Sunday, July 15, 2012

4 on 4: Suns' First Summer League Game


The Suns’ played their first summer league game in Las Vegas this afternoon and ran through the Knicks’ summer league squad 99-74. There were 4 obvious standouts during the course of the game, Markieff Morris, Diante Garret, DeShawn Sims and Marcus Landry. Here’s a 4 on 4 for each of their performances:

Markieff Morris

Positives- Morris was a force in the first half of the game as he led all scorers with 19 points, grabbed 5 rebounds and also picked up a block as well as a steal. Above all else he was highly efficient.

Negatives- Morris seemed a step slow all game on the defensive end, he committed 4 fouls in 4 minutes and played more defense with his hands than his feet. There’s a problem when a lottery pick has trouble defending Chris Copeland, who’s Chris Copeland you ask? Exactly. Morris although had an overall good game, had trouble establishing position in the post and the worst part is he had trouble establishing post position against Chris Copeland…..Morris also kind of disappeared in the second half as he only scored 2 points in the second half.

Diante Garret

Positives- Diante Garret started the game in place of Kendall Marshall this game, and he did a great job running the show. He keep the offense in a good flow and dished out 10 assists while only having 2 turnovers. He also added 8 points and had 3 picks. He showed great composure out on the floor and seemed comfortable being the floor general; his effort and energy on defense was also very impressive kind of reminded me of Sebastian Telfair.

Negatives- Diante Garret had in my opinion the strongest game out of all the Suns’ players today so it’s hard to say some negative about his performance, however he missed both his 3 point attempts so I guess you can say he could improve his shooting.

DeShawn Sims

Positives- DeShawn Sims played a very solid all-around game, scored 16 points on 7-12 shooting and also grabbed 3 rebounds. Sims made some strong plays in the post during the game, plays I wanted to see out of Morris but at least I saw from someone! Sims much like Garret played with a lot of composure, effort and energy. Not to mention zero turnovers.

Negatives- Well there not much negative reviews about Sims neither but it would have been nice to see some higher level energy and play on the defensive end.

Marcus Landry

Positives- Marcus Landry displayed some impressive shooting on the offensive end as he scored 12 points on 5-9 shooting and made 2-5 three pointers. Much like his brother Carl Landry, Marcus also scrapped inside and took in two offensive rebounds. Also like Sims, no turnovers.

Negatives- Marcus Landry reminds me of Landry Fields, not bad at anything but also not great at anything. He also needs to work on his foot speed because at times he seems a step too slow on the defensive end.

            Overall the Suns’ summer league team demonstrated composure, something that’s not necessarily a given in the summer league. The Suns’ shot well from the field(53% Overall) and also 47% from deep. I was disappointed that Dan Majerle decided not to play Kendall Marshall but I was very impressed by the play of Garret who may give Sebastian Telfair for that 3rd string point guard spot. 

6 comments:

  1. So who's taking over for Nash?
    On another front, what do you think of Linsanity going to Houston? Should the Suns have tried for him? The Knicks?

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    1. Probably Goran Dragic for now, I think Kendall Marshall will run the offense in the long run though. Lin went to Houston because the Knicks didn't want to match the "Poison Pill Contract" and with Marshall there I don't think the Suns should of gone after him.

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    2. Alright thanks for the lowdown on the Suns. And I'm with you on Lin...but is he worth 25m now anyway? And what about Jason Kidd's DWI? Are the Knicks heading wrong again (even though I know they're not of great interest to you now)?

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  2. It's basically just the final year of his contract, his first two years are worth about 5M per year but the final year is worth about 15M and that would push the Knicks into the luxury tax and that would basically mean the Knicks are paying Jeremy Lin 30-40M in the final year. Jason Kidd should be okay, he's not a trouble maker so this is probably just a bad break.

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    1. Ok I'll take your word on Kidd, one "kid" supporting another!
      Tell me more about the luxury tax vis a vis Lin...how's it get to 30-40M?

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  3. Well how the luxury tax works is once a team's salary cap exceeds a certain amount, for every dollar they're over it they pay a extra dollar for every dollar they go over, but with the new CBA. Teams pay $1 for every $1 their salary is above the luxury-tax threshold in 2011-12 and 2012-13. Starting in 2012-13, teams pay an incremental tax that increases with every $5 million above the tax threshold ($1.50, $1.75, $2.50, $3.25, etc.). Teams that are repeat offenders (paying tax at least four out of the past five seasons) have a tax that is higher still -- $1 more at each increment ($2.50, $2.75, $3.50, $4.25, etc.).

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