Athletes abound. ...Summer League notebook - day five.

Notes from Tuesday’s NBA Las Vegas Summer League games. ...Ty Lawson (pictured at left) was schooling. He put on a Point Guard clinic - getting anywhere he wanted to go. If left open - he made shots. Lawson's 18 points, three rebounds, and four assists came in just 20 minutes as Denver waxed Chicago 99-71.  Lawson's Nuggets have yet to lose, bettering their mark to 4-0.

One player I didn’t know much about at all that has impressed me is Shane Edwards of the summer Nuggets. He runs the floor and finishes very well.

D.J. Strawberry impressed me Tuesday in the Las Vegas Summer League with his ability to apply pressure as a defender. He is a menace. ...Likewise the Kings’ Hassan Whiteside is having an impact by either blocking or changing opponents shots. ...I loved Wayne Chism stepping up to take a charge, just as he routinely did at Tennessee. ...Pooh Jeter looked like a certified NBA Point Guard Tuesday. His shot has improved and he already has the ability to run a team.

It’s too bad I never hear anything good about Joey Dorsey’s work ethic because the guy is a highly efficient BIG. I can’t remember the last time a summer team with Dorsey in the middle lost a game.

…We have watched 35 summer league contests from Orlando or Vegas in the last nine days.

Our Player of the Day for day five of the Las Vegas Summer League was DeMar DeRozan. The Raptors sophomore tore it up with 23 points (10-15 FG), and five rebounds in just 20 minutes - helping his team beat the summer Rockets 100-91. DeRozan is among the best athletes participating in Las Vegas but there is no shortage of high flying cats.

Rookie Terrico White - who is balling with the Pistons - sports a 40” vertical jump (and a sickening 3.7% body fat). Were we fielding a track team out of the athletes in Vegas - our club would have to include Ronald Dupree, DeRon Washington, Eric Bledsoe, Sonny Weems, and J.R. Giddens. Sprinters might be Roddy Beaubois, Ish Smith, John Wall, and Darren Collison.

Our “All Day Five Las Vegas Summer League Team” (their game efficiency rating). PG: Ty Lawson - DEN 1.000, SG: Mark Tyndale - DLS .739, SF: DeRozan - TOR 1.15, PF: Larry Sanders - MIL .764, C: Dorsey - TOR 1.142. Bench: Guards: Bobby Brown - TOR .814, John Lucas III - CHI .727, Aubrey Coleman - NO .678, Forwards: Tasmin Mitchell - CLE .789, Othella Hunter - DEN .700. Centers: DeMarcus Cousins - SAC .677, Courtney Sims - LAL .677.

Crunch time for NBA Draft

There is OD information available on the NBA Draft in 2010. I'm here to help with the must hear, and must read. I think you need to visit Warriors.com to to hear three key interviews that Tim Roye did. Seek the (audio only) chats with Ryan Blake - NBA Director of Scouting, Jay Bilas - ESPN, and Len Elmore.

Also be sure to look at our NBA Draft board (with click-able links for each player) if you want to get a feel for a true independent take on where players should be ranked. Last year at this time we were the ONLY Draft site that was hyping Stephen Curry as one of the three best players in the Draft. Some folks were shocked when he was taken as high as seventh.  

The point is  - just because the major media mock drafts (ESPN = Chad Ford, DraftExpress, NBADraft.net) seem to all point to the Draft going in a certain direction - that doesn't mean that they are correct.

An example? NBADraft.net (who I enjoy by the way, and I am not picking on them - just citing an example) has Hassan Whiteside going 23rd. He could go to Indiana at #10 or he could slip out of the first round. We like Whiteside even better than tenth (but we are thinking long-term which some front-offices just cannot afford to do).

Marqus Blakely (pictured) is not listed as being drafted by the mainstream sites. He may indeed go un-selected. But if he does - shame on the NBA. This kid can play!

Hey now... DraftExpress has Larry Sanders going 17th. That may or may not happen but if it does I will be shocked. He blocks shots and he boards but Sanders is narrow and weighs 220 lbs. at most. He had more than three turnovers for every assist. He is just a 52% free throw shooter. ...Truthfully - I'm not sure why this guy is being talked about as a first round pick. He can't shoot. He's turnover prone and his Colonial League efficiency rating (.638) should be much higher to be truly worthy of being selected in the first round. He played on a team that runs, runs, and runs. Usually that helps skew the EFR higher. ...If Wyoming's Justin Williams could not stick in the NBA - why will Sanders make it?

More profiles are completed... Osiris Eldridge, Jeff Foote, Rodney Green, Marquez Haynes, Tory Jackson, Marko Keselj, Stefan Markovic,  Tasmin Mitchell, Alexey Shved, and Ryan Wittman.