My take on the new guys:

Brad Wanamaker – most polished of the bunch there; good with the ball, great penetration, good defense. Jump shot needs work. I was impressed.

Darnell Dodson – Had a hard time hitting the rim, but maybe it was just an off night. I know these aren’t high intensity games, but when he was in the game, didn’t have much of a presence. I wasn’t very impressed.

Gary McGhee – Clearly he needs a lot of polish, but he was active in the paint, attacked the rim, had soft hands and made some nice passes. Overall, a really good performance.

Cassin Diggs – Slow, sloppy player. His only assets are size and that, when he does get the ball close to the hoop and has some space, he attacks the rim. McGhee is a superior player.

Gilbert Brown – Fast, explosive, fairly erratic, and, if I can be honest, a real whiny b@#$!. Looks like he has the tools to be an impact player, but I don’t know if he has the kind of attitude to excel in Dixon’s system.

Tim Frye (walk on from Mars, Pa) – Has a nice shot, seemed to have a really good court awareness and just seems like an all-around solid player. Looks like the kind of guy who by his junior year could be one of those players who gets 15 minutes a game, hits some big shots, and can always be counted on to contribute when needed.

Mike Cook and Ramon looked pretty good, Fields and Benjamin not so much. Cook and WVU’s Alexander were going head to head for much of their game and Cook just wore him down. By the end of the game, Cook was lighting everybody up.

Apparently Benjamin has been tearing it up in this league, but he looked like the same Benjamin to me – erratic jump shot, limited off of the dribble, with a few sparkling plays thrown in. I don’t see any significant development there.

Glad I finally made it to this league. I recommend going if you are local. There is a small set of bleachers right along the court and the Pitt players all were hanging out at the end of the bleachers, talking trash to the guys on the court, etc. Good summertime hoops watching.

I’ll agree on this: Wanamaker – by far the best of the new kids. He will play soon, if not immediately. Fast, yet not out of control, actually finishes! Looking forward to him playing next year. Very good.

Disagree:
Brown – I’ll agree he whines, but thats about it. He didn’t do much of anything, attacked the rim once that i can remember, didn’t finish. Did whine about it. Not impressed at all.

Diggs vs. McGhee
I thought Diggs was by far the better of the two. He was very confident, took it to the hoop, Diggs even had a dunk. Got to the line when he didn’t finish. Mark my words, he’ll be higher on the depth chart, and if we start a true center, it’ll be him (haven’t seen Wallace though). I was impressed with his speed and acceleration, especially when close to the basket (for a big man).

McGhee – looks like a thinner and tan Gray. Looks lost, unsure, slow. Yes, he can catch the ball (usually, not any better than Diggs), but have seen him get blocked by shorter players because he’s lumbering around out there, slow to get the ball up, and not very confident. And when he misses he’s not always getting to the line. Other guys were pulling down boards he should be grabbing, once again because he’s Gray like, not moving his feet at all. (Then again, it turned out alright for Gray, so I guess we’ll see). No dunks to be found either. Although as I posted in an earlier game, had one blocked by the rim. Yuck.

I’ll pay much closer attention to these two tonight, make sure I’m getting it right here. I was actually shocked when I read someone thought McGhee was better than Diggs. If I’m wrong, I’ll revise it tomorrow. This was the first time I’ve seen Diggs though.

I left before last half of Cook vs Benjamin game. Nothing to note there, neither one seems much different.

Ramon – that kid is amazing. In this summer league against lesser competition, he tears shit up. He has to be shooting 50%. He came in cold, 10 min late, went in, missed 2 or 3, and then was warmed up enough, didn’t miss much after that. His pull up jumper is just amazing. He needs to shoot from behind screens more next year, especially inside the line, not just 3’s. He could be huge. Maybe now that we won’t go to Gray on every posession he’ll get a substantial number of shots.

Feilds – Definitely off. 1 of 6ish from behind the line. Wanted to strangle him every time he lined up another one. He wasn’t his normal talkative self, kind of quiet/frustrated/mad, shot poorly. Not sure which caused which. Didn’t look too good for the best point guard around here. He did look better earlier in the season. Also missed 1 or 2 layups, but did make 1 spectacular one. Must’ve been an off night.

