Summer League - Portland - Utah - Consolation Game Thread

[Dame Lizard]

I know this game doesn't matter too much, but it's our last Summer League game so will be good to see our young guys hopefully build some confidence from it!

[Dame Lizard]

Terrible offensive start by both teams, but Meyers has scored the only points of the game (in quite awkward fashion).

Could be worse

[zzaj]

So far pretty inept on both sides...nice that we get to see Meyers vs. Gobert.

[Dame Lizard]

Meyers Leonard has 2 good hard fought rebounds after the first quarter.

Wake me up.

[mikhail1991]

Is the game only on NBAtv?

[GreenRiddler]

Tough loss, given the defending inbounder cheated.

However some guys we needed to have good showings did.

Meyers had his best game of the SL with 9 pts 7rebs and...3 BLOCKED SHOTS. He also looked more aware on the defensive end then I have ever seen him look. He missed his jumpers in the first half but he got them to go in the second. Also had some nice offensive rebounds, defensive rebounds are overrated, but he did corral a couple in traffic, over the longest player in the NBA 7'3" Gobert.

you can tell June really helped Meyers on the defensive end and overall awareness on the court, a shame he got injured to start SL.

CJ turned another bad 1st half into a good 2nd half, shooting 9-15 and connecting on 2 long range jumpers. This is what I like about CJ, he isn't just a three point shoot, he had some nice floaters off the dribble, that he got over the longest man in the NBA. Had some nice deflections, showed his work to improve on D is paying off, can guard 1s and 2s .Also his mid-range game is a work of art, might be the best of any guard on our current roster, very B-Roy like. Missed so late FTs but other than that a great game and SL overall from CJ.

Barton for whatever reason didn't start the game and I thought he was injured at first but got some limited time in the first half, then got more burn in the second. He still over dribbled a bit and throw up some shots after holding the ball, but he made some quick decisions too, made a couple of floaters and jumpers. Still no good threes though.... 14pts 5-10 shooting, 1-4 from three

Crabbe had his best game of the SL, he has really impressed me with his ability to go off the dribble on the closeouts he receives, he is more than a three point shooter in that regard(although he didn't make a lot of threes in SL), he made one tonight, and it reminded me how picture perfect his form is, quick release too. 10 pts 8rebs on 4-7 shooting.

Edit: okay for some reason the three Crabbe made in the second half was not counted in the statsheet even though it was counted on the scoreboard...lol

[Wizenheimer]

all-in-all, SL was just about what I expected. That is to say it was fairly meaningless and none of the Blazer players showed nearly enough to warrant any realistic optimism, at least not for any of the young guys becoming regular rotation players. Incomplete grade for TRob

Meyers is pretty much hopeless....CJ is an undersized SG....Barton can't shoot and that problem is compounded by poor shot selection.....Crabbe is barely an NBA player and that's being kind

Kaman and Blake will play a lot....hoping their bodies hold up

tonight, I thought Gobert looked like the best NBA-level player on the floor....and If Robin Lopez had played, he would have dominated Gobert. Pretty low level of competition out there this week

[ebott]

Was it fun to watch? Utah was easily the most entertaining team at summer league this year.

[GreenRiddler]

Was it fun to watch? Utah was easily the most entertaining team at summer league this year.

Depends on what you consider fun BBall. I like watching prospects develop, the first half was kinda dull because no one made anything. The second half was more entertaining.

I didn't really see utah as that exciting, everyone is raving about Exum, but he was pretty boring, very raw and is gonna take time, really not the kinda experiecnced player to be compared to MCW.

[GreenRiddler]

Well I guess this was the last game? I thought it was kinda fun, more so this year than last year, it will be interesting to see Meyers grow more, he showed me some interesting stuff this game, If kaman plays like he did the last couple of years, Meyers may play more than people think this winter.

