At 5pm PST, the Lakers summer league team will tip off in Las Vegas against the Golden State Warriors. You can watch live on NBA TV or, if you have a few dollars to spare, you can purchase a broadband account and watch the games through the wonders of an internet connection. In any event, the game will be on and we’ll get some Lakers hoops to watch and discuss.
The Lakers’ roster is littered with names you’ll recognize and many others you likely won’t. Devin Ebanks, Darius Morris, and Andrew Goudelock all saw real NBA minutes this past season and this league will serve as a nice testing ground to gauge their progress. I’m anxious to see their growth from last year – especially in Morris and Goudelock – and gauge how well they’ve adapted to the NBA game. As for Ebanks, he’ll be entering his 3rd season in October and fresh off signing his qualifying offer, I hope he proves that he no longer belongs in this environment. Efficient scoring and an improved all court game will set him up well to compete for more minutes next year and that can begin tonight. Christian Eyenga will also be playing for the team so it will good to see what he can do in some game action since we saw very little of him after he was acquired from the Cavs in the Ramon Sessions trade.
The other players I’ll be watching closely are the Lakers two draft picks from this past season, Darius Johnson-Odom and Robert Sacre. DJO is said to be a tenacious competitor with a nice jumper and I hope to see both on display. Sacre has good size but questionable quickness so my hope is that he can be a deterrent around the rim on D and show the ability to move around the court well on rotations and P&R coverages.
The last player who I’ll be keeping my eye on is Reeves Nelson, the former UCLA product. Nelson is a talented player who was dismissed from the Bruins this past season for what Coach Ben Howland called being a “negative distraction” (and that’s probably putting it nicely). In any event, Nelson has a solid game and good size but one wonders if he’s mature enough to make it in the NBA. The Lakers are giving him a shot and if he plays well and shows he’s been humbled, he’ll likely get a camp invite from someone (and maybe even the Lakers who are shallow on the wing).
In any event, tonight we get some basketball to watch. And while we shouldn’t jump to conclusions about what we see, it will be nice to see some young guys go hard and show off how they’re progressing.
Kevin_ says
I never get tired of Laker basketball year long process.
Kevin_ says
Watching this D League game it’s scary because these are Lakers current bench players.
Clutch says
Watching the game, and exactly why did we draft sacre again he’s horrible, especially since i just got done watching machado look good for houstan
Chearn says
The Lakers need scouts as their picks are horrid. Darius Morris has not improved his shot. DJO looks like he can play his shots are just a little off. Goudelock is doing exactly what we know he can do, he’s just too short. Exactly why is Majok on the team? Eyenga is athletic but he can’t shoot, in his third year he should be able to display more skills. Not sure he’s going to fit with the Lakers.
Kevin_ says
That’s why it pays to stay in college as a guard unless you are supremely physically gifted(Rose, Westbrook, Kyrie). Morris still looks like he’s trying to figure things out while Johnson Odom and Goudelock have a plan. Morris just dribbles the air out the ball thinking.
Tra says
In total agreement with Clutch, this Sacre kat is a bum .. Impressed with DJO. Gets at it defensively, though undersized as a 2-guard. Reminds me of a southpawed Tony Delk .. GLock is standing out with his aggessiveness. Looks a lil’ overweight/out of shape, though it might be the uniforms.
Clutch says
I thought glock actually looked slimmer and a lot quicker, i am certainly ok with him being a backup scorer off the bench when size doesnt matter nearly as much. Or even back up point gaurd, showed some really nice moves.
Djo looks pretty good missed his shots but looks good on defense. Everyone else looks like scrubs.
Chearn says
Where is Ebanks?
Eyenga doesn’t know how to play the game.
Kevin_ says
One summer league game is all it took for me to get on the bring in Grant Hill bandwagon.
Guard depth is a problem.
Jayelvee says
Mychal Thompson’s kid, Klay has got game. He’s killing us.
Darius Soriano says
I don’t know why I thought Ebanks was going to play on this team. Apparently he’s not. My fault on that.
