Summer League Fun

[WeekapaugGroove]

Who told me that Booker wasn't athletic enough to do anything other than be a spot up shooter? Don't make me search for it...

Probably the same person who was insisting his arms are too short to truly be be effective. Funny the outright misinformation that gets perpetuated. Maybe its why he slipped the #13. Worked in our favor.

So many fans and media alike kept quoting his measurements from almost a year ago, which showed 2" shorter Wingspan and 2.5" shorter Reach--Booker's measurements are just fine for a 6'6" SG/SF at 6' 8.25" wingspan and 8' 6.5" reach, as measured at the Combine.

thanks for posting this. It's super confusing to me that a handful of posters keep using his high school measurements instead of the combine measurements. Not sure what's so hard to comprehend that a 17 year old grew?? Hell he might still be growing. I personally grew two inches after I turned 18; it's pretty common.

[Revived]

Exactly. Just because your chances are better of getting all-star talent, doesn't mean you actually draft the better talent. My point was, that I'd hate to go through another season of winning only 20 some-odd games--that season was BRUTAL. I'd much rather take my chances at 13 or 14 and field a competitive team throughout the season.

We drafted top 5 already, and got our talent in Len. Philly has drafted in the top 6 over the last 4 years, is it? How good are they? The lack of faith in McD and Horny is unbelievable--they've been here through 2 seasons, and overall have posted more wins than losses--in the WESTERN conference, no less. Give these guys a chance before going total tank mode. So far they have drafted Len, Warren, and Booker. Anyone have issues with these three? Bad picks? Poor talent? No? Than why all the whining about where we pick? They didn't draft Morris, or Marshall, or Clark. Be upset with the previous regime all you want, but those guys are gone.

And saying "the fact that Russel, Okafor, Towns all have higher ceilings than him"--really? Where is this magical 'ceiling meter' you speak of? I've never seen it myself. No, those guys went higher because they demonstrated perceived higher talent ability. Saying that these guys went higher than Booker because they have 'higher ceilings' doesn't make any sense--considering he's the youngest of everyone in the draft. He went lower due to his perceived weaknesses of defense and athleticism (which he debunked at the combine. But there is no 'magic 8 ball', or magic mathematical formula that says the guy picked at 3 will be better than the guy picked at 13. Is it likely? Sure, but not guaranteed.

Of course just because you have the chance of drafting the better talent doesn't mean you draft it. That's why some teams with terrible GMs continue drafting in the top 5 for a long time. The question is, do you trust McD to make the right pick with a top 10 pick or do you expect him to Kahn it or something? I think I'd trust with him it until I'm proven wrong. I don't count the worst draft in sports history as a way to judge his drafting skills.

I do have one question though, you said you would hate to go through another brutal season of winning 20 games and would rather be competitive and miss playoffs and take home the #13-#14 pick....did you not find last season brutal? I have yet to meet anyone who actually enjoyed last season. Even McD himself said in an interview with Gambo towards end of the season that this season was not good for them (he went on to say that's why he expects some pretty big changes in the off season).

I found this last season pretty damn brutal even though Suns won 39 games.

[Revived]

So should we be concerned that a group of 3 second/third year players couldn't come up big against a lesser experienced group?
Not for the season in general. Just the fact that none of them made mega strides. Warren a bit but he wasn't good enough imo

I think your getting too caught up in summer league. Winning and losing in summer league means absolutely nothing. It's just for the players to get some glorified scrimmages going in front of fans.

I think all our guys except for Len showed improvement. Well I guess that means just Goodwin and Warren lol but even Booker looked like he has lot more under his belt than just 3pt shooting.

Warren just to learn to read the court more and improve his court vision. That's what the Spurs Anderson had, every time he posted up he was almost looking for the open guy on the wing or cutting wise. That 3pt shot of his needs some major work too. I'd guess the coaching staff tells him to work on his 3pt shooting more and less on his mid range game. Overall though, you can't discount he improvements he's made in terms of finishing at the rim and even the mid range and take guys off the dribble to the rim.

[Saberestar]

At the end of the day we were 5W - 2L and we saw an improvement ( an small one...but still ) from Warren, Archie...and Booker gained experience. I am happy with the overall result, we went to the finals and the team was fun to watch.

Len played good defense and rebounded the ball well enough...but he was disappointing on offense. Not post moves at all and his shooting from mid range was exactly like last year (strictly bad). Hopefully he improves, but right now I can't see him making more than 8 points per game next season even playing 25 mpg. He struggles offensively.

McNeal played HORRIBLE. Not coments here, he is not an NBA player.

Booker was a great surprise to me. I saw a good all around game and his shooting is money. Good ball handler and he can create more than expected.

Warren is my favourite player on the team and I really enjoyed watching him in action...he is really special and authentic...not a common player by any means. Warren was a monster until his hamstring problems...after that he was human on the court.

Goodwin is a better shooter right now, but even now he is not good enough in that regard to be considered a decent shooter from deep. His free throws a great surprise, big improvement here (76 %).
He needs to work on his decision making, passing and ball handling.

