Graham and Slokar Update: From the same realgm.com thread.. Graham struggled and had a tough night, pressing too hard apparently. Besides the 6 fouls he managed to get 12 points. Slokar had 9 points and was flawless from the field.
Great night from CV3... but disapointing from Graham. what happened with Graham out there, why did he struggle so much. What were C'Nova's final stats???
The SPL and ProExposure sites suck ass. The damn sites don't even show any updates from the games (at least for me, is it working for anyone else?)
No, they don't have jack worth looking at. Villanueva's final stats were 23 points / 8 rebounds / 6 assists.
Nice all aroudn numbers by C'Nova, very nice. That is prbably the best all around game so far out of all the summer league games, with the exception of Telfair's 18, 10 and 9.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Let me begin by saying that this was one of the most entertaining games that I've seen in a long, long time. The atmosphere was electric like a NCAA basketball tournament game. The Raps won 118-117in o.t. A very high score for a regular season gamelet alone a summer league one. In the 2nd half the arena filled to capacity as the Lakers fans filled the place in anticipation of the 2nd game. Well I won't keep y'all waiting any longer. Charlie Villanueva, in a word is OUTSTANDING!!! He is better than advertised. Keep in mind I was very down on the pick and criticized Babcock. Well, let me apologize right now for questioning the gm. CV is NBA ready in every way. He can shot, can pass and can rebound. He's one of the best passing big men that I've sen in a long time. The questions about his ball handling are not valid in any way. He handles the ball like a guard and made several great passes, one in particular was a drive to the hoop taking 2 defenders with him and at the last minute dishing off a no look pass to Pape Sow for a monster jam to tie the game at 104 with 1 second left. The whole place jumped up and cheered like crazy. CV also blocked a shot, drove to the hoop and jammed. He passed the ball to Cooke for a fast break layup. CV finished with23 points and at least 10 rebs and 6 asists. He was the best player on the court and it wasn't even close. As a matter of fact, I stayed for the Lakers vs Memphis game and Charlie was the best player the whole day. Now I have to make one thing very, very clear. He is NOT a center. He spent most of the time at the college 3 point line, either shooting or passing or driving to the hoop. The few times they posted him up down low he looked uncomfortable and passed it right away. CV is a 3/4 which means Bosh will probably will play center. I was initially terrified at this situation but after watching him my fears have been put to rest. I was surrounded by Lakers fans and it was interesting, in the beginning of the game they talked about how he was a bad pick and how all the pundits were making fun of Babcock. Well by the end of the game he was getting standing ovations and oohs and aahs from everyone. It was so cool to see. He is a legit candidate for rookie of the year. He is so fundamentally sound that all the criticism I've read and said myself isn't true. The comments about his pacivity are totally unfounded. he was high fiving, chest thumping all night. He's going to be a stud! Now some comments on other exciting players. The second best player on the Raps was Pape Sow. The guy is pure high energy and has added to his almost non existent offensive repitoire. He made great up and under moves, great head fakes and scored 19 points. He was constant hustle. The 3rd best player cames as a shock to me and will to you also. Toronto native Olu Famutimi is the most athletic player on this deam. Hands down. I expected nothing from him but was curious since he is a Toronto native. He made an ally oop jam from almost half court that got the whole stadium up on its feet. He shot the ball well, making long range jumpers and played defense. He scored 12 points and most importantly was in the game during o.t. I believe he has a real shot at making this team since we have such a need at the 2 guard. He was very impressive with his hustle and power dunks. Now the other rook. Joey Graham. Hustle, hustle and Hustle. He scored 12 points but didn't shoot very well. His jumper isn't there yet but he scored a lot of his points on put backs. The 3rd string pg battle is going to be a good one. I loved Cooke from last year but Kevin Braswell out of Georgetown played very well and is a much better shooter than Omar. KB had 12 points and made smart decisions. He made a 3 pointer . Cooke scored 8 points, 6 of which came in o.t. Our other Canadian, Nate Doornecamp scored 4 points and rebounded very well for the time he was in there. He has a very nice mid range jumper. Slokar was okay but Nate played more minutes and was the better player. He should've been the last pick not Uros, but no biggie. Our other pick Ukic was on the roster but wasn't there. Not sure why. In summation, yeah this is summer league but the Raps team looked great. I'm going to try and make Saturday or Sundays game and I'll report back. I know that it's really late in Toronto right now so feel free to ask questions and I'll respond asap. It's cool to stixky if any mods want to.</div> http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php...der=asc&start=0 Another recap from a guy who was there.
