Open Thread: The meaning of Summer League

by Mike Prada on Jul 17, 2008 11:31 AM EDT in Game Threads

Real-world conflicts are probably going to prevent me from posting until tonight, so this is an open thread for anyone to discuss what's on their minds. Feel free to veer off-topic.

I'll try to re-watch last night's game and write up some notes by the end of the night. Also, I've been lazy with my part of the remaining player evaluations, so I'll try to work on those tonight.

To start the discussion, here's a question that has been on my mind throughout the last week.

How much does Summer League mean to you? How important do you think it is when evaluating a players' development?

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More important then Summer League

Now that Posey is signed, what now? I am starting to think
Wizards will sign one of the Summer League FA Forwards on the Rostere
for the final regular season roster spot. Still holding out hope for Matt Barnes.
The only thing I hope for watching summer league is that no Wizard get injured,

by LoneWiz54 on Jul 17, 2008 12:31 PM EDT reply actions

My guess is

Ernie will wait until the very end of the offseason, a la 2006, and sign someone like Stevenson for a really small deal.

There are plenty of guys out there who fit the bill. I would like to see them clear some space for Barnes, though.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Jul 17, 2008 12:43 PM EDT up reply actions

Do you really think they need to clear space

for Barnes or Evans? I hope not though OPec is starting to be a little disappointing with the injuries.

by LoneWiz54 on Jul 18, 2008 12:59 AM EDT up reply actions

We have gone over this

It’s been reported that we only have at most 2 million in tax room. Barnes and Evans will probably command more than that.

You know you'll get devoured by Cheaney, Wallace, and Juwan Howard.

by Mike Prada on Jul 18, 2008 1:53 AM EDT up reply actions

Barnes & Evans

They will “command” whatever the market fixes as their price…

The longer they remain unsigned, the lower their price will be.

by Rook6980 on Jul 18, 2008 7:45 PM EDT up reply actions

Summer League evaluation is Part of a process

of evaluation and development, but not THE total process. For development, I think McGee will spend most of the coming season in the NBADL, more than BulletProof or anyother young Wizard has because the team is deep and it will speed up his development more so than the Summer League. IMO the Summer League is used as a snapshot. Example “Ok end of Summer League and it has shown McGee is here..next move, send him to NBADL”...Ok finish up regular season and McGee goes to Summer league next season and now he is here (hopefully shows improvement from last year) ongoing process until he is either in rotation or Wizards no longer view him as a prospect.

by LoneWiz54 on Jul 17, 2008 12:37 PM EDT reply actions

to a large degree, if you can stand out in summer league

you can make an nba roster.

if not, you’re either a project or you’re not going to stick in the nba.

and summer league does matter to some degree. that kopponen guy made a strong case for portland to have him on their roster this year.

by DarrellWalkerFan on Jul 17, 2008 12:57 PM EDT reply actions

I think Prada stated

that Summer League is a guard’s league, and think that point is correct. A good analysis of a guard’s game is how they organize a bunch of guy’s they have never played with before, thus I think Summer League is more important for Dee Brown, than it is for Blatche.

Its always Roger Mason (Jr.) time!

by Sean Fagan on Jul 17, 2008 1:20 PM EDT reply actions

I forget where I read it

But somewhere I saw someone say that Summer League is more about finding out who can’t play, more than who can. As we’ve seen many times before, guys that dominate the SL don’t necessarily go on to dominate the NBA, but I’ve never seen someone get completely dominated and go on to do much of anything.

The thing we have to remember is that very few players are going to have the same roles this winter that they do right now, so jumping to conclusions about anybody either positive or negative would be a mistake.

Bullets Forever: Where fancy numbers and YouTube come together.

by Jake Whitacre on Jul 17, 2008 1:33 PM EDT reply actions

the summer league is about

showing that you can….whether it is rebounding (Mcgee)...on ball defending…(NY)...lead a unit offensively (Dee Brown)....its hard for anyone to actually play a well rounded game…unless they are going to be selfish and rip a buunch of shots….i dont mind that NY isnt scoring b/c we already know he can, its just hard b/c everyone else is trying to make a team and show what they got, and that means shoot more often and take that contested shot instead of pass it to an open guy and run an appropriate offensive possession. this is a tryout after all…forbes and wallace..etc. dont really want each other to do well they know the wiz have one spot open..i just want to see mcgee grab some boards…dom hit a few shots & defend well..etc…each player should be aware that they are being looked at to improve one specific area of their game, and they should just focus on that one area and not one person on this summer squad is being asked to score..plus lets face it if you have more than one area where you’ll getting asked to show you are NBA ready then you’re not nba material yet anyways

by stlballa on Jul 17, 2008 1:51 PM EDT reply actions

I agree w. DarrellWalkerFan

I expected Blatche to stand out against the Vegas pack with a couple of years under his belt, and he did. By the same token, I was pretty disappointed with NY. He got a fair amount of run last year due to injuries, but over the past couple of games, I haven’t seen any of that experience exhibited against players that probably won’t make a squad. Just a lot of fadeaways. Jury is still out on JV McGee

by AndNone on Jul 17, 2008 2:25 PM EDT reply actions