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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jul 13, 2006 19:14:11 GMT -5
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Post by ferbo on Jul 13, 2006 22:55:08 GMT -5
I don't know what to make of the team so far. The loss yesterday makes one wonder if they played any defense. And the other roster was not loaded with NBA guys.
Some of the guys rostered are not getting any PT. Makes one wonder if that is different than what was planned. I'm sure the players expected more.
Was the plan to give lots of time to 5 guys? Hard to argue that it was NOT the plan, given the PT distribution. Pretty obvious why West wasn't brought into the mix.
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Post by Celtic17 on Jul 14, 2006 0:32:21 GMT -5
I just don't take much stock in Vegas games. It might be more of a league to learn your new team and the system you are coming into. W-L means little there.
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Post by BCHISTORIAN on Jul 14, 2006 0:56:33 GMT -5
i remember last year when everybody said that al and perk are no good. perk made serious progress last season as we all remember. so let's not put too much stock on this guard-focused summer league play
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Jul 14, 2006 3:58:16 GMT -5
Fnal game of our summer league is today vs. the Pistons.
So far after 4 games, Ryan Gomes is the 6th leading scorer at just under 20 ppg. Al Jefferson is 4th in rebounding with 8.3 rpg and both Telfair and Rondo are tied for 2nd in assists with a 5.3 apg mark.
Gerald must have had at least 7 big dunks and his scoring has come alive as of late.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jul 14, 2006 12:51:18 GMT -5
Here is a report from a post on CelticsBlog. Some interesting observations. The one that stood out to me is that DJones is immovable in the post... Why aren't they playing this kid more?
I don't want to double over stuff Bulpett already said and I'm certainly not a talent scout, but here are my average joe observations based on two straight days sitting in the first row about two feet behind the Celtics bench at the Cox Pavilion.
1. Newsflash: Gerald Green is a freak. Everyone there was talking about him and groups of fans from the other teams started going out of their way to the Celtics games hoping they might see another dunk like the one they saw vs. the Raptors, while at the same time, his stroke was beautiful that day and he was automatic anywhere inside 20 feet. He's got superstar stuff and he was the best player in the summer league. No way you trade that guy. Not in a package for Iverson or anyone else. Never. Ever.
2. Telfair. There's great chemistry around him. He's always smiling, always talking and always doing stuff to keep everyone in the game. I'll let someone else talk aout PG skills and how he shoots (he drained more than a couple from way out) and all that stuff. The young guys all dig him, and that's a good thing for your point guard. He encouraged Rondo (remember, that's his chief competition) to play point while they were on the court together, he even went out of the way to give him the ball, then moved to the wing and did everything he could to make the offense tick even when he wasn't running it. And he's what, 21? I wasn't the biggest fan of the deal that brought him to us, but now I'm completely on board. The guy is a leader.
3. Rondo. OK this is duplicating what the herald said, but the kid is just crazy defending the ball. His defense alone is going to dramatically change the face of the Celtics' team defense. But to say he can't shoot is understating it. Not only can't he shoot, but he won't shoot. Not even when he's 10 feet out and his defender lays back five steps to front somebody. That's frustrating to watch. Even when DJ shot about 30 percent wide open from 15-feet in 1986, at least he took the shots so that defenders couldn't just walk away from him. Still, Rondo has incredible feet and hands and a serious motor. I think it's going to be hard not to like him, especially if he and Telfair team up as well as I saw them team up. I'm already having fantasies of the Celtics going small in spurts with those two, West, Pierce and whoever underneath.
4. Allen Ray. An NBA Player, period. We all know he's water, but he was really impressive shooting off the dribble and they had him run the point in garbage time and he looked natural to my untrained eyes. I think his "tweener" rep is overplayed. In the 10 or so total games I saw, there were only a dozen or so guys that stood out as being clear-cut NBA players playing above the rest of the league, and Ray was one of them. He'll be around a long time, whether it's with us or not.
5. Jefferson. Unfortunately, Jefferson did not stand out at all against these mostly-scrubs. If I didn't know who he was and just wandered into the gym as a casual fan, I wouldn't have picked him out as one of the draftees out there. His footwork was awkward and he took a long time deliberating over what he was going to do every time he got the ball. He just freezes for a second. Hate to say it, but I'm officially worried about his ceiling. The good news is that he's incredibly tuned in to the coaching staff and the game plan. Coachability is a good thing, I guess. Of course, they said I was very coachable on my junior high team, and it ain't helping my NBA career any.
