Posts Tagged ‘Tyler Zeller’

Brothers in Arms: Summer League Brings Brothers Together

July 20, 2012  ·  8:30PM

By Drew Packham, NBA.com
 

 
LAS VEGAS — For many, Sin City is all fun and games.

But for five sets of brothers, Summer League is a chance to reconnect.

Those brothers – Marcus and Markieff Morris, Austin and Jeremiah Rivers, Tyler and Luke Zeller, Klay and Mychel Thompson, and Cory and Devoe Joseph — are all on different teams, which means the siblings often have to make an extra effort to watch and support their brothers.

Devoe Joseph, who is trying to find a spot in the league, played for Toronto, where he and his brother Cory (who is in his second season with the Spurs) grew up.

“We’re pretty close, so this is like a little family vacation for us,” Devoe said. “He’s up there in the stands now. It’s nice having someone you know, someone that makes you feel more comfortable and can help me know what to expect. It was special.”

Jeremiah Rivers – older brother of Austin by four years — was a part of the Knicks’ summer league team, averaging 3.5 points in four games while trying to earn an invitation to a training camp. The chance to spend the week with family was a bonus.

“We’re spread all over the globe,” said Jeremiah, who played in Serbia before having surgery on both ankles in February. “So for everyone to come out – my brother, dad, mom, sister — It’s just good to share this as a family.”

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 Summer League / Comments (11) /

Las Vegas Summer League: Day 4 Recap

July 17, 2012  ·  12:35AM





LAS VEGAS – Monday was when the entire summer league got under way, with the Bucks, Clippers, Timberwolves and Celtics played here for the first time, with the final delay of Milwaukee lottery pick John Henson staying back at the hotel with the flu. Seven games in two gyms at UNLV provided some developments, though.

Non-Rookie of the Day: Talk about a bad few hours. News came early in the afternoon that the Kings had signed Aaron Brooks, a nice addition at a low cost but another setback for Jimmer Fredette in his attempt to transition from scorer to point guard. That path may now be closed. Then, when the Kings played the Rockets at Thomas & Mack Center, he kept firing away with little early success. The second-year guard finished with 30 points, but on 10-of-21 shooting thanks to a late hot streak.

Rookie of the Day:  It’s not just that Tyler Zeller had 19 points, seven rebounds and two blocks in 25 minutes while making five of eight shots in Cleveland’s 94-88 victory over the D-League All-Stars. It’s that it came a day after the No. 17 pick had 14 points and seven rebounds in 28 minutes in the opener. The stats don’t mean a thing. Immediately playing with consistency, though, is very encouraging for the Cavaliers.

Coming up: Baring setbacks, No. 13 pick Kendall Marshall is scheduled to make his Suns debut after sitting out the opener while a paperwork issue was being resolved, and No. 2 Michael Kidd-Gilchrist is expected to return to the Bobcats lineup following a one-game absence with a minor knee injury. Six games will be televised on NBA TV: Nuggets-Knicks at 4 p.m. ET, Spurs-Lakers at 6:30, Cavaliers-Suns at 8:30, Timberwolves-Bobcats at 10:30, Trail Blazers-Rockets shown delayed at 1 a.m. and Wizards-Grizzlies shown delayed at 4 a.m.

Tags: , ,
Posted in 2012 Summer League / Comments Off /

Kentucky Comes Out On Top Again

June 28, 2012  ·  11:57PM




NEWARK – The University of Kentucky basketball program has had a pretty good year.

The Wildcats capped off a 38-2 season with a national championship on April 2. And Thursday, Kentucky became the first program in history to produce the top two picks of the NBA Draft.

We’ve known for quite some time that Anthony Davis would be the No. 1 pick. And a month ago, we learned that the New Orleans Hornets would be the lucky team to get him.

But then the Charlotte Bobcats surprised us a little by selecting Davis’ teammate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with the No. 2 pick. To do that, the Cats passed on Thomas Robinson, who most draftniks had pegged as going second.

Charlotte, of course, needed help at every position and on both ends of the floor. There were multiple reports that they discussed trading the pick, but they apparently decided to keep it, and they apparently decided that Kidd-Gilchrist was the second-best player in the draft.

“It’s crazy,” Davis said of he and his teammate going 1-2. “Michael is a great player. We have two down and four more to go.”

The four more Wildcats followed: Terrence Jones went to Houston at No. 18, Marquis Teague went at No. 29 to Chicago, Doron Lamb at No. 42 to Milwaukee, and Darius Miller at No. 46 to New Orleans (where he’ll join Davis).

