Post#62 » by ph1sh55 » Tue Apr 15, 2008 12:46 am
my impression on a few players from sitting about 5 rows up; first time I've seen any of them play:
Demar DeRozan was the most impressive player out of the whole bunch. Insane explosiveness, showed good form on pull up jumper, tons of elevation, but played within himself.
Tyreke Evans...just did not impress me. It seemed like he was trying to play like a star rather than just focusing on playing good basketball. On defense he made some incredibly obvious fouls, in once case blatantly whacking a guy across the elbow, followed by being upset with the call and whining to the refs.
On offense..his jumper did not look very good. Not that I don't think it's correctable, but more than a couple times he would be fading off balance when he should have been elevating straight up, and his jumper was well short. It didn't make much sense to me because when he caught the ball he was set and not fading.. Then a few other times he stalled the offense to try and take a guy 1v1 but wasn't able to get by him. It seemed like he is used to monopolizing the ball and doesn't really know how to play without it yet.
Obviously he has the physical tools but it seems like he's trying to look fancy or like a star rather than playing good basketball. Hope he figures it out because he has all the measurables to be good.
Devoe Joseph was the most impressive on the international side, where he had some success penetrating against USA guards, driving amongst the trees and using good body control despite his (currently) slim frame to finish on a few occassions.
Zygimantas Janavicius (PG of international squad) did not look 6'5" at all. Looked to be 6'3" tops. He did a decent job on the defensive end, staying with the quick USA guards, but needed to look to be a threat on the offensive end more often. He did a manageable job but I wasn't too impressed with him. ie he's not going to win you games but is a serviceable guard if you have dominant players at other positions.
Serge Ibaka
Showed impressive athletic tools but did not seem to want to create contact when he was inside. Seems a lot like Travis outlaw really.
Samardo Samuels and Emmanuel Negedu played similar styles trying to use their bruising physiques down low with limited success. I liked Negedu more from the two, looks like he'll be a good bruiser at AZ.
Alexis Ajinca
Showed some nice post moves a couple of times but then airballed a dunk and close in layup. Not a strong finisher and I don't know if he ever will be. If he could add bulk to his legs he could have a lower center of gravity and more dominating presence..those things were like toothpicks.
Continues to be a project
The Bigs of the international team were nearly invisible, the only inside game came from their 6'8"/6'9" forwards.
I have to remind myself that these guys are all still very young of course, but those were some of my first impressions.