Still waiting for Blair to show. Although I’m told he looks to be more like 6’6 – square.

I’m tenatively going to games tonight and tomorrow. I’ll report back on those too. I would have pictures but the gym is lit like WVU – a very dim yellow. No pics come out. Oh well.

I thought Brown was practically ball hogging at points, both (ill-advised) jumpers and drives to the hoop, at least in the second half.

Agree on Ramon. Also looked good going to the hoop. Hope he looks to do that more as well.

Now on to summer league:

Well, of course, on cue, Diggs and McGhee had off. I guess I’ll see them tomorrow.

Now for the games they did play.

A different Gilbert Brown showed up today – maybe because it was an elimination game – and he was on fire. 15 in the first half, 10 in the second, 5/10 from 3, 4/11 inside the line. Missed both free throws, got 2 boards. Was fast, agressive, and played defense. Looked much, much better, and if he plays like this, will contribute. At one point Levance was yelling from the side “cmon gilbert, make it rain” as he was dropping 3’s.

Blair was on Gilberts team – but he showed up 10 min into the game. Was slow at first as he warmed up, but then put on a show. In the 10 min he played of the first half he had 14 pts, 3 offensive boards (6 pts off these) 2 blocks and 2/3 from the line, including an and-1. Second half he had 3 defensive boards, 1 offensive board (which he put back for 2+1 – the kid didn’t miss a put back all night), 7 points total. He did have 2 turnovers back to back at one point down low, and then had a shot blocked too, but he also had a sweet no look pass for a layup downlow. Overall he was 8/15, 21 pts in 3 quarters of a game. Has several different shots, including a sweet hook he was 1/2 on. Defense was ok, a little slow to get a hand up sometimes, but has a massive cheeseburger eating body that is hard for others to shove around. Other times, it was like he was on springs, including a massive block. Seriously, the kid is huge. Like big baby. Has to be over 250. Huge. But his quickness, agility and body control is amazing for his size. You just don’t see it coming.

Those two combined for 46 of their teams 86 points, but they lost 95-86 and are eliminated, so no more Brown/Blair this year.

Second game had Levance, Darnell Dodson, and Tyrel Biggs showed up on one team, and Keith Benjamin on the other team.

KB had a couple of drives to the basket, a sweet assist, 3 boards and a 3 in the first half for 8 points. 1/2 from line, 2/4 from 2, 1/2 from 3. Did have 2 bad TO’s. Second half he came out missed a couple of 3’s, turned the ball over, and then early in the half sprained his ankle bad enough he didn’t play the rest of the game. Looked like usual the rest of the time.

The other team was loaded with 3 Pitt players, and destroyed KB’s team 70-41.

Levance was a little slow in the first half with 4 points, missing both 3’s, shooting 1/4 from 2, 2/4 from line. Did have 2 great assists, its amazing what this kid sees. Second half he came out possessed, scored 3 straight layups, went 1/2 from 3, 3/3 from line. Had 20 points, 6/11 from 2, 1/4 from 3. Was great at directing people, especially pitt players – at one point Dodson got an earfull for not going up for an alley-oop – literally, the kid just stood there and watched the ball come back down before going for it. Levance was like “you know its for you D, don’t stand there, go get it!” Also yelling at him to play better D.

Darnell Dodson was…there again. Did have a dunk, 4 points total, 0/2 from 3, 2/4 from 2, 3 boards and a block. Needs work on D. All misses were jump shots, only made a dunk and a layup.

Biggs played alright I guess, and looked faster and a little more under control (although he did get an offensive foul down low for spinning into/running over a guy while trying to shoot, just like normal). Only 2 turnovers I saw. And he made a 3, although that was the exception to the rule. Was 1/2 from 3, 9 points overall. His free throw shooting sucks. 2/5, including missing the rim altogether on one. Missed back to back putbacks at one point. 2/7 from 2. Had 7 boards and a steal. But man, his shot sucked. So i guess a mixed review.

Tomorrow i think Ramon’s team and Cook’s team play, as does Levance’s team again. Both the other big guys should be there, so I’ll watch that closely.