[GuyClinch]

Holy cow I saw Kedrick play for the first time this year. He is like a very bad version of Rodney Rogers. This guy needs to wake up. The Cavs should just cut him so he can go play in the NBDL. He needs a reality check.

He must be 40 pounds overweight!

Pete

[Nevus]

I think this Cavs summer league team is better than the regular Cavs.

They're actually a good defensive team, and their ball movement has been good too when Wagner isn't dominating the ball.

[remy23]

YMCA ball.

Now having watched a few games (caught the game before the Cavs game), this is just pick up ball but with pro players.

The Suns, nor the Cavs really ran plays or moved the ball well. Most of the turnovers from both teams came from bad spacing. Super-clogged.

The Cavs whole strategy was to post the Suns up. That worked well. The big men were blocking shots and scoring inside. Once they got in foul trouble, it hit the fan.

I'm scractching my head asking "Is Wagner the only guy that can score off the dribble?"

I understand Luke wasn't playing tonight and that probably made a difference in breaking down the Suns defense and providing more scoring. Really, it seeemed Barbosa and Wagner were the only guys who could drive (on both teams).

Side note:

Silas was interviewed and he seemed calm. Basically said he would sign a big man from the summer team, that he liked Juanny, and that he wished Boozer the best.

And McInnis was there too and was interviewed. When asked about Boozer, he said "We just need to move on."

Boxscore

[hobojoe]

Who the hell is Lonnie Jones? 17 points, 20 rebounds and 6 blocks!

[Nevus]

Originally posted by hobojoe!
Who the hell is Lonnie Jones? 17 points, 20 rebounds and 6 blocks!

Yeah... I saw the game and he was incredible, especially in the first half. His shotblocking was the main reason why the Cavaliers started the game on a 15-0 run. He was rejecting everything around the basket. He looked under control on offense too which is more than you can say for DeSagana Diop.

I like him, I think he's going to make the team. He looks like a player to me. Maybe this year's Haslem if they're lucky. He looks like a legit 6'11-7'0 and very long.

[Coatesvillain]

In case you guys didn't see this, here's some stuff from Draftcity on the Orlando Summer League:

Cleveland Cavs

Dajuan Wagner: I am not sure if there has ever been a more frustrating player to watch than this guy. The term “point guard” should never be placed anywhere near his name, he has to be one of the most selfish players I have seen in a long time. It takes him about 12 seconds to even get the offense started as he dribbles and dribbles and dribbles the ball until he absolutely has to give up, and then demands to get it right back. From there he will either pull up for an impossible fadeaway shot off the dribble with a hand in his face (which he sometimes makes) or he’ll take the ball with a head full of steam all the way to the basket. His teammates may as well start walking back up the court at that point because everyone in the gym knows he’s not going to pass it. Any assists he made in this summer league were purely incidental, I assure you. No defense, terrible shooting, he’ll dribble the air out of the ball if you let him. That’s Dajuan Wagner for you right there, a homeless Allen Iverson.

Luke Jackson: It must be tough playing next to a guy like Wagner, but Jackson certainly didn’t make things any easier on himself. He didn’t play well at all when I saw him. He had problems getting his shot off, he played poor defense, didn’t shoot very well, but played in his usual unselfish manner and made some very nice assists. It didn’t really seem like he was all that interested in what was going on, and considering the level of play in some of these games, it’s not hard to figure out why.

Desagana Diop: A Cleveland scout was sitting next to me for one of the Cavs games I watched. In the second half, his phone rang and that’s when news about the Boozer signing/backstabbing broke apparently. He looked like he was about to cry after that, and watching his new starting power forward Diop lumbering up and down the floor didn’t seem to cheer him up too much. He looks overweight and very inconsistent still, he can hit the mid-range jumper and block some shots, but his low post game is solely based on overpowering smaller and lighter players out of the way. Very little in terms of real skills, if he can get into shape there might be something to talk about.

Andre Brown: Pretty effective in the post because of his quickness and excellent vertical leap, always one of the most athletic players on the floor. Decision making isn’t great, he still has a long ways to go in terms of learning how to maximize his time on the floor. Great body, should make a team somewhere next year solely based on his upside.

Kedrick Brown: Will probably be playing in summer league for the rest of his life, still can’t shoot or dribble, but boy can he jump. Looked surprisingly out of shape, and didn’t play great defense which also comes as a surprise. A strong candidate for the worst lottery pick of the past few years. “Still two or three years away,” that’s the Kedrick Brown mantra.

LINK

[remy23]

I think that guy is overly harsh. Those at the games said Brown has looked very decent and while he has a few dunks, his hops haven't been the main display to behold. He was trying to post up, shooting the 3-pointer off screens and wanting to play an all-around game. But rather than type a super long post (about every player), I'll stop and say it's overly harsh.

