Ridiculous Upside

Mustafa Shakur called-up by the Oklahoma City Thunder

2010-03-16T13:30:15Z

And now it's official.

Mustafa Shakur is expected to be called-up later today to the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to sources close to the situation. Shakur, a 6-foot-3 guard, is averaging 20.7 points, 7.2 assists, 4.6 rebounds and 2.3 steals while shooting 50% from the field and 40% from beyond the arc while playing for the Oklahoma City-owned Tulsa 66ers.

Since I've recently broken Shakur's game down in-depth (read that because I worked hard on it knowing you'd want to know about him someday), I'll forgo writing up a new scouting report and rather quote the most important parts from that article:

Mustafa Shakur is an NBA player: he has NBA size (6'3" without shoes), NBA explosiveness, excellent scoring ability, a floor general's attitude and is even showing that he can play NBA-type defense on a consistent basis this season. Unfortunately, he doesn't have an NBA team ... yet.

As far as an NBA outlook goes for Shakur, I think, well, that there is one. As he told the Daily Thunder crew in this interview, Minnesota played him at both the point and shooting guard while he was with them in the preseason - while this is easy to overlook, I'm sure there are quite a few teams that wouldn't mind picking up a player that can be an emergency point guard as well as a solid scorer off the bench.

Why is that important? Because Oklahoma City is likely looking for a scoring option off the bench with shooting guard/offensive spark James Harden currently out with a strained hamstring for at least 10 more days and Kyle Weaver going 0-for-4 from the field in his 25 minutes since returning from the D-League.

Since I am under the assumption that this call-up has more to do with the fact that Oklahoma City is looking for scoring off of the bench with Harden out as opposed to needing one of the top point guards in the D-League (Eric Maynor should still be able to handle that duty), let's look at what Shakur will bring to the table:

Familiarity: There won't be much of a learning curve for Shakur and the Thunder. Not only do the Thunder and 66ers run the same system, just last week Shakur was playing with two of the Thunder's bench producers in Weaver and D.J. White. With some of the team already pretty familiar with him, the transition, on and off the court, will no doubt be easier than it would be for most players.
Scoring: A decent amount of Harden's offense came as the pick-and-roll ball handler. The majority of Shakur's offense comes as the pick-and-roll ball handler. While they both had different objectives (Shakur, as the point guard, was obviously looking to pass before shooting), they both do their damage in a similar fashion.
Shooting: Harden is shooting 39.6% in spot up situations. Shakur is shooting 39.4% in the same situation. While I watch, it seems that Shakur drives to the basket more than anything, which is why I thought his 50% field goal shooting was probably a bit inflated. But since he's shooting well from beyond the arc (40%) even after 113 3-point attempts, I'm going to say he can shoot as well.
Defense: Shakur can defend both guard positions - and does - even though he only played at the point in Tulsa. Can he do it well? Yes, actually - in the last report I received from Synergy, Shakur ranked in the 82% of all D-League players. This, if you were wondering, is considered "very good."

Alexander Johnson, Shavlik Randolph Vying For A Spot With Milwaukee Bucks

2010-03-16T07:54:28Z

While this picture is from Johnson's pre-draft workouts and taken by Draft Express, I I felt it applied so I used it.

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Sources close to the situation have confirmed that Sioux Falls Skyforce forward Alexander Johnson and former Portland Trail Blazers bigman Shavlik Randolph competed in a tryout Monday with the Milwaukee Bucks for a potential roster spot.

It sounds like Johnson (I recently did a complete report here) had the better tryout, beating Randolph in three of the four "one-on-one type games," though without actually being there, I can't confirm this information. Johnson was apparently hitting his jumper, the one part of his game that's been hit and miss this season in the D-League.

Both players reportedly ended the workout sloppily due to it being fairly long. This surprised me a bit because Johnson is in pretty good shape, but after having played in a game the night before (playing 41 minutes while putting up 25 points and 18 boards) and then flying into Milwaukee on what must have been the last flight afterward, it's understandable.

I'm told the front office and coaches in attendance "loved (Johnson's) body, explosiveness, and physicality."

The Bucks are said to be deciding between the two and a wing player right now for a run at the playoffs, with a decision expected before the end of the week.

Recap: Erie BayHawks 111, Utah Flash 101

2010-03-16T08:42:11Z

(Scott's thoughts on the highlights: Did Ahearn do the Michael Jordan shoulder shrug? Can Ahearn and Gansey shoot from anywhere past halfcourt? Sweetney's large.)

I caught the first quarter of this game, so here are some thoughts based on what I saw (and here's the box score):

Perimeter defense and efficiency, or lack thereof in both cases, are what sunk the Flash. Blake Ahearn was getting to the hoop whenever he wanted against Kevin Kruger, while Mike Gansey went nuts with 33 points on 17 shots.
I've remarked on this before, but while Ahearn's role has changed somewhat with Cedric Jackson called-up, it's pretty amazing to see how much more comfortable he is with the BayHawks compared to Bakersfield. He's confident and decisive, and playing well.
The only guy who defended well for Utah, as far as I saw, was Kosta Koufos. Erie center John Bryant finished with 16 points and eight rebounds, but he had been a 20 and 10 guy the last two games, and I'm guessing some of that production came against Luke Nevill.
Kevin Kruger and Andre Ingram were the only Flash players who you'd call "efficient," and in Ingram's case that came more from going 6-6 at the free throw line to make up for his 2-6 performance from the field. Kruger was the only guy for Utah who made more than one three-pointer.
Once again, the Flash struggled at home. There has to be a reason for this other than the Curse of the Imposter, I'm just not sure what it is.
All jokes aside, Mike Sweetney is very overweight. He picked up 17 points and nine boards, but it was probably the slowest 17 and nine you'll ever see. When you're making John Bryant look like Trey Gilder...I can see why the Red Claws may not have wanted to put in the time to get Sweetney's conditioning in order.

Phoenix Suns Sent Earl Clark to the Iowa Energy

2010-03-16T05:31:08Z

Phoenix Suns Sent Earl Clark to the Iowa Energy

John Krolik sums it up pretty well at the link above.

I'll simply add that it's expected to be a 3-game assignment, starting Wednesday night against the Dakota Wizards and finishing Saturday after a back-to-back with the Sioux Falls Skyforce.

Call-Up Report! 3/8 - 3/14

2010-03-15T18:00:30Z

More photos » Wilfredo Lee - AP

Reggie!

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Sorry for disappearing there for a few days, everyone. I had a succession of relatives and friends come into town (okay, one relative and one friend) and couldn't catch many D-League games. But! I'm back now and here to report on how all of those D-League call-ups are doing in the NBA. The bottom line: pretty well.

Reggie Williams, Golden State Warriors - As Scott already has written, Williams has been making the most of his NBA opportunity. There was that 28 point, six assist game of course, but he also had 14 points on seven shots against Portland and 12 points on six shots against Toronto. The fact that his incredible scoring efficiency is translating to the NBA is great to see.

Anthony Tolliver, Golden State Warriors - Tolliver's best game this week was a 14 points, 11 board performance against the Blazers (six of those rebounds were offensive), but he also had five rebounds in 25 minutes against the Hornets.