The trend they said is very prominent from Summer League is that if you struggle in summer league, you'll likely struggle during the season, but if you do good in Summer League, it doesn't translate as to how well you'll do.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post">Here are some pics, didn't take much sorry. not that great since it was a camera phone. Graham(33) and CV http://www.IMAGE8.net/uploads/7dcd3bbba8.jpg Babcock, this how close he was http://www.IMAGE8.net/uploads/2cf73e6ebf.jpg More Babcock http://www.IMAGE8.net/uploads/6e56de8e0e.jpg Check this pic, didn't expect it and happened right when I tried to take it (It's Graham dunking and the foul) http://www.IMAGE8.net/uploads/83c2f05b13.jpg</div> Pics.. http://www.realgm.com/boards/viewtopic.php...der=asc&start=0
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting og15:</div><div class="quote_post">The trend they said is very prominent from Summer League is that if you struggle in summer league, you'll likely struggle during the season, but if you do good in Summer League, it doesn't translate as to how well you'll do.</div> Not really. I remember LeBron, Melo in their first summer league games, Bosh last season didn't too well in a couple of games, all struggled a bit with summer league and they all had great seasons. However, when you struggle in summer league, you tend to struggle in the real NBA, which I agree with you there.
Well, it's already showed that people who crisized the bad parts of C'Nova's game like enthusiasum, heart, etc are wrong as shown in the 1st game. Just posting up, they said he's not comfortable... I think by the end of the season he'll be comfortable when he gets stronger and develops good post moves. I'm really excited about Pape Sow, he sounds like he's imrpvoed alot. I think Joey Graham just had an off night.. that's all there is to it. P.S - Where's the damn snub Hoffa? He needs practice.
Villanueva finished with 23 points. Pape Sowe 19 points. Joey Graham had 12 points. All these are unofficial.
<div class="quote_poster">Quote:</div><div class="quote_post"> LONG BEACH - Charlie Villanueva threw down a thunderous dunk late in the third quarter Friday night, bringing the crowd at the Summer Pro League inside the Pyramid on its feet. One person who had a special interest in Villanueva was Toronto coach Sam Mitchell. Mitchell was more than aware that many basketball pundits bashed his team for using its first-round pick (the seventh overall) on Villanueva, and Mitchell was more than happy to say that the 6-foot-10 forward out of Connecticut will be a player, despite what others might think or say. Mitchell said people can think what they want and say what they want, but that the Raptors are happy that Villanueva was available to his team. "Look at my rookie," Mitchell said. "Everybody is asking why we drafted Charlie. This kid can play. You just watch him this season. He has some skills and can do a lot of stuff." Villanueva finished with 23 points in Toronto's 118-117 overtime victory over the Dallas Mavericks Friday night. After the game, Villanueva looked exhausted. But Mitchell said he knows his prized rookie will be ready when the season starts. "Whatever I ask him, he does," Mitchell said. "I ask him to work on things and he works on things. He admitted to me that he didn't always work hard. To me, that's a good thing. He knows he has to work hard. We really like this kid." </div> Villuanueva Backing Coach's Hype
Thanks Vin and Shape for the articles, its hard to explain how much it is appreciated, because I couldn't even get box scores from that crappy summer league site. It sounds like Mitchell likes Charlie V, and CV is willing to work hard to improve. I am impressed by his passing ability, I just don't expect that from a 6'10 player.
It's great to see Charlie get off to such a good start and start to turn a few heads, but we'll have to wait a few more summer games to see how well he actually does. Pape Sow also made a hefty contribution so there's another plus right there. Also, that Canadian guy.... Uhh... Olu whatever, he doesn't seem too bad either. Just reading those recaps gives me the willies.
<div class="quote_poster">Quoting SkiptoMyLue11:</div><div class="quote_post">Thanks Vin and Shape for the articles, its hard to explain how much it is appreciated, because I couldn't even get box scores from that crappy summer league site. It sounds like Mitchell likes Charlie V, and CV is willing to work hard to improve. I am impressed by his passing ability, I just don't expect that from a 6'10 player.</div> No problem, I planned on going to the game, but it was sold out. I'll be there on Monday though when the Raps play the Lakers, I'm going to try to video tape the game if it's allowed. Worst case I'll take a bunch of pics with my digi-cam.
Yea not a problem guys I'm working today so I won't be able to get the stats.. just go to realgm.com forum and somebody will have it up there. I'm hoping that Joey Graham will bounce back and show his stuff.
