We’ve skipped the Game 4 loss, and bring you a very special highlights package, with some exclusive in and out of game footage from the 5th and final game of this year’s Detroit Pistons Summer League experience.

All I can say is that Amir Johnson has hops. Mad hops.

nJoy this video, courtesy of our man, The Low. He might be a tough critic but no one works the beat harder or more honestly during his summer vacation.

Dre just sent me an email, the previous attempt disappearing someone into the abyss of the internet, or perhaps such a tasty email was lost forever into the stomach of Oliver Miller.

Two great photos from Game 1.

The first photo is of the starters, Ronald Stuckey, Arron Afflalo, Sammy Mejia