler]

GAME 1

This is a game the Celtics should have won. We were up by something like 18 points in the 2nd. Our downfall was an offensive drought in the 4th quarter. It got sloppy out there, very sloppy. Nevertheless, if I had to compare the players in this first game this year versus the players in the first game last summer, I liked these guys better. Of course, "better" in the first game of summer league is a highly subjective adjective.

I broke the players down into two categories: ones with expectations and those without. Players with expectations were Erden, Lafayette and Gaffney. These are players who have played pro ball, who had the benefit of extra coaching in D-league and, in the case of Lafayette, actually got to play in a regular season game. All the rest of the players have been thrown into the deep end of the pool to see if they can swim. Harangody has some expectations, due to his collegiate career and that he was drafted, but a low second rounder can't be held to too high a standard.

Of the players I saw, the one I thought was the most UNDERwhelming was Erden. I didn't see where he did much well. No offense (although he seems to have a tricky first step on his face-up move) and didn't block people off the boards. Byron Mullens, the #24 pick in this year's draft, had a field day against Erden. He had 24 points and looked very good. A low 1st rounder in his first summer league game is NOT supposed to look good against a player who has been playing pro ball for years, even if it is in Europe.

Lafayette really helped himself today. He ran the club, played defense and shot well. He repeatedly split the defenders on high screens to penetrate. I liked that, a nice aggressive offensive mindset. A little sloppy with the ball at times, though. Not going to help him earn a job as a point guard since that is Job 1.

Gaffney did ok, nothing great. The news with him is that he had to guard James Harden. Harden had 17 fta. Tough assignment for Gaffney coming out of the box. Harden's presence on the court really settled OKC down and led the charge in their 4th quarter comeback. We had a bunch of NBA wannabes out there, OKC had Harden and Ibaka from their regular season squad last year on the floor today. You have to take that into account when you consider the final score and how it happened.

Harangody had 23 points on 9-13 shooting, 4-6 from 3. That kid can shoot from anywhere. I was also really impressed by how much of a nose for the ball he has. He was always around it. His lack of athleticism and unimpressive wingspan might hurt him, though, defensively. There were a couple of sequences where, if he was just a little quicker or had just a little longer reach, he would have played good defense.

I thought Parakhouski looked good. Considering he's one of the players with little to no expectations, he had a very good game. He had a fantastic block on someone. Man-to-man, chest-to-chest under the basket. I don't know who the OKC player was, but he tried to take Para and got fed a Wilsonburger for his efforts. 10 rebounds in 18 minutes. For a team that was often out-rebounded last year, you gotta love that! By comparison, Erden played 22 minutes and only got 4 boards.

OKC got 43 ftas with Harden and Mullens getting 18 and 15 respectively. Ok, I understand James Harden picking up a lot of calls, he's a helluva player with a full year of NBA experience, but Mullens? That's why I'm so down on Erden at this time. Erden wasn't boxing out. Mullens had 7 boards and 4 of them were offensive.

Another player that looked very smooth on offense was Ryan Thompson out of Rider. 6'6", 220#. He'll get more looks.

Jaycee Carroll had a good shooting day, I just don't think he'll make the team because he's too short. He's a 2 in a 1s body. He also had a very healthy 4 assists and only 1 TO. In only 29 minutes he took 16 fga, more than anybody else. He wasn't bashful, let me tell you. Hey, what the hell, this is his big chance. Might as well go for it. Still, which would you rather have, a 2 in a 1s body that takes care of the ball, or a 1 that gives it away. Lafayette better work harder to stay in control.

The Celtics have brought in this big Ukrainian, Kravstov, 7'0", 270#. He didn't play today, but I'm looking forward to seeing what he can do.

http://www.nba.com/summerleague/games/20100705/BOSOKC/gameinfo.html

bob

.

[112288]

Watched game today. Oliver Layafette and Luke Harangody looked real good. Harangody looks like a young Tom Heinsohn. As we all know Heinsohn was called gunner for his shooting ability. The kid is also a banger as well. Likes to mix it up. Only knock, he has a weird shot and seems not to get too much elevation on his shot.

Not impressed by Semih Erden. He looks like a player but his inside game is nothing to talk about. Art Parkahousk is a big kid and a wide body. He looked tentative at first but he seemed to gain momentum as the game wound down. The announcers liked his body and his strength.