5. Powe. All right, I'll have to confess a bias here because chance had it that after the Raptors game he came and sat next to a couple kids he was with -- right next to me on his other side. I talked to him for maybe 2 minutes, which is about 1:55 longer than it takes to make this wanna-be a lifelong fan. He was very friendly, unassuming, and willing to entertain my cheesy, run-of-the-mill questions. He even asked me a couple things after I had decided I had bothered him enough and was going to leave him alone. On the court, he had a couple of really nice moments playing in the trees. He stuffed in a put-back against Toronto's A-team front line that drew a buzz from the crowd, and he's clearly a hustle guy whose programmed to put out for the ball like Rodman used to. But he doesn't jump or run like Rodman and he's not nearly as wide as I hoped he might be. I think he has a place in the league and with the celtics, but I wonder how and where he'll fit in if he's strictly an inside player at 6-8.
6. Gomes. We all know he's good. Here's what I noticed that was unique to my vantage point. The guy is absolutely always smiling and like Jefferson, he's super-involved with the coaches and the game plan. Gomes didn't belong there this year. He was too good and it was too easy for him to do whatever he wanted.
7. Dwayne Jones is about as easy to move as a boulder. I liked him. But the big men who had to fight him for position did not like him at all. He leans and fights relentlessly and forced his man to back off in frustration more than once. But he didn't play much.
7. That Akungalawaba guy looks like he's 7-2. He's got really long arms and a good body. Never got to see if he could play at all. The Boston-area contingency was really pulling for Kevin Hamilton, and he had a nice little shake & bake fall-away jumper from the top of the key against I think Denver. He also seemed like a real fit-in with the rest of the guys, always joking around and all. I'm thinking they'll bring him into camp and maybe put him in the NBDL. It was fun rooting for him. Bulpett for some reason liked Wilkinson, but to me he looked like a skinny Lafrentz who doesn't shoot as well. These guys didn't play much, so it's probably not fair to judge.
8. Bargnani. This guy is RAW. Right now it seems like he can shoot face up from 10-feet and out, and that's all he can do. I never saw him go to the basket. He avoided contact and if he knows how to post up, he didn't show it when I was watching. I can't see him making an impact this year at all. Makes me wonder why the hell they traded Villanueva, but that ain't our problem.
For anyone still reading by now, let me just say that attending Vegas Summer League is an awesome experience. The gym is small, attendance is sporadic (only the knicks drew the crowds) and if you hang around more than one game you end up in some of the best seats in the house, but there are no bad ones. It costs 20 bucks to get in stay there through all the days games. And for added fun, you get to watch the fraternity of big name NBA execs clown around with each other a few feet away. If I was the type of guy that did those type of things, I'd have had 10 different opportunities to strike up a chat with Ainge, Ferry, John Lucas, George Karl and any other number of guys. If you've got a kid or you're an autograph seeker (I'm not), there's no better place to get easy autographs and I didn't see any players avoiding them. And it's a very intimate environment to watch some of the best basketball players on the planet. Oh, and by the way, you're in vegas, and that doesn't hurt either.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jul 14, 2006 16:10:22 GMT -5
Score at the half ...
Detroit 49 Celtics 34
Updates from Gabe Kahn on Celtics Blog
11-9 pistons with 5:23 left in the 1st. neither gomes or telfair has played yet. i’m assuming it’s to get a better look at the other guys.
they’re in street clothes. allan ray and powe started instead. 24-16 pistons now. not too big a deal. some of the real scrubs are playing now…
Ray isn’t the scrub i’m talking about. not in summer league at least. there are some real scrubs here though and they’re playing…30-23 pistons with 5:23 left in the half and jefferson to the line…
Jones is playing and gerald looks pretty good so far…jefferson…eh….rondo is solid but nothing great yet…
49-34 pistons at the half…don’t worry, not a big deal…
green has 13 on 6 of 13 shooting. ray has 9 and jones has 6 fouls!
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Post by ferbo on Jul 14, 2006 16:34:36 GMT -5
Not terribly impressive.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Jul 14, 2006 16:36:26 GMT -5
Good read. Hope the writer is not just a biased Celtics fan who sees good in everything our boys do ;D But I hope what he said is fairly indicative of how our guys are really playing.
I'm thinking that Tony Brown (under Rivers' or Ainge's orders) is not playing Dwayne Jones so that he can slip under other team's radar. As Ainge is negotiating with teams for possible trades, he doesn't want to give up additional pieces whom teams may want. He insisted that DJ was included in the Wally/Ricky trade and so there's an interest in him.
Just doesn't make sense that when we need size on the floor (Jefferson mostly played Center) they woudn't put in DJ. Especially since he helps us play the small ball. DJ is probably just as quick and mobile as Mark Blount (I'd say a bit more) and he likes to run and trail the fastbreaks to clean up missed layups.
