That's pretty telling, isn't it? Sophomore season playing against kids. Should be one of the leaders of this bunch. One board in garbage league game. See, summer league can tell us some things. Harrell even in college was never a good rebounder. He's even worse now at the NBA level. And now in SL......One board. This is how you arrive at early decision points and realize what you have in young players. It's obvious to me right now that Harrell is more mediocrity. I'd throw him in a trade in a hot second if I could get a future second for him or combine him with other talent for an upgrade and an extra roster spot to try out somebody else. A ferocious dunk here and there ain't going to change my mind. I've seen this story a thousand times. Harrell has miniscule odds of becoming an above average player in this league and being a plus player in a rotation. He has demonstrated no outstanding skill. His best skill is his defense, which is how we should market him in trade. But his Achilles is he gives up too many offensive rebounds after playing that good D. He can't finish defensively by grabbing the board. So that weakness for all practical purposes obliterates his ONLY strength. And rebounding is not one of those skills that you can improve more than incrementally. Guys that are poor to average rebounders in college don't all of a sudden break out and become great rebounders in the NBA. Never happens. Never. So you can bank on this fact. And it is a fact. Harrell is always going to be a deficient rebounder. He's going to always have that weakness. We don't have to see how he's going to develop in that area. He's always going to be a deficient rebounder with emphasis on the defensive end where rebounding is critical. Once you realize this is a baked in component of a player that isn't going to change then you can go looking for an outstanding skill that offsets it. Such as: 1. Is he an outstanding shooter that can fling up a ton of 3's at 40% or close to it? 2. Does he draw fouls and get to the FT line at an exorbitant rate and knock them down? What does his TS% look like and on what kind of volume? 3. If he's not a good rebounder, does he box out properly and help the team defensive rebounding percentage be very high while he is in there? (Chuck Hayes) 4. Does he get a ton of steals and draw a lot of offensive fouls that more than offset his own turnovers and make him a possession creator which helps to mitigate his poor rebounding? 5. Is he an outstanding playmaker with the basketball in his hands? Can he create high efficiency looks for others while not turning the ball over? I could go on but you get the picture. When I examine Harrell I see another guy. If a player doesn't show something significant early he's most likely going to fall in the average player pile. So if an opportunity comes along to get a pick for him or at least an extra roster spot while merging him with other talent for a single greater talent we should take it and go look at the next player. Run Wiltjer through our system for a year and see what he looks like next summer. Then make the same decision whether to keep him because he's showing something serious or to trade him because you realize his deficiency cannot be offset enough for him to become an above average player.
I've only watched one summer league game. I think it was the 2nd one. If there was only one other game you'd recommend to watch, which one would it be?
WatchESPN . com It's how I watched the second game. So long as you have certain Internet providers it's free. ::EDIT:: Yes, what bigshasta said.
It seems to me that improving as a rebounder should be the easiest skill to improve. Learn how to box out; that takes no particular skill and then go after every ball within your range... every ball. Great defense relies on certain facets of athleticism, so you can only improve so much given your limitations. Great shooting relies on certain kinds of eye-hand coordination so your improvement is limited by your natural gift. Rebounding is a two-second gig: get in the way of someone your guarding a.k.a. "blocking out" and go after the missed shot-- some you'll get, some you won't... but at least your guy won't get it!
Not that Harrell is a good rebounder, but he his playing out on the perimeter a lot even on defense. He would box out his man on the perimeter while KJ, Dekker, or Onuaku cleaned up the glass. All had 5+ rebs I believe. I think if Harrell wasn't asked to be a stretch 4 and just an active body I think he can be a solid rebounder especially on the offensive end given his hustle. I think this game was a fluke IMO contributed by him playing out of position on the perimeter.
I didn't even see the game so my contribution was just to raise hope for Harrell. I went back to playing basketball after a five year layoff to raise kids and the two things I could still do (when I couldn't do almost anything else the way I had done it before) was block out/rebound and disrupt passing lanes. Those require almost no footwork fancies! 50 years old back from a 5 year hiatus and I got defensive rebounds the first three times down the floor-- without even jumping I'm pretty sure. And I intercepted a couple of ball movement passes in that first game as well. That's about clever anticipation and not athletics. A month later I tore my patella tendon off my patella and broke it into three pieces so my basketball career was effectively ended.
Although the team was not that good there were some good things to take away from SL play. I like what I saw from Harrell, Dekker and a few others. To me Wiltjer was the biggest surprise. I didn't think he could play defense the way he did and on top of that still score. He will make the rotation.
Haha. He will be lucky if he makes the D-League rotation this year. The only 2 players in our Summer League who may play 8-10 minutes a night are McDaniels and Harrell. The rest will be on IR or D League.
Willis played until he was 44, but he was no Nat Hickey who played until he was 46 (player-coach). Giddyup is in a league of his own_a true OG.
Career? Maybe not... but I was playing 3-4 times per week and on Sunday afternoon at the park for 20+ years...
