Rookie,
Joe Crawford made headlines Wednesday night as his buzzer-beating
runner granted the Lakers their second win in the Vegas summer league.
His game-winning shot was backed with 10 points and six rebounds on the
night. Four other Lakers finished in dubs, including Brian Roberts and
Lorenzo Mata-Real, who both finished with 12.
Coby Karl kept pace with his SL averages, scoring 14, but the show was stolen by an unlikely contributor.
Nik Caner-Medley with 19. Who? Let’s open the file.
Nik Caner-Medley, a product of New England, led Maryland in scoring
in his junior and senior year (2005-2006), in route to a no-show at the
draft. Nik signed a Summer League contract with the Pistons in 2006,
only to go down with a foot injury for five months. Since then, he has
played in Germany, back in the SL with the Kings, in the NBADL, and
most recently in Spain. He’s a 6-8, 200lb forward. If he keeps posting
big numbers, maaaybe we’ll see him don the purple and gold come November. This guy is new to me, but I’ll be keeping my eye on him.
Oh yeah… I forgot to mention that the Lakers beat the T-Wolves.
Kevin Love (probably my favorite rookie) lit it up. 18 points and 17
rebounds. I’m really excited to watch this guy ball. Corey Brewer put
up 19, and POOH JETER! chimed in with 15.
It will be tough for Joe Crawford to beat out Coby Karl for the final roster spot.
Love is a perfect fit for the T-Wolves and his presence will make Al Jefferson an All-Star next year.
O.J. Mayo looks like he's going to be a star in this league. He has a lot of turnovers right now, but that's normal for a rookie adjusting to the pro game. I like his aggressiveness and confidence.
Jerryd Bayless looks good and should get major minutes at Portland as a sixth man with Jarrett Jack and James Jones no longer on the team.
Eric Gordon looks like he could average in double figures for the Clippers and may threaten Cuttino Mobley's starting SG position by midseason.
I'm most impressed by CLippers F/C/ DeAndre Jordan. If he continues to be a student of the game, he could wind up being an impact player in this league.
No reason anyone should have that many turn overs. Have you seen Mareese Speights? He is putting up numbers close to 25 and 10 every game. Summer league has no defense guys usually just play fake defense if that... if you are shooting like 30% and are turning it over that much- you obviously have the jitters or some #### Bayless and Westbrook are both looking better than Mayo as far as guards are concerned.
Now that Mayo has denied completely that he took money under the table all we can hope is they come up with proof positive that he not only took money but sold crack and Stern will ban him. The NBA does not need garbage people.
Love the way love is playing. He is showing he definitely deserved to be in the top 5. Hes got great hands, good ball IQ, rebounds and yata yata.. but have you seen how he passes? Bounce passes, outlet passes. Al Jefferson and the wolves are gonna love having this guy at power forward. Just needs to get stronger so he can #### with guys like Boozer.
I'm a realistic observer of the vast world that surrounds the Los Angeles Lakers. You can thank Nick Van Exel, Eddie Jones, Elden Campbell, Cedric Ceballos, and Vlade Divac for making that possible. The greatest person of all time is Francis Dayle "Chick" Hearn. There's no getting around that. Me? I'm eighteen years old and working my way to a journalism degree.
Rookie,
Joe Crawford made headlines Wednesday night as his buzzer-beating
runner granted the Lakers their second win in the Vegas summer league.
His game-winning shot was backed with 10 points and six rebounds on the
night. Four other Lakers finished in dubs, including Brian Roberts and
Lorenzo Mata-Real, who both finished with 12.
