So one of my favorite Charlotte Hornets memories was Glen Rice winning the All-Star Game MVP in 1997. I was still a chitlin, but even then I knew the Hornets were the epitome of small market (and moved just a few years later). Rice seemed like a fill-in bench player (even though he was pretty nasty in 96-97 with a by far career-high 26.8 a game), but went absolutely bonkers in the ASG second half, putting up 20 in the 3rd quarter. He was hotter than P.J. Hairston in a “yo mama” contest! I knew the Hornets had no title aspirations (ending up getting swept in the first round), but it made the whole season worth it.
And the Glen Rices of the world now have another, well smaller, trophy on their mantle with Glen Rice Jr. winning the Summer League MVP. Actually, I’m not sure if he gets a trophy… Maybe just a stack of $1,000 in Belagio chips… Either way, Rice put up a 6-game line of 25/7.8/2.3/2.5/0.5 boosted by a plain stupid 36/11/3/4/0 line with six treys last Saturday. “Pretend every game is the All-Star game film I always make you watch, son!” The Wizards boosted their wings (and headband usage) with Paul Pierce brought in, plus Otto Porter should see a lot of minutes off the bench. But behind Bradley Beal, Martell Webster just had herniated disc back surgery leaving a big early-season gap for backup SG minutes. Sure Garrett Temple might be able to fill-in, but off the hot Summer, I think Rice Jr. has got some minutes coming his way. Plus one of the biggest concerns for Beal is his injury risk, so a deep-league gamble on Glenny Jr. could be an interesting flier. Here’s what else has gone down with Summer League wrapping up and free agency moves:
Kevin Love Watch – Day 52 – It’s kind of like Panda watch in Anchorman. “Hey, you’re making me look stupid. Get out here, Panda Jerk!” “Great story – compelling and rich.” Well someone is about to be rich, with Kevin Love a year out of a max deal after this season – with 14-15 surely out of Minnesota. Part of the speculation is a package of Taj Gibson and Jimmy Butler, which while interesting for those guys, would make me absolutely all in on Tony Snell. We’re dreamers here at Razzball!
Lance Stephenson – Picked up by my Hornets last week right after last week’s post went up. Pete Nice on the Twittah was like, “happy face? or frowny face?” Or something to that effect… And I was like, “happy face!” Love it, Stephenson gets to be on a more offensive oriented team with a lot of scorers and should rack up pretty good stats. Hopefully he continues to be a trip-dub machine!
Rodney Stuckey – He’s relatively boring, but also looking at a starting job moving to the Pacers. Wanna know who else was relatively boring at this point last year? Lance Stephenson. I’m not saying Stuckey is going to pick LeBron’s nose when they play the Cavs, but Stuckey is a boring vet on draft day looking at pretty good minutes.
Jameer Nelson – Signed by the Mavs and easily could be a sneaky starter. He’s obviously not even close to a great PG option, but hey minutes be minutes! I think that’s Mike Wallace’s catch phrase… Not the Dolphin one! He really could be something close to what Jose Calderon did last year, minus some %s and add a few TOs. 2.4 treys might be a tad high, but that with a 11/2.5/4.7/0.9/0 line? Seems very doable. Kinda like the chick in the new AT&T commercials. So doable. The Mavs have also said the Nelson/Raymond Felton/Devin Harris rotation would also serve as backup SG minutes to Monta Ellis. And with all three injury-prone, there could be a big emergence from someone and I don’t think it’s the latter two.
Al-Farouq Aminu – So many Mavericks, so little time! Another signee brought into Dallas, but this one isn’t very fun. Offers some multi-cat upside in stretches, but is just waiver-wire fodder in almost all leagues when he’s getting minutes.
Noah Vonleh – Coach Steve Clifford said Vonleh and P.J. Hairston weren’t going to have significant roles. Hairston was like, “Hey, Cliff, there’s another P.J. you should know about – Carlesimo! And remember what Spreewell did? Yeah, I better be gettin’ 48 a night!”
