Welcome back! T’was a really fun night of Summer league
basketball. Those things tend to happen when the life of the party (me) shows
up to do some reporting. Anyway, there were a lot of guys missing tonight but
that didn’t stop me from having A LOT to say:
-Kavon Stewart made his summer league debut tonight and he
was a lot of fun + tried to do new things. That’s what can make summer league
fun to watch. You could tell Kavon wasn’t moving all too well and admitted
afterwards his knee was still bothering him. Also, he had a pretty nasty cut on
his hand from Lucky Jones in a pickup game.
Kavon took four jump shots in the game and only one of them
came kinda close to going in. He tried stepping into two three’s at the top of
the key, airballing one and bricking the other. He took a corner three, which
wasn’t a bad looking shot, and took a midrange jumper off a crossover which
also caught all of the back iron.
Kavon said afterward he’s focusing a lot on repetition,
especially with the consistency of his hands and elbows. He said sometimes his
arms will be where they want to be and it feels good but then the next shot it
will be something completely different. Bottom line is this: even if it doesn’t
always look pretty, him having a shot that is comfortable and gives him a
chance at success is what’s most important. For example, how in the name of all
the basketball gods did Michael Kidd-Gilchrist get into the NBA with a shot like this? But you know what… it works for him. Same with Kavon. Just get
comfortable and consistent. In my opinion, he could also work on his timing a
little. His high jump creates for timing issues (much like Anthony Myers-Pate)
and too often the shot will be released just a split-second late.
Besides that Kavon looked like Kavon. He used his left very
effectively but went to his right a ton in the second half and was looking to
create rather than finish. He had some nifty passes and was a pest defensively.
I’m just going to throw this out there now and tell you Kavon Stewart will win
an NEC defensive player of the year award before he graduates. He is ANNOYING
defensively. His hands are so quick and he has a pretty wide frame for a point
guard.
-Game two featured Lionel Gomes, Jafar Kinsey, Andre
Frederick, and Karvel Anderson. Kinsey, a point guard, started off shooting the
ball really well stepping into a three off the pick and roll and hit a few
corner threes. He clearly has a better shot than I think anyone really
imagined. I will continue to say that he understands how to read the defense
off the pick and roll really well, knowing when to attack, create, take a jump
shot, and most importantly peel back and start over. He looked really, really
good again.
-Lionel Gomes also impressed me. Gomes is a big man who
sometimes just wants to brawl underneath the basket. He also uses his body
really well on rebounding and can rebound out of his position. The only thing
he’ll struggle with is adjusting to the size of the game. Gomes is big but
definitely has the frame to add on and can sometimes get stuck to his man when
trying to rebound.
Offensively he was pleasant to watch. Gomes always seems to
have a plan when he has the ball. I hate to pick on Aaron Tate (mostly out of a
fear that he’ll kill me) but Tate touches the ball and freezes. Gomes gets the
ball and can square up and shoot a mid-range jumper or can work with his back
to the basket. He definitely has some body control issues, but there’s more to
like than dislike.
-Andre Frederick gave everyone a scare when he appeared to
tweak his knee (on which he wears a brace for) and stayed down before limping
off. To be honest, I still have no feel for Frederick ’s game. He took a few mid-range
jumpers that looked nice but I can’t give you much more than that.
-Lucky Jones and Marquice Reed also played tonight but I did
not watch any of their games. Lucky apparently put on a show early and Reed
continues to get after it defensively. I will maintain the thought that the
starting two guard position is more up in the air than people think.
Leftovers
-Hat tip to Andrew Chiappazzi who pretty much decked Pitt’s
Cameron Wright a la Ray Lewis vs. Dustin Keller when Wright came Chiappazzi’s
way. The legend grows…
-Kavon Stewart did some pretty serious trash talking that
definitely lead to some angry opponents by games end. I always enjoy a good
trash talker.
-There were some kids out there who I am convinced are not
better than me. Someone put in a word to get me a jersey.
-Karvel Anderson went all Karvel Anderson in the last game
with his team down seven and two minutes left, scoring something like 13 of the
last 15 points. The ending was also incredibly spectacular, where he hit came
down the court and hit a deep three with a hand in his face. After missing the
front end of a one-and-one (YGTMYFT!!!), he came down and did the exact same
thing which really riled up the crowd. Then, with ten seconds left, Karvel let
the ball roll up-court where he picked it up, took a few dribbles, spun out of
what appeared to be a foul attempt and drained another three to tie the game. It
was incredible. His team actually went on to lose off a buzzer-beating put back.
Which brings me to my last point, and this will probably be
the last time I make it: I still have no idea how Karvel Anderson didn’t even
get a summer league invite. No calls. Nothing. Although I could be wrong, I’d
be willing to bet most mid-major conference players of the year at least got
summer league invites. Hell, even Sacred Heart’s Shane Gibson got one last
year! I know there is the position change and the height, but when you can
shoot the ball like that… It just
doesn’t make sense to me. It never will. There are other things I love about
his game, but I’ll stop there.
Hope I didn’t rile you all up too much there. Sometimes you
just have to stand for something.
Until next time.
--Chris Cappella
--@C_Cappella
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