2010 Summer League Rosters: Houston Rockets
July 14th, 2010
Blake Ahearn Ahearn is the shooter from Missouri State who has played a few games for the Miami Heat. He’s a rather unique little sausage; an extremely brilliant shooter from the foul line and from three point range, and who can masquerade as a point guard reasonably well, but who is unathletic and doesn’t contribute much elsewhere. The most notable part of all that is the efficiency; Ahearn always shoots over 40% from three and over 90% from the line, and I do mean always. Last year was no different. Finally leaving the D-League to go and get some proper money, Ahearn signed with ACB team Estudiantes Madrid, for whom he averaged 14.2 ppg in 24 mpg with absolutely no other statistical contributions other than fouls. He shot only 30% from two point range, but he hit his customary 41% from three, and also shot 98% from the line (57-58). When his contract expired, Ahearn returned to the D-League, where he averaged 44.5 mpg, 26.2 ppg, 6.0 apg and 4.7 rpg for the Erie BayHawks, shooting 45% from the field, 43% from three and 96% from the line. In these posts, when I say about someone that “he’s a good shooter, but not good enough of one to make the NBA” – and I’ve had to say it a lot – Blake Ahearn is my yardstick for that. He’s about as good of a shooter as there can be, and even he can’t get in. Strange times. Chase Budinger Budinger doesn’t really need to be here. He proved himself last year as a rotation calibre player and accomplished scorer, who was sorely overlooked in the draft. He could stand to defend better and get to the line more, but he makes shots and doesn’t make mistakes. And he’s got three […]
2009 NBA Summer League round-up: New York Knicks
July 15th, 2009
– Wink Adams: Adams just graduated from UNLV, where his senior season numbers were down across the board. He averaged 14.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists, shooting only 37% from the field. As a general rule, 6’0 guards that shoot 37% don’t make it in the NBA, but Wink clearly has something to show. – Alex Acker: Acker started last year with the Pistons, who salary-dumped him onto the Clippers. He scored 63 points on 65 shots in the NBA last year, which isn’t good efficiency. He also spent four games on assignment to the Fort Wayne Mad Ants, averaging 18.0 points and 5.3 rebounds, but the Clippers declined his team option and didn’t make him a restricted free agent. That’s not a glowing endorsement. – Blake Ahearn: Ahearn was covered here. If he can show some rudimentary point guard skills suited to the Knicks’ high octane offence, then he has a chance. But the Knicks are damn short of roster spots. They have 16 under contract already, and that’s before a single free agency move. This presents a problem for Ahearn. – Morris Almond: Utah are so tax concerned right now that they had to decline Almond’s third year option, even though it was very cheap and he didn’t really do anything wrong. Almond doesn’t have a complete all-around game – he’s pretty much only a scorer. But even though he barely played in the NBA, and didn’t do much in his time in it, he was drafted to be a scorer, and score he did. He averaged 25.6 points per game in the D-League in 2007/08, and last year averaged 22.4 points in 29.8 minutes. Of course, Almond didn’t pass at all to score that many, averaging 1.1 assists per game. But he scored […]
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 […]
