Forum Blue And Gold

A Lakers Blog. Thoughts, reflections, and the odd rant on the Los Angeles Lakers and the NBA (even the Clippers).

Summer League Thoughts: Game 1

by


Yesterday the Lakers played their first game of the Vegas Summer League against the Detroit Pistons, losing 89-85 to the summer squad from the motor city.  And while we all know it’s never safe to take too much from the games that happen in July, a few of the prospects on this years’ team looked good.  Below are some of my thoughts on what I saw:

Devin Ebanks: The WVU product has a reputation as a long athlete that excels at defense while also having a feel for finding open spaces on offense.  In game one, I saw some of these traits on display but was left looking for more in others.  On the positive side, Ebanks is definitely a plus athlete with long limbs that enable him to change ends quickly and get to loose balls.  He does seem to have a feel for finding creases in the defense as a slasher and showed good ability to finish in the lane on both the break and in the half court.  I was especially impressed with his body control around the bucket as on more than one occasion he was able to make difficult finishes look routine by turning his body to avoid defenders or take the hit and still get up a good look.  He also showed good instincts by collecting 2 steals and I was pleased with the way that he went to the glass, his rebound total (2) notwithstanding.

On the negative side, his on ball defense wasn’t too impressive.  He seemed overly reliant on his reach/length to disrupt plays and was often caught out of position and tried to reach to make up for being beat.  His ability to change of direction seemed only average and he showed a want to over help at times.  Some of these things should (and likely will) be corrected with more coaching and I also got the impression that some of his actions were based off instincts born from playing with an undersized group in college.  Remember, Ebanks was one of the better rebounders on his team and his height was surely something his coaches asked him to take advantage of by being a helper in the paint.  If he’s to be a productive defensive player in the league – and especially on the Lakers – he’ll need to understand that he has big men behind him to protect the basket and he’ll need to pressure ball handlers more on the wing while not sagging as much when off the ball.

Overall, I was pleased that he shot the ball efficiently (9-16) and that he rarely seemed to force the action when he had the ball in his hands.  He made one of his three attempts from 3 point range and he looked comfortable with the ball in his hands.  Obviously one game doesn’t make me think he’s suddenly going to be a contributor, but I do think his size and skill set match what the Lakers need and that he didn’t hurt himself at all with his performance.  If anything, he showed that he can have a role on the Lakers as a slasher that finds the gaps in the defense that are sure to be there when Kobe/Pau/Bynum/Odom/Artest are in the game.  And as a defender, while needing some work, I still think he’s got the body and athletic ability to be a very good perimeter stopper-type.  We’ll see if he can duplicate his offensive performance and pick up his defensive performance against Denver this afternoon.

Derrick Caracter: Coming into these games the word on Caracter was that he had first round talent but his attitude may cost him a spot in this league.  In his roundup from day 1 of the summer league, Kevin Arnovitz of TrueHoop quoted David Thorpe when discussing Caracter:

“His nine fouls show how aggressively he moved around the floor. He looked like he was in good shape — very nimble and agile. He was composed around the basket with both his left and right hand, but he doesn’t have a plan in the post yet. Still, he played with great attentiveness and a willingness to share the ball. Bottom line: He looked like a first-rounder.”

And really, I agree with Thorpe as Caracter did look like a first rounder out there.  He played with poise and with an above average skill level.  He knew how to get position in the post and looked very natural playing with his back to the basket.  He showed a nice jump hook with both hands to the middle of the floor and rebounded the ball well.  I thought he also showed very good outlet passing (an underrated trait) and initiated several running opportunities by picking out guards racing up the floor with on target heaves.  Overall, I think his offense is NBA ready.

However, his defense is not.  In an email exchange I had with Phillip, he told me that Caracter “looked disinterested at times” and I couldn’t agree more with that sentiment.  He sometimes jogged into recovery position after showing on the P&R and he didn’t always rotate well when trying to seal off the penetration of the opposing guards.  However, these are mistakes that a lot of players make every day in the big boys league, so it’s not time to sound the alarm.  Plus, there wasn’t a chronic lack of hustle from Caracter, there were just a few times that you could tell he wasn’t going hard.  Maybe his high minutes total had something to do with it as he played nearly 36 of the possible 40 minutes.  Like Ebanks, I’d like to see if Caracter can carry over the positives from his game performance (efficient shooting, above average rebounding) into game 2 while picking up his defensive effort and effectiveness.

