Summer league impressions

[Alexander Wang <awang@MIT.EDU>]

I had forgotten how sloppy and chaotic these games are. After discounting 
for that, here are my first impressions of the Celtics game against the 
Wizards.

Kedrick Brown is as athletic as advertised. He launched himself going for a 
block but missed the ball; they showed it in slow motion and it looked like 
his head was at the level of the basket. He has a strong looking upper body 
too. He posted up, shot pull up jumpers, and took three pointers. His shot 
wasn't really falling today though, but he's got a nice looking stroke and 
looks pretty skilled. Had a nice fake where he got his man in the air, 
zipped right by him and put in a quick pull up shot before the other 
defenders could get to him. Just based on this first impression, even with 
his shot not falling, I think he's going to be an impact player down the 
road. His athleticism is going to make things happen, and he looks natural 
on the court (as opposed to a McCarty type track star, for instance). I was 
bummed when Palacio threw an alley-oop pass to him short; he did recover in 
the air to finger roll it but it could have been a massive dunk.

Joe Johnson sometimes gives the impression that he's only going at 80% of 
his capacity, but it may be just because he's very efficient and under 
control. He showed a variety of skills, canning a couple of 3's, putting in 
a jump hook, putting in a nice lefty lay-up on a fast break. He also has 
the ability to play both inside and out. He showed good speed when he 
needed to on fast breaks, and made some nice assists. He made a nice block 
that didn't count because the offensive player was called for a charge. 
O'Brien said that he felt Johnson had the best composure of all the rookies 
he'd seen in the summer league, that he had a great basketball IQ, and that 
he'd be playing significant minutes (he might have said "big minutes", I'm 
not sure) for the Celtics early in the season.

Joe Forte didn't really stand out too much as far as I could see. I think 
he's definitely not at the same caliber on the NBA level as Kedrick Brown 
and Johnson project to be, but he can contribute off the bench, 
particularly if he develops his point guard skills.

Moiso wasn't really impressive but wasn't horrible either. Everything 
seemed just a little off for him. His athletic ability and skills are still 
tantalizing. He definitely shows some flashes but overall seemed to struggle.

Blount looks about the same. Still has no offense but made some good blocks.

Palacio looks quick and strong but doesn't seem to have much of a 
distributing mind set. Khalid El-Amin showed more ability to create for his 
teammates as well as for himself. I guess the problem is that El-Amin 
doesn't fit into the Celtics' halfcourt offense built around Walker, and 
defensively he'll be a minus too.

The Wizards struggled against the press. Having multiple athletic guys at 
the 2 and 3 makes the press work better. Along with the 8 second backcourt 
rule, this makes it likely that we're going to see more pressing again.

Alex