For Freeland's niche of blocking shots and getting offensive rebounds are stimied by his offensive ineptitude, such as catching a pass or finishing in traffic, can't even make 15footers. Also doesn't block out well on the boards. If Meyers continues to improve his defensive awareness and acclimate himself in the PnR schemes like he did in LVNV, then he only needs to wait for the Kaman injury or lack of effort on D to see playing time alongside Robinson, who will undoubtedly be given the back 4 full time next year.

On the guards, CJ showed me in these 5 games that he is by far the most offensively talented guard out of Crabbe and Barton, now he has the NBA experience with the team to go ahead of Barton on the depth chart, only thing standing in his way for rotation mins at the backup 2 spot is injury...Know on Wood x3.

Barton just doesn't look like a rotation player, he had a good series against SA and had enough knowledge of the system to get ahead of CJ and Crabbe, but he is too reckless and selfish to be a consistent rotation player, which is what we are looking for. Good placeholder on the bench to shift a game, but only useful when you are desperate, can't trust him in the halfcourt.

Crabbe, I really think could play the backup 3, he is tall long and rather big (same weight as Wright), I would really love to him to see the open corner shots Wright saw all last year, see if he can't make them on the wing. I was impressed with his ability to put the ball on the floor for straight line drives to the rim, finishing with his off hand effortlessly, although he needs to go up and dunk, instead of floating it in. He also seems to be an active high energy defender, all he needs is to get his feet wet on that end, he could be a good defensive player for us going forward. Furthermore, because he doesn't force himself into games, he can be a good bench player to mix in with the starters at times.

I am probably most intrigued by Crabbe out of all our prospects, (although I expect the most from CJ and Robinson) because he is one of the most enigmatic players. When you think about it, what did he and Batum bring to the table early on in their career that was so different? Three point shooting, length size and defensive effort. I am not saying he is a 2007/2008 Batum, just he is very tantalizing as a rotation player who can shoot threes and defend, something the spurs have at abundance. He is one player I will watch very closely going forward into training camp and pre-season.

[Dame Lizard]

T-Rob is easily our best youngster imo (when he plays within his limits anyway).

CJ at times is amazing, but at times tries to force things (and is limited by his size/athleticism somewhat). He's definitely better defensively than you'd think though, considering his size/athleticism at the SG position (and the fact he's not a PG).

[DaVoiceMaster]

*Yawn*

Wake me when the kisd are grown up and on their own. Robinson is the only player you might be able to get excited about.

[Wizenheimer]

a recap perspective on the Blazer summer league:

If we learned anything from this Summer League, it's that Meyers Leonard still doesn't look ready to contribute. And it starts to beg the question: Will he ever be?

There are a few things that are really working against Leonard in this situation. First, the lottery pick from a few years back went from starting in a few games during his rookie year to only nabbing garbage minutes last season. The games in Vegas didn't exactly make a strong statement in his favor either. Realistically, Leonard needs to some level of progress before he is ready to contribute at a high level.

The second issue is one of roster makeup. Though the old saying goes, "You can never have too many big men," the reality is that Portland has a number of bigs in front of Leonard, including his Summer League running mates Thomas Robinson and Joel Freeland, plus newly-acquired big man Chris Kaman (more on this later). It would be tough for Leonard to get minutes on most teams, but in Portland it's going to be even harder.

He doesn't seem ready for the speed of the game and is still a project. Thus, the bleak future of Leonard in Portland is obviously a major takeaway from Vegas.

This is probably the most important takeaway from Vegas this year: you can't play yourself into the rotation come October, but you could potentially play yourself out of it. At the very least, what happened in Summer League added a lot more questions than answers.

The biggest reflection of this was after the Trail Blazers were pummeled by Atlanta in their second-to-last game. Coach David Vanterpool didn't hold back in his post-game comments, saying he "didn't see respect for the game." That's about as critical as you can get.