Everyone else: The other players that impressed me were DJ Strawberry and Ibrahim Jaaber.  Both of these guys played to their strengths and played hard.  And while both players showed limited upside as shooters, they both excelled in different areas on offense.  Strawberry, like Ebanks, worked well off the ball and was a very good attack player with the rock in his hands.  He drove aggressively to the hoop and earned himself a team high 7 attempts from the foul line.  Jaaber, meanwhile, ran the offense well and showed his chops as a PG that can organize a team, handle defensive ball pressure, and play with poise in both the open court in when initiating half court sets.

As for the NBA names that we know, Rob Kurz played well scoring 11 points and grabbing 7 boards in his 24 minutes.  He showed a better feel around the basket than I anticipated and showed good instincts when going to the offensive glass.  I still see him as a bit of a tweener PF, but I thought he showed that he’s still an NBA level player – albeit an end of the bench guy.  As for Gerald Green…meh.  I just didn’t see any growth in his game from the last time we saw him.  Yes the athleticism is still there but so is the lack of awareness and poor feel for the game.  I really do think he’s one of those preps to pros players that really could have benefited from college coaching where he could have learned to utilize his ability in a productive way or found a niche where he could be successful in a way that translates to the pros.  Right now he still doesn’t seem to get it and I’m not sure he ever will.

As mentioned above the Lakers resume their summer league play this afternoon against Denver at 3pm here on the west coast.  We’ll get you more thoughts on that game after the results and hope to have some video up in the next couple of days with some examples of what we’re talking about in the reviews.


Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. chibi says

    i think we’ll get a good feel for caracter’s conditioning level after watching his performance on the 2nd night (as it were) of a back-to-back.

    two more good tests to follow: in the match-up with sacto, he’ll be going up against demarcus cousins and the very long hassan whiteside. against san antonio, he’ll have to contend with dejuan blair.

  2. Burgundy says

    I, too, was a little disappointed by Ebanks defense – if you’re planning on billing yourself as a defensive stopper, you shouldn’t get roasted by Austin Daye, right?

    I actually liked a lot of Caracter’s defensive effort – a couple plays he showed disinterest, but he also bodied up Monroe well, and had some nice blocks.

    What bothered me more about Caracter is how careless he was with the ball. It seemed like he had 30 turnovers. That’s the bigger concern in my opinion.

    I also wasn’t real excited that Lakers gave up a 14-0 run to close the game…when you’re up 9 with 2 minutes left…theoretically you should win…Summer League or not. One sequence they couldn’t rebound a missed free throw to save their lives. Very sloppy.

  4. flyE says

    One of the announcers noted that Ibrahim “Abdul” Jaaber likely could make too much money in Europe to play for a minimum NBA contract.

  5. DY says

    Kudos to our FO for the following:

    1. not having a “Decision” signing show for Steve Blake;

    2. not picking a PG in the 2nd round as we have some interesting summer league candidates (Jaaber, Strawberry);

    3. picking Ebanks and Caracter who will fill some important spots on the team.

    Caracter, so far, is superior to Powell. He has a back to the basket game, seems to have a higher motor than Powell, and provides some girth/butt down low. Ebanks will develop nicely, and I am impressed with his curl mid-range shot…very nice release.

    It’s not beyond the realm of possibility to see Ebanks, Caracter, Jaaber, and Strawberry get training camp invites, with possibly 3 making the roster.

    I love how the FO has seamlessly filled our needs and all we really need to do is get Fisher signed and pick up a back-up big man. I say go with Kurt Thomas or Big Zzzzz…..

  6. DY says

    My condolensces to the Dude…but Dorell Wright apparently signing a 3-year deal with Warriors…sigh.

  8. Craig W. says

    Has anybody confirmed that Crit isn’t on the Laker summer league team because of his injury?

  10. Joel B. says

    Ebanks and Caracter both look really offensively. Ebanks plays so much like ariza its surreal. But its a good thing and almost the perfect situation for him to be in. Ebanks has the blueprint on how to succeed with the laker team. But he doesn’t force the issue and playing his role. Thats hard when you’re trying to prove what you can do individually, but that just may benefit him the most because kupchack and jackson are looking for people that will fit in the triangle and be happy with playing a specific role.

    Caracter’s post game kinda looks likes bynums, and that isn’t a bad thing. Imagine how good Caracter can be if he learns from Bynum and Gasol.

    Gerald Green is looking to get his and only his.

