Thoughts on Rookie/Free Agent Camp

["Adam Suchocki" <asuchocki@mail2.wireless.tellabs.com>]

After attending both Monday and Tuesdays Rookie/Free Agent Camp, I 
thought I'd share some of my observations on those who attended (and 
survived the cut before the final day):

Chauncey Billups: he's smaller than advertised (at least compared to Dee 
Brown and Eric Murdock who he kept standing next to when they introduced 
everyone.  He may only be 6'2" or shorter.  Otherwise, he didn't play 
due to a sprained ankle that occurred at the very beginning of the first 
practice.

Ron Mercer:  Monday he showed off his atleticism with some big time 
steals and leaps.  He has a little trouble finishing, but it was mainly 
due to the insane degree of difficulty of his attempted tip ins and 
such.  He has a great first step, but he seems to not be as accurate 
shooting on the move.  On defense, he got destroyed by Eric Williams, 
but otherwise held his own.

	Tuesday he showed of his jumper.  He connected on somewhere on 
the order of 8 jumpers outside of 18 feet.  He seems to want to stay 
near the college line, and actually stepped in to it even when he had 
the wide open three - settling for a 18-20 footer.  His shot was very 
smooth, and he gets good elevation.  On the down side, even when wide 
open he has a tendency to stand flat footed and take a useless dribble 
to square up before he shoots - this may be a problem in the pros.  He 
continued to display great quickness and leaping, though he couldn't 
finish in traffic drives all the time.  He had his way on offense until 
Greg Minor started guarding him, and was effectively shut down by Minor. 
 On the defensive end, he caused a lot of trouble in the press, but was 
very foul prone - he may have had 8 - 12 fouls in a 40 minute game.

Eric Williams: Best news...he is in very good shape.  Second best news, 
he was consistently hitting the jumper.  Otherwise he was slightly 
erratic.  On Monday he spent a lot of time being guarded by Ron Mercer 
and rained 15-20 foot jump shots on him.  After innitally missing a 
running 15 footer, he connected on 5 straight jumpers, including a game 
winning three pointer.  He is quickly catching and shooting the ball, 
and looks fluid.  Inside, he still has great quickness and those fakes 
and jerky moves that are his trademark.  On defense he did very well.

	Tuesday, Williams was a little out of sink (he looked tired).  
His inside moves were still very impressive, but he came up short on a 
few easy shots after beating the whole team.  He only took one jumper I 
remember, but he nailed it.  He played a lot of power forward against 
players trying out to be Centers, and he looked confused at times on 
defense (this is in part because he was playing the front man on a full 
court press, but had to switch back to a power forward under the basket 
once the bal got past half court.  He sometimes lost track of the man he 
was supposed to switch to, but he did show all around good hands and 
very good footwork on defense.  On one switch he got stuck guarding 
Rameal Robinson at the top of the key, and he was able to prevent him 
from driving past him.  Both nights, especially the second, Williams was 
rebounding with more agression than I remember.  i'm fairly certain that 
on Tuesday he lead all players in rebounds.  

Dee Brown:  what can I say, he is still an enigma.  Monday he was very 
erratic, throwing up a fair number of threes and air balls (yes multiple 
air balls).  He would not drive to the basket, but showed he can get 
(and sometimes make) a jumper no matter how many people are guarding 
him.  His quickness was a huge asset in the press, but he often threw 
the ball away after a pretty steal.  he does look much lighter than last 
year.

	Tuesday, Brown was on fire.  After missing an early three, Brown 
showed he can score with the best of them.  He hit threes off the 
dribble, wide open threes, 18 footers off the dribble, and he even drove 
the basket once and had a Jordanesque hang in the air and scoop the ball 
in over a 7'3 center sort of shot.  His defense was still very good, but 
he would not go inside off the dribble other than the one shot mentioned 
above.  Based on Monday, I'd say cut him.  Based on Tuesday, I'd say he 
could be the next Vinne Johnson - go figure.