Thus is the theme of Summer League: it's difficult to remember the highest points of the tournament, but the bad moments stick out like a sore thumb. Yes, people will remember the acrobatic plays that Will Barton made, but that might be the only positive thing that'll stick. What about the times that Thomas Robinson had a great box out to get a rebound? Or when Joel Freeland set a great screen to free McCollum? Maybe when Will Barton made the extra pass instead of taking a shot himself? Unlikely you remember that.

But the times when you cringed after air balls, errant passes out of bounds and a plethora of defensive miscues? Those are hard to forget.

In short, just like at the Vegas slots, it difficult to win big, but losing can come in a hurry.

This year's Summer League wasn't nearly as anticipated for the Blazers as others have been in recent years. With no new draft picks (and the shadow of names like Wiggins and Parker), this was an opportunity for guys that didn't get much time during the NBA season to show how their games improved -- and how they could potentially help the Blazers' effort to make another playoff run.

In the end, as was maybe expected, it seems like the team left with more questions than answers.

http://www.blazersedge.com/2014/7/19/5917595/five-things-we-learned-about-the-blazers-from-this-years-summer-league

[GreenRiddler]

I don't think Cj is gonna be affected too much by his size at the 2 spot, his D does look good, it looked good off the ball in college, now his on the ball D is catching up.

being an undersized 2 doesn't kill you from day 1 contrary to what some posters think (Ellis,JET,Waiters,BenGordon,Eric Gordon,Wade,Beal). Also you can never have too many end-of-the-shot-clock scorers on your team these days, it opens things up for you when your sets break down. We have one in Dame, now we got one on a rookie contract in CJ.

[ebott]

Was it fun to watch? Utah was easily the most entertaining team at summer league this year.

Depends on what you consider fun BBall. I like watching prospects develop, the first half was kinda dull because no one made anything. The second half was more entertaining.

I didn't really see utah as that exciting, everyone is raving about Exum, but he was pretty boring, very raw and is gonna take time, really not the kinda experiecnced player to be compared to MCW.

Yeah, I caught the replay of the game and it was not great. Exum and Gobert were genuinely impressive in every other game I saw them in. I'm thinking maybe they just didn't bother since this was definitely the last game. It was so bad that Meyers Leonard and Allen Crabb didn't look horrible by comparison.

[Wizenheimer]

I don't think Cj is gonna be affected too much by his size at the 2 spot, his D does look good, it looked good off the ball in college, now his on the ball D is catching up.

being an undersized 2 doesn't kill you from day 1 contrary to what some posters think (Ellis,JET,Waiters,BenGordon,Eric Gordon,Wade,Beal). Also you can never have too many end-of-the-shot-clock scorers on your team these days, it opens things up for you when your sets break down. We have one in Dame, now we got one on a rookie contract in CJ.

you sure seem to be pumping a lot of sunshine about CJ. Comparing him to Wade or Ellis is quite a stretch. And both Wade and Beal are a bit bigger then CJ by the way. And c'mon now, trying to project CJ as a closer on the level of Lillard is pretty loopy at this stage of his career

I also don't recall anybody saying CJ's size is going to "kill" him. What is being said is that being an undersized SG creates some notable disadvantages. It would take some significant talent to overcome those disadvantages

here are some combine measurements:

Height w/o Shoes: CJ 6' 2.25"....Lillard 6' 1.75"
Wingspan: CJ 6' 6.25"....Lillard 6' 7.75"
Standing Reach: CJ 8' 0.5"....Lillard 7' 11.5"
No Step Vert: CJ 32.0"....Lillard 34.5"
Max Vert: CJ 38.5"....Lillard 39.5"

all things considered, Lillard and CJ are essentially the same size. Perhaps CJ has slightly more mass, but it can't be much

we saw the liabilities arising from running the small backcourt of Lillard and Mo last season. Will it be much better with Lillard and CJ? Perhaps CJ can defend SG's better then Mo allowing Lillard to continue to defend PGs...which isn't much of a break considering the level of NBA PGs these days. Especially considering that CJ can't run an offense like Mo, meaning Lillard will have to carry the PG burden more, something that has shown to drop his efficiency quite a bit