Chris Hunter, Golden State Warriors - Yes, Virginia, there is defense in Golden State. Chris Hunter's hallmark as a call-up this season has been his D, and he was solid this week against Juwan Howard (yeah, it's Juwan Howard, but still), Andrea Bargnani and Chris Bosh.

Cedric Jackson, San Antonio Spurs - Cedric Jackson has only played in blowouts so far, but he's showed off a nice combination of skills. Jackson had four assists, three steals and two blocks in a little less than 15 minutes against the Clippers, and grabbed three rebounds in less than nine minutes against Minnesota. He's missed some shots, but the Spurs don't really need him to score.

Alonzo Gee, Washington Wizards - Gee has been providing energy off the bench, and also dunks. The Wizards haven't been all that competitive in March so far, so Gee mostly has been playing when the game outcome is already decided. Maybe this week he'll show off that well-rounded game he talked about in this interview.

Othyus Jeffers, Utah Jazz - Jeffers managed to grab three rebounds in just over two minutes against the Bulls, although he hasn't played much since. Sundiata Gaines hasn't played a whole lot either. Thumbs down, Jerry Sloan.

Others in brief: Jawad Williams had 13 points and five boards against the Spurs; Malik Hairston has seen his playing time increase for the Spurs (including 28 minutes with 6-8 shooting against the Clippers), and Gregg Popovich seems to be pleased; Former D-Leaguer Shaun Livingston has been up and down for the Wizards, but Flip Saunders seems to be gaining confidence in his play.

Alexander Johnson, NBA D-League Call-Up Candidate Breakdown

2010-03-15T13:00:32Z

Alexander Johnson is the most NBA-ready big man the NBA Development League has ever seen. There, I said it.

What's that? You want me to blow your mind by backing that outlandish statement up? Okay, will do.

Alexander Johnson is 6-foot-9, 240 pounds and a relative beast in the D-League. When I say beast, I mean he's averaging 23.1 points, 11.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks while shooting better than 55% from the field. The best thing is that this is production off of the bench, as he's started just four of 16 games since joining the Sioux Falls Skyforce at the end of January. To put those numbers into perspective, he currently ranks fourth in the D-League in scoring and third in rebounding and efficiency. Not bad, huh?

Typically the reason players have trouble getting called-up from the D-League, as far as I can tell, is due to a lack of an NBA resume. Johnson was drafted by the Indiana Pacers in the second round of the 2006 NBA Draft out of Florida State University (Beat the Zags!), but eventually ended up with the Memphis Grizzlies after a couple of draft day trades.

With Memphis, Johnson started 19 of 59 games as a rookie, averaging 12.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per 36 minutes. The following Summer, though, he was surprisingly released - though quickly signed a deal with the Miami Heat. With the Heat, Johnson played in 43 games, starting six, and put up similar statistics to his first season. Still, he again didn't get an NBA contract following the season (I have no idea why, but it doesn't seem to be due to on-court issues) and thus went to Germany to play last season.

This season, though, Johnson decided to give the NBA another shot by going to camp with the Utah Jazz. Johnson played well enough for the Jazz this preseason, it seems, but the Jazz had a bevy of big men in camp, leaving Johnson on the outside looking in when the Jazz made their final cuts.

Now that you know what he does, you're probably wondering how he does it.

On offense, Johnson splits his work from just physicaling the ball into the basket from the low post (It's what he does, don't try to argue) and going into iso-mode from 17-feet on the baseline.

His low post game isn't particularly refined, mostly consisting of counter moves followed by a dunk of some sort. It's been very effective, however, because to make up for the occasions that he doesn't score, he gets to the line at a pretty alarming rate. He's actually been to the charity stripe more often (202 times) than he's credited for field goal attempts (196). That's astoundingly efficient. When he gets the ball further out, he typically puts the ball on the floor and beats the (usually) slower defender to the basket. I've actually been really impressed with this facet of his game.

On defense, he's what Synergy Sports considers "Excellent," ranking in the 96th percentile overall. That percentage rank includes post-ups, isolations, spot-ups and defending the picker on the pick-and-roll, all of which he is, at worst, very good. I hate to make an example of a guy I really like, but according to yesterday's box score, Johnson all but shut down Rob Kurz. By shutting him down, I mean Kurz shot 3-of-13 from the field and had just four attempts from the free-throw line to finish with 11 points - six below his average. Johnson picked up three blocks in the game, though only one came due via Kurz. Since I'm talking about yesterday's game, Johnson also scored 25 points and grabbed 18 boards.

Now that we have all of the analytic stuff out of the way, let's get into the meat and potatoes part of my argument - Why does he deserve a call-up?

NBA size: While he's not going to be the tallest of NBA power forwards at 6-foot-9, there won't be many that will outmuscle his 240 pound frame.
NBA readiness: Whether it's for a playoff contender or a team just calling players up to get a better look at them for next season, Johnson's ready to contribute. He's 27 years old, has played two seasons of meaningful NBA minutes and seems to have improved quite a bit since then.
Rebounding: This might be the facet of his game. When he grabs an offensive board, he's almost always in a shot-ready position. I don't know if that's a trainable skill or it's something he's born with, but he is typically able to go right back up with a shot/dunk every time he gets the offensive rebound. He's explosive.
Game translates: I think his coming off of the bench in the D-League has actually helped his call-up possibilities. Knowing he can produce, even when not starting, is exactly what he'll have to do in the NBA. He'll also be counted on to rebound, something that typically translates alright to the NBA as well.
I know teams are looking at him. It's a copy-cat league, so when one team is looking at him (I know of two that could make the move early this week if things fall into place and I'd like to add New Jersey even though I've not heard anything regarding the Nets), more teams are going to take notice. And when they actually watch Johnson, they'll like what they see.
I said so. Rather self-explanatory.

This is the second in a series of randomly occurring posts about players I think deserve a call-up. The first was Mustafa Shakur.

MARCH MADNESS: Siena's Kenny Hasbrouck Called-Up To The Miami Heat

2010-03-15T04:48:45Z

Kenny Hasbrouck drives past a Vanderbilt defender while in college at Siena.

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Kenny Hasbrouck, a former March Madness hero for Siena, is on his way to the Miami Heat according to sources close to the situation.

Hasbrouck, a 6-foot-3 guard, had been averaging 16.9 points while shooting better than 50% with the D-League's Rio Grande Valley Vipers. Hasbrouck follows in the footsteps of fellow/former Vipers Mike Harris, Will Conroy, Garrett Temple and Antonio Anderson as players that have earned a call-up from Rio Grande Valley

While this would typically come as a monumental surprise considering he wasn't really on any radars as far as I had heard, it makes perfect sense for Hasbrouck to be called up in this situation: the Heat opened a roster spot when Miami moved Rafer Alston to the suspended list for the remainder of the season,apparently clearing the way for an addition, either from the free agent pool or the D-League.

So why would the Heat call up a guy we've barely talked about on Ridiculous Upside? Well, essentially because ~~he has ridiculous upside.~~ they're very familiar with him and he's proven to be a serviceable basketball player.

Hasbrouck earned numerous awards at Siena. He was the 2005-2006 MAAC Rookie of the year, 2008-2009 MAAC Player of the Year and MAAC Tournament MVP as well as being named the 2007-2008 Collegeinsider.com mid-major player of the year and was a 2009 AP All-American honorable mention. Basically, he had one hell of a college career.

