Holy Kentucky Fried Chicken

Joel Myers Laker play by play and Mike Smith Clipper analyst are doing the Phoenix and Philly game and they both just agreed that

Hot Rod is the best rookie in the SL, except for Oden? and Durant??. I think that they had to mention those guys 1 and 2 even though they haven't done squat.

They also both said that Hot Rod will definitely be a star in the NBA.

Got to love it.

And we have Otis Thorpe to thank for it.

He was one heck of a baller!! We sure could use a rebounder like him. Maybe AJ?

So far he looks decent with no flash like some of the higher picks (excluding #1 and #2 who appear to be under to much pressure to produce).

He looks just like his predecessor Joe, but still needs to find that open man heading the rim that will make him very affective since he is to be the PG off the bench when CB sits... I like the fact that he can penetrate when needed and get to the line. Just have to hope that he gets the calls like Boobie did...

I dont see a "flip the switch" mentality at all.

The problem with the first 3 quarters was largely based on these things.

1) The overral selfishness of the scrubs who dont have contracts. They seemed to only pass the ball to eachother, over dribble, dribble themselves into traps and jack up shots.

2) Stuckey playing soley as facilitator. The whole team is much better when Stuckey takes it to the hoop it opens up the whole team defensively. Stuckey is best when he drives, with either scoring or dishing.

Once the bench guys left and Stuckey started driving to the hoop that is when Detroit took over.

Very entertaining last 8 minutes. We outscored Washington by 24 points in that stretch. Jason Maxiell hit jumpers, a running hook, and lots of dunks. And continued to make his free throws. The announcers do not know what they are talking about as far as Maxiell goes in respect to his jumper. They kept saying Maxiell has increased his range. Not true at all. Maxiell is simply getting to shoot his best shot, the midranger. Fades, turnarounds, and just good old fashioned face ups. And free throws by the way, Jason never needed anything more than regular trips to the line.

Stuckey did all his damage starting at about 4 mintues left in the 3rd quarter. Some midrangers, and getting to the rack and making his free throws. Between him and Afflalo, and why not throw in Maxiell, they were a combined 23 for 24 at the free throw line at one point late 4th. The game was won before any of them missed a free throw-saving one miss by Maxiell. Thats pretty impressive.

Oh, and of course, I will mention that highlight dunk by Maxiell off a very sweet pass by Stuckey. That got a holler out of me. And I watched the 4th quarter a 2nd time, and hollered again when I saw it the 2nd time. Pretty awesome. The announcers likened that one to a James dunk. Hmmm, maybe they should get it right, sometimes James throws it down like Maxiell.

Afflalo just slowly kept making free throws. He got to 13 for 13 before missing one. (And the game was won already anyway when he finally missed.) Afflalo finally hit an outside shots, I guess from all the confindence in hitting those free throws, plus he finished at the basket pretty darn niftily the one time. (And another slightly more mundane make on a drive.) He kind of slipped thru the defense sideways and hit the shot while coming down.

Nick Young, the guy we could have picked, did look pretty good. Here is the kicker though. Afflalo I believe ended up outscoring Nick Young by 1 in this game, 21 to 20. Forget about even trying to compare Nick Yound to Stuckey-Nick Young could not even outplay Afflalo, who guared him into mediocraty down the stretch as the Pistons pulled away.

Mejia did some good ball handling, got some rebounds. But more importantly, even though he did not score much, our team consistently was winning with him out there. Mejia ain't small. And he gets in your face when you shoot. Between him, Afflalo, and Stuckey, thats plenty of length, and good solid footwork, from our skill players on defense. And all three guards handle the ball well. I see one poster commented we would do better with Amir out there vs. Mejia. But don't bet on it. We are already doing pretty darn well with Mejia.

Proffit, Hobbs, and Walker did ok among the other players on the team. Proffit hit a couple of 3's at one point, Hobbs had some blocks, and Walker ran the point well and scored some.

Now for Samb. A banker from the right, about 15 feet I guess, was the highlight of his offensive game. Yet, again , we were playing winning basketball with him in the game. (We were down 10 when this unit all got back in with 8 to go in the game.) You see a lot of bigs doing quite well out there, and many of them are slated for playing time in the NBA this following season-and yet really none of them do any better than Samb as far as bothering shots around the basket.

Ok, I will be rewatching this one a few more times. (I watched the first one 3 times so far too.) I will try to take time to write a good summary of what I see from the following players once I complete my review:Samb, JMAX, Mejia, Afflalo, and Stuckey.

I missed this game. I really hope they re-air it on NBA TV. It's been a long time since i've been this excited about our draft picks/young players.

Maxiell is a beast

Stuckey, who i was initally against, is impressive.

Afflalo is great defensively

Meija just seems to be always doing something productive, good glue guy.

Samb's shot blocking ability is tantalizing. Although his stamina does need work.

I agree that they are already playing like the Pistons (turn it on in the 4th). It's actually kinda disturbing.

A bit of a comment on the stamina of Samb. This is not an NBA game, but rather a summer league game, with a whole different schedule. In the NBA, the timeouts last 3 minutes. In summer league, just one minute. And halftime ain't too much longer than say, a nationally broadcast game timeout. These guys don't get much rest. All in all, I'd say Samb is doing ok.

I'm really enjoying this summer league, even though the only thoing I've actually seen is Sambs steal and save; and what The Low graciously shares with us. But the fact that we're playing a lineup that may actually be playing for us is awesome. If you replace Samb with Amir and Mejia with Tay we have a 2nd unit of:
pg-Stuck / sg-Aff / sf-Tay / pf-Max / C-Amir

Now I know Amir is a little light to play center, but in some situations it would be ideal. One thing that Nelly and GS have taught us is that you can succeed by thinking out the box. That would be a long, athletic and versatile lineup, with 3 solid shooters on the floor.

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"Ain't nothin' strange 'bout yo daddy, what's strange is what he had to deal wit'!!!!!" - Rev. AL.

JMax doesn't get up anywhere close to as high as Lebron. I wouldn't compare their dunks at all.