Chris Taft hurt his back during a summer league game when he threw down a reverse dunk. He suffered back spasms, and missed one game and is likely to miss another.
Taft had been impressing people in the summer league, and definitely has played with determination.
Taft’s potential is clear after just three summer league games. There’s no doubt why he once was considered one of the top post player in last month’s NBA draft, why the Warriors happily jumped on him when he was available at No. 42. Just 20 years old and at 6-foot-10 and 261 pounds, he certainly has the makings of a solid, if not dominant, post player.
What has to make the Warriors happy, even more than his obvious promise, is that he’s been playing with purpose. The most common knock on Taft, a University of Pittsburgh product, is that he doesn’t play hard unless he’s motivated. But he’s clearly driven this summer league, mostly by slipping so far in the draft.
He’s still raw and doesn’t go all out every play; on occasion he trots to the defensive end. But his play has been marked by spurts of assertiveness and physicality.
He isn’t dominating games or embarrassing opponents, but he’s showing the Warriors some of what they need to see.
“He’s really explosive and he plays hard,” fellow Warriors rookie power forward Ike Diogu said. “He’s going to be really good. … He’s pretty strong. He can hold his own down low. He’s a big body and he has some nice moves down low.”
His averages of 7.3 points and 5.3 rebounds in 15.3 minutes are good numbers, but they don’t convey the passion he has shown.
His GM speaks well of him and a story was recounted of their meeting at their old high school.
A little game of 2-on-2 ensued with Mullin and Taft matched against each other. It was a Brooklyn schooling Taft has not forgotten.
“He shot my lights off that game,” Taft recalled. “He was just shooting and shooting and I couldn’t defend him.”
Keep in mind that Taft was only a sophomore at the time, and not nearly as big and tall.
Meanwhile, present Pitt player Levon Kendall has been playing and practicing with the Canadian national team as they prepare to play in the world qualification tournament next month. He has gotten raves from his coach.
Rautins expects to have more than 20 players start a camp at Toronto’s Humber College that will run until Tuesday, among the most prominent being Vancouver’s Levon Kendall, coming off a solid season at the University of Pittsburgh.
“He’s a really good player, 6-10 with small-forward skills,” said Rautins. “If he was European, all the NBA guys would be saying we’ve got to get him over here.”
Hopefully Kendall’s confidence is being rebuilt. He showed flashes for a few games, then he just seemed to lose confidence, playing time and then was gone from the rotation.