After graduating from college, he went through the draft process - first working out with Oklahoma City Thunder. He then originally planned to go to Summer League with the Memphis Grizzlies, but instead opted for the Miami Heat's Summer mini-camp (If my memory serves me correctly, they skipped Summer League because it wasn't cost effective). This eventually turned into an all-Summer affair as he earned rave reviews from Heat staffers.

Unfortunately, he was injured right before training camp and wasn't able to participate on their preseason roster. I'm unsure if he had further injury complications than the orignally 4-6 week prognosis he talks about in the video below, but he didn't surface in the D-League until January 29th. He then wasn't picked up until February 21st meaning it took three weeks for any team to pick him up (this is ridiculous, as I've pointed out previously).

As a member of the Heat, I'm not sure what his role will be - he's an excellent offensive weapon, but he plays the 2-guard (though he did play some point while Will Conroy was called-up with the Heat) and the Heat already enjoy the services of Dwyane Wade, among others, at that position. Defense has never particularly been a strong point, either, so he won't be used as a stopper. Regardless, Miami's had luck with other players that weren't necessarily pure point guards (Mario Chalmers, Chris Quinn) and it's great to see Hasbrouck getting another opportunity now that he's healthy.

For more links, there's a great profile CBS did around this time last year that talks about his character and family life and here's a video of creepers saying hi to Hasbrouck. I wish I could find some highlights or game footage, but there really isn't anything out there focusin on Hasbrouck that I could find.

The video below is Hasbrouck talking the injury he sustained while with Miami, as well as his options regarding the D-League or overseas. If you really wanted to read into this interview, it seems Miami apparently promised him a call-up awhile ago, prompting his move to the D-League over more money overseas.

Need A Point Guard? You Should Have Watched the VERSUS game

2010-03-14T13:00:34Z

As I told you yesterday, I took the weekend off from blogging and Jon L was partying somewhere strange last night, so again, no recaps.

Instead, I stole the highlights from last night's VERSUS game - Tulsa at Rio Grande Valley - featuring the two most NBA-ready point guards in the D-League, Mustafa Shakur and Will Conroy. I'll let the soothing narrations of THE Alex Del Barrio explain the rest.

Why Michael Sweetney Wasn't Acquired By The Maine Red Claws

2010-03-13T17:00:33Z

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In my story Thursday about Michael Sweetney joining the D-League, I alluded heavily to the possibility of the Boston Celtics D-League affiliate, the Maine Red Claws, acquiring the former lottery pick. I based that assumption on two factors: the Boston Celtics have shown the most (only?) interest in Sweetney over the past year and the Red Claws had first choice at bringing him in.

Seems like it should have been an easy decision to acquire Sweetney, right?

Well to the naked eye, yes. To someone who has been involved in basketball as long as Red Claws President and General Manager Jon Jennings, however, there were other factors to consider - including that his roster already features a bevy of big men including former NBA draft pick Paul Davis and recently acquired Kurt Looby, one of the best defensive big men in the D-League.

"With the other big men we have, we just feel like we would not have enough minutes to be fair to everyone," Jennings told me. "As you know, it is always difficult to make sure players are receiving a fair amount of minutes and balancing that with making sure we are fulfilling our mission of developing them on and off the court. It is critically important from my perspective to make sure we are fair to the players we have - and also to invest in them."

While that's a great attitude to have - investing in the players already in Maine - I would argue that picking up a player with the potential Sweetney has (had?) could have been a nice pickup both for the Red Claws.

"Chemistry is always a critical component to a successful team. I have had the honor to be a part of teams with great chemistry," said Jennings. "I am not a person who believes in making moves just to make them."

This makes sense - if you're not sure you're going to be able to be fair to everyone in regards to minutes, the chemistry is sure to suffer. Jennings was on the Celtics staff as an assistant coach/scout from 1986-1997, so he more than likely has a pretty good feel for how chemistry is able to affect a professional basketball team.

The Red Claws already employ five players with NBA experience - the aforementioned Davis along with former first round pick's Maurice Ager and Morris Almond, the Boston Celtics-assigned Marcus Landry and the 34 year old captain of the Red Claws, Billy Thomas - so it's pretty easy to see that the chemistry may have suffered if anyone had a problem with their minutes while they're all trying to return to the NBA. This especially could have been true had Sweetney come in out of shape, a distinct possibility considering his previous weight issues and the fact that he hasn't played organized basketball since being cut by the Celtics in October.

That said, wouldn't the Celtics have liked another, extended look at Sweetney?

"We would certainly entertain bringing any player into Maine at the request of Boston or Charlotte (the Red Claws other affiliate)," said Jennings. "We take our relationship with both of our affiliates very seriously and are proud to have worked closely with both NBA teams this season."

While I wasn't able to get the exact answer I was looking for with that final question, it seems to me that Boston may have been able to see all they needed this Fall.

Highlights From Last Night In The D-League, Featuring Blake Ahearn, Mike Gansey & John Bryant

2010-03-13T12:00:29Z

I'm helping with the Bismarck Tribune's coverage of the North Dakota State Class A Basketball Tournament, so I didn't watch any D-League games last night. Typically, this would mean Jon L would handle recaps, but he's busy sexting with friends in Austin (excuse his typo - looks like he was driving when he tweeted that).

That said, I've provided you with the Erie BayHawks versus Albuquerque Thunderbirds highlights, featuring zero dunks from Mike Gansey but an amazing assist to him from Blake Ahearn. I told you - they're as exciting as the Rockers! Also, Albuquerque's trade of Kurt Looby for Trey Gilder showed to be a bad idea in this game - John Bryant had 28 points and 13 rebounds. Albuquerque's starting center? Marcus Hubbard. Ridiculous.

Making The Case For Rob Kurz, Not Brian Cook, to the Denver Nuggets

2010-03-12T14:00:32Z

On Tuesday, HoopsWorld reported that the Denver Nuggets would likely sign free agent forward Brian Cook in the coming days.

Upon hearing this news, I went on a Twitter tirade, telling everyone who would listen my disdain for the Nuggets choosing Brian Cook over a hungrier, and possibly more capable, player from the NBA Development League.

The most ringing endorsement for my plea was from the wonderful, always-loving-of-every-NBA-player-ever Holly Mackenzie:

@RUBasketball you know I'm all love. Even I can't love Cook's game. At all.

Boom. If Holly, who is one of my favorite NBA writers (The Score and SLAM, most notably), doesn't like him, then nobody likes him.

When ProBasketballTalk's Kurt Helin heard the news, he wasn't exactly positive about it either:

Cook is theoretically a "stretch four," and those are the hot new toy everybody wants. We say theoretically because he shot just 22.2 percent from three in 15 appearances for the Rockets this season and barely ever takes a long two.
[...]
And the reason the Lakers early on and Orlando next let him walk was the fact they like defense and rebounding. Cook does not (he is at best an average rebounder for a four, and because he likes the wings he rarely gets offensive boards).

Thankfully, Fanhouse's Chris Tomasson has been tweeting recently that the Nuggets aren't going to sign anybody until they can see what the team looks like without Kenyon Martin, who seems to be out until the playoffs.