Jaycee Carroll showed some flashes as well.

112288

[mrkleen09]

Agree with Bob and 1122 -

Harangody looks like a real gem, and Lafayette looked solid out there. Both are NBA bench ready - or at least should be by October.

Gaffney looks lost out there. Same with Erden. Too soft for NBA play, forget it.

The only other guy that impressed was Carroll...but he plays no D and is too small to take a hit and make a shot...so dont see him sticking either.

[Sam]

No one has mentioned Rodney Green. A 6' 5" PG, he played something like 8 minutes in the first half and was very effective in both distributing and penetrating. He pretty much wet the bed when the Thunder were making their comeback, but he looked as good as Lafayette to me when the lead was being built in the first half. I'd like to see more of him to determine which is the real Rodney Green.

Otherwise, Harandogy, Lafayette, Thompson and possibly Parakhouski were the guys I'll be most interested in following over the next few games.

Parakhouski had what I'd call a lot of quiet rebounds. I had no idea they were piling up until I saw the final box score.

What fashioned the large lead (21) was a actually a combination of great swarming defense, pushing the ball (both Lafayette and Green), excellent shooting (especially Harangody) and a good assist ratio, and a plurality of 8 rebounds at halftime. By early in the second quarter, I was starting to wish these guys had played the fourth quarter in Game 7 against the Lakers.

But Mullens and Harden led an excellent pick-and-roll offense that was the Celtics' downfall in the second half. Austin Ainge mentioned that one of the few things they had really worked on was pick-and-roll defense. The work didn't show in this game. They constantly failed to get in front of offensive players, and reach-in fouls were the order of the day. Aside from that one block by Parakhouski, I didn't think either center was a solid defender of last resort.

The biggest disappointment for me had to be Erden. For the most part, he looked like a space-filler out there. He set a few picks but didn't begin to do any one thing well enough to warrant his even being on the floor. It was just his first game, and he could have been nervous, but I'm not overly optimistic.

My best guess at this time would be that Harangody and Lafayette have the best chance of sticking in the bigs. If I had to guess at a third possibility at this juncture, it would be Thompson. But I need to watch all three of them more closely on defense. I think Harangody has pretty good defensive footwork (he's fairly mobile for a chunky guy), but his 6' 8" height is probably better suited to defending 3s than 4s. I recall Lafayette trying to take a charge and possibly being jobbed on the call.

I don't believe Harangody's offensive showing was a fluke. He showed total confidence in his offense, from shooting threes to driving to the hoop. His outside shot is sort of a flat-footed push shot (almost Cousy-esque), and a really quick defender could potentially give him trouble. The one time he tried a quick release on a 3, it missed rather badly.

It'll be interesting to see if the landscape changes with the initial game under their belts.

Sam

[mrkleen09]

I think Harangody's major issue is he is sort of stuck between positions.

I agree with Sam that ideally, he is probably a 3 in the NBA...but I see no way on earth he could check people like Gerald Wallace, John Salmons, or other quick 3s.....so in that case, he is in essence a small 4 - and we already have one of those.

His shooting may be the difference - and if he can consistently hit shots, Doc will find a place for him.

[bobheckler]

sam,

Great point about OKC's pick-and-rolls. Mullens showed some good hands on those plays. I hadn't heard we worked on pick-and-roll defense. Sure didn't see any of that on the court.

Our defense fell down in the second half. First half, we were sealing off penetrations really well.

bob

.

[NYCelt]

From the ND games I saw last year I never thought Harangody could play the 3 in the NBA. Most 3's are far more agile; I almost think Davis has a better shot at playing the 3!

I think he sticks, but we'll see him at the 4. Tough, gritty kid who will probably give us our moneys worth plus. He positions himself well under the boards and was a great rebounder in school, especially offensive boards. Shooting/scoring? Filled it up at ND too. We still need some height though and he gives us Glen Davis x2 with less athleticism.

Other than him maybe Lafayette sticks, depending largely on how cheap we need to get after we first see who we can sign.

[cowens/oldschool]

with KG and Baby there already where else you gonna play him?he'd get more exposed at the 4 defensively,Bird was slow of foot too and he figured it out.

