NBA: Cyclones' off-season: contracts, draft, summer league

[I-stateTheTruth]

CBS' latest mock draft has THT going #22 to the Celtics (based on Ainge's love of versatility). They mention the shoplifting charges.

https://www.cbssports.com/nba/news/...kipping-workouts-doesnt-hurt-zion-williamson/

 

[Messi]

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Do they really consider Dedric Lawson a wing? He had his back to the basket most of the season at KU. Although I do remember him dropping the occasional 3.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Watchstadium.com's post-lottery mock draft has THT going to the Golden State Warriors at #28:

https://watchstadium.com/news/nba-mock-draft-pelicans-win-zion-williamson-sweepstakes-05-15-2019/

 

[Cyientist]

Do they really consider Dedric Lawson a wing? He had his back to the basket most of the season at KU. Although I do remember him dropping the occasional 3.

I thought the same thing.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

I found a 2-Cyclone mock draft from May 16. This one - NBA draft room - has THT at #26 going to the Cavs and Marial going at #50 going to the Jazz. The Jazz do need 3-point shooting so there's a certain logic to that. Imagine if the Jazz had 3 Cyclones on their roster ....

http://www.nbadraftroom.com/p/2019-nba-mock-draft.html

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

The audio and subtitles (done by voice recognition) aren't great but here's an interview with Marial after his Jazz workout (if they had Naz, Georges AND Marial, how cool would that be? Probably not realistic but a boy can dream)

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

The Nuggets' Twitter feed had a series of tweets recapping Monte's season - narrative/stats, video and info-graphic (they do pretty good work):

 

[heitclone]

Do they really consider Dedric Lawson a wing? He had his back to the basket most of the season at KU. Although I do remember him dropping the occasional 3.

Not that this makes him an NBA wing but he wouldn't have played that role he did if Doke hadn't been injured. Prior Doke shutting it down, Lawson was regarded as their best passer and post entry player. The plan was to play him in a similar role to Perry Ellis, more of a stretch 4. The injury forced them to play smaller and pushed Lawson to the 5. I think he has the offensive skill set to play on the wing but its tough to see him guarding that position.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

Not that this makes him an NBA wing but he wouldn't have played that role he did if Doke hadn't been injured. Prior Doke shutting it down, Lawson was regarded as their best passer and post entry player. The plan was to play him in a similar role to Perry Ellis, more of a stretch 4. The injury forced them to play smaller and pushed Lawson to the 5. I think he has the offensive skill set to play on the wing but its tough to see him guarding that position.

I didn't realize that - thanks. I guess I never saw him do much post entry passing since he was the post. I can see him as a college stretch 4 like Perry Ellis in his 17-year KU career; we'll see if he can play the wing as a pro. You mention guarding an NBA 3 - that is one tough assignment.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

From the NBA.com article that is in the above Nuggets' tweet, I thought this might be of interest, regarding how Monte struggled a bit in the playoffs:

The key for Morris entering his third season will be improving his fitness. The former Iowa State standout struggled in the postseason, which he attributed to the amount of games he played overall this season (96).

“Personally, I know I struggled in the playoffs but overall, with this being my first time going through this long season, for me to hit my walls when I did and get back from it, I didn't get too down on myself because I know I can play at this level,” Morris said at his end of the season availability.

He added, “Flexibility is going to be big for me this summer, working on my hip power, getting a lot faster, my mobility. On court I'll still be the same, grinding like I did last summer. But I'm going to focus more on my body more when it comes to movement, so I can be more durable down the stretch of the season."

Here's a direct link to the article: https://www.nba.com/nuggets/news/nuggets-season-review-monte-morris-061219-2

NOTE: There's a 3+ - minute video in that article of Monte going back to Flint during the season (when they played the Pistons) that shows a lot about his character. One of his 7th-grade teachers showed up to see him at his autograph / photo session.

 

[CloneGuy8]

So with the Lakers giving away a bunch of assets, I wonder if they would want to get Matt Thomas? I know he was on their Summer league team a couple years ago and did pretty well. I know he's got a pretty good thing going overseas right now, so maybe just wishful thinking on my part.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

So with the Lakers giving away a bunch of assets, I wonder if they would want to get Matt Thomas? I know he was on their Summer league team a couple years ago and did pretty well. I know he's got a pretty good thing going overseas right now, so maybe just wishful thinking on my part.

I was thinking about that, too. Matt could be a 3-pt specialist in the NBA in my opinion. They say that the one thing that LeBron needs around him is elite shooters.

Matt is under contract and I don't think it's usual for NBA teams to buy a contract from a European club the way it is for Euro soccer clubs to buy plays from one another.

 

[Doc]

I think somebody is going to snag Marial in the 2nd round.

 

[Cardinal and Gold]

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

I thought I'd update this with what we know about our guys this off-season. CW indicated in the Old Man's Game podcast that Naz will probably play in the Summer League with the Jazz again this summer. Georges is not playing but said that he plans to be in Vegas for the Summer League.

THT, drafted by the Lakers (who currently have about 5 guys under contract) and Marial drafted by the 76ers.

And Wiggs and Nick latched on to teams for now; I have not given up hope that they could get to the NBA via the G League like some of their Cyclone forebears:

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

I just read this VERY interesting article (thejnotes.com) on Georges' potential big uptick in minutes for the Jazz with the trade of Jae Crowder. Some really interesting things to say; I didn't realize how his 3-pt percentage varied greatly from month to month (granted, playing in 2-minute stretches isn't great for consistency). Some blurbs and tweets from the article:

Despite only averaging 8.8 minutes per game last season, Niang had some really great moments for the Jazz. Above them all is likely the fact that he shot an astounding 41 percent from deep on nearly two attempts per game in 59 contests.

On top of that, Niang earned the trust of Quin Snyder and the faith of the front office by being an unyielding worker, an unrelenting hustler and a smart decision maker on the floor. Those aspects were rewarded in the latter half of the season as he saw his minutes per game go up to 12.0 after the All-Star break.






It's a good read; here's a link to the article:https://thejnotes.com/2019/06/20/ut...acing-enormous-opportunity-crowder-departure/

 

[Doc]

Not that this makes him an NBA wing but he wouldn't have played that role he did if Doke hadn't been injured. Prior Doke shutting it down, Lawson was regarded as their best passer and post entry player. The plan was to play him in a similar role to Perry Ellis, more of a stretch 4. The injury forced them to play smaller and pushed Lawson to the 5. I think he has the offensive skill set to play on the wing but its tough to see him guarding that position.

Yeah, when Dok went down they also sort of lost their best post feed guy. Because then their best entry passer was also their best post scorer.

 

[I-stateTheTruth]

I'm seeing some positive reviews of the Sixers' choice of Shayok. Philly needs shooters and ones that don't cost too much. This one might be interesting for Cyclone fans - the question posed isn't if he'll make the roster but if he can be a rotation player. The writer has a pretty realistic picture of Marial's strengths and weaknesses:

https://thesixersense.com/2019/06/22/philadelphia-76ers-can-marial-shayok-carve-rotation-spot/

 

[Doc]

Here’s the summer league schedule. That first Friday at Thomas & Mack looks interesting. A few cyclones, Zion vs. Barrett, Michael Porter Jr and the Nuggets. Jeez, anybody want to meet me in Vegas?