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Hey all!

I was at Orlando Summer League again. Here are some notes from the week!

1. Dennis Smith Jr was held out because the team didn't want to overwork him. Asked if the knee was a concern and was told "No. But not reason to stretch it for Summer League."

2. Dwight Buycks will get a camp invite. Lots of teams liked his play. Dallas said "We'd invite him, but we certainly don't need another PG on the roster."

3. Ding Yanyuhang can play some. He can't defend worth a damn, but could be an interesting guy to watch. Challenge is that China won't release him to the NBA without a guaranteed roster spot. So if he's in camp, he's making the team.

4. Brandon Paul will get a camp invite from someone too. He was really good all week.

5. Satnam Singh is huge and extremely loud. But those are his best skills. He's too slow to ever be an NBA player.

6. Jonathan Motley was impressive athletic, but is extremely raw. He needs a lot of work, but Dallas is excited to work with him.

7. Christian Wood and Brandon Ashley both showed up big time with their length and athleticism. Unfortunately, both make a ton of mental mistakes. That is what kept them from having consistent NBA jobs.

Mostly, they were thrilled to win Orlando but wanted to get on to Las Vegas with a few more of the regulars.

Bonus: Everyone I talked to said there is no clock on Dirk and retiring. The exact quote was "He can play as long as he wants to. He'll be able to hit open threes when he's 50. If he hears that, he might just decide to do it too!"

DSJ won't play in upcoming games?

Darren wrote:DSJ won't play in upcoming games?

These are Orlando's notes. It was the reason he didn't play in Orlando.

Darren wrote:DSJ won't play in upcoming games?

He is playing in Las Vegas. First game is up today!

Sounds like Buycks and Paul won't stay with us. Can't say I'd be mad about that given that we already have six rotation-caliber guards on the roster with Smith/Barea/Yogi/Harris/Matthews/Curry. While they've both shown something in Orlando you also can't cancel out the fact that neither one of them is all that young anymore for NBA standards.

And I gotta admit that I've been pretty underwhelmed by Motley so far. It may be the knee injury that's still bothering him (he's also on a minutes restriction per Sneed) but he looks like he isn't much of a quick leaper. Add that to him being relatively short and that leads to him playing below the rim far more often than you'd hope for an energy big like him. He's not as ground-bound as e.g. Jamel Warney is but it's still not ideal. Maybe that gets better as he continues to rehab but if I had to decide right now Chris Wood would definetely be higher on my list.

Seems like an aesthetic game for me. This may sound tricky but its very thrilling how they goes of the court.

JamesConway wrote:Sounds like Buycks and Paul won't stay with us. Can't say I'd be mad about that given that we already have six rotation-caliber guards on the roster with Smith/Barea/Yogi/Harris/Matthews/Curry. While they've both shown something in Orlando you also can't cancel out the fact that neither one of them is all that young anymore for NBA standards.

And I gotta admit that I've been pretty underwhelmed by Motley so far. It may be the knee injury that's still bothering him (he's also on a minutes restriction per Sneed) but he looks like he isn't much of a quick leaper. Add that to him being relatively short and that leads to him playing below the rim far more often than you'd hope for an energy big like him. He's not as ground-bound as e.g. Jamel Warney is but it's still not ideal. Maybe that gets better as he continues to rehab but if I had to decide right now Chris Wood would definetely be higher on my list.

Brandon Paul has signed guaranteed deal with Spurs.