The first game today was the Mavericks and Blazers. This game was a typical summer game with low scoring, bad passing and lots of fouls. This was also my first look at Greg Oden, and I have to say I am not impressed.

Oden was average at best, he did get 13 points but he did a poor job boxing out and had about ten fouls. Pops Mensah-Bosu actually did a better job than Oden, Pops got 13 boards, eight offensive, and ten points, he also kept Oden out of the paint

The game was close, but the Mavs lead by like 14 in the second half before Portland came back to get closer. Lamarcus Aldridge was the best player for the Blazers both offensively and defensively. Sergio Rodriguez also a nice job for the Blazers, but his backup Patteri Kaponon didn’t do a good job at all, he just couldn’t run the offense effectively.

For the Mavericks they got another good showing by Jose Juan Barea who got 17 points, but he needs to pass more because he doesn’t even look to. Caleb Green also had a nice game, he made all his shots and played hard.

Studs and Duds

Studs

Jose Juan Barea, good scorer must look to pass more.

Pops Mensah-Bosu, if he can play this way consistently in the regular season, he’ll earn a lot more minutes.

Caleb Green, good shooter but very raw.

Sergio Rodriguez, he was mister everything tonight, he had 14 points, eight rebounds, five assists and two steals.

Lamarcus Aldridge, very good defender

Duds

Maurice Ager, he just shot and shot and shot some more and kept missing.

Eddie Basden, didn’t try hard enough

Martell Webster, He’s going to go down as a horrible pick by the Blazers, and to think they could have had Deron Williams or Chris Paul instead of him.

Greg Oden, Must stop fouling.

The Second game was the Lakers and the Bucks. I was hoping to see Yi playing for the Bucks in this one, because someone said he might, but unfortunately he didn’t. Again this was another sloppy game with most playing not looking interested, except for Javaris Crittenton.

Crittenton had a lot of energy and pretty much single handedly guided the Lakers to victory. He out played his rival Jordan Farmar by a huge margin, if Farmar isn’t careful he’ll be Crittentons backup in Los Angeles. Rodney White looked good too for the Lakers, he’s definitely a skilled player but there’s just something about him which seems to scream “precede with caution.” Colby Karl, Nuggets coach George Karl’s son, had a good game too, though he doesn’t appear NBA ready.

For as bad as the Lakers played the Bucks played one step worse. The Bucks missed many uncontested lay-ups because of the Lakers inability to get back on defense. One bright spot for the Bucks was David Noel, who had 16 points a six rebounds. Lynn Greer also did a nice job, he looked to pass a lot, but knew when to shoot unlike most other players in this league.

The Lakers won because they sucked the least, not because they were better. Some of the Lakers brass sat by me, and I over heard them talking that they liked Karl, and Larry Turner.

Studs and Duds

Studs

Javaris Crittenton, He’s very good and may be a sleep in the draft.

Colby Karl, Solid player and a very smart player as well.

Larry Turner, not great offensively but looked good defensively

Lynn Greer, good player who knows what he is doing.

David Noel, Big and strong, but a little timid.

Spencer Nelson, Good shooter with nice follow through.

Duds

Jordan Farmar, He didn’t look at all spectacular, he looked like a scared little boy

Jeff Graves, he just got out played hard.

Chris McCray, he really looked bad. Just out of place at all times. Noel Felix, he’s to small to be playing the center spot, plus he just isn’t very good.

Damir Makota, He tried really hard, but just didn’t have the goods to do anything useful.

Game three was China and the Cavs. China had struggled in their first two games and struggled again tonight. China’s biggest problem is Sun Yue, he cannot effectively run their offense against bigger, stronger guards that are found in the NBA.

Yi Jianlian had 20 points, but didn’t get his first field goal until the 4th quarter. The refs would bail him out any time he got into trouble. His shot to win the game for China was nice, but other than that he seemed to be more of a product of the referees than a star player. Wang Zhizhi had another good game for China, he has really improved since he last left the NBA a couple of years ago.

The Cavs got a lot out of their second year guards Shannon Brown and Daniel Gibson. Brown had 26 points and effectively dominated the game tonight, the Cavs lead when he was in it wasn’t until he got pulled to start the fourth that the Cavs began to have problems Gibson played well too, he did a nice job running the offense. Darius Rice who had a great game yesterday laid a complete egg tonight.

Studs and Duds

Studs

Wang Zhizhi, He has really gotten better. He three three pointers tonight.

Shipang Wang, He helped China stay in the game while Yi was struggling. Has a nice shot too.

Fangyu Zhu, He had a nice game, but he is really weak on defense,

Daniel Gibson, He ran the offense well, but looked for his shot to much.

Shannon Brown, he shot the ball really well, and took good shots tonight.

Yannick Bokolo, He didn’t do much until the end of the game than hit two clutch baskets.

Duds

Yi Jianlian, with the exception of the 4th quarter he relied to heavily on the referees.

Sun Yue, terrible decision maker with poor play making skills

Dwayne Jones, 11 rebounds and 10 fouls. Matt Walsh, a lot of people love him but to me he seems like a shoot first ask questions later type of player. He also has poor shot selection, his three with 18 seconds left proves that, he was 30 feet away, he could have taken a step in and still hit the shot.

The final game between Los Angeles and Denver was by far the best of the night. The previous game was interesting but this had highflying offense mixed with great plays. The Nuggets did have large leads at points, but the Clippers continually closed the gap which made it interesting.

The Nuggets were lead by former Clipper Von Wafer, who proved he could run the offense and score. Former Nuggets lottery pick Nikolas Tskitisvili, or Skita for short, helped his chances of getting back to the NBA with a good game. Skita was able to get open under the basket for a lot of easy shots. Old vet. Lamond Murry also had a nice game, he did look out of place a bit because he was so much older than everyone else. Jelani McCoy also had a good game, he got a lot of his points off put backs.

For the Clippers they got good games out of Guillermo Diaz, who has a really nice stroke for the outside, and from Al Thornton who was just a beast inside. Thornton really impressed me with his tenacity and ability to move down low. Paul Davis had a nice game too, he is a really good rebounder.

Studs and Duds

Studs

Von Wafer, Good at running the offense, not much else.

Nikolas Tskitisvili, He probably helped his chances of making it back to the NBA, but he still needs to improve his basketball smarts.

Jelani McCoy, great rebounder.

Guillermo Diaz, he’s got a good shot, but weak footwork.

Al Thornton, He’s a beast.

Paul Davis, Quietly controlled the boards all night long.

Duds

Ivan Radenvic, he’s really the only guy who had a bad game. He just didn’t do anything.