[beat]

Cow

I think sometimes we are a bit enamerd about positions period. Thinking we have to play a 1,2,3,4,5. So we play 2 4's at once with no 3 for a bit.
Who cares heck that might make the other team react to us. Still need the point no doubt but me can make out with various combos of the other positions IMHO.

beat

[sinus007]

Hi,
How was the second game? I looked at the stats - same 2 guys, Harangody and Lafayette. Anybody else?
Thank you very much,
AK

[bobheckler]

Hi,
How was the second game? I looked at the stats - same 2 guys, Harangody and Lafayette. Anybody else?
Thank you very much,
AK

sinus,

I didn't see the game, but looking at the boxscore, Lafayette had 5 turnovers and Rodney Green had 4. Green had a good game one but this is the second time Lafayette's turnovers have tarnished his game.

With 12 rebounds, Harangody is pretty much guaranteed an invite to camp. He's shown he can shoot, rebound and will hustle.

I read a review on the game where they said that the Ukrainian, Kravstov, looked more NBA ready than Para or Erden. Gotta see more of this kid before they panic and go with Kwame Brown.

bob

.

[mrkleen09]

Gaffney looked much better - at least in the first quarter. Jaycee Carrol can shoot the lights out, but is probably too slight and too poor a defender to make an NBA team.

Erden didnt get any run yesterday - Wittman finally got in, didn't do much but can clearly shoot as well.

One thing that is the same in summer league - the refs desire to dominate the game. They call EVERYTHING and it is really sickening to watch.

I dont know how David Stern cant see this - but his refs are truly hurting NBA basketball. There is literally no flow to games anymore, and it is just painful. Clearly there will be more fouls and violations in a summer league game - but this is just TOO MUCH. ]

Other thing is the announcers - Steve Smith, but even more so the other guy Rick Kamala....shilling for the NBA is just shameless. To listen to these two idiots, you would think that the Sixers are the next NBA champs....and Sacramento...man, he raved about them for 10 minutes yesterday....lol.

[Sam]

I really liked what I saw in Gaffney early in the game. He did everything—shooting from the arc, taking it to the hoop, fine defensive play (throughout the game), up and down the floor, rebounding. Then, except for his defense, he tailed off; and he tweaked his ankle late in the game.

At one point, while he was basically taking over the game in the first quarter, an announcer mentioned that he looked like a spider. Something clicked in my mind. What well-known Celtic was called "Spider" by his teammates, who never, never called him "Hondo" as the fans did? That's exactly the kind of game Gaffney played in that quarter. Maybe they changed up the defense on him after that; I have real trouble identifying all the unfamiliar characters. But I put him on my list of people to watch.

On the other hand, I was less impressed by Lafeyette than in Game 1. I don't really see him as an instinctive playmaker. The problem is that, in trying to be a playmaker, he becomes a turnover machine. He's a pretty good, confident scorer. But he seems to lack floor sense or vision because Philly constantly caught him in traps on the perimeter. I expect he'd fare better in playing with experienced guys who knew they should be coming to the ball in that circumstance. But I also thought Holiday just left him in the dust numerous times. Holiday's good, but is he that good?

In the two games to date:

Lafayette has played 49 minutes, has 10 assists and 9 turnovers
Green has played 27 minutes, has 3 assists and 6 turnovers
Carroll has played 59 minutes, has 6 assists and 3 turnovers

It's not a good sign when your shooting guard has a much better assist-to-turnover ratio than either point guard. Carroll can definitely shoot, although I share concerns about his defense.

I liked the Kravstovs instincts. He knew when to set the high pick, when to repost, etc. And he retained control of the ball in traffic with a couple of good offensive moves near the hoop. Seems to have good hands. In 16 minutes, he had 6 points and 6 rebounds. In 24 minutes, Parakhoski has 5 points, 2 rebounds (way off from his first game figure) and a block.

Erden's agent was saying that he's really not ready to play now and Semih is really aiming for the world championships. Not a great priority in my book. But maybe the Celtics have decided that they have to look at him in training camp so they should give most of the run to Parakhoski and Kravstov so see if either is worth a longer look. Between those two guys and Haradogy, they'd better gain nicknames quickly; otherwise, we're going to see some of the most atrocious spelling since Carl Yastrzemski left the Red Sox.

