Wahoo... the Rockets win again... Championship, here we come! Rockets 81 Bucks 69 Box Score : http://www.nba.com/bucks/news/Summer_League_2005.html (thanks to xomox) High scorers - Badiane -18, Glover - 18, Baxter - 15 Bright spots - Malick Badiane, Baxter, Head The Bad Man's return... Just when you think he's buried, he rises up again. Badiane's point total could have been even higher had it not been for 4 straight misses at the FT line. He played decently but his deficiencies were still displayed. He has a lot of trouble bodying people up down low without drawing a foul. He's a great weakside defender/blocker, but I don't know how long he'd last 1 on 1 in the paint against a good PF/C. They say he's gained about 20 pounds, but he's still hops and shaped like a pogo stick. The hustle is still there. He was pretty much MIA in the first game, but put his mark on this game while guarding Bogut a lot as well. He did frustrate Bogut, but at the same time Bogut got inside position on him a lot - hell, so did anyone else they put on him for that matter. Badiane still seemed lost in terms of positioning on defense and I think that is what is killing him. But you see that, and then you see him pop a turnaround 12 footer. You also see him fly in out of nowhere to swat a shot on the baseline by the opponent. On another play early in the first quarter, you see him fly in again for another blocked shot, but it was called goaltending. It still got a lot of murmurs and ooh's and aah's from the crowd. Then when you think you've seen it all, he pops a 16-18 footer. I know, I know... he sucks. Head's on straight... Luther's shot wasn't falling early on. I don't know what his FG% ended up being, but he could've been the spokesperson for ACME early on. That being said, he continues to play hard and you can tell this kid is an athletic freak. He woke the crowd up on a play where he was breaking downcourt and did a "soft" reverse jam. He displayed some of his rookie bad decision-making when he drove the ball on Bogut and tried to hook it over him. He was swatted. Head just smiled. A few seconds later he pops a long range two while falling out of bounds and the clock expiring. JVG wants people to take the clutch shot? This kid doesn't hesitate. That buzzerbeater followed a 3 point buzzerbeater he took and nailed in the first quarter as time ran out. I saw him get beat on defense a couple of times, but I'm sure he can get over it. He was still trying to hawk the ball though. The two things I took away about Luther Head from this game are 1) The kid can fly on the fast break - whether he's leading it or running it. He'll remind you a bit of Cuttino Mobley. 2) He does a great job passing the ball when in the paint. He had a couple of reverse/wraparound passes he made in the game. Malick fumbled one of them, but the pass was beautiful in traffic. As I noticed in the first game, I also like the fact the kid doesn't force the issue - he takes opportunities as they're given. I wasn't keeping track, but I believe Luther probably only played about 2.5 quarters. I think he left in the 3rd quarter and I don't believe he ever came back. Lonnie, Lonnie, Lonnie, getcher rebound heeeere I really liked this guy's game the few times I've seen him play in college and in the pros. He's a banger inside, has good mobility, and pretty decent range on a jumper. He had foul problems in this game, but the refs were a bit foul-happy, as well. Baxter bangs around on the inside, scraps for rebounds, and has good footwork around the basket. He can take it in or pull it back for a jumper. He's nothing great, but I see a lot of good that could help this team maybe in the role of a backup. ... and the rest Dion Glover went off for 18 pts in this game. His game is solid and he was given a chance to show his stuff again. If he has an opening he'll drive or if he sees daylight, he'll shoot it. It'll be interesting to see if we give the guy an invite. I don't see why it would be bad to bring him in especially if we're getting rid of some of our other players in trades... *hint* *hint* *mr. van gundy*. That was pretty much the rest. No one else really stood out. Chuck Hayes came in and didn't really do much. Hollis Price saw a lot of time at the PG again and distributed the ball well. You'll see Andrew Bogut's line and it'll show he scored 20+ points. Half of those were on dunks where he was wide open due to our bad defense where we left him alone. The other half of his points were from the FT line. I watched him play and I could see he wasn't a stiff, but after seeing what I saw, I wasn't sure I was watching a #1 pick. But then this is only his 2nd game, so I guess I can wait...
From DoD's game action description (a BIG thanks BTW) it sounds like Badiane is getting no coaching in Europe. Leave him in the US please!
Great work D.o.D, and much appreciated. One question, do you think Malick would learn more over here in the NBDL, than in Germany? Has he progressed at all in the 2 years since you saw him? Thanks, DD
Loving the updates DoD. Good to hear Malick show atleast a little something he can do. Sounds like Baxter and Glover are playing well, hopefully they can keep it up and get an invite. Baxter could replace Spoon and Glover sounds like a good backup for TMac.
Thanks DoD. I strongly suggested 2 years ago that they keep BAD here. Germany did him no good it seems.
Thanks again DoD. It's good to hear that Baxter playing well. As I said in the other thread, I think he would be a serviceable backup PF.
Thanks DoD. I hope they bring Badiane in this year. I can't help but think he would be more valuable than 4 or 5 of the players that are currently under contract.
Wow, Badiane had a spectacular game from what you described. And he was playing against the #1 pick in the draft. Well, hopefully, he keeps improving. I remember reading in the Chronicle that JVG was going to see the game to monitor his progress. I wonder, if Baiane's play is opening up the coaches eyes?
yeah i say give him a spot. THe new cba lets us have have a 14 man roster so why not? Even if he doesn't get pt, at least he'd get to practice with us and maybe have deke teach him a thing or two.
From what I saw of Badiane, I'm not sure I honestly see him as having improved in anything. He still looks out of position on defense and looks confused. The only thing saving him is his hustle and athletic ability. He does have a nice jumper that he looks like he can hit if left open, but then I saw that 2 years ago. My biggest fear is that he just doesn't get set plays and how they are run - maybe I'm mistaken. The other thing is that he never really seems graceful in his game. Even on his great plays, he's off balance of falling over and still getting the play done. There was one play in this game where he looked like he tripped over his own foot and slammed... and I do mean SLAMMED HARD into the court. But he got back up and trotted back to play. Do you guys remember Kenny Smith? The guy was flat out fast as hell going forward, but your grandma could juke him if he had to go laterally, though. This is what I see in Badiane. He can be fast/quick, but on defense a quicker/bigger guy can destroy him. I watch Badiane and it almost seems like someone said : "You must be able to dunk" - check "You must be able to hit a 12 foot jumper" - check "You must be able to block shots" - check "You must run and hustle at all times" - check But nobody taught him how to play in between all that. How do I get in position? How do I set this screen? Where do I go after I set that screen? At times it seems like everything's moving too fast for him (even worse than Yao's issues early on). I want this kid to make it into the NBA, even as a bench guy, just because you can see he tries and tries hard. I hope he'll do it someday, but it's starting to look iffy. He has points where he's brilliant and points where you're screaming at him to get back in position.