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Post by FLCeltsFan on Jul 14, 2006 16:36:36 GMT -5
60-50 detroit with 4:53 left in the third
71-61 Detroit at the end of 3
81-79 pistons with 2:53 left and coming out of a timeout…
88-85 c’s with 4 seconds left. detroit ball…
c’s won, 88-85. ray had 26.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Jul 14, 2006 17:28:35 GMT -5
Wow, what a comeback win!!! From what I hear, both Telfair and Gomes did not suit up tonight.
Alright, time to sign up Allan Ray to a real rookie contract.
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Post by DERRENMATTS on Jul 14, 2006 18:02:39 GMT -5
Box scores confirm that Gomes and Telfair did not play tonight. I don't think its injury related, but probably to make sure they don't get hurt in a meaningless final game of summer league.
Gerald Green had 22 pts, hitting 9 of 19 shots. Also stole 3 passes and had a block. He finished the summer league strong. Finished with an 18.6 ppg average, but was a 23 ppg scorer in the final 3 games.
My man Rajon had an all around game tonight as the main PG (with Telfair out). Scored 14 pts, pulled down 7 rebounds, and dished out 8 assists on only 2 TO's. And of course, he had a bunch of steals (4 to be precise). He had a very solid showing in his first taste of professional caliber basketball. I think he's ready for the NBA.
Allan Ray showed why Ainge should lock him up to a rookie contract. He had a 26 pt performance as our starting SG tonight, shooting 9 - 18, including hitting 2 of 4 from beyond the arc. He finished the summer league with a 14.4 ppg average with 2 apg in 25 minutes per game. Could be a nice shooting/scoring option off the bench for us. Could be a nice replacement for Delonte, if we happen to lose him in a trade.
Jefferson only got 11 minutes tonight, scoring just 3 pts, but did pull down 4 boards in those 11 minutes.
Leon Powe may or may not make the parent team. I think Allan Ray is more of a sure thing to make the club. Powe does seem to have game, but we have to see what'll happen. If Ainge is trying to get Drew Gooden, there may not be a need for Powe because we'll have Jefferson, Gooden, and Gomes.
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Post by ferbo on Jul 14, 2006 18:07:40 GMT -5
?Do we have any reason to think that DA is trying to get Gooden? Even if he does in a sign and trade, seems likely that there will be a big go back.
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Post by ferbo on Jul 14, 2006 18:10:43 GMT -5
The Boston Celtics came back from a 10-point deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the Detroit Pistons 88-85 on the final day of the Toshiba Vegas Summer League. Boston evened the score at 81-81 with 2:37 remaining after trailing the majority of the game. Both teams took turns with the lead, but Rajon Rondo put Boston up for good when he nailed a three-pointer from the right elbow with 25-seconds remaining. WELL, APPARENTLY RONDO CAN HIT ONE ONCE IN AWHILE.
Detroit held an eight-point edge (22-14) after the first quarter of play and built it up to 15 at the half. The Celtics put up 27 points in each the third and fourth quarters and held the Pistons to 14 in the final period for their come back win.
Ryan Gomes pulled Boston even with 2:37 remaining in the game at 81-81. DOUBT THIS IS TRUE, SINCE HE ISN'T IN THE BOX. Gerald Green gave Boston the lead at the 2:03 mark on a goaltending field goal. Detroit's Cheikh Samb knotted the score at 83-83 on a field goal with 1:48 remaining. Alex Acker drained two free throws to give the Pistons their final lead, 85-83, at the 58-second mark. The lead was short-lived as Rondo's three swung the momentum to Boston in the final seconds. Gerald Green gave Boston a three-point lead when he connected on both of his free throws with four-seconds left.
Allan Ray led all scorers with his 26 points (9-18 FG, 6-6 FT) in victory. Green threw down 22 and was followed by double-digit efforts from Rondo (14) and Akin Akingbala (10). MY IMPRESSION IS THAT RAY MAY NOT BE EVEN ADEQUATE DEFENSIVELY.
Detroit had five players break double-figures with Mateen Cleeves (5-8 FG, 5-6 FT) and Jason Maxiell (4-14 FG, 9-12 FT) each contributing 17 points. Alex Acker knocked down 16, while Samb and Amir Johnson had 10 each.
For the game, Boston shot 41.9% (31-74 FG) to Detroit's 42.6% (29-68 FG). The Celtics offense was greatly helped in the second half when the team made 52.8% of its shots. Copyright 2006 - Vegas Summer League | developed by webpro
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Post by ferbo on Jul 14, 2006 18:11:36 GMT -5
I find Powe's performance disappointing, and Jones' performance disappointing and puzzling.
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