  12. Jordan says

    Ebanks is playing well, but his jersey looks funny its too high on the front and too low on the back and his shorts are way too high. Character is playing great too. They’ll both make the lakers roster

  13. Drew says

    These tweets from David Thorpe in reference to Lakers V Nuggets summer league game 2

    coachthorpe And Ebanks continues to look like an NBA keeper. Very nice draft day for the 2 time champs.

    coachthorpe Ebanks and Caracter easily look like first round talents in a good draft. Tough to see what some teams were thinking.

  14. AusPhil says

    Off topic somewhat, but I liked hearing this via Kurt over at PBT:

    “We’re working on Fisher now and I think we’ll probably have him back in the fold soon,” Buss said.

    Nothing concrete obviously, but Buss rarely seems to make statements unless he’s pretty confident.

  16. NYChris248 says

    I really liked what I saw from Jaaber. I say bring both him and Strawberry to camp to fight for a guard spot.

  18. Shaky says

    That Butch kid’s knee was popped back in before our very eyes, and it has a noticeable indentation now. Man I hope that guy gets better soon and still has a chance to make it. I feel nauseated.

    Surreal moment.

  20. Drew says

    Big Z tells Miami Herald he is looking into possibility of joining “buddy” lebron in Miami for vet minimum

  21. The Dude Abides says

    I’m just going to say that Ebanks needs time to set up his threes. Airball just now with two left on the clock. Side of backboard in final seconds of yesterday’s game. Both were rushed.

  22. J.D. Hastings says

    Realistically, what does this mean to our squad?

    1- are both likely to make the roster?

    2- will there be time to play both? Even if Luke is basically done, do both get backup SF minutes? Does Ebanks get backup SG minutes too (Replacement for Shannon?) or Caracter backup PF? There’s still not a lot of minutes there. As Josh Powell.

    3- Will the lakers use their extra roster spots looking for guards?

    4- Where do we stand with Powell-Mbenga?

    Basically what are the logistics of parlaying these guys’ apparent potential into actual on-court gains?

  23. Craig W. says

    J.D. Hastings,
    I too agree, Ebanks and Caracter will make our club, but…

    These guys will play little to none in our offense next year. Phil doesn’t like to play rookies and this is his last year – what will Buss do, fire him??? They are end of the bench and D-League players unless there is an injury or excess garbage time. Brian Shaw will probably be the one working with them.

    I think we can put a hold on discussions about where they will play next year.

  24. dxmanners says

    I agree with Craig @23. Both nice pickups, however, looking better than Orlando’s #1 Daniel Orton. Don’t think that dude is ready. Ex Laker pick Joe Crawford has been lighting it up.

    Gerald Green has a nice stroke, but at this point doesn’t bring much else to the table. Not many minutes for Kurz, either.

    Goes to show the relative weakness of the Summer League, Ty Lawson was like a man among boys out there today.

  25. chibi says

    i can see ebanks sopping up the minutes at SF kobe usually has to play, because we had no adequate backup SF. 10? 12 minutes.

    I can envision caracter playing a little bit less, sopping up minutes here and there for pau and bynum, or subbing in early due to foul trouble.

    These guys are not d-league material. That’s almost insulting.

  26. maxnyc says

    fisher is meeting with riley today in “south beach”
    home of the three kings; the one formerly known as
    “the king” met him at the airport before taking off to Melo’s wedding…

    just pay fish whatever he wants dr. buss….

  27. J-M says

    I really hope that Fisher will come back. I’m not sure how I’d feel if Fisher did leave for Miami.

  28. Paul says

    “Phil doesn’t like to play rookies and this is his last year – what will Buss do, fire him??? They are end of the bench and D-League players unless there is an injury or excess garbage time.”

    I’ll settle for the 11.5 min per game that Kareem Rush got from Phil in 02-03. Pargo got 10.4. Farmar got 15.1 in 06-07.

    I think that it’s safe to say that they’ll get as much time as Kareem Rush and I’m thinking more like Farmar minutes, as I don’t imagine that Phil wants the team as banged up for next year’s Finals against the Heat as they were for this year’s finals against the Celts.

  29. Craig W. says

    Paul,
    In 02-03 the thinness of the Laker roster was beginning to show after 3 championships. In 06-07 we had no other options to go to.

    We may be thin at guard, but the 3 and 4 positions are pretty well maned. If Walton remains injured or falls off the table, then Ebanks may get some minutes, but I expect another pickup this summer somewhere along the line.

  30. Joel says

    28

    I don’t know how much we can rely on Luke at this point. As the roster stands right now Ebanks has a good chance to carve out some minutes. We have to find some way to get Kobe’s regular season minutes down to the mid-30s.