Now that you know the back story and I've been able to confirm from a source with the Nuggets that if they add a player, he'll be a big that can shoot, I'd like to make the case for Fort Wayne's Rob Kurz instead of Cook.

First, let's prove that he's what the Nuggets are looking for:

Size: Kurz is 6-foot-9, 230 pounds; Brian Cook is 6-foot-9, 250 pounds. Close enough.
Shooting abilities: Kurz is shooting 52% from the field and 46% from 3-point land. Yep, he can shoot.

Now, for the rest of my argument.

Last season, as a rookie with the Golden State Warriors, Kurz was primarily (read: only) a pick-and-pop shooter.

Unfortunately for him, however, being a one-trick point didn't fly this offseason, even though he was given ample opportunity. Kurz played in the Orlando Summer League with the 76ers/Nets combined team, in the Vegas Summer League with the Timberwolves AND in the preseason with the Cavs.

Realizing he'd have to develop his game if he wanted to make it back to the NBA, Kurz joined the NBA Development League (fitting, isn't it?). In his time in the D-League, he's worked on becoming a more complete player - and it's actually working.

The biggest improvements (and things he can presumably do better than Cook) are:

He can score in the post! Kurz is now scoring at one of the highest rates in the D-League when it comes to the low post, averaging 1.21 points per possession. More telling, though, is that he spends 19% of his time in the post. While that doesn't seem like a high percentage, the only thing he does more than doing work in the post is spot-up shooting (23%).
He can rebound! Kurz is averaging 10.1 rebounds a game, third best in the D-League.
He can play defense! According to Synergy, he's a "very good" post defender. While it's a rather small sample size, I'm told Brian Cook ranks as a "poor" overall defender this season, though he didn't have enough playing time to be ranked in any individual category.
He can still shoot! I know I mentioned it earlier, but it probably bears mentioning again. Kurz has hit 46% of his shots from beyond the arc and 53% from inside the arc.
Rob Kurz has sweet highlight videos from his time with Golden State. Okay, so the highlights were pretty much just jump shots, but the music was sweet. If anyone ever makes a highlight video of me, I prefer it to be set to a Macho Man Randy Savage diss track.

Poll

If you were the Nuggets, which player would you choose?

Michael Sweetney Joins D-League's Erie BayHawks; Tag Team with John Bryant

2010-03-11T23:06:18Z

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In what is almost certain to be the largest front court in basketball history, Mike Sweetney has joined the Erie BayHawks. With the BayHawks, he'll team with the 6-foot-11, 300 pound rookie John Bryant to form the D-League's version of the Natural Disasters.

Since I've already broken down Sweetney's decision to play in the D-League, I'll just include some quick bullet points to round out this post.

Resident blogger Mike Gansey and Blake Ahearn are going to love running off screens from the big fellas.
It's a shame Erie's all but eliminated from the playoffs already, because this team (Ahearn-Gansey-Jackie Manuel-Sweetney-Bryant) could really do some damage. Unfortunately, it's going to have to be in the role of the spoiler.
It seems Cleveland and Erie share a pretty close affiliation. Since the Robert Traylor comeback didn't work out for the Cavs, think they asked Erie to give another big man a second chance?
I had a lot of trouble deciding if the Sweetney/Bryant tag team is more like the Nasty Boys or the aformentioned Natural Disasters. I had no problem, however, deciding that if Gansey and Ahearn were to form a tag team, they'd be the Rockers (sans sad ending).
The Erie defense might not be pretty to watch. While they have a lot of very capable scorers, there's going to be quite a few possible match up problems.

Michael Sweetney Continuing His Comeback in the NBA ... D-League

2010-03-11T14:00:41Z

The person that made the above video deserves a gold medal or something. Not lying.

Last I'd heard about Michael Sweetney, ShamSports reported that he signed in China after failing to earn a roster spot with the Boston Celtics this preseason (I'm fairly certain that the above video shows everything Sweetney did with Boston, so you can be the judge if that was deserved or not). I assumed this would be the last anyone in America would ever hear from the ninth overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft.

I was wrong.

Sources close to the situation have told Ridiculous Upside that Sweetney will join the NBA Development League and is expected to clear waivers at noon today.

The D-League's player acquisition system works a lot like your fantasy leagues since players sign contracts with the league itself and not individual teams: player signs contract, player sits on waivers for two days and then either goes to the team with the highest waiver priority that put a claim on him or sits in the D-League player until a team decides to add said player to its roster. In the case of Sweetney, I'm going to assume that he'll be claimed.

Who, then, has the top waiver priority? The Boston Celtics D-League affiliate Maine Red Claws, oddly enough.

While I've tried to figure out if the Red Claws have put a claim in on Sweetney since learning of his entering the D-League, I haven't been able to confirm anything. Thus, I'll simply say that it seems awfully likely that Sweetney resumes his playing career in Portland (Maine) considering how much Doc Rivers fawned over him and the fact that Maine has the first crack at picking him up.

Here's the problem I have with Sweetney joining the D-League - None. Sweetney is an NBA talent according to almost anybody that's watched him play (even looking at him in the highlights, he's still able to effectively score), but it comes with a caveat: if he's in shape.

After not playing basketball from the end of the 2007 NBA season until the Celtics somehow found him and put him on their Summer League squad, it's understandable that Sweetney's not in the best shape, though still a bit disappointing. He was apparently working out with Mick Smith, former trainer for the Orlando Magic, but it's hard to be in basketball shape without actually playing basketball for two years (and nearly three years if you discount the few Summer League/preseason games he played with Boston).

The biggest benefit with joining the D-League for Sweetney is the opportunity to get into basketball shape while staying mostly outside of the limelight. He'll also be able to focus solely on playing basketball without the media pressure that comes with being a former lottery pick - unless a Thabeet-like media storm happens again.

I assume it will also be easier to deal with the stigma of essentially eating himself out of the NBA, something his predecessors (Oliver Miller, Thomas Hamilton, Stanley Roberts, Robert Traylor and John Williams) all struggled to deal with.

As a bonus, if Sweetney's claimed by the Red Claws, the Celtics will have easy access to keep tabs on the big man. Aside from being the D-League affiliate, Maine employs Danny Ainge's son, Austin Ainge, as head coach as well as former Celtics assistant coach Jon Jennings as general manager.

Considering the Celtics seem to be the NBA team with the most (only?) interest in the big man, this can only help his cause as long as he works hard both on the court and to get into shape.

Last Night in the D-League; Idaho's Backcourt is Really Good

2010-03-11T11:14:45Z

Idaho Stampede 125, Los Angeles D-Fenders 119 (Box Score)

Yet another Idaho fast-paced special. Los Angeles actually was ahead after one, but they don't have enough guys who can score efficiently to be able to hang with the Stampede over the course of a game - or, I should say, they can hang with them but probably won't win too often. They also don't have enough defenders (I almost did it, but then would've hated myself).
The Stampede were led by Andre Barrett, scoring-wise anyway, with 28 points (on 14 shots, excellent work). Coby Karl actually was the one who was running the point late in the game, and finished with 22 points and eight assists.
Lance Allred finished with just nine points on nine shots, but he also had 10 rebounds and held Michael Fey to half that many boards.
Mildon Ambres had an excellent scoring game coming off the bench, finishing with 15 points, nine of which came in the fourth quarter.
For Los Angeles, Ryan Forehan-Kelly caused some legit matchup problems and scored 28 points. James Wright had an excellent game with 25 points on 16 shots, probably the best he's played all season. Joe Crawford had 16 points on ten shots off the bench along with five rebounds; his numbers were almost identical to starting center Michael Fey, who had 17 points on ten shots and five boards. I'll let you decide for yourself what that means.

