Fun Facts About the Summer League Roster
UPDATE: Jon L has his breakdown of the Summer League team up.
As you saw a couple of days ago, the Wizards have their roster in place for this year's summer league in Vegas. The Summer League gives diehard fans a chance to see the development of some of the younger players on the squad and what unsigned players might have a shot at cracking the roster. We're less than two weeks away from seeing this crew in action so there's no time to waste in learning about what the team.
The Guys With Contracts
- Javaris Crittenton: Has a Twitter.
- JaVale McGee: Has a workout video.
- Dominic McGuire: Has a cool nickname (TASER!) that no one outside of this website knows how to use.
- Nick Young: Has a documentary.
The Guy Who Has Played With the Wizards Before But Doesn't Have A Contract
- James Lang: Lang played 55 minutes over 11 games with the Wizards in the 2006-07 season, scoring 11 points and pulling down 11 rebounds in his short time in D.C. After his release, Lang joined on with the Utah Flash of the D-League, where he's played the last two seasons, along with a stint in China. His per 36 numbers are decent, but there's nothing there that's going to blow you away.
The New Guys

Alade Aminu: The Georgia Tech forward started a foundation called Brotherhood of the World which started a basketball camp for underprivileged children in the Atlanta area.

Ryan Ayers: Ryan (#42 in the picture) is the son of former assistant coach Randy Ayers. He shot 42.9% from downtown last season with the Fighting Irish.
Jimmy Baron: The Rhode Island guard is probably most remembered for his performance against Duke last season where he hit eight three pointers as he nearly led the Rams to an upset at Cameron Indoor Stadium. This fact along should be enough to make him a fan favorite for the squad.

John Edwards: Edwards spent two years in the NBA with the Pacers and Hawks, putting up some rather modest numbers. His biggest claim to fame might be that he was the only bench player the Pacers had available in their first game after the infamous brawl in Detroit.

Josh Heytvelt: Everything you need to know is over here.

Tywain McKee: The Coppin State product owes a lot of his success in college to coaching legend John Chaney. He's an explosive scorer that dropped 31 on Syracuse last season.

Tyrese Rice: Those of you who watch ACC basketball are already very familiar with Rice from his days at Boston College. He scored 46 points in a loss to North Carolina two years ago, and then helped lead the Eagles to an upset of the top ranked Heels last season.

Jason Rich: Like Rice, Rich is another ACC product, and also a guard. He graduated from FSU in 2008 and spent last year in Italy playing for Pallancetro Cantu along with former Georgia Bulldog Sundiata Gaines.
Alex Ruoff: Ruoff has a pretty balanced all around game. Last year, in addition to his 15.7 points per game, he also chipped in 3.4 assists and 3.7 rebounds. He also chipped in 1.7 steals on the defensive end.

Diamon Simpson: Patty Mills received most of the attention over the last few years at St. Mary's, but Sampson has some game too. He was the WCC's Defensive Player of the Year last season, averaging a double-double and adding in 1.6 steals and 1.7 blocks per game for the Gaels. Looking at the stats, it's hard not to compare him to another player from a small Western college.

Kyle Spain: Nearly half of Spain's field goal attempts were three pointers in his senior year, which would explain why his FG% (.409) was so close to his 3P% (.390).

Brandon Wallace: Wallace was actually a part of the Celtics roster last year, but only played in D-League while a member of the team and was cut in mid-December. Since then, Wallace has spent time in the D-League and over in Turkey.
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Aminu is my favorite right now
He seems raw, but we really just need someone to foul and rebound for five or ten minutes, basically playing an Mbenga role. That he has a relatively compelling story and is most likely a decent guy helps a lot, too.
If any big man has a chance to make the team.
it’s Heytvelt.
I saw some Gonzaga games this year, and he was better than advertised. I think he’s just getting his athleticism back after some foot injuries. His rookie year, he was a freak athlete. Then he got suspended for mushrooms… (that’s right, I said mushrooms)…. and had two separate operations on his feet to insert pins.
He can get up with the best of them (34 inch vertical); combined that with his excellent length (9’0" standing reach) and the tools are there. In the few games I watched, Heytvelt showed a nice touch from mid-range and the ability to finish strong around the basket – usually with a forceful dunk. Heytvelt looked to be a pretty good rebounder. He didn’t block any shots while I was watching, but I would think he has that ability, based on his leaping ability and length. (He did have 1.72 bpg his Sophomore year, before the foot injuries). He showed some ability to block shots against North Carolina in this video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InqJS6ONXPE&feature=related
I particularly liked that mid-range shot off the glass he took from the right side, near the end of the video.
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
he does
heytvelt probably has the best chance but I don’t think any of the guards have a chance except maybe Rice could be a D-leaguer who one day could be a solid bench player like an eddie house
Diamon Simpson
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mNUE6v0PJsg
I liked Heytvelt a ton before the draft and I’ve seen the ACC guys, but didn’t really know much about this kid. He doesn’t look overly athletic or strong, but looks versatile and somewhat similar to mcguire.
Does anybody know
if games are going to be on NBATV this year? The NBA site has no info about it that I can find. Boy, that site is terrible. NBATV, League Pass, and their web site really don’t communicate well.
All the games will be telecast on NBA.com
http://www.nba.com/summerleague2009/
Watch all 55 NBA Summer League games this year on NBA.com.
Bullets Forever - where "Dagger ! " happens......
Seems like it'll cost $15
To watch the games this year online =/
https://summerleague.istreamplanet.com/nba/default.asp
They’re supposed to play on NBATV too, well. This is what a recent E-Mail I received says about the matter:
“NBA.com’s online coverage of NBA Summer League will be complemented by live studio programming on NBA TV. NBA GameTime will feature expert analysis from NBA TV host Andre Aldridge and analysts Steve Smith and Eric Snow who will showcase the players, stories and news that develop this summer. NBA Insider David Aldridge will also contribute to the network’s coverage. Shows will air beginning on Wednesday, July 8 and will air daily beginning on Friday, July 10. On-demand video clips of the studio programming will be available on NBA.com”
So it sounds like they’ll just have supplemental crap on NBATV? However, I did notice this Monday NBATV is having a Dunk Contest special, from the ABA years to 2008 (12pm → 10pm). Neither here nor there, haha but interesting nonetheless.
When I wrote an article for Examiner about the upcoming games I did find last year’s games are available online still for free. Just click the archive links (err and copy the whole URL since it doesn’t work out right):
http://www.nba.com/summerleague2008/scoreboard.jsp?date=07/18/2008
By the way Jake, great article =).
My pick is either Aminu or Heytvelt as well, but I think Aminu would serve Washington better as a bottom of the bencher than Heytvelt, who might be a more complete player but won’t really be used to his capacity and is more of a finesse guy in my opinion than a tough guy. If we can use the Lakers as a model, Washington has enough finesse guys right now, so I side with pantslessyoda1 for now =).
Hate or love Pecherov, he could shoot threes and he would dunk it. He wouldn’t pass it, that’s for sure, but anyone playing third string isn’t going to appear too impressive unless they go P.J. Brown on someone. Can Heytvelt play annoying D like that?

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