Dana Barros: He only played on Tuesday.  He started out very strong 
hitting threes and driving, but finished very flat with multiple missed 
jumpers.  He was the only guard of the Celtic regulars willing to take 
it all the way to the hole, and he got clobbered several times (which 
may explain the slow finish.  He can definately shoot, he moved well, 
but he still seemed to be lacking a little something in being able to 
move the ball and help his teamates.

Greg Minor:  Minor played well both nights.  Monday he was paired with 
Ron Mercer, and the two played well.  Minor looks very strong (he is 
considerably taller and stronger than Mercer), and is moving VERY well. 
 He didn't shoot much, but repeatedly got into the lane, elevated, and 
hit the open man.  On defense, he was very effective.

	Tuesday was much more interesting.  Minor didn't show up until 
half time of the game.  Red glared at him as he walked past the scorers 
table.  Pitino sent him to running behind the bleacher to warm up, and a 
few minutes later he showed up back on the bench.  Roughly three minutes 
into the second half he entered the game on the green team...(let me 
explain the break down of teams the second night - the white team was 
Dana Barros, Dee Brown, Ron Mercer, Eric Williams, Eric Murdock, Brent 
Scott, and Lorenzo Coleman [players on the team or likely to make it] - 
the green team was Rumeal Robinson, Otis Hill, Herman Alston, Danya 
Abrams, Keith Closs, Brian Lorthridge, Anthony Tucker, etc.. players who 
seem more of a long shot to make the team.)  So Minor was stuck an a 
severly mismatched team.  The coach started them full court pressing, 
and didn't let Minor sub out of the game for the remaining quarter and a 
half (he was the only player not to get a rest, and the others got 
multiple rests).  Minor was clearly mad, but played very focused.  he 
only scored six or eight points, but they were impressive - a pair of 
jams on the break (the best of the night), and some in trafic jumpers.  
But the most noticeable parts of his game were defense and passing.  Ron 
Mercer, who was on his way to a 23 point night, was basicly shut down by 
Minor.  Mercer's only points came off of a lose ball foul free throws 
and a transition jumper where Minor was guarding someone else on a 
switch.  On the other end of the floor, Minor was making repeated bounce 
passes of the dribble from the high post to cutters under the basket.  
He was much better than I remember him, and looks like he will give 
Mercer some trouble in earning the starting shooting guard role.

Eric Murdock: good defense both nights, very good passes off the fast 
break, very erratic (i.e. not going in) jump shot.  He may have a shot 
of making the team, but he seemed to force it on offense and gamble to 
much on defense at times.

Lorenzo Coleman: He is very large, with very mediocre mobility.  He is 
good at getting position under the basket, but is not very good at 
finishing strong.  His offense seems to be more reaching bank shots )not 
quite a hook shot) than power moves.  He didn't seem to be getting very 
many rebounds or blocked shots, but he was a big presence in the lane.

Brent Scott (I hope I have his name right, 'cause he played well).  He 
is a wide framed 6'10 center from Rice (have they ever had an NBA 
player?) who moves incredibly well.  I didn't notice him as much on 
Monday, but Tuesday he started with the white team and scored many of 
their points to open the game.  Simply put, the man runs the break very 
well and knows how to finish.  He fought hard for rebounds, throwing his 
body around, but the results were only moderate.  He has the body and 
the speed for Pitino's system, and may make it as a 12th man.

Others:

Herman Alston (smallish point guard)- lets just say that on Tuesday 
night, Alston was the best offensive player on the floor.  He hit an 
amazing array of 2 and three pointers, often off balance, falling away, 
and I think one was with the wrong hand.  The white team went out to a 
20-5 team, and Herman Alston almost single handedly brought the game 
back to even.  He's the sort of player who would probably need the game 
of his life to have a prayer of getting noticed by an NBA team - I think 
he got noticed.  he was the high scorer among all players on Tuesday, 
despite somewhat erratic minutes.