[willywazza]

I'm pretty disappointed in Alex Len. He had a very underwhelming summer league and heading into his 3rd season after losing his starting job to Chandler, the outlook is not looking particularly good for him.

Warren on the other hand, is going to be a very solid NBA player for a long time.

[plonden]

I'm pretty disappointed in Alex Len. He had a very underwhelming summer league and heading into his 3rd season after losing his starting job to Chandler, the outlook is not looking particularly good for him.

The other way to look at the situation is to be thankful we have Tyson Chandler. Big men tend to take longer to come around. Chandler is going to be a fantastic mentor for Len in terms of teaching Len how to be an excellent defender in this league. Chandler will also show Len (and the rest of the team for that matter) what true leadership is like and what it takes to have a long career in the NBA. Len will also have more time to develop without the added expectations of being a starter. At some point, though, Len will need to find a good mentor for developing several go-to post-moves. Chandler is not qualified for that role. Perhaps we'll see Len, like many other big men in this league, spend a summer working with Hakeem Olajuwon. Otherwise, the Suns may have to add a player development coach who can help Len with his footwork and back-to-the-basket moves.

[Qwigglez]

Isn't this Len's first summer league though? Last year he was injured the first game, and the year before he was injured.

[Steve Nashidis]

If i say that Alex Len was a disappointement/disaster/nightmare in this summer league i will have 4-5 reports , a ban from admin and some replies expain me with rush words how important is Alex-tourist-len for our team .

I am sick of these words and i will tell you that. GIVE me some video ...some youtube urls in order to see this development .
5 years after our last playoff appearance we hope that alex will lead us in the road of roses. Really? There is no patience . Trade him for something better , if he still has value in this league.

If you consider that taking rebounds and playing good defence is what we expect from him , i will give you a full 100 -list of european cheap players that can do only that. rebounds and blocks. I love watching Euroleague competition as much our phoenix suns team and i will tell you that is very easy to find a player with alex's numbers.

It is very simply . At #5 you pick a good player , above average , much better from what we saw in this summer league.
High expectations give us a lot of disappointment. And alex MUST learn from Chandler some basics . at least is important to be more aggresive in the offensive end, learning some good post moves (i dont know if he wants to hide those moves for regular season ).

Warren and booker gave us the feeling of a nice, tasty good food that they are trying to cook ( in the gym). Alex gave us again the same boring food . .

What Hornacek ,McDonald and fans will choose to eat?????


P.S. hellow from Europe, sorry for my english, i love phoenix suns

[PackSuns]

I worry about durability when it comes to Len. Big men who get injured early usually are injured often in their careers. Drafting on potential is always a crapshoot. Len played a few good games in college and that's about it. I am not knocking him. Go Suns!!

[bwgood77]

GIVE me some video ...some youtube urls in order to see this development .

Here you go.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6i22QtHWRU[/youtube]

[PackSuns]

GIVE me some video ...some youtube urls in order to see this development .

Here you go.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6i22QtHWRU[/youtube]

Nice vid!! The good thing about Len is he moves like a 22 yr old. A lot of young bigs move like they are 50. He definately has the tools to compete at a high level. I can't wait to see him suit up with the TEAM(not the summer league team).

[bwgood77]

Great story!! I would have sabotaged him!! You still have time. Lol.

Funny, I worked for a real estate company in San Diego who bought a home builder in San Antonio, so I transferred to that new division to be over them, and when I got there, I made it clear I was a Suns fan. This was in late 2006. My boss had four very good seats. I went to a few games, including game 4 of the 2007 playoff series against SA where the suspensions happened. Such an exhilirating game, and driving home, in the back seat of my boss' car, they were all talking, but I was intently listening to Kerr on the radio talking about possible suspensions and it took the wind out of my sails. The SA fans were thinking "nah, they won't get suspensions for that".

I even had signs that said something like Barkley couldn't win in a ring, but these Suns will...highlighting in bold "TNT" ...just to see if it would get shown....not to pick on Barkley as much as to try and draw attention since it was a TNT broadcast.

The people at work would post little pictures in my office of Horry with a mean face, saying "I'm watching you". It was kind of funny.

It will ultimately be fun having a Spurs fan there in the new office just to talk about stuff, but it would certainly be nice to have more times where we won.

Hahahhaha.

My friend owns quite a large company and he had to make layoffs. It was a presidential election year so he went out to the parking lot and looked at everyone's bumper stickers. Needless to say about 20 peeps that didn't agree with him politically no longer had a job. Ruthless. Terrible but true. Sorry, now back to basketball.

That is ruthless. Reminds me of an old Dilbert I thought was great showing the boss sending out an email saying "All non essential personnel can go home early." Then it shows him with binoculars looking out at the parking lot muttering to himself "This will be the easiest round of layoffs ever."

[bwgood77]

Nice vid!! The good thing about Len is he moves like a 22 yr old. A lot of young bigs move like they are 50. He definately has the tools to compete at a high level. I can't wait to see him suit up with the TEAM(not the summer league team).

