2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Detroit Pistons
July 7th, 2009
– Michael Bramos: Bramos is a Greek wing who recently finished his senior season at the University of Miami, Ohio. (It was news to me that there were two Miami’s. Seems unnecessary.) On offence, he’s largely an outside shooter since he does not much dribble in traffic, but he’s not a great shooter, shooting 40% from the field and 36% from the three-point line in his senior season. He’s pretty athletic and very strong for an off-guard (standing 6’5 and 221lbs, which is pretty heavy for a man that height), and he also has a hell of a wingspan that gets about the place on defense. These reasons and more are why Europe is his inevitable destiny; that and the door-opening Greek passport, obviously. – Will Bynum: Last year was a strange one for Will Bynum. Michael Curry played him and played him and played him and played him for three months, and he struggled. Then, in March, Bynum somehow broke out. He became able to get to the rim at will, and drained 21-footers like he’d never been able to do prior. Eventually, he became a key contributor for the Pistons, had a 32-point 7-assist game versus Charlotte, and averaged nearly 12 points per game for Detroit in the playoffs. And now Pistons fans are grateful that Bynum’s going to be on their roster and earning the minimum salary next year. – Austin Daye: Detroit bailed out Daye’s decision to declare too early by picking him 15th overall this year, a pick with which I am not overly fond. They clearly see more in this athletic jump shooting specialist than I do. (This is a position that, in the long run, I am willing to modify. I admit that I didn’t see a lot of Daye in […]
Sham’s unnecessarily long 2009 draft diary, part 1
June 26th, 2009
Last year’s draft night was arguably the best day of my life. The 2007 draft night before that is its only competitor. I mean that, too. Sort of. It never makes for especially brilliant television, but to know that dozens of executives all over the country are making more news in a 12-hour period than in the previous 12 months combined is kind of pulsating. In the course of a day and a night, rosters, directions and allegiances will change. We spend weeks and months in advance predicting what’s going to happen on this one night, only to find that, sure as hell, we’re all more wrong than a Myra Hindley Christmas album. It’s great fun. I’m a bit apprehensive of this draft, though. This draft will be unlike any other for me, for this is the first draft I’ll have watched in which I know anything about the players involved. Before this season, I had not watched the NCAA before outside of a handful of games, for the simple reason that it wasn’t on the telly. However, this year, for whatever reason, it was. And so in keeping with my usual approach (take note ladies), I went at it hardcore, gave it my all, didn’t want to miss a single inch of skin/minute of action, and strove to be better at it than everyone else in the world (particularly that inferior man you’re currently with). Because of that, I’m going to miss out on what I’ve always considered to be the highlight of draft night; the ability to judge people for life based off of a few short clips, what kind of suit they’re wearing, their post-selection interview, a short speech by Jay Bilas and the timeless “Must Improve” captions that so effortlessly make the work of drafting websites […]