Harangody is a cinch to be at training camp. Yesterday, he was only 4-14 from the field (couldn't hit much of anything in the first half). He seemed to be focusing on his rebounding yesterday, grabbing 12 for a double-double. the factor that could be most in his favor as a pro could be his willingness to take the ball to the hoop. He'll get some balls blocked a la Glen Davis, but he'll also get some of his own rebounds a la Glen Davis. Great hands. If he were only a lights-out perimeter shooter, his rebounding skills would be moot because he'd never be near the basket. His defense looks likes improving incrementally. His footwork is pretty good, and he has more lift than Glen Davis (how good is that?).

So far, I'd say Harangody is the closest thing to a lock for a roster spot, while Lafayette, Parakhouski, Kravstov, Carroll and Gaffney have shots at training camp with the Celtics or elsewhere.

Looking forward to Game 3.

Sam

[bobheckler]

sam,

"So far, I'd say Harangody is the closest thing to a lock for a roster spot, while Lafayette, Parakhouski, Kravstov, Carroll and Gaffney have shots at training camp with the Celtics or elsewhere."

I agree with pretty much all of it, but not so much on Lafayette for the reasons you cited. NOTHING will drive a coach crazier than to have the guy whose hands the ball is supposed to be in not take good care of it and that's summing up Oliver Lafayette's summer camp so far.

If Jaycee Carroll was a little bigger and a little stronger and a little bit more of a natural 1, he'd be in good shape for a training camp invite too, but he's not. Too bad. That kid can shoot like nobody's business. He'll have a career in Europe, where they value shooters more, for sure.

bob

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[Sam]

Bob,

Yeah, there have to be a lot of questions about Lafayette. What could bring him to training camp is the possibility that the Celts will wonder (as I have) how many of those turnovers were the responsibility of the intended receivers rather than the passer. for the most part, these guys aren't doing a good job of coming to the ball. But I suspect Bradley will have a better chance at sticking once he gets a chance to show off his defense in particular.

By the way, Erden missed yesterday's game because of a back problem. He's putting on a clinic so far today. This is not a typo. Rebounding, defense, beautifully timed pick and rolls leading to his own hoops. I repeat, this is not a typo. The announcers are wetting their pants over him.

Sam

[Sam]

Right now, the Celtics are leading by 18 with under three to go in the first half. Janney (11 points, 6 rebounds at PG), Carroll and Harangody are shooting out of their minds. Erden has five points, 6 rebounds, a bunch of deflections, a block or two, and stifling defense. He's even directing traffic out there. Am I in some kind of time warp?

Sam

[Sam]

Shortly before the half, Janning hit one from straightaway, about 8 feet in back of the arc. I guess he's a 6' 4" combo guard, but he's playing the point today. He's playing pretty good defense too. Low (if any) turnovers. He's not assisting a lot. To a large extent, no one is. The number of attempted bombs is higher than a B52 over Tokyo. The number of points in the paint is quite low. Celts by 16 at halftime, and I believe Janney has 14.

Danny's talking right now. He mentioned that, when they had Janning in for a look, he broke their record for the 3-minute run which tests conditioning. Earlier, one announcer mentioned watching Janning in practice, taking off from the foul line and slamming a windmill dunk. The kid's really athletic, although he' mostly displayed his smarts in this one.

Sam

[bobheckler]

In the first half of game 3, Janning is shooting lights out. At 6'4", he has the size to make a team and they're using him at point. He's not a natural, he absolutely, positively thinks shoot first, but he's bringing the ball up.

Harangody took an elbow to the face below the eye and left the game bleeding pretty heavily. He was going for and offensive rebound, got knocked down, wiped his face to see if there was blood (there was) and just picked himself off the floor and started jogging downcourt. He had to be called over to the bench and sent to the lockerroom for examination. I'm really liking this kid's toughness. Really, really liking it. He is willing to stick his nose in to a scrum for the ball. His shooting mechanics will never be confused with Ray Allen's; doesn't bring the ball up high enough, kinda jerky motion and shotputs it, but it goes in. A lot.

Jaycee Carroll looks good too. I'd like to see the Celtics send him to D-league to work on his ballhandling and passing. If he can develop either of those skills he's a lights out shooter.

back to the 2nd half.

bob

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