We’re suckers for NBA Summer League basketball, and it’s becoming something of an epidemic. Granted, the play is NOTHING like what you’ll see in this fall and winter from the seasoned professionals, but it does allow us to fantasize about how a new player (Or a younger one who didn’t get a lot of clock the previous season. See Randolph, Anthony.) will fit in the upcoming season.
With that in mind, allow me to bask in the glory of Jonny Flynn and his eye-popping athletic ability, something he demonstrated quite nicely with a nasty windmill dunk against the Chicago Bulls summer team. Of course, with the Ricky Rubio drama still going on, it’s hard to tell exactly what Minnesota has planned for their two rookie point guards; especially if Rubio’s European contract is bought out.
For some reason — Flynn is listed at 6 feet tall, while Rubio is 6-4 — I don’t see these two forming the starting backcourt. Unless, of course, stopping the other team’s isn’t that big of premium in the Twin Cities. For now, we can simply enjoy the skill and ability Flynn brings to the game. Here’s hoping an ugly relationship, predicated on Rubio’s handling, doesn’t spoil what looks like a promising NBA career.
Heard about this from Skeets, via the NBA Summer League’s Twitter, and what we have is Air Canada 2.0 — rookie Toronto Raptor DeMar DeRozan — dunking over Milwaukee’s Joe Alexander. The video, at least on my end, is a little choppy but the result is still the same. DeRozan has had an effective Summer League experience, averaging 17 points and almost 5 rebounds a game. Not only that, but, with a little help of Draft Day boasting, is making his new team forget all about the old Air Canada, Vince Carter.
While DeRozan doesn’t quite have the electrifying hops Carter’s blessed with, it’s close. The good thing is, unlike Carter, DeRozan seems more willing to use his. We’ll see if that mentality remains after he gets knocked on his behind a few times; however, so far, so good. Here are a few more highlights of DeRozan’s productive afternoon against the Bucks’ summer team.
Just remember, let’s keep a level head about these Summer League outbursts and not let expectations grow in an “out of control” level.
After putting up a whopping 42 points in yesterday’s NBA Summer League action, Golden State’s Anthony Randolph is serving notice that he might just burst onto the NBA scene in a major way next season. The highlight of Randolph’s barrage was an in-game version of Dwight Howard’s Superman layup. The difference? Randolph went baseline and actually dunked/laid it up over some traffic and was fouled during the attempt, turning it into a layup of the Dwight Howard variety.
Last night, the overall number one pick in last month’s NBA Draft, Oklahoma’s Blake Griffin, made his Clippers debut in the NBA’s Summer League. And judging from David Thorpe’s observations, if there’s a one-word description for Griffin’s first appearance, that word is “impressive.” Here’s another example of Thorpe’s opinion of Griffin, who had 27 points and 12 rebounds during his maiden voyage:
I imagine Grizzlies fans all over the globe are salivating at the idea of adding Mr. Mayo’s talents to their roster in November. For now, they’ll have to settle for the NBA Summer League highlights, one of which, ESPN was nice enough to provide. Welcome to the NBA-lite, O.J. Next stop, the regular season:
Apparently, this is being considered one of the best dunks since the summer fun began, which explains why ESPN iswas offering to share the video of it. Besides showing Mayo’s ability off, the video also makes me hold out hope other professional sports leagues are learning that highlight videos appearing on blogs do nothing but help the popularity of the sport. If Roger Goodell, Major League Baseball and the IOC are so worried about advertising revenue, they can always put ads in the videos.
I’m mean, the NBA has embraced Internet technologies and they even found a way to monetize their YouTube videos. Why should it be so different for the other leagues who are less supportive of these mediums? What does David Stern know the other commissioners don’t?