Austin Toros 95, Rio Grande Valley Vipers 90 (Box Score)

Rockets center Yao Ming was in attendance for this game to help announce that Houston will be playing against the Magic in the Vipers' arena next year. Kinda neat. Next up: convincing NBA teams to play in Bakersfield's arena, which features approximately two rows of seats.
I didn't catch much of this game, but I can tell you that Vipers play by play man Alex del Barrio can make 20 seconds of free throws sound exciting.
Alonzo Gee's call-up means that Curtis Jerrells is the default scoring option now, which fits his style of play pretty well but might not do wonders for his point guard development. Still, he combined his 23 points with seven assists, so maybe I'm nitpicking.
Dwayne Jones added 23 points of his own along with 19 rebounds, nine of which came on the offensive end. I see David Hinojosa's live blog saying that Jones blew several layups and I kind of understand why an NBA team might pass on him, but then again, I really can't.
Austin's bench has been thin for most of the year, and now with Gee joining Washington and Luke Bonner getting a DNP (anyone know why?), it's back to looking that way. Squeaky Johnson was a perfect 3-3 from behind the arc and finished with 15 points, but...Squeaky Johnson really shouldn't be your primary bench scoring option.
Whoops, haven't mentioned the Vipers. Julian Sensley had a terrific game with 24 points and eight rebounds, while Mike Harris returned and had his usual outstanding effort - 25 points and 12 boards. He needs to get back to the NBA, and quick.

Albuquerque Thunderbirds 108, Fort Wayne Mad Ants 104 (Box Score)

Two contrasting approaches here: the Thunderbirds got a combined 49 points from their starting guards (Antoine Agudio and Keith McLeod), while Fort Wayne had a more balanced attack, with seven of their eight players reaching double figures. Of course, that doesn't necessarily mean the Mad Ants were sharing the ball. 18 total assists for them, just slightly more than McLeod+Agudio (14).
Rob Kurz seems to have recovered from his injury now, or at least playing like he is. 16 point and 12 boards, but still coming off the bench (I'll bet that changes soon). Sean Sonderleiter had a nice performance as well, with a team-high 20 points (you read that correctly) and 11 rebounds.
Does Trey Gilder come with a warning label that says Caution: Do Not Start or something? I know he can give energy off the bench, but I'd think that wouldn't matter much when your starting frontcourt consists of Sasha Cuic (1-9) and Marcus Hubbard (okay, 18 points, but still). Gilder didn't have a great game himself, so maybe I picked the wrong time to argue about this.
Every now and then Ryan Ayers turns in a game that makes me say "oh right, that's why he gets so much playing time." 3-5 shooting from outside and 16 total points on nine shots for Ayers in this one, and these types of games actually are becoming more frequent. I'm not sure if he's finally "figured it out" or the Fort Wayne coaching staff has figured out how to best utilize his talents.

Erie won on Mike Gansey's Mom's Birthday Yesterday in the D-League

2010-03-10T14:00:46Z

Erie BayHawks 116, Sioux Falls Skyforce 93 (Box Score)

Inside sources tell me that Gale Mazzella was sitting courtside at the game, celebrating her birthday. The last time I know Mazzella was at a BayHawks game, Erie also won. I'm fairly certain this isn't a coincidence and that she's a good luck charm. How else do you rationalize that Erie, without starters Cedric Jackson (call-up) and Jackie Manuel (stomach virus), was able to beat the hottest team in the D-League by 23 points - aside from, you know, by playing well?
Oh, if you're wondering who Mazzella is, she's the wonderful mother of Erie's Mike Gansey (and Fort Wayne assistant coach Steve Gansey). Presumably wanting to give his mom a great birthday present, Gansey finished with 24 points, nine rebounds and four assists while playing all 48 minutes, again. Dude's an iron man. Since I don't really have to add anything about his game that you can't see for yourself in the highlights above, I'd like to point out that he's averaging 26 points and 9.3 boards while shooting 55% from the field and an insane 57% from beyond the arc in the month of March. Call this guy up (or at least let him hook up with Kaley Cuoco)!
I'm of the opinion that Sioux Falls has the best defensive frontline in the D-League (we'll get to that later). John Bryant, however, did his best Bryant Reeves impression by dropping 24 points on them while adding seven boards. Most interesting, to me at least, is that 10 of his 11 made shot attempts were considered jump shots according to the play-by-play - that's a lot for a 6'11", 300ish pound center. He also picked up five fouls in 31 minutes, but hey, that'll happen.
Blake Ahearn finally got to play point guard in the D-League, though it wasn't easy. First, he orchestrated a trade to Bakersfield from Dakota to play the point, but Jeremy Wise got the majority of the minutes. Earlier the month, he was traded to the BayHawks, but Cedric Jackson was pretty firmly entrenched as the starting point guard. Jackson was with the Spurs yesterday, though, leaving Ahearn to run the team. How'd he do? Well, he scored 20 points and dished 15 assists. He did shoot 0-for-10 from everywhere except beyond the arc and at the free-throw line, but that's still not a bad day at the office.
Ivan Harris played all 48 minutes and shot 9-of-15 from the field to finish with 21 points and five boards. I haven't watched Erie as often as I've watched many of the teams in the league, but this was the best he's looked in games that I've watched this season.
Jarvis Gunter came off the bench to score 15 and add 13 boards. Kyle Goldcamp started, played solid defense and put up a decent 12 point, seven board effort. I don't think I've written anything about them, ever, but since they're two of the three Erie big men (Harris occasionally will masquerade as a power forward, but he's not big), you'll probably hear more about them soon. Interesting notes about both? Well, Gunter hadn't scored in his past five games. As far as Goldcamp, he reminds me of another former player out of Gannon, Geoff Husted - never the most talented player on the court, but he'll play harder than most.
Actually, the only other guy Erie played was CLIFF CLINKSCALES, so we might as well talk about him. He had two assists and zero turnovers in nine minutes of play. If you want to learn more about Clinkscales, I'd like to refer you to the most in-depth piece that will ever be written about him.
To me, Sioux Falls looked tired - probably due to being on the road for over a week, or maybe because they had to play at 11am. That said, the only player that really looked good was Alexander Johnson, even though it didn't come easy. Johnson shot just 2-for-5 from the field - which usually wouldn't allow for much production - unless the opposing team goes into "no easy buckets" mode, which is what Erie did. Johnson shot 13-of-18 from the free-throw line to finish with 17 points, nine boards, three blocks and two steals off the bench. He's probably deserving of a call-up. Like now.