Bruce Caboclo – Got posterized so bad by C.J. Fair that he cried. “Soy triste!” Wait, he’s Brazilian so I’d have to Ask Jeeves about how to translate that into Portuguese… Later in the game, Brucie had a towel over his head on the bench. The one time I got posterized playing pickup, it was by a guy I knew that I had no idea had hops. I was more confused than anything. “Soy confused-o!”
Omri Casspi – Waived by the Pelicans. I thought this guy would be good and a possible starter on Houston last year! And I wasn’t the only one… Oh how things can change…
Aaron Brooks – Signed by the Bulls. Brooks is another dude I thought was underrated in his Rockets heyday. Well, I guess it was more like his Rockets heyhour, but you know what I mean. Clear-cut third-string behind Derrick Rose and Kirk Hinrich, but those are two of the most injury prone PGs out there so I’m keeping that logged into my deep league waiver wire memory banks.
Evan Turner – Evidently heading to Boston. Wow, another maddeningly frustratingly [insert adverb]ly wing to compete for minutes with Jeff Green. Brad Stephens can throw darts pre-game to determine his rotations.
Otto Porter – Joined teammate Glenny J on the Summer League 1st team with a 6-game 19/5.8/1.8/0.5/0.3 line. Hit 7 treys, but is kinda meh. That said, Paul Pierce isn’t exactly a spring chicken as the Wiz starting SF, so Porter could land himself into some starts pretty easily.
Jordan McRae – Had just a redonkulous Summer League performance of 21 points a game in 4 contests on 50% shooting, including getting to the line a whopping 37 times making 32. Racked up 6 treys and 7 steals as well. He’s actually listed as the second-string SG for the Sixers depending on which depth chart you look at, behind grandpa Jason Richardson. With James Anderson waived, there’s a legit chance for some sneaky PT.
Doug McDermott – While getting Summer League 1st honors is nice and all, and 18/4/2.8/0/0.8 is fine, it’s still a little ThrAGNOFfy and he won’t be at 28.8 minutes. Oh, and he’s older than like, everyone at Summer League. He’s like that one random old dude playing pickup at the Y. Wait, they’re usually not good though. The 12 treys in 4 games is nice, the ridiculous 22-23 FT is fun, but shrug me shoulders.
Rudy Gobert – Monsieur elbow! 11.8/9.8 in only 23.8 MPG with 2.5 blocks a contest. Shot 73% from the field, and besides a 3-9 FT travesty in the first game, went 6-9 in the latter three games. He’s the backup C for now behind Enes Kanter, who is awful. Could be an interesting deep league blocks flier.
Tim Hardaway Jr. – I think he’s Slim’s favorite player. As we talked about on the Pod, Slim likes Timmy J for 30 minutes this year with grandes treses. He’s the epitome of ThrAGNOF – hit at least 3 treys in every Summer League game while doing literally nothing else. He ceases to exist when not shooting a three.
C.J. McCollum – While also ThrAGNOFfy in an impressive Summer League campaign, did rack up nearly two steals per and I think he’s a special player. He’s obviously not in the most ideal situation, but with Mo Williams out of the picture, he should get pretty big backup PG/SG minutes. A nice upside last round kinda pick.
Dante Exum – “These were not the Droids we’re looking for!” Played dreadful, shot 31% (17% from deep), with a 2.8:3 AST:TO ratio. It’s a big adjustment for Mr. Dundee, and I still think he could be undervalued in drafts, but not gonna reach. We’ll see how his ADP is looking later on down the river.
Marcus Smart – After a rough start (5-23 FG 1-10 3PTM) from the field his first two games, picked it up in the final three, scoring 14, 19 then 20 with 2, 2, then 4 treys. The development from outside was nice (even if he did shoot only 26% from deep), but I’m still anti-Smart compared to the legions of lovers. Of which I was one! Just not going to do enough in Brad Stephens’ nightmarish rotations scheme, especially with Rajon Rondo still a shamrock.
We all hope you’re enjoying the Razzball Pod and with Summer League wrapping up, being one step closer to the 2014-15 season. Thanks for dropping by Razzball Nation!
