JJ Hickson's 1st summer league game

[DowJones]

It is at halftime right now and he has 12 points and 6 rebounds. He doesn't look bad, especially grabbing offensive rebounds. He has shown a solid touch and he appears to be more athletic than I thought. He also has really long arms that have helped him get a few impressive tip-dunks.

Overall he looks solid. He obviously needs a bunch of work, but I can see the talent.

[1bhcavsfan]

It had been said by many, that if he would've stayed for a additional yr that he had the talent to land himself into the lottery

[DowJones]

Hickson finished with 26 and 9 on 11-15 shooting. Not bad for the rookie. Hopefully he continues to improve.

[moocow007]

Hickson was pretty damn impressive. Clearly the best player on the Cavs SL roster and with Wilson Chandler of the Knicks clearly the best two players on the floor.

He's got some really nice post moves, excellent timing on his jumps and showed really nice athleticism. He needs to add more muscle and improve conditioning (as most all rookies do) but he definitely has the potential of being a really nice player down the road for you guys.

[TheOUTLAW]

26 and 9 is nice especially on only 15 shots.

[hoodie©]

B.E.A.S.T. I don't remember him being that fluid at all in college! I definitely know about his shotblocking prowess (which he didn't really display today) but he caught me offguard on the offensive end big time. Looks like you guys may have gotten a steal here.

[OSTMD]

Like I said when they drafted him, give him a year of grooming and growing to fill out his frame, adding strength and he can be a real force! Granted this is only summer league but its a solid start.

[rjgraca]

I only got to see the 4th quarter, but I did like what I saw of Hickson. Jackson looked pretty good too.

Tucker is a gun and the CAVs really didn't have a PG on the floor in the last quarter when I watched so it just basically looked like one on one down the stretch.

Box score if anyone's interested:

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2008/gam ... 1520800013

[KCBen]

Sounds like Darnell Jackson played really well to.

[Gordon Bombay]

hickson's development is huge for this team going forward...good to see he's off to a good start in summer league

[Hydroponic3385]

As far as roster spots for Summer League guys, who do you think will make the 12 and 15 man rosters?

Obviously, Hickson will be on our 12 man roster. Jackson will be somewhere between 12 and 15. Do you think Clay Tucker will have a shot at being on our 15 man roster? As of now we have Lebron, Z, Ben, Wally, Joe, Andy, Sasha, Damon and Delonte and Boobie (assuming they re-sign) on the squad. Add Hickson and that's 11 guys. We'll probably also have SOME type of free agent signing, so that's 12. The final 3 spots will be between Jackson (who I think will make it), Allred, and Traylor for the bigs and Tucker, Thomas, and Green for the guards.

This is what I'll guess:

Z / Andy / Allred
Ben / Joe / Hickson / Jackson
Lebron / Wally
MLE or Sasha / MLE or Sasha
Delonte / Gibson / Damon / Tucker

[Benedict_Boozer]

Damn it will be hard to catch these afternoon games. Hopefully they are archived somewhere?

Good to see JJ and Darnell doing well

[Dogen]

Celtics fan here. Just watched the NY feed of this game and was really impressed with Hickson. Incredible upper body control. Now, it should be said that the Knicks had a very small front court, but Hickson's length and skill look like they will translate into the NBA game. Nice pick for you guys and I think you may have gotten a steal.

[B Mac]

It was hard to watch that game and not feel good about JJ. He is going to be a crowd favorite in no time. Extremely effecient, and really, if Tucker wouldnt have gone into Dajuan Wagner mode and got the ball to the guys in the post instead of chucking it every time down late in the game, then JJ should have ended up with a lot more. The scouting report on him looking to dunk the ball every time he touches it were dead on. That one put back dunk he had was flat out nasty. Easily would have been a Sportscenter top 10 play if in the regular season.