Bakersfield Jam 118, Reno Bighorns 112 (Box Score)

Bakersfield stole this one after Reno fell apart midway through the fourth quarter. Bakersfield announce crew attributed it to, essentially, a lack of on-court leadership. Also, since I didn't watch this entire game, I'm not going to give you the usual in-depth reports. Instead, here are the best players for each team:
For the Jam, Alade Aminu had a pretty ridiculous 29 points and 10 boards before fouling out. Since Brian Butch was out due to injury, the rookie needed to step up - and he did.
Reno's best player was Desmon Farmer - 28 points and nine assists. He did, however, pick up a technical foul with his team down two with a couple of minutes remaining. I'm not sure exactly what he was arguing, but it didn't come at a very opportune time - and the Jam followed it up by rattling off seven straight points.

I missed the other two games, but I encourage you to find the box scores here. Looking beyond the box score, here iss MassLive's recap of the Springfield @ Los Angeles game and here is David Hinojosa's recap of the Austin @ RGV game (highlights from good ol' ADB).

D-League Call-Up Rankings: Randy Livingston Memorial "On The Edge" Style

2010-03-09T15:01:26Z

You're probably tired of seeing this picture, but I couldn't find a youtube video of Notorious B.I.G.'s Everyday Struggle.

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The General D-League Blogosphere's Randy Livingston Memorial On The Edge Call-Up Rankings are back with a vengeance!

Since our last rankings came out (February 16th), the following nine players have been called-up: Antonio Anderson, Mike Harris, Reggie Williams, Will Conroy, Chris Richard, Garrett Temple, Othyus Jeffers, Alonzo Gee and Cedric Jackson. That said, there were more call-ups in March last season than any other month, leading me to believe that while the talent pool is a bit picked over, the call-up's aren't going to stop.

Might as well rank 'em!

As always, the comments are mine (I'm dedicating them to the late Notorious B.I.G. who passed away 13 years ago today) unless noted otherwise. Please address hate/fan mail to Scott Schroeder, unemployed D-League scribe. Thanks.

Randy Livingston Memorial "On The Edge" Call-Up Rankings
Player w/ link to season stats	Jon L (RU)	Matt Moore (HP)	Scott Schroeder (RU)	Steve Weinman (D-League Digest)	Composite Rankings

Mike Harris	1	3	3	1	1 (tie)
Mustafa Shakur	2	1	2	3	1 (tie)
Alexander Johnson	3	6	1	5	3 (tie)
Morris Almond	4	2	5	4	3 (tie)
Dwayne Jones	5	4	6	2	5
Rod Benson	6	7	7	6	6
Trey Johnson	9	NR	4	9	7
Cartier Martin	7	NR	9	7	8
Rob Kurz	10	NR	8	8	9
Brian Butch	NR	5	NR	NR	10

1. (tie) Mike Harris, Rio Grande Valley Vipers (26.3 ppg, 9.8 rpg, 58% FG) - It shouldn't come as a surprise that Mike Harris is once again at the top of the list - he's simply been dominant during D-League play and is just returning from a 10-day call-up with the Washington Wizards. I ranked him third not because he's the third best player in the D-League, but I think NBA teams still aren't sure how to use a 6-foot-6, 235 pound comboish-forward. My advice: Just put him on the court and let him be D-League scrappy. You won't be mad.

1. (tie) Mustafa Shakur, Tulsa 66ers (20.5 ppg, 7.1 apg, 4.6 rpg, 2.3 spg, 51% FG, 41% 3pt) - I said everything I have to say about Shakur right here, so read that quick if you're questioning how Shakur tied Harris for the top spot this week. Interestingly enough, Shakur didn't play in Tulsa's game last night due to what Tulsa PR says was an "illness." I'm guessing he's probably sick of not being called-up, because he's been consistent all season. That, or "illness" is code for "on his way to the NBA."

3. (tie) Alexander Johnson, Sioux Falls Skyforce (23.4 ppg, 11.7 rpg, 54% FG) - I'm going to assume Johnson is the next player to get called-up from the D-League. He's got all of the buzzwords going for him - he's explosive, has a great body, he's skilled and has an NBA resume (102 NBA games in two seasons between Miami and Memphis). He's got an ugly but effective mid-range shot, is quick enough to put it on the floor from the pinch post, and pretty much just plays hard. As an aside, I'm going to assume he was ranked lower by the other members of the panel simply because they've yet to see him play in the D-League (six games with three starts thus far). (I wrote the preceding on February 16th and don't feel inclined to change it. I did update the stats, however. I also plan to have a full post devoted to Johnson soon, possibly later today.)

3. (tie) Morris Almond, Maine Red Claws (25.4 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 50% FG, 40% 3pt) -He's awesome on offense, below average on defense. I guess I really don't know what else to tell you about him. He hasn't developed much since he was a first-round pick by the Utah Jazz, but he was also a first-round pick by the Utah Jazz - the talent is there. I don't know about any character issues, so apparently the offense just doesn't outweigh the defense in the eyes of NBA scouts. That said, according to an update yesterday on his Twitter account, he's "making adjustments and preparations." I don't know if that's referring to his basketball game, however, because he later tweeted that he was "on the internet, ordering another engine. for the lavendar chevy with the suede grey innards." As I've said before, I don't know why I try to understand his Twitter updates.

5. Dwayne Jones, Austin Toros (17.4 ppg, 15.6 rpg, 1.8 bpg, 62% FG) - I've written about Jones so much this season that I really don't know what to say about him anymore. Weinman, who ranked Jones highest, says it was "more out of respect for his bonkers D-League production than anything else. Still not sure I totally understand why he hasn't gotten a shot this year." I'm not sure why he hasn't received a call-up either, but I have my guesses.

6. Rod Benson, Reno Bighorns (14.0 ppg, 9.1 rpg, 54% FG, 1.8 bpg, 1.5 spg) - For whatever reason, Benson's been a bit of a late-bloomer over his four-year D-League career - he always seems to get better as the season goes progresses. I don't know why that it is, and I'm not sure it's necessarily beneficial, but I'm going to report it as fact. To support my fact, I'd like to tell you that since February, Benson's played 14 games and averaged 16.2 points and 11.2 rebounds. During that time, his best game was a 19 point, 17 rebound and three block effort in 30 minutes of action against former NBA bigmen Courtney Sims and Earl Barron. Since he's no longer blogging, I'm not entirely sure what excuse NBA teams have to not give him an opportunity. Still, they apparently have them.

7. Trey Johnson, Bakersfield Jam (18.5 ppg, 14.0 apg, 3.5 TO - 2 games) - Judging from the rest of the panel's votes, I might be jumping the gun a bit by ranking him as the fourth best prospect in the D-League. Still, he oozes NBA potential, especially when he's running the point as effectively as he has in his return to the D-League. At 6-foot-6, with his ability to score and distribute, there's an NBA job somewhere out there for him - especially since he didn't look terrible in his two opportunities with the Cleveland Cavaliers last season. As DraftExpress notes, he also looked good in Vegas for the D-League Select team, which can't hurt being as it was in front of every NBA team against (mostly) NBA-caliber players.

8. Cartier Martin, Iowa Energy (16.5 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 46% FG, 41% 3pt) - I'm not really as high on Martin as others, but he's earned NBA call-up's each of his two professional seasons, so I'm obviously missing something. Offensively, he's very good, but also typically streaky. On defense, he seems to be pretty good in the D-League, but I wasn't all that impressed with it when he was with Golden State for a pair of 10-days. The thing I like most about him is his effort, which probably should account for something. Does my sub-par review mean he doesn't deserve a call-up? No. Does it mean I like other players? Yes.