LBc says
Goudelock is our best bench player. Give this man minutes brown!
Chearn says
The Lakers need to go in the stand and pick up some players.
What offensive system are they running? The summer is when a coach implements the offensive system he is going to run. The offense looks the same as last year. Nothing!
For that matter what kind of defensive system are they playing. If you’re trying to make a team and the coach is a defensive player it seems to me you’d at least make it your point to shut players down.
Not one player has stepped on the court to play like he gives a darned. When your offense isn’t going you better dig in on defense and hustle.
Glove says
Ebanks is not listed on the Lakers Summer League roster. I thought we was playing.
http://blog.lakers.com/lakers/2012/07/13/summer-league-kick-off/
Kevin_ says
Some FA’s still out there. May want to give them a ring because this isn’t cutting it.
Only one player out there looked like he belongs in the league Goudelock.
And I’ll call it now Warriors will be as good as Okc in a year or two.
Ko says
Not watching the game but it sounds like the same bad drafting and lack of coaching is the name of the game.
Perhaps management will watch and realize they need players not another D-league team.
Glove says
More Ebanks news from a Mike Trudell tweet
Devin Ebanks, by the way, has not officially picked up the qualifying offer LAL made at this point, per LAL spokesman John Black.
Avidon says
I guess Mitch has finally realized his weakness and isn’t signing anybody.. one-sided trades only from now on?
Magic Phil says
So Klay Thompson started to shoot 3s right at the beggining of the game. What is he trying to prove? (sarcasm on) Oh, wow. He’s good…(sarcasm off)
Seriously, that’s why Ebanks is not there. The guy is a NBA player, has nothing to prove in there. We’re here to see drafts, rookies or players that barely play (GLock, Morris).
The guy Sacre started with a lot of gas…but he got nothing there, sad to say.
DJO needs a coach (Nash? Not Brown) to develop, but I like his quickness…and that’s it.
GLock needs to be our backup PG.
Glove says
Outside of Goudelock it does not look like anyone on the Lakers Summer League roster will be able to help the the team. It is only one game, small sample size but things do not look promising.
Dave says
Well what do expect from a cast of second round picks?
gambino says
I heard Julian Khazzouh was playing for LA and possibly competing for a spot? People down here in Australia rave about how good he is. I slept through the game today and missed it. Any word on how he performed?
Aaron says
Even I don’t pretend I can judge anything from anyone on one summer league game.
rr says
Even I don’t pretend I can judge anything from anyone on one summer league game.
—
Good point. David Thorpe at ESPN was way overboard on some of his Tweets.
Anonymous says
yeah, give them a break…its one summer league game….SUMMER LEAGUE ppl.
Dave M. says
In all honesty, I think summer league just sort of points out the level of NBA competition. Most of the guys that look like scrubs out there, were the best on their teams, coming up through AAU, etc.. There’s such a huge and necessary weeding out process. It’s still fun to watch, even to have on as background filler when you’re doing something else.
TheDane says
Martell Webster gotcut by Timberwolves. He is 6-7 and a career 37.4% threepointshooter.
Could be a nice backup for Kobe and Metta!?
BigCitySid says
@ #11, Darius: Small forward Devin Ebanks was ruled out of summer league because of a sore knee. He stayed behind at the team’s El Segundo training facility to undergo rehabilitation exercises with athletic trainer Gary Vitti. LA Daily News
Read more: http://www.insidehoops.com/nba_rumors.shtml#ixzz20bHti7i5
Chearn says
No. 22 Gambino-I’m not paid to determine NBA talent, but as a person that’s been around basketball on all levels, this is My observation from memory.
There’s no way to know what he is capable of doing as he got in the game late in the 2nd half when the Lakers were losing by 30+ points. He had a turnover on a play when I believe he thought someone was going backdoor but they weren’t there when he threw the pass. It was a bit high anyway so not sure anyone would have caught it, unless it was for an alley-oop. He got an offensive rebound and tried to lay it up instead of dunking even though someone from the bench exhorted him to go up hard.
That’s all I remember about him.