  32. Paul says

    Craig, w/o wanting to argue for the sake of arguing, I’ll add two more comments and leave it at that, and then time will truly tell. I’m not a Walton “hater”, but he’s ever increasingly redundant. You can put Fish or Blake on the 2nd unit, no matter, but one of those two and Odom and you’ve all the point facilitating that you need. And he’s slow, can’t jump, and a liability on defense. I would hope that we can agree that he’s only on the team because no one else wants to assume that albatross of a contract and this isn’t baseball wherein some are exceedingly more likely to simply DFA someone and eat the contract. My strong suspicion is that if there was no cap and accompanying luxury tax, that we’d see him DFA’d right about now (i.e., the team could and would DFA him, but his salary would still count towards the cap and so his replacement would cost double with the tax, and so he still remains, as the albatross he now is). All that I will otherwise say is that re the “no other options” in 06-07, well, was Walton’s best year, when he avg’d 4 more PPG than in any other year.

    If Ebanks doesn’t get his 10 MPG, then something is horribly wrong. That off the curl mid-range jumper is NBA ready. That should be available whenever he’s on the court. And, again, not Walton-hating, but he’s rather the better athlete than Walton, and whenever it’s anywhere near close, you always, always, go with the better athlete, as sometimes it is merely the athlete in him that makes the play.

  33. Tra says

    Like what I’m seeing so far from our 2 Picks. Ebanks is a lot Taller than I expected. He has great athleticism and given the fact that he has good Body Control, he has the Potential to be an effective Slasher down the road. Really impressed with how he finished off a Fast Break by switching, in mid flight, to his weak hand to avoid the defender. Defensively, he needs to move his feet more & learn how to contest an opponents conventional/right handed Jumper with his Left Hand. Caracter impressed me with his ability to finish well with either Hand. Polished Foot Work, which enhances his Back 2 the Basket Game. Hit a few Mid Ranged Jumpers over the 1st two games, but didn’t seem too confident away from the rim. Left a lot 2 be desired Defensively (IMO) but like most Young Big Men (Drew comes 2 mind) he’s more concerned/has more of a Passion for his Offensive game than the ‘Championship End’ of the court.

  34. DY says

    I’m interested to see how Caracter does against legit PFs, not the undersized and overmatched ones in summer league. If he can pull off the same moves and score against Demarcus Cousins, etc., he’s a keeper.

    I am absolutely thrilled with Ebanks. He’s NBA ready and once he gets a defensive tutorial from Kobe and Artest, watch out! He’ll be perfect against some of the more swift SFs out there, and may be used like “Dorell Wright” (that one was for the Dude) in guarding SGs and even PGs with his length.

  35. sufyan syed says

    raja bell refutes that he has refused a laker offer and says kobe has called him to try to get him to sign with the lakers. what do you guys think?

  36. Ethan says

    Heard about the Raja Bell story. With Morrow, Dorell Wright, and Mike Miller not coming to LA, I like the idea of Raja signing with us. I still think he goes to the Heat. But if we can re-sign Fisher, sign Kurt Thomas, and sign Raja Bell, I think LA will be VERY tough to beat this season.

  37. Jeremy says

    Craig is right.

    there is virtually no chance of either of these guys playing meaningful minutes this year. That is no insult to them and I’m excited about the buzz around them.

    However, as Craig says Phil does not play rookies much and he’s certainly not going to take chances in his final year while striving for a 3 peat.

    Additionally, let’s please not get too excited over some summer league games. I really don’t even understand why this happens every single year. Someone unexpectedly shoots the lights out and people get excited. There is very little correlation between summer league play and the regular season. Hell didn’t Ammo have some good games last year? Pretty sure I remember people getting excited about his shot at some point.

    The play of the kids is fun and it sure looks like Mitch did a good job in the draft but let’s not overplay this.

  38. kswagger says

    The two draftees are really showing everyone that they can play. Indeed 1st round material, and with that, good job by Mitch.

    Any news on the Fish Miami trip? any offers on the table? I say give Fish a 2-yr deal. His worth to the team goes way way more than the stats show. He’s the glue that keeps this team together, and someone Kobe (and the rest of the team) really respects on and off the court. no PER or true shooting % can measure that

  39. The Dude Abides says

    From what I’ve read, the Lakers have a 2yr/$5m total offer on the table. Fish obviously went to Miami to drive his price up. Miami’s first priority is to sign Miller, and next would be Haslem. Those two will divide up their remaining ~$8 million in cap space. They can only offer Fish the vet’s minimum, but they could offer him a lot more if Haslem or Miller doesn’t sign.