9. Rob Kurz, Fort Wayne Mad Ants (17.6 ppg, 10.0 rpg, 1.4 bpg, 52% FG, 46% 3pt, 82% FT) - Kurz gets my mid-season award for using the D-League most effecitively. Last season with Golden State, he was primarily (read: only) a pick-and-pop shooter. After that gig didn't fly in a number of opportunities this offseason (Orlando Summer League with the 76ers/Nets combined team, Vegas Summer League with the TWolves, preseason with the Cavs), he came to the D-League and has worked on becoming more than a shooter. It's actually really working. I'm not sure how much credit to give to his coach (Joey Meyer was also credited for developing Ramon Sessions while in the D-League), but Kurz is now able to score in the post and averaging over 10 boards per game as the lone bright spot for his struggling Mad Ants. Oh, and don't worry - his 45% shooting from beyond the arc proves he's still able to shoot as well. In fact, all of those shooting percentages are pretty good, no? (I wrote the preceding back on February 16th, but have updated the averages. Since then Kurz has been in and out of action with a deep thigh bruise. He didn't look wonderful in his return last night, but he's obviously an NBA call-up candidate and would have been ranked much higher if we knew he was healthy.)

10. Brian Butch, Bakersfield Jam (17.6 ppg, 11.1 rpg, 48% FG, 36% 3pt, 68% FT) - Essentially, he's what Kurz was before Kurz learned how to play in the post - a tall, one-dimensional shooter with average defensive abilities. Still, he was the All-Star game MVP and is bringing in 11.1 rebounds per game, so there are things to like. Since Moore was the only one that ranked him, I probably should have let him write this one, but I was on a deadline. Maybe there will be an update later.

To round it out (i.e. tell you guys that were ranked individually, but not collectively):

Moore ranked Earl Barron as his 8th best prospect. Barron's averaging decent numbers (15.7 ppg, 9.7 rpg, 49% FG) and has been in the NBA before, but I'm not ready to rank him quite yet.
Moore ranked Alade Aminu as his 9th best prospect and Weinman ranked him 10th. Moore's explanation being "Young, talented, brother of an upcoming lotto pick, size, potential, get 'em cheap!"
I ranked Romel Beck at nine, while Moore backed me up by ranking him 10th. My reasoning being that Beck is averaging 18.9 points in 32 minutes per game while shooting 54% from the field and 44% from beyond the arc. The knock on him is defense (it's not that bad), plus he's long (6-foot-8) and athletic enough that I think if he focused on it he could be serviceable.
Jon L ranked Donell Taylor at eight. Taylor's a former NBA player and is averaging 22.1 points and 6.2 rebounds for the (stat-inflating) Idaho Stampede, so Jon L's justified, I just like other players.

Tulsa 66ers 101, Fort Wayne 77; Really, the OKC Thunder Beat a D-League Team

2010-03-09T04:12:34Z

More photos » Michael Dwyer - AP

Have I mentioned how much I like Kyle Weaver?

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(Here's the box score. I'll put the highlights up whenever they're made available.)

That headline isn't meant to be a slam on either the Thunder players assigned to Tulsa or the D-League. But it's the truth. Mustafa Shakur picked up a random DNP, so Kyle Weaver took over point guard duties and came up with 18 points and 10 assists. D.J. White had 26 points on 16 shots and 11 rebounds. Byron Mullens grabbed a game-high 13 boards along with 13 points.
The Mad Ants completely collapsed in the second half. After scoring 26 points in the first quarter and 24 in the second, Fort Wayne went on to score 27 points in the third and fourth quarters COMBINED. They've lost a few players recently (Ron Howard, Jared Reiner), and it's clear the guys they have left just couldn't keep up with what essentially was 1/4 of an NBA roster.
LATAVIOUS WILLIAMS played some solid post defense in the 4th quarter, blocking a pair of layups, and he finished with a respectable six points, six rebounds and three blocks in 14 minutes.
As good as Williams's defense was, Fort Wayne wasn't helping matters by settling for jumper after jumper. There were a few layup attempts, which either were blocked or just missed, but for the most part it was jump shots. Ron Howard was their designated slasher, but someone else needs to step up now. Oh, in all of this I forgot to mention that the Mad Ants didn't score for the first eight minutes of the fourth. So I really mean what I just said.
Jason Straight played the best for the Mad Ants. 20 points on 16 shots, though he didn't contribute much else and was one of the guys failing to drive to the rim. I like Straight generally, but take it to the hoop next time.
Rob Kurz has a deep thigh bruise but played anyway, and maybe he shouldn't have. He played a little under 18 points off the bench but missed seven of his nine shots and had more fouls+turnovers (five) than rebounds (four). His decision to play was...admirable, I guess? And for all I know (which isn't much) may have been motivated by the chance to show what he can do against NBA players, but he just didn't look good out there and probably would've benefitted in the long term by resting.
I don't like Dan Dickau. You probably already know this, but it's still true. Seven points on 3-9 shooting and five assists on a team without another distributor? This is a former NBA player?

Reggie Williams, Golden State Warriors Call-Up, is Good. Toldjya So.

2010-03-09T04:36:13Z

More photos » Patrick Semansky - AP

Golden State Warriors forward Reggie Williams (55) drives around New Orleans Hornets guard Marcus Thornton. New Orleans won 135-131, despite 28 points from Williams.

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I'm just going to throw this out there:

Reggie Williams shot 10-of-16 from the field and 7-of-8 from the line to finish with 28 freakin' points off the bench.

Plus he had six assists, two steals and a block.

Oh, and he finished with a +9, highest of anybody on the Warriors, so that "he can't play defense" thing was probably a bit overblown.

Wait, you're wondering why I didn't tell you he was going to be great, especially for Golden State? I did (in December):

Williams is my favorite player to watch from this selection, and thus, my favorite for the Golden State Warriors call-up. He led the nation in scoring twice while playing at VMI and is second only to Almond in the D-League thus far this season. He's not just a scorer, however. Williams isn't exceptional at anything, but he really seems to get it - he does whatever it takes and plays within his limitations, which is actually a compliment. Offensively, his jump shot has improved immensely, which, not surprisingly is why he's shooting 60% from the field. He also gets out and runs very well, which would fit perfectly in Golden State. Defensively, he's not exceptionally quick, but he's long enough and crafty enough that he's not going to kill a team defensively.

Cedric Jackson to the Spurs of San Antonio to fill-in for Tony Parker, Woj says

2010-03-08T23:57:51Z

It's tough to find good highlights of him in the D-League - he's number 11 in white here.

Cedric Jackson will be called-up to the San Antonio Spurs according to a tweet from Yahoo!'s Adrian Wojnarowski (I spelled that without looking). Jackson was averaging 15.8 points, 7.4 assists, 5.1 rebounds and 2.1 steals while shooting 41% from the field for the D-League's Erie BayHawks.

Jackson has previously played out two 10 day contracts with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but I was kind of under the impression that call-up was because he played for the Cavs D-League affiliate and therefore was familiar with their system. Obviously, that's not the case with the Spurs, however (Austin's Curtis Jerrells would have been the equivalent), so let's delve into this call-up in-depth.