That's one of the great things about him. He never really looks clumsy, being an ex gymnast. I mean, he is pretty good at taking the ball down the floor on a fast break. Few 7 footers are good at that. He is good at catching bad passes to prevent them from going out of bounds, and has good footwork...it will only improve learning from Chandler...likely quite a bit.

[Steve Nashidis]

GIVE me some video ...some youtube urls in order to see this development .

Here you go.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6i22QtHWRU[/youtube]

Where is the development?? At the most highlight the real danger was Bledsoe or Dragic . they were being doubled team all the time and passed to alex.How many post moves can you count in this video? one ?, two? ten? 20? . I will give you the answer. 5 .
1. at 5.31
2. 6.01
3 7.05
4. 7.25
5. 8.14

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlDNIDfSpMw[/youtube]
Dont try to count in this video. The Title will give you the answer

[Mr Puddles]

Aren't people exaggerating a bit regarding Alex Len's summer league performance? Len improved tremendously last year and looked like a double/double machine after the all-star break, before he got injured again. I'll use that as my point of reference for my expectations of Len next season, not his summer league performance.

It's funny how Goodwin looks good during the summer league and people waive it off as "it's only summer league", Len doesn't look as good as people had hoped and all of a sudden summer league performance becomes a benchmark for a successful NBA career.

[bwgood77]

GIVE me some video ...some youtube urls in order to see this development .

Here you go.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R6i22QtHWRU[/youtube]

Where is the development?? At the most highlight the real danger was Bledsoe or Dragic . they were being doubled team all the time and passed to alex.How many post moves can you count in this video? one ?, two? ten? 20? . I will give you the answer. 5 .
1. at 5.31
2. 6.01
3 7.05
4. 7.25
5. 8.14

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VlDNIDfSpMw[/youtube]
Dont try to count in this video. The Title will give you the answer

Well, he has shown skills in running the floor and being able to make a quick release. With big men, post moves typically come with time if they can develop them, so that remains to be seen. But he was a raw rookie injured most of the year, and then started about half the year and got injured...all playing with a semi dysfunctional back court. I know the back court had a very high +/-, but they would typically guard the paint.

Our biggest needs out of the center position have always been rebounding and protecting the rim, which he is good at. And with a guy his size you would worry he couldn't run the floor with a fast paced team, but that isn't a problem. I'm a bit surprised you can be so down on him.

[bwgood77]

Aren't people exaggerating a bit regarding Alex Len's summer league performance? Len improved tremendously last year and looked like a double/double machine after the all-star break, before he got injured again. I'll use that as my point of reference for my expectations of Len next season, not his summer league performance.

It's funny how Goodwin looks good during the summer league and people waive it off as "it's only summer league", Len doesn't look as good as people had hoped and all of a sudden summer league performance becomes a benchmark for a successful NBA career.

I don't put much stock in summer league, except it was nice to see Booker break out. Most players are a little more selfish to try and get their own, and you have only a handful of players who are on your team...the only guys who had ever played together were Len, Warren and Goodwin, and Len sat out a few games, and Warren was injured. It was nice to see him get a lot of rebounds, but yes, that is expected. Len can come along slowly as far as I'm concerned, now that we have Tyson...he can work on not fouling and play fewer than 30 minutes a game. Works for me.

I was happy with Goodwin after his reckless start.

[SSOL]

You really don't see improvement here? You can't just sign any player to come in and impact the defensive end like he does.

http://youtu.be/LyifAICLCkM

[STEV13]

You guys are too hard on, Alex. We've seen what he can do in real NBA-caliber games.

He's capable of being a double-double threat if given the minutes and if he can manage his fouls.
Jesus, this guy is 22 years old.
He didn't start playing basketball until he was a teenager.
He is still learning.
He was the 5th pick in one of the worsts draft classes in the past decade.
Please do not expect him to be an instant all-star big man.

What I really like about him though is his attitude. He is mature for his age and it was evidently seen when he was interviewed regarding the Tyson Chandler acquisition. He knows it's not yet his time, he knows he has a lot more to learn, and he's more than goddamn willing to learn under Tyson, and he said all that like it was natural to him. Jeff already praised him for his work ethic, "he is a sponge, he wants to learn everything", come on guys, I just think we have to cut him some slack. Give him time, let's hope he's worth it.

[saintEscaton]

In Maryland Len shot shot below 40% on postups ( 48 for 122) in an extended sample size which is alarming considering they make up the majority of his possesions his only year in college as broken down by this chart. Since he doesn't have the offense run through him or receive designated play calls he's been rarely asked to do so in the NBA so of course he hasn't progressed in this area.


Although his midrange jumper has a feathery touch and impeccable form he shot just 31% from beyond 16 ft last season with limited range inside of that and looked like he sometimes hesitated to take open looks and passed it over. 50% of his attempted field goals last season where around the basket (0-3 ft) where he shot nearly 70% on assisted dump offs where a penetrating ballhander opens up a lane for him for throwdowns in addition to putbacks.