(more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Draft / Comments (9) /

Draft Comparisons: Leonard, Marshall, Zeller and Rivers

June 28, 2012  ·  1:43PM





HANG TIME NEW JERSEY – As Draft time rolls around and we learn about the next class of NBA rookies, there’s a desire to compare each to players we’re already familiar with.

No two players are exactly alike and some players are more unique than others. But you can find comparisons by watching video, crunching stats or matching measurements. For this exercise, we did the latter two.

Listed below are four of the top picks, along with the current NBA players they compare with most. For this exercise, we looked at 10 stats from each player’s last season in college, and eight measurements taken at the annual pre-draft combine.

Because we used college numbers and combine numbers, the only current players we could compare this year’s prospects to were the ones who played in college (so no LeBron James or Dwight Howard) and participated in the combine since 2000 (Rajon Rondo is one notable name missing in that respect).

The following comparisons aren’t gospel, of course, but they’re one way to get ready for the Draft on Thursday (7:30 p.m. ET, ESPN). (more…)

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Draft / Comments Off /

Hang Time Podcast (Episode 84) Draft Special With Tyler Zeller, Scott Howard Cooper and Fran Blinebury

June 27, 2012  ·  9:50PM

HANG TIME PLAYOFF HEADQUARTERS – Kentucky power forward Anthony Davis is going to be the first player to hear his named announced Thursday night in New York.

Beyond that tidy bit of information, there are no certainties involved in the 2012 NBA Draft.

We know this here at headquarters because we’ve asked just about everyone you could imagine and canvassed the basketball globe on the eve of the Draft and found that no one, and we mean no one, is certain of anything other than Davis walking across that stage first.

What’s it like living through this process from the inside out? We find out from North Carolina’s Tyler Zeller, a projected lottery pick. Who are the biggest movers and shakers in the Draft? Well, it is a fluid list that will change several more times before the start of the Draft, says NBA.com’s Draft guru Scott Howard-Cooper. The Houston Rockets remain the team most eager to move their way up the Draft board, their master plan (Dwight Howard in a Rockets uniform) is clear for all to see. We go behind the scenes on their motives with NBA.com’s Fran Blinebury (rhymes with grime and scary).

Check out all that and more on Episode 84 of the Hang Time Podcast our Draft Special, with Tyler Zeller, Scott Howard-Cooper and Fran Blinebury. And make sure you to tune into the Draft Thursday night at 7:30 p.m. ET on ESPN.

LISTEN HERE:


As always, we welcome your feedback. You can follow the entire crew, including the Hang Time Podcast, co-hosts Lang Whitaker of SLAM Magazine and Sekou Smith of NBA.com, as well as our superproducer Micah Hart of NBA.com’s All Ball Blog and the best engineer in the business, Jarell “I Heart Peyton Manning” Wall.

– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , ,
Posted in Podcast / Comments Off /

The Centers of Attention

June 27, 2012  ·  10:21AM





NEW YORK – The day before the draft, and it’s impossible to get away from the center showdowns.

Andre Drummond vs. himself. That was the case for most of an underwhelming freshman season at Connecticut, and will continue up until the Draft begins Thursday night in nearby Newark, N.J. On talent alone, he’s the second-best prospect, behind only Anthony Davis. With concerns about his mindset to reach that potential, though, Drummond could easily land out of the top five, and it’s not hard to see a scenario, given team needs and knowing how some front offices feel about him, of a slide all the way to the Pistons at No. 9.

When I asked him to assess his 2011-12 at UConn, Drummond said, “It wasn’t my best and it wasn’t my worst. There’s a lot more things I could have done to better myself. I believe that since I left, I’m working that much harder to prove to myself that I know I can be good and that I can be a great player in this league.”

What could he have done better?

“Play a little less passive,” he replied. “I was playing a little passive. It was like a new stage for me and things like that. As a team, we weren’t really clicking as well. We had a lot of weapons, but we didn’t put it in the right areas.”

The honesty will appeal to teams. The last thing the personnel bosses will want to hear is a lot of excuses — the team had issues, the media only focused on the negative, the refs called bad games — but Drummond taking ownership is an important step.

Tyler Zeller vs. Meyers Leonard, meanwhile, is better than ever, in contrast and unique circumstances.

(more…)

Tags: , , ,
Posted in 2012 NBA Draft / Comments (2) /