First, I'll give you a primer with my thoughts on him right before the Cavaliers called him up:

Cedric Jackson (Erie BayHawks, 16.5 ppg, 8.2 apg, 4.7 rpg (as a starter), 40% FG, 30% 3pt) - Jackson's the best defensive player on this list not named Jefferson. The Cleveland State alum was actually the Horizon League defensive player of the year last season. With the Cavs D-League affiliate, the Erie BayHawks, he's recently earned himself his spot in the rotation as a full-time starter - Since January 6th, the 10-13 BayHawks have won six of their past eight games, all Jackson starts. Jackson doesn't really have a jump shot (the numbers aren't lying), but he does very well at working off the pick-and-roll and getting to the bucket, either finishing below the rim or getting to the free-throw line. The Cavs' brass should be very familiar with him as he played right underneath their nose at Cleveland State and is now playing for their affiliate in Erie. While this is probably a long shot, I'd welcome this call-up because, if nothing else, it'd be a nice way to reward the rookie's solid play with a 10-day contract and see how he does on the big stage. He's also a pure point in the same way Mo Williams is a pure point, if you catch my drift.

Now, let's dig a bit deeper!

Offensively, he's a drive and kick point guard - even though he still settles too often for jump shots. Ideally, every time up the court he'd get a pick at the top, drive to the bucket and then look to kick it out or finish at the rim because that's what he's best at. In his last two games (since the BayHawks acquired former Spur Blake Ahearn), he's been playing very well simply because that's the gameplan - the floor is spread out with Ahearn and Mike Gansey on the wings so he's free to either get to the bucket or kick it out to either wing for the 3-pointer - and it works great. If he's counted on to do anything other than that, though, this probably wasn't the best choice for a call-up.

Defensively, as you'd probably assume, is where he's best. I'm told that, according to Synergy, he ranks as the top defensive point guard in the D-League - obviously why he's the Spurs choice as a call-up. He's not very big (6'3", 190) but he is very athletic and plays the passing lanes quite well - he has great instincts.

Overall, I like this call-up, as once again it shows the D-League isn't consistently just looking for the player with the best numbers - it'd be easy to look at his stats and assume he's not worthy of a call-up. Either way, I think I might have gone with either Mustafa Shakur or Trey Johnson for this call-up. With Tony Parker out six weeks, though, I assume that this could be a rotating door, maybe even giving Jerrells a chance if the Spurs aren't excited with Jackson after the first 10 days.

For more on Jackson to the Spurs, check Matt Hubert's breakdown.

Thabeet Goes On: Recapping Hasheem Thabeet's D-League Assignment

2010-03-08T17:00:21Z

As expected, Hasheem Thabeet will be recalled today from his D-League assignment to re-join the Memphis Grizzlies. During Thabeet's stint in the D-League, he averaged 13.2 points, 11.2 rebounds and 3.2 blocks in right around 32 minutes of action.

That doesn't necessarily tell the whole story, however, because as I've said all along, he won't earn more playing time (or even lose playing time) based on his D-League statistics.

According to an interview Grizzlies GM Chris Wallace did with the venerable Lou Babiarz of the Bismarck Tribune, the assignment was "very positive":

"He's been active. He's running the court well. You can feel his presence on both ends of the floor. It's been very positive," Wallace said. "... Not that statistics are everything, but he's scoring, he's rebounding, he's blocking some shots and the team is winning games. Right there, on surface value, it tells you that things are going well."

According to Grizzlies assistant coach Mitchell Anderson, who traveled with Thabeet during the assignment, Thabeet "handled it very well":

"... He had one bad game, but other than that he has played well. We want to see if he does the things we're talking about, like run the floor, post up, block shots, rebound."

Dakota Wizards head coach Rory White said:

"I think mentally this is good for him to be able to touch the ball, to run up and down the floor, to block the shots," White said. "I think when he goes back, he takes what he learned here over this week back there, and maybe he can get back in the rotation.

Thabeet himself didn't even mind it, saying it was "fun":

"It went pretty good," Thabeet said. "I just came out here and worked hard and tried to accomplish as much as we can. I've been getting a lot of minutes, getting to go up and down (the court) - it's been a lot of fun."

So now that everyone else has given their opinion, I may as well give you mine - after the jump!

He is who we thought he was: A big, raw, potential-laden rookie with a lot of developing left to do.

Offensively, he was actually better than I thought he would be. Aside from the "bad game" Anderson referred to above (Thabeet shot 1-for-9 from the field), he generally wasn't abysmal on offense - Granted, my expectations weren't high. The only "move" I really noticed was a nice little lefty hook shot that was effective in a few of the games I watched, but I guess I was okay with him just knowing his role on offense - don't try to do too much with it, but score when the easy bucket is available. As far as his role was concerned in Dakota, it was mainly catching alley-oops and finishing when a teammate would get him the ball in transition.

Defensively is a whole other ball game. He wasn't nearly as great as I assumed he would be on the defensive end in the D-League. This isn't to say he's a bad defender (his 3.2 blocks per game and numerous shot alterations certainly would say the opposite), but he's much better as a help defender or in a zone defense than actually playing man-to-man defense. Unfortunately, I don't see all many NBA teams using a zone defense for entire games, so he has a bit of catching up to do in this area. He's also a bit too eager to block shots, meaning he'll leave his man wide open when somebody penetrates the lane which is counterproductive if the penetrator is able to make the easy pass. He also seemed to nailed to the low post, which was exploited best by Michael Fey in Sunday's game - Fey was able to shoot essentially uncontested free-throw line jumpers with Thabeet standing under the basket.

Rebounding is the area that I'm worried about most. Simply put, he relies too much on his size and length instead of actually boxing out or being proactive by getting up to get the rebound. Obviously this plan wasn't terribly ineffective in the D-League as he was able to average double figures in the category, but it is a bit discouraging and honestly struck me as one of the signs that he might just be lazy.

The only other area of his game that I didn't hit on above is his focus. At times while he was out on the court, it seemed he was either totally disinterested or forgot he was playing basketball. It could have just been because he was playing in the D-League, but it wasn't really an encouraging sign. He also missed a start due to "being late" according to an interview with White, which isn't encouraging.

You're probably wondering what he did positive then, huh?

Finished in transition
Brought a defensive presence in the post to deter penetration
Ran the court well (when he felt like running the court)
Created second chance opportunities and then finished second chance opportunities
Rebounded in double digits without really exerting much effort

Wallace did mention in the article that Thabeet is eligible to be assigned twice more to the D-League. While it's tough to say how much this six game assignment actually benefited Thabeet on the court, I think it was definitely a positive for him - he seems to be the type of player that is going to get better by playing basketball as opposed to sitting on the bench and practicing once or twice a week.

In the end, Thabeet put up pretty solid numbers while relying solely on his physical tools during his stay in the D-League, leaving a lot of room for improvement - which is a good thing. If he's willing to keep putting in work and learning/developing, he'll be a very good player in a couple of years. If he doesn't develop into a good player, I don't think it will be anybody's fault but his own.

For my thoughts on individual games, please check Hasheem ThaBlog.