  40. thisisweaksauce says

    LeBron met Derek at the airport upon arrival. Dun dun dun…

    Hahaha – I give it a week or so before Fish resigns.

  42. Jeremy says

    A 2nd round pick of the Lakers replaces the Super Villains on the espn nba home page and the world returns to normalcy……

  44. LakerFan says

    i heard that this wont be phils final year. he will coach the season fter as well cuz its going to be a shorter season with the lockout

  45. Jeremy says

    43, it’s a non story – just a repeat of what’s been said before.

    Here’s the deal. The Heat can either sign Haslem or Fisher with Haslem still having to take less money then what he can get somewhere else.

    But what exactly is the case being made to Fisher? Take either a lot less money or a little more to uproot his family for what? A chance to win a title. He already has that. Plus either way we’re talking about a 2yr deal so it’s not like there are long term implications here. Is he really going to move his young daughter and wife all the way across the country for that? I have heart ache over moving my family an hour up the I5!

    Again, if the Heat do sign Fisher to something like 6mil over 2 years then Haslem is gone.

    If you buy into the notion that the Heat are the main rivals to a Laker 3peat (an very big if) then there are some interesting game theory implications here (acting first vs. last, knowing that the other knows what you know etc) but that’s about it.

    By locking up Blake early and having some of the MLE left over combined with still being able to resign Fisher the Lakers are clearly in the stronger position here. The plan is simple make Fisher a fair offer then sit back and make Miami act first, then react.

    If anything I am more concerned about what Dallas is plotting. They were a very good team during the regular season and still have Damp’s contract to use. Beyond that we have scary good OKC and Portland (if healthy) teams to contend with before the Super Villains become an issue.

  46. 91601guy says

    sounds like the Heat have about $3.5 million or so in cap space so that would be the maximum Fisher offer. I assume the Lakers would match or exceed that.

  47. The Dude Abides says

    40. Not sure if you meant re-sign or resign. Opposite meanings. I believe Fish will re-sign and play an important role in the Laker repeat 😉

    46. That cap space will only be there if Miami signs Miller but Haslem goes elsewhere. Apparently Haslem has a 3yr/$20m offer on the table to participate in NJ’s crapfest, while Miami is offering him more years but only $3.5m per year. Tough decision for him as he’s a Miami native and wants to stay, but he already has one ring.

  48. Jeff says

    There have been a lot of people criticizing ebanks d in game one. His d was better in game two and look at this quote:

    “Everyone knows I can play defense and rebound, so I’m just trying to improve my offense,” Ebanks said.

    So no worries I believe ebanks will be great on our team!

  49. chearn says

    48) Yes, he is concentrating on different aspects of his game, and his defense was a little better in game 2. However, to play on this team he will need to play ‘superior defense’ this year in order to get minutes! Over the long run, I think that Ebanks has great potential and the mentality to improve steadily over the course of the season!

  51. Anonymous says

    It was funny those images of Pau on the airport surrounded by spanish. It seemed like the lord of the rings, with Gandalf Pau and his hobbits hehe.

  53. Darius says

    No new post today, everyone. We’ll have more thoughts on the summer league, Fisher, and more tomorrow. Enjoy the rest of your Sunday… 🙂

  54. harold says

    Oh yeah, congrats to Pau for his national team’s first WC victory.

    If Fisher joins Heat, will that make it 4 Kings? Can they then fight Sacramento for the team name? Or will they be known as Queens… wait, we’re the team with two from Queensbridge, maybe even three…

    Nonsense aside, this season is going to be taxing, since we will really, really, really put an emphasis on HCA and drive our vets. No time to nurture pups, since every game counts.

  55. Jeremy says

    Tony Allen reportedly signing with Grizzlies. it’s a hit to the Celtics not sure if they make it to finals without him – well that’s probably overstating things but he was good for them in the playoffs.

  56. Taul says

    anyone else still wondering why we passed on Dejuan Blair last year and released Gaffney only to see the former rock and be exactly what we need, and the latter on the Celtics bench?

  58. dxbravo says

    Taul @56 Had to be a money thing, as they traded all their picks last year. I’ve pointed out passing on Blair often, as well as Chase Buddinger. They pass on those guys, yet try to get Sun Yue to turn into a player. Nobody bats a thousand I guess…

  59. Igor Avidon says

    C’s will have Gaffney and a healthy Daniels at the wings, they won’t miss T.A. too much. Good luck to Jordan in NJ – though it’s baffling that he’s going to a team with a starting PG better than him. Must be the money.

