Just Another Night at the RTL

HT Group and First Tennessee tip-off in the second game of the RTL June 25

Well, after just a little deliberation, I decided that I would in fact make the short trip out to Bearden High School for the 4th night of the Rocky Top League. I got there much earlier this time, about 10 minutes before the first game, and got a good, close seat. The crowd was a little lighter than it was Monday night, yet interestingly enough it wasn’t as hot. Anyways, enough about the setting…

Unfortunately, Ron Slay has gone MIA. I have been told he isn’t in Knoxville at the time, but I can’t confirm that 100%. His team also almost didn’t even show up tonight – Knoxville New-Sentinel had 6 players present at tip-off, all guards. That wasn’t a good idea going up against Rays with Scotty Hopson, Bobby Maze, and Brian Williams. So of course, despite a couple players including former Vol and KNS leading scorer Damon Johnson showing up a little late, the game was a rout, with Rays winning 108-60.

It was almost unfair really, so I’m not taking anything any Vols did tonight very seriously. Williams really had no issues inside because he was so much taller than everybody, but he is going to be stout on the boards. Hopson was ho-hum, but did have a highlight windmill dunk off a feed from Maze (hopefully that happens alot).

You can’t see from here, but Brian Williams has slimmed down a bit and added some definition

The thing about Hopson I’ve noticed is that he doesn’t really change his facial expressions. To be honest, he looks slightly disinterested, but yet is flying past a defender getting to the rim or dunking. He even had a couple authoritative blocks tonight, so maybe that’s a sign he does play some defense (I don’t think his defense or laziness that some have said he has will be a problem).

I quickly took this picture of Bobby Maze after his game, since he was not too far away and I have certain camera limitations

Maze was very vocal in the early-going, while the game was still somewhat suspenseful. And I mean vocal as in encouraging – telling his teammates to take the open shots they were getting, communication on defense – things like that. I mean he was vocal in a good way, not talking trash, yelling at his teammates or the refs, or any of that (including rapping a lyric or two).

Coach Pearl was present for this first game, and caught a quick moment with Daniel West. Don’t worry, he’s just making sure West is going to class…

The second game of the night between HT Group and First Tennessee turned out to be better than expected, despite a scary moment with possible starter Cam Tatum. Midway through the first half, Tatum went to the basket and scored, but ended up on the ground after going up and landing on a wt spot on the court grabbing his knee/ankle. I was on the other end, so I couldn’t see what happened, but a nervous hush fell on the gym. Tatum came back a little later and played the rest of the half and started the second half, but wasn’t a factor the final 15 minutes because he didn’t play, probably taking himself out for soreness (per GVX). Not sure if it was injury related or something else, but he seemed fine – the risk you take.

The first half was pretty close, but HT stretched their lead out at the start of the second and sustained that until around 7 or 8 minutes left. Then someone decided to start coaching, because First Tennessee started a press, then went 2-3 zone. It worked, as their team with 0 Division I players came back and even took a 4-point lead with about 2+ minutes left. The game was actually really entertaining, back-and-forth at this point.

First Tennessee scored to go up 92-90 into the final minute. Here’s what ensued…

done

Tied at 94 with 12.3 seconds left, First Tennessee ball. HT goes full court man-to-man, and Cole Rose of Lee University forces a turnover on former Vol Jon Higgins (who led FTN with 24 points), forcing him the lose the ball out of bounds with 5.5 seconds left. Then here’s what happened…

That was Michael Jenkins of Walters State, who is way more ahtletic than you might think, knocks down two free throws with less than a second left, and HT stays the only unbeaten team in the league. Typical games from Tyler Smith (23 points), Courtney Pigram (31 points), and Daniel West, as HT remains to be the best team offensively in the league.

A little bit on West – I think at this point, just from what I’ve seen and based on experience, Maze will be the starter. I don’t think West is an SEC starting PG just yet, which means getting Maze was even more important. That said, West is a good player, and is certainly talented and capable – and a natural point guard. If he gets a little stronger and works on his shot consistency, he’s going to be seriously good, because I think he’s been impressive defensively from what I’ve seen. At least for this year, though Maze is likely going to be the starter, Bruce should have no hesitation in putting West out there because he will be capable of taking care of things.

Richardson and Toyota of Knoxville get underway

The final game of the night featured Toyota of Knoxville and Richardson. It should be noted that Clemson’s Terrance Oglesby was late (not sure why everyone’s late), and that Josh Tabb was playing well. Now, Toyota to me is the most fundamental team in the league. They seem to play more defense, rather better team and transition defense, than anybody else. This of course doesn’t totally apply to Wayne Chism. Take a look…

done

That’s Wayne (about 30 seconds in), slacking down the court but getting the block (or foul) on Oglesby, then having some fun in transition. Two things: his team had a double-digit lead at this point, and he has Dane Bradshaw on his team, so that more or less offsets Wayne’s occasional foolish antics. C’mon, it’s summer league. Seriously, though, how can you not love Wayne Chism? I certainly do. He was draining a couple threes in a row as well before I left, as his team built about a 15-point lead late in the first half. I don’t know whether they won or not (I’m assuming they did) because as of the time I had to leave for class, GVX hadn’t posted the scoring summaries yet. Check back here to see if the summaries have been posted.