Keith Closs - now here is someone very intersting.  He is 7'3 208 
pounds.  No, that was not a typo, he is 7'3 208 pounds.  He looked like 
a 7'3 version of Todd Day - very long arms, some muscle defination, but 
absolutely no bulk.  As a sophomore in college he set the NCAA record 
for blocked shots in a season, blocking nearly 7 a game (breaking David 
Robinsons record).  He left college after his second season because he 
was upset his coach was fired, and due to confusion ended up in the CBA 
for part of a year.  Forgive me if I devote a lot of type to this man, 
but he was a very intersting player.  I watched him a while in the 
pregame workout, and he can be spectacular.  He can dribble behind his 
back with either hand, and moves very fluidly.  He has an 18 foot jump 
shot which is very fluid, and very effective.  He can dunk without 
really jumping.

Both nights he put on a very good show.  He was probably the best 
offensive rebounder, and was the best shot blocker (including blocking 
Ron Mercer on a fast break jam (head on) and throwing back an attempted 
two handed stuff by 7'1 299 pound Lorenzo Coleman.  Eric Williams was 
really the only inside player who could easily score when Closs was 
between him and the basket.  In one game Tuesday, Closs scored 7 of his 
teams first 8 points, with a collection of offensive put backs and jump 
shots.  He ran the floor well, and on Tuesday made a pair of long passes 
off the dribble on the fast break for easy jams.  He basicly is very 
coordinated.

So, you ask, why isn't he a star.  Well, I mentioned the 208 pounds.  
Dee Brown (the new lighter Dee Brown) was able to block Closs off the 
boards.  Closs compensates for this by being a outside-in style of 
rebounder.  He crashes the boards from the outside, and is effective 
becuase he is agile and rolls off of blockouts that aren't full set.  
His rebounding reminds me of the several games I saw Travis Knight play 
(as does his jumper).  He is also very young (college senior age) and 
has had limited time learning the game.  Despite his weight, he appears 
to have real potential.  To be honest, I like him better than Travis 
Knight for his strengths (offensive rebounding, shot blocking, fast 
break offense, and jump shots), but I think Knight is better able to 
play defense against strong inside players (which isn't saying much, 
because that is probably the weakest part of Knights game as well) - and 
what we need most is interior defesnse.  Still, as a project, Closs is 
very intriguing.

Danya Abrams: He is very quick to the ball on rebounds.  That is his 
primary skill.  He had real trouble going up for shots against bigger 
players (he looked shorter than Eric Williams).  One thing that was 
appearant (that I hadn't noticed about him before) - he is not very good 
at catching passes, and causes a lot of turnovers from just letting the 
ball bounce off of his hands.

Otis Hill: Awesome inside moves (he cuts and fakes like an NBA player) 
but only so so rebounding.  No range on his shooting, but another 
intersting project because of the high level he has been able to get his 
moves to.

Garth Joseph: he couldn't play because of a stress fracture in his 
ankle.  I have never seen him play, but I have to believe there is a 
place in the NBA for a man with a body like this.  His shoulders are the 
widest I've ever seem (not just in the NBA, but in the NFL as well).  He 
is a legitimate 7'2 and built like a tank.  I ran into him at Arby's 
before the rookie camp, and I still can't get over how big he was.  He 
is definately a larger framed man than Shaq, and he has a very athletic 
build.  He's over 320 pounds, but actually has a skinny waist for his 
frame.  He is just a huge, athletic looking man.  He at least moved 
liked a real person (unlike Shawn Bradley or Eric Montross), and seems 
like he would be the perfect player to stick in the lane for defense.  
I've heard he only played two years of basketball in his life, and 
people are shocked at how few skills he has.  I can't think of many 
people who have only played for two years who have any real skills 
(especially when you are that tall to start).  He may not make it, but 
as true project go, he has more potential than any I've seen before.

Rumeal Robinson: still deadly off the dribble, but doesn't look up 
enough.  Might make it as a back-up pointguard if he is willing to give 
up the ball more.


Anyway, sorry this is so long, but I hope some find it enjoyable,

Adam