NBA 2011-2012

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

Kendal Marshall took all of one shot yesterday, then goes 1/10 today.

I watched about 1.5 quarters of their game last night, and they had Marshall playing at the 2 for about 5-6 minutes in a row at one point. They had him playing with midget Erving Walker, and I guess since Walker is 5'8" they had him play the point even though he is a better scorer than Marshall. That seemed like the worst fit I've seen this summer, moving Marshall over tot he 2.

But he did have some great passes in the short amount of time I watched, he didn't look completely miserable on defense, and he did a great job bringing the ball up the court for the most part. I agree with Thorpe's comment about so many teams employing full court pressure during the summer: what's the point of spending time doing something that you are never going to do during real games?

[MarkGrace]

Lillard 31 points, 7 assist, 3 rebs.

It will be interesting to see how he transitions during the season when he won't be able to take this many shots.

[MarkGrace]

Lillard with the highlight dunk.
http://www.nba.com/summer-league/gam.../gameinfo.html

[MarkGrace]

[YOUTUBE]tdUG4MhBTHc[/YOUTUBE]

[TripletDaddy]

NBA approves the sale of ad space on player jerseys starting in 2013.

http://msn.foxsports.com/nba/story/n...changes-071912

[MarkGrace]

Most Valuable Player

Damian Lillard, Portland Trail Blazers

With a dearth of star rookie performances thanks to injuries (Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, maybe Austin Rivers) and patriotic responsibilities (Anthony Davis), Lillard took summer league by storm with averages of 26.5 points and 5.3 assists per game. For the same reason Kyrie Irving was such a hit as a rookie, Lillard showed a similar game in his Las Vegas action. He got to the basket with great balance and turned heads with his ability to make plays.

Runner-up: Josh Selby, Memphis Grizzlies

http://espn.go.com/nba/dailydime/_/p...722/daily-dime

[MarkGrace]

Damian Lillard | Portland Trail Blazers
Summer stats: 26.5 ppg (44% shooting), 4 rpg, 5.3 apg, 0.5 spg

In my eyes, Lillard was the best rookie in Vegas. His talent as a floor general, as well as his ability to shoot and score, proved that you don't have to play in the ACC or Big East to become an elite player. And that's what Lillard projects to be right now. He's a slightly downgraded version of Derrick Rose, with some Chauncey Billups mixed in, who will likely start from day one and will be the favorite to win ROY since he'll have the ball in his hands a ton.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story...-summer-school

[BGRTHNUMEGO]

The NBA is going to make a new sortable stat database available to fans soon:

he database had lots of nuggets to which the public currently does not have access — easily sortable advanced statistics on scoring, defense, turnovers and rebounds for every five-man combination used in the league, so that you can find out how many points per 100 possessions...Other stuff contained in this: “clutch” shooting data, for both teams and players, you can sort (with video) based on scoring margin and the number of minutes left in the game; data for how various two-, three- and four-man groups within teams perform; more specific shot location data for every player and team, and for a team’s opponents; sortable video of every shot in every NBA game, and the ability to instantly create video clip packages of specific shot types. In a minute or two of work, you could build a play list of every clutch shot Kevin Love attempted from the left baseline last season, or every foul he committed in the last two minutes of a close game.

http://nba-point-forward.si.com/2012...-bonanza-fans/

[MarkGrace]

Damian Lillard, PG
Why he could win: Lillard showed us all during the Las Vegas summer league games that he is among the most talented point guards to enter the league in the past five seasons. He is even more polished than Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook when they first arrived in the NBA, yet more explosive than most any other of the previous rookie point guards that we have seen.

If he gets the green light to make plays, like John Wall, Westbrook, Rose and Kyrie Irving, then undoubtedly we'll see a great number of stellar scoring and passing nights from Lillard. Next to a post presence like LaMarcus Aldridge and veterans like Nicolas Batum and Wes Matthews, Lillard will be able to generate offense through his teammates more than most rookies will be given the chance to. This means his chances at scoring more efficiently are strong. He has the potential to average 16 points and six assists per game with a steal or so thrown in there, too. And though he's not the shooter Irving is, with the weapons around him Lillard can get enough open looks from deep to possibly average better than 35 percent.

Why he doesn't win: The summer league is only a brief glimpse at what the NBA game will look like for these young players. Lillard destroyed the competition in Las Vegas, but having to deal with the plethora of All-Star point guards in the Western Conference such as Chris Paul, Steve Nash, Westbrook and Ty Lawson is obviously a far more difficult challenge. Sure, the same can be said for every rookie who must adjust to the NBA, but Lillard is the rare lottery pick who will likely play a lot this year and did not compete against the nation's best players twice a week in college.

If he struggles with consistency, it could very well be because of his inexperience at digging down deep to bring his best effort every night he plays. A struggling Portland team also could affect his overall play, just as the Wizards did Wall's performance two seasons ago. Wall ended up searching for his own offense most of the time, as the season winded down. Considering the talent Lillard will compete with for ROY, he'll need to have a strong season and not just a good first half.

http://insider.espn.go.com/nba/story...roy-candidates

[MarkGrace]

Bill simmons and svg replacing broussard and barry on espns studio show

[San Juan Sun]

Bill simmons and svg replacing broussard and barry on espns studio show

Simmons is overexposed.

Van Gundy should be good.

[cougjunkie]

Broussard saying the deal is Kaman, Aminu, the Wolves picks AND Gordon. He's saying the Clips are trying hard to make sure Gordon's name isn't confirmed so if the deal doesn't go through they don't burn bridges with him.

Wojo of Yahoo is saying the deal is Kaman, Aminu, the Wolves pick and Bledsoe.

I think either deal is better than what NO would have gotten the first time around because Kaman's deal expires after just one year and that Wolves pick is unprotected. When moving an elite player like Paul the team needs to get cap room to go after free agents, a high draft pick, and a young prospect or two. Aminu + Bledsoe + a top 5 pick in this draft would be a nice pickup for Paul.

Let's bump this thread for a minute;

Better deal for CP3 Lakers or Clips:

Scola, Martin, Odom, Dragic and Terrence Jones (that was the pick offered)

or

Kaman, Aminu, Eric Gordon and Austin Rivers (who was selected with the T-wolves pick NO received)

seems like NO didn't get much either way.