Here’s Michael Blue who I was talking about in my first RTL post, and here’s an example of him throwing it down. He got a pretty alley-oop from Josh Tabb in the game, and even wished his mom a happy birthday over the PA system before the game

My NBA Draft Thoughts

Well, the night of the 2008 NBA Draft is upon us, and I must say first off that this is a pretty good class in my opinion. I think the new rules forcing everyone to go to college for a year has helped not only college basketball, but helped the scouting and marketing abilities for the NBA, since there essentially aren’t anymore “Who’s that high school kid?” questions after draft picks.

With all that said, I look for there to be some wheeling and dealing on draft night, and I hope there are some surprises. There are some difference makers in this draft too, from guys like Kevin Durant (I’ll throw Greg Oden in there as well, I believe Portland would have been right there in the playoff race with him, and likely made the postseason) to Julian Wright, a mid-round guy who made an impact for New Orleans in the playoffs.

Also, if I’m a GM, I’m taking a college player over an international guy all day. The only reason I would understand taking an international guy is if he like Dirk or Yao (two seven-footers, one of whom with incredible shooting abilities) or an investment for the future. The teams at the end of each rounds tend to do this – take a European player, let him play a year or two to develop, then bring him over to play.

That said, here’s my thoughts. I’m not doing a mock draft, that’s for the experts at the bigger sites (like ESPN). But I will give my thoughts. First, if Chicago doesn’t take Derrick Rose, they’re just plain stupid. You’ve got a hometown kid with incredible ability and talent who wants you to draft him. Yes, they would have to move some guards around, but nothing too undoable. I feel confident the Bulls will take Rose.

Derrick Rose #1 overall? The Bulls would be foolish not to take him

There’s some interesting late news that Miami is looking at OJ Mayo instead of Michael Beasley, and I could see that. You’ve got Dwayne Wade and Shawn Marion, and you could use Mayo (at the 2 with Wade at the 3) or Beasley (at the 3 with Marion at the 4). I’m interested to see where Kevin Love and Roy Hibbert go, because I still am not sure how good of an NBA player Love will be, and Hibbert has been more or less rated below the Lopez twins and even Texas A&M’s DeAndre Jordan, Ohio State’s Kosta Koufos, and even Nevada’a JaVale McGee. Hibbert was regarded as the best big man in college basketball early last year. I mean, you can’t really argue against seven-footers right?

Mayo or Beasley? That’s the choice the Heat will make with pick #2

Of course, I can’t talk about the draft without talking about my hometown Memphis Grizzlies. Back in my high school days I frequented Grizzlies game, and saw a game in each of the three-straight-years playoffs sweeps in the first round. That is why I would hate on Pau Gasol and love my boy James Posey in the NBA Finals posts.

The Grizz needs a big man…Hello, Brook Lopez

Here’s what I’ll say about the Grizz: if Brook Lopez is available at 5, and the Grizz take someone else (other than maybe Love), they’re stupid. I think Lopez will be a solid NBA player, and the Grizz have everything but a big guy now (Mike Conley, Mike Miller, Rudy Gay…). Memphis also has a late first-round from the Pau-to-the-Lakers trade, at #28. For this pick they have three options:

(a) pray no one takes Chris Douglas-Roberts and he’s available there
(b) trade up to take Douglas-Roberts
(c) take a chance and take Joey Dorsey, which wouldn’t make much sense

Grizz should hope CDR is still there at #28. Taking him = increase in ticket sales

Why take a Memphis Tiger? Because the city cares so much more about the Tigers than they do the Grizzlies, for obvious reasons. If they could get one or two recent Tiger players, then they’ll have less trouble putting fannies in seats because the city will want to see those guys play again. The city loved Dorsey as a Tiger, and they would embrace him the same way if he played for the Grizzlies.

Lofton deserves a shot. Someone please PLEASE draft him

And finally, I hope and pray some NBA team deems it smart to take either JaJuan Smith or Chris Lofton. Their chances aren’t great of being taken, and I don’t expect them to be drafted honestly. But I wouldn’t be surprised one bit if they don’t get signed in a year or two, a la CJ Watson. JaJuan’s probably the better NBA prospect, but we saw what Lofton did his junior year before the cancer was found. He can certainly reach that level again, and he was being talked of as a draft pick during that year. Plus, the NBA needs some Vols.