Summer League Game #4

[Chris]

If we decide to keep Giddens its because he's tradeable. He's still under contract untill 2012 I believe.

Giddens signed a 2 year contract with us and was a rookie last season so I think he's an expiring contract this season.

He is on a first round, rookie scale contract.  That means its 2 years guaranteed, with two option years for the C's.

[guava_wrench]

If we decide to keep Giddens its because he's tradeable. He's still under contract untill 2012 I believe.

Giddens signed a 2 year contract with us and was a rookie last season so I think he's an expiring contract this season.

He is on a first round, rookie scale contract.  That means its 2 years guaranteed, with two option years for the C's.

Problem with the option is that we have to decide now whether to use it. Looking like a 'no' to me as of now.

[kozlodoev]

Walker is probably our best hope for a decent wing guy out of that group...which is to say we have no hope on that front.

Just the hope that Robert Stiff might be serviceable enough to be our 6th big...and that one of the SG's might be worth keeping around as the 13th or 14th guy on the bench.

I didn't see the second half, but Lofton seems to be the only guy in the pack who actually has a reliable NBA-caliber skill. Too bad this skill is shooting, which makes him a virtual duplicate of Eddie House.

Swift shows some good timing on blocks, but I can't fathom how a guy who's playing for a contract is tugging his shorts 5 minutes into the game.

The battle for roster spots will be serious, especially given that Pruitt is not guaranteed for next season.

[PosImpos]

Walker is probably our best hope for a decent wing guy out of that group...which is to say we have no hope on that front.

Just the hope that Robert Stiff might be serviceable enough to be our 6th big...and that one of the SG's might be worth keeping around as the 13th or 14th guy on the bench.

I didn't see the second half, but Lofton seems to be the only guy in the pack who actually has a reliable NBA-caliber skill. Too bad this skill is shooting, which makes him a virtual duplicate of Eddie House.

Swift shows some good timing on blocks, but I can't fathom how a guy who's playing for a contract is tugging his shorts 5 minutes into the game.

The battle for roster spots will be serious, especially given that Pruitt is not guaranteed for next season.

Yeah, I see us taking on 2, max 3 guys from the summer league.  Most likely at least 1 of the guys that's been on our roster before (Pruitt, Giddens, Walker) won't be on the roster this upcoming season.

[kozlodoev]

Most likely at least 1 of the guys that's been on our roster before (Pruitt, Giddens, Walker) won't be on the roster this upcoming season.

There is no way we're cutting Walker or Giddens, who have guaranteed contracts, and I don't see anyone offering anything of value for them.

[snively]

Walker has some excellent finishing ability.  That baseline dunk where he took off outside the key was extremely impressive. Nothing else stood out from him, but he seems like a player who understands his limitations a little bit more than Giddens.  Just wish he would rebound more.

Giddens I like but his moves are nowhere near NBA ready.  He cannot dribble with his left hand, and he is extremely spastic with the ball outside of 15 feet.  His post game isn't half bad.  He also looks pretty ripped and muscles people around a little.  I think he could defend some NBA 3s with seasoning, but offensively he seems to be a ways away.

Kevin Rogers has impressed me.  He's very smooth, plays pretty good D and shows a versatile skill set.  Amazingly he played the best D on Hibbert of anybody, including 1 on-ball block.  Still probably not good enough to stick with a championship roster.

Robert Swift looked terrible on D.  His defensive stance on Hibbert was ridiculous: he just leaned on him at a 45 degree angle with both forearms in his back.  Hibbert did absolutely whatever he wanted with him.

Nick Fazekas lost the game with his bonged free throws, but he showed a pretty interesting skillset, he was mediocre on D, but pretty darn good on the boards and had some nice moments on offense.  He pump-faked a couple 3 and lumbered into the lane for some really nice finishes with some ball-handling that would make Brian Scalabrine and Brad Miller proud.  He's got great touch on his little one hand push shot.  Still, probably not a player on a championship roster.

Gabe Pruitt was pretty bad.  He's not explosive or skilled enough to be a good scoring combo guard.  He's not bad getting space off of picks but he's not really a threat around the rim yet and his pull-up jumper is pretty bad.  It's also pretty obvious that passing is his last instinct off of the drive.

Chris Lofton did a nice Eddie House impersonation.  Unlike Allan Ray he's a shooter who can actually shoot.  He'll probably sign on somewhere.

One more thing.  Tyler Hansbrough got a ton of ridiculous calls.  One in particular was his steal on an entry pass from Lofton to Fazekas.  He just shoved Fazekas right out of the way and grabbed the ball. 

[PosImpos]

Most likely at least 1 of the guys that's been on our roster before (Pruitt, Giddens, Walker) won't be on the roster this upcoming season.

There is no way we're cutting Walker or Giddens, who have guaranteed contracts, and I don't see anyone offering anything of value for them.

So we're going to cut Pruitt.

[P2]

Walker + Giddens = stay
Lofton/Karl > Hudson >> Pruitt

I don't want Hudson or Pruitt. Please give me Lofton or Karl.

[crownsy]

Most likely at least 1 of the guys that's been on our roster before (Pruitt, Giddens, Walker) won't be on the roster this upcoming season.

There is no way we're cutting Walker or Giddens, who have guaranteed contracts, and I don't see anyone offering anything of value for them.

So we're going to cut Pruitt.

depends on what we do at backup point, i think.

[the_Bird]

If you sign Grant Hill, Pruitt is gone, absolutely.  House would technically be the backup PG, but Hill would likely handle most of those duties from the SF spot.

Now, if Hill goes back to Phoenix or to NY, it gets a little trickier because you aren't going into the season with ONLY Rondo and House as the point guards, not with House's limitations.  If you're confident you can pick someone else up for the minimum that'll be an improvement on Pruitt, you probably let him go anyway.

I think Pruitt's got a decent shot at getting a job somewhere else; in some ways, it would be better for him to get cut now rather than in camp.  He could be a fringe-rotation guy on a mediocre team, maybe some place like Sacramento, they need help at the point.  I just don't see him as having enough upside (is he any better today than when they drafted him?  No much....) to justify keeping around for another year.