I'm not saying that CJ isn't going to work as a backup SG. I am saying there are some inherent issues with that scenario that I'm not sure CJ's talent level can overcome

[GreenRiddler]

I don't think Cj is gonna be affected too much by his size at the 2 spot, his D does look good, it looked good off the ball in college, now his on the ball D is catching up.

being an undersized 2 doesn't kill you from day 1 contrary to what some posters think (Ellis,JET,Waiters,BenGordon,Eric Gordon,Wade,Beal). Also you can never have too many end-of-the-shot-clock scorers on your team these days, it opens things up for you when your sets break down. We have one in Dame, now we got one on a rookie contract in CJ.

you sure seem to be pumping a lot of sunshine about CJ. Comparing him to Wade or Ellis is quite a stretch. And both Wade and Beal are a bit bigger then CJ by the way. And c'mon now, trying to project CJ as a closer on the level of Lillard is pretty loopy at this stage of his career

I also don't recall anybody saying CJ's size is going to "kill" him. What is being said is that being an undersized SG creates some notable disadvantages. It would take some significant talent to overcome those disadvantages

here are some combine measurements:

Height w/o Shoes: CJ 6' 2.25"....Lillard 6' 1.75"
Wingspan: CJ 6' 6.25"....Lillard 6' 7.75"
Standing Reach: CJ 8' 0.5"....Lillard 7' 11.5"
No Step Vert: CJ 32.0"....Lillard 34.5"
Max Vert: CJ 38.5"....Lillard 39.5"

all things considered, Lillard and CJ are essentially the same size. Perhaps CJ has slightly more mass, but it can't be much

we saw the liabilities arising from running the small backcourt of Lillard and Mo last season. Will it be much better with Lillard and CJ? Perhaps CJ can defend SG's better then Mo allowing Lillard to continue to defend PGs...which isn't much of a break considering the level of NBA PGs these days. Especially considering that CJ can't run an offense like Mo, meaning Lillard will have to carry the PG burden more, something that has shown to drop his efficiency quite a bit

I'm not saying that CJ isn't going to work as a backup SG. I am saying there are some inherent issues with that scenario that I'm not sure CJ's talent level can overcome

Yeah but the thing is I don't see CJ playing much with Lillard, last year when he was in the rotation as the backup 2, he played with the backup 1 in Mo. So he will be spending more time with Blake if he gets the backup 2 spot. So it won't really bother Dame, who will still get time as the off the ball player with Blake.

CJ really isn't THAT undersized, and using Dame as a point of comparison is unfair, Dame is a bigger PG. Just like Westbrook is considered a bigger PG.


CJ actually measures well with the Combo guards I mentioned earlier, probably not wade, but Beal is only an 1 inch taller and the others I mention are a bit smaller. I wasn't comparing his talent level to Ellis either, just saying combo guards can be successful. Didn't you say above that CJ is and undersized 2 as a negative thing? It isn't great but it doesn't mean it's the end all for players, like Ellis and the others.

I just think that it isn't gonna be too much of an issue, since we aren't asking him to start at the 2 spot, even though some guys have found success at that spot, like Ellis last year. If CJ ends up being a career scorer off the bench for us like Gordon was for the Bulls, I think we would be getting what we expected when we drafted him. He doesn't really have to be a PG to be successful is all.

If it does mean Dame has to play a bit more PG down the line with CJ, well I guess he will have to. I mean didn't he say he would expect his scoring to go down and his ast rate to go up as the team got better going into last year? Lawson did it, Conley does it.

BTW I didn't compare CJ to Dame's level of play, I said we need end of the shot clock scorers who create something out of nothing when the plays break down. We have seen that from Lillard for 2 years now, it is not such an loopy thought to expect that 1 aspect of the game to be there for CJ, given he has shown that a bit in the regular season and alot in SL and at Leigh.