I was very impressed with Darnell as well. Obviously he isnt as skilled and has more work to do, but it sure is nice seeing talented powerful big men wearing the Wine and Gold not afraid to get downlow and bang around, even if it was against a weak front line from the Knicks. I think Darnell will fit in well with the rest of our bigs and could get some burn if one of the main guys goes down with an injury. Putting him on our new D-league team with our coaching staff should go a long way in helping him learn Cavalier basketball, but I think he is a lot closer to being a 4th/5th big on our team than many of us originally thought (at least based on what I saw today).

As for who should make the team, the only two locks IMO are Hickson and Jackson. I think the Tractor might get a serious look to make the squad as our last big over Allred. Maybe I was off base on my Tucker analysis, but the guy seemed to have no idea how to play team ball, including one time not even thinking about passing when we had a 5 on 1 and 2 open guys under the basket. On second thought maybe this team needs a guy like him who is solely thinking about scoring... who knows he cant be any worse than Billy Thomas. Lets just hope that we can make our Devin Brown type signing so that we wont have to worry about trying to find a gem out of this pile of spare parts.

My roster is pretty similar to Hyrdo's except that I see us signing two lesser FA's rather than giving one the full MLE.

Z / Andy / Tractor
Wallace / Joe Smith / Hickson / Jackson
LeBron / FA
Wally / Sasha / FA
West / Gibson / Jones

The reason I think we keep Tractor is that I think we are preparing ourselves for trading Andy and I think if forced to, Coach Brown would rather go with a vet like Tractor over Allred instead of counting on big minutes from JJ and especially Jackson who should be in the D-League. At least Outty's fears of never having enough big men would be a distant memory with that lineup.

[DowJones]

I am hoping that Darnell Jackson provides depth in the post for us. I would be thrilled if he gives us a Leon Powe or Ronnie Turiaff type of productivity. He doesn't even need to be a starter, but even if he can give us some solid minutes off the bench he will have accomplished what we want him to do. Moving forward we don't have much in the way of youth in the post, so hopefully Jackson gives us some solid minutes off the bench.

Hickson was an "upside" type of pick. Remember that the guy did very well in the ACC and he has a good foundation to work with. I really liked that he wanted to play near the paint...something I think too many bigs shy away from. He has the body and the athletic ability to really be a force in the paint. He is still raw and does need to refine his game, but in 2 years I think he could be a key contributor, whether it be coming off the bench or starting at the 4.

[magicfan4life05]

Did anyone see that sick stick back jam....

[B Mac]

Did anyone see that sick stick back jam....

I know my previous post was probably too long for a lot of people to read, but I mentioned it in there and how if it were in a regular season game it would have easily been a top 10 highlight on ESPN. Going over guys to put down a 1 handed putback dunk???? Absolutely nasty. Actually he had another putback dunk as well, and almost had a 3rd.

[calibanPK]

Did anyone see that sick stick back jam....

I know my previous post was probably too long for a lot of people to read, but I mentioned it in there and how if it were in a regular season game it would have easily been a top 10 highlight on ESPN. Going over guys to put down a 1 handed putback dunk???? Absolutely nasty. Actually he had another putback dunk as well, and almost had a 3rd.

Youtube?? I wonder if they have summer league video highlights anywheres...will check when I get home from work.

[Benedict_Boozer]

NBA.com has all of the games archived, so you guys can all check it out there.

I just rewatched it. The things that stood out to me about Hickson:

*Soft hands = he caught everything that was thrown at him.
*Soft touch = around the basket even in heavy traffic he was able to put shots in, several off the glass. This is big because alot of younger PF's rush or lose their poise when they get the ball in heavy traffic.
*Advanced Post-up Game = He got hit with a couple travels but showed some nice footwork in the post..in fact he is really advanced there already which is surprising..
*Midrange J? = I was looking for him to knock down a J and he buried one nothing but net in the 4th, something to look out for...because if he can hit that shot, look out

Gotta be excited about his 1st outing. I'll be watching him closely in the next game