  60. the other Stephen says

    the nets might sign our hometown boy! a three year, $12 million deal. not bad, farmar!

  61. kswagger says

    Surely is for money for Farmar. He just went from playing 20-24mins backing up Fish, to 10-12 mins backing up a stud PG in Harris. I thought he wanted to leave because he wanted more playing time and a chance to ‘run’ a team?! Should have gone to NY, Charlotte, Cleveland or a team with some PG issues.

  62. Zephid says

    57, it never hurts to get a trade exception. Worst that can happen is we let it expire. So yes, hopefully we can work out a deal with NJ to have it be a S&T, even if it’s just for a heavily protected 2nd round pick.

    56, I don’t think any young bigs would get enough minutes to develop on this Lakers team. Not with our GOB frontline (that’s the new name I’ve created for Gasol, Odom, and Bynum). There’s 96 minutes a game for both front court positions per game, and spread evenly between GOB is 32 minutes, which is low for all three of GOB.

    Our young guys really have to rely on D-League experience and practice experience to develop, simply because they just won’t see the court time. Our starting lineup is just too good, especially (one last time) GOB.

  63. harold says

    hrm, wanted farmar to start someplace, just to see if Fisher can move up in the Aaron’s starting PG rankings…

    and Zephid, our frontline will BOG up minutes or GOBble up minutes 😉

    Lastly, nickname for the Miami trio? How about “Le Wash.” Excited to some degree yes, but also somewhat disappointed that three guys at their peak will act as if they’re already washed up…

  65. mike says

    How come no one is talking about Ronnie Brewer as a possible addition? He went from being a solid starter at Utah to unwanted at Memphis – was his injury that bad?

  66. sT says

    Isn’t it so interesting how we were throwing Fisher under the bus all year, and now he is a valuable starting Point Guard for us, and we have to re-sign him at any cost (almost).

  67. Snoopy2006 says

    Wow. I just heard (from Kurt at PBT) that the Warriors are likely not going to match the offer for Anthony Morrow.

    Wow.

    That’s incredible. An average of $3/year? For a shooter like that? I know Darius in particular coveted Morrow for our team in the future. I realize we couldn’t have done anything, with only 1.8 of the midlevel left…but if it comes down to Blake vs Morrow, I’m torn. Blake’s more likely to succeed as the smart organizer of the offense that we need. But a lights-out shooter like that spacing the floor for ours bigs…? Makes me weak in the knees.

  68. thisisweaksauce says

    Snoopy (67),

    I hear you. I really, really want a lights-out shooter. Anyone we can get at 1.8 mil?

  69. Jordan says

    67

    it said 3 year worth 12 million thats 4 million a year..

    but i agree even at that price the warriors would be dumb not to match

  70. The Dude Abides says

    63. Les Trois Douches is my not very imaginative entry. Simmons already tweeted “The Three DBigos”

    67, 68, 69. I think the Warriors believe they will get slightly worse three-point shooting out of Wright when compared to Morrow, but Wright does everything else way better.

  71. chibi says

    i don’t know about the turkoglu move, but the suns hit the jackpot with josh childress. imho the guy is worth more than mid-level money.

  72. lesha says

    nice to see the suns spending a little for once… i honestly thought that they would just let amare leave and do nothing.

  73. Zephid says

    72, their money would be better spent on dirt than $43 million to Hedo over the next 4 years. Childress is a great pickup at that price, but Hedo is just spending for the sake of stupidity. And we’ve seen how well this strategy worked with the Knicks over the past decade.

  74. Shaky says

    Maybe Nash really wanted to be setting the screens in a new pick and roll attack?

    …I got nothing.

  75. chibi says

    turkoglu works for phoenix because he can spread the floor in the halfcourt, hit transition 3s in early offense, and run a fastbreak.

    defensively, they’re going to really have to help him out. but we know that their team defense has improved.

    something caught my eye as i was scanning salaries the other day. dejuan blair, a 2nd round pick, was signed using the MLE. this gave him a 4 yr/$3.8M deal, starting out at $850K. This was a smart move, as blair will have bird rights afterward, and his potential is immense.

    with roughly 1.7M(850K x 2) left of our MLE, and given how promising our 2nd picks are, i predict kupchak will sign ebanks and caracter to similar deals.

    as a consequence, kupchak can only use the vet minimum for other roster additions.