That's why I'm glad this current league in on television. Instead of getting vastly different eye-witness stories to choose from, I can just watch this league and form my own opinion. Maybe that guy was right. But the 1st game in Vegas, it seems as if Brown is doing more than jumping over people (which is a good thing to see) and Diop is altering/blocking a little, so it's always nice to see something positive in him.

[remy23]

My thoughts:

Celtics

West: star in 1st half, quick, long and hits shots over taller people with great ball protection

Jefferson: the real deal, aggressive, had strong dunks, plays big, like his game and convinced on his talent and maturity to let the game come to him

Perkins: appears to be in real good shape from appearance, had a nasty sweeping hook shot in the 1st half, seems to have potential and should be good down the line

Allen: mad hops, energetic bunny, good defense, impressed by him

Banks: started out slow in the 1st half, came alive in the 2nd, good defense, quick first step

Mobley: ultra productive in short time, good defense, dunked and hit jumpers, hard to stop, is worth a 2nd look by the Celtics organization from this game

General: Celtics seem athletic, quick, good future for them, Paul Pierce was at the game and yelled from the bench in the 3rd to distract Cavaliers' players

----

Cavs

Jones: aggressive, long, will get a look from the team

Langhi: nice dunk down the lane, face-up player, nice jumpshot, not a post player, tried to post the shorter West to no avail, not comfortable there, came alive in the 2nd quarter

Brown: better in the 1st half, struggled in the 2nd, picked up many fouls, had a few jumpers and a real nice left-handed dunk over Perkins

Diop: good until ejection for kicking a ball into the stands, should have been T'd up but ejection right away may have been harsh, was fouled by a Celtics player and appeared to be given the short end of the stick when shown the replay, once he was gone the Celtics drove the lane much better without resistance

Wagner: nice 3-stroke going, sometimes out of control, had several nice passes and bright moments, seemed calm and played better than yesterday's game

----

Closing

That's my take on things. Both teams missed several foul shots (badly, at that) and turned the ball over a lot.

After Diop was ejected, a Cavs coach picked up a tech for talking to one ref, only to be T'd up by a ref who wasn't even part of the conversation.

The Cavs bench picked up a tech too. Not happy with the way the game was called.

The Cavs second unit got rattled and lost leads. They could not hang with the Celtics' second unit.

Celtics won 103-95.

Boxscore

[remy23]

1st half

Nuggets: great passing, big men finishing hard inside, nice shooting

Cavs: shooting under 30%, clearly rattled

2nd half

Lead grows. Cavs fight late in 3rd to reduce lead, to no avail. In the mid part of the 4th, Cleveland finally starts to hit shots but it’s too little, too late.

General notes:

Nugs ->

Nielsen: nice tips, energetic

Skita: all-around threat, picked up a good deal of fouls (6), looks nice

Cavs ->

Diop: posting up a lot, struggling at foul line (Silas was trying to show Diop proper form from the stands), nice right hand hook

Langhi: hurt, left game

Giovannoni: played very well, got hurt late in 4th (ankle), hopefully he is not seriously hurt or he will miss the final games

Closing

- Nuggets played at a fast pace, too quick for Cavs, strong double teams baffled Cleveland and led to steals

- Announcer said this was the least competitive summer league game (despite what the final score indicates)

- Cleveland needs to simply forget about this game, it’s too bad a game to dwell on, just move on (Wagner struggled, Brown struggled, they almost all struggled)

Boxscore (ouch)

Nuggets won 85-75.

----

Recap

Ouch. One last game. Let's hope it doesn't end tis way too.

[remy23]

Boxscore

The Cavs shot the ball a lot better but still lost. The Magic had good games from Howard, Nelson, Bogans, Kasun and Davis. Cleveland had good games from Wagner, Brown, Langhi and Jacobsen.

A guy who saw the game said Nelson looked very good. But despite Bogan's nice boxscore, he cursed at times and even asked to be taken out of the game (which makes me wonder what's going on). Wagner apparently started off struggling. But late in the 4th, he went beserk and his scoring, along with Jacobsen's punch late in the 4th nearly brought the Cavs back.

At least Cleveland was in this game and made a run late.

Howard continued his trend of good rebounding, Wagner continued scoring (but more impressive with 7 assists to 2 turnovers which is 2 more assists than Nelson had), Langhi still had the stroke on his jumper, and so forth.

Too bad the last 2 games weren't on NBA Tv.

[Larry Hughes for Retirement]

We dump ollie but pick up a bigger contract.....please tell me paxson knows what he is doing.....