2009 NBA Summer League round-up: Phoenix Suns
July 23rd, 2009
– Kaspars Berzins: Kaspars is a tall Latvian, but he’s not Andris Biedrins. He’s a fine outside shooter for a seven-footer, but he’s not Dirk Nowitzki. And he’s a good athlete, but he’s not Chris Andersen. Mainly, he’s a tall jump shooter who avoids contact and doesn’t play much defence. In the fine tradition of teams drafting tall foreigners in the second round despite their unsuitability for the physical NBA game, being 7’3 would probably have gotten Berzins drafted. But a mere seven-foot? Pah. – Josh Carter: Carter is a decently-sized wingman out of Texas A&M, who is primarily a jump shooter. He’s a good jump shooter at that. But he’s not a really good jump shooter. And that’s why he wasn’t drafted. (Even then, being a really good jump shooter is not a guarantee you’ll be drafted. Anthony Morrow wasn’t, after all. But it worked out all right for him in the end. If Carter gets his jump shot to that standard, he’ll have a chance as well.) – Earl Clark: I saw a lot of Louisville last year, because they played in a lot of games, because they were good. And Earl Clark is a large part of why that was. He should have been taken ahead of Terrence Williams, given that he’s younger, bigger, and won’t struggle to score as much. But he will struggle a bit; the jump shot’s not good and nor is the free throw stroke, he’s not much use off the ball at the moment, and he barely posts up. Still, a lot of this was true of Boris Diaw once, and he turned out all right. I’ll push this comparison for a while yet. – Geary Claxton: Claxton is one of those rare beasts, a 6’5 man with forward […]
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 […]
