» July 20, 2009 5:51 PM | By Brandon Hoffman
- Kevin Pelton of Basketball Prospectus: “In terms of overall talent, Carter is an obvious choice over Turkoglu. He was a nine-win player for the Nets a year ago, bouncing back from an off 2007-08 campaign, and his skill set at this stage of his career is similar to Turkoglu’s. The only quibbles are that Carter is more of an isolation player and less accomplished in the pick-and-roll compared to Turkoglu, and that his defensive motivation comes and goes. If Stan Van Gundy can keep his attention at the defensive end, Carter should be a terrific pickup for the Magic. The wing situation settled, Smith went shopping for depth up front and–theoretically–a replacement for Gortat. Waiting out a rumored five-year, $25-million offer for Brandon Bass, the Magic ended up signing him to a reasonable deal of four years and $18 million that did not require the team’s entire mid-level exception. Signing Bass figured to wrap up Orlando’s offseason, other than a few smaller signings like another wing player and a third point guard to add depth. That’s why it was a surprise when we first began hearing rumblings that the Magic would match the Dallas Mavericks’ offer of the full mid-level over five years to Gortat. Lo and behold, Orlando has done just that, bringing Gortat back last Monday. That’s where I start to jump off board.”
- According to the AP, “the Cleveland Cavaliers will expand paperless ticketing to all seats and events at Quicken Loans Arena beginning in October, dropping use of Ticketmaster four months after a settlement was reached with the ticketing giant to end a lawsuit.” This sounds like a good idea, but it’s bad news for scalpers, and fans hoping to purchase half priced tickets five minutes before tipoff.
- Terry Pluto: “John Kuester becoming the Pistons’ head coach, it’s believed assistants Mike Malone and Jent will be helping head coach Mike Brown draw up new parts of the offense to incorporate Shaquille O’Neal in the low post. Fans may see Malone in the huddle, doing some X’s-and-O’s work as Kuester did last season. The Cavs greatly improved their out-of-bounds plays a year ago, and Kuester did help that situation. It’s up to the staff to continue this positive trend. Veteran assistant Melvin Hunt is expected to take a greater role coaching the defense.”
- Joe Freeman of The Oregonian: “Jarryd Bayless enjoyed stretches of solid summer league play where he directed the Blazers’ offense with authority, played sturdy defense and revealed a perfect blend of scoring and assist-making. He rarely dribbled aimlessly on the perimeter before ducking his head and charging toward the basket, as he regularly did a year ago. He looked to pass more than he looked to shoot, studied his teammates’ strengths and tried to get them the ball where they would most likely succeed. All the while, he was more composed and played at a better pace than last season. But Bayless also labored through eyebrow-raising stretches where he committed turnovers at an alarming rate, forced plays and reverted to his attack-the-basket-at-all-costs rookie form. He finished summer league averaging 18.0points and 4.3 and shot 47.2percent from the field — but he committed 25turnovers and made just 1 of 5three-point attempts in four games. But Prunty has said all along that Bayless’ development cannot be measured by statistics. By the time summer league ended, Prunty had hoped his point guard would recommend plays and call on hot teammates as if he were sitting in Prunty’s courtside chair. And to that end, Prunty liked what he saw. ‘There have been some situations where he and I were kind of on the same page with the things we wanted to run and with reading who had the hot hand,’ Prunty said. ‘A few times (Saturday night) he came over and said, ‘I’d like to post this player.’ And I think that was good recognition on his part. It shows that he’s grasping the concept of where guys are that can help us, where the mismatch might be and who might have the hot hand.’ More than anything, Bayless seems to be caught in transition, wavering between being a scoring playmaker and a ‘true’ point guard. There were times when Bayless seemed to be thinking too much.”
- Tom Knott of the Washington Times: “If LeBron James had a self-deprecating bone in his body, a modicum of humility, he would not have allowed the Nike representative to confiscate the videos. He would have laughed about the dunk. He would have had fun with it. And his sympathizers in the media would have limited the damage. It was, after all, a nothing pickup game in the summer, when common sense tells you that James hardly was exerting his multimillion-dollar self. That is what James should have done. He should have showed a side of himself that is not so self-absorbed and consumed with his image. Instead, this nonevent has received considerable traction, especially on the Internet, because it confirms anew what we already know about James. He is spoiled and pampered, accustomed to having everyone genuflect in his presence.”
Category: Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, NBA Teams, Orlando Magic, Portland Trail Blazers, Sacramento Kings
Tags: Hedo Turkoglu, Jarryd Bayless, John Kuester, LeBron James, Marcin Gortat, Reggie Theus, Vince Carter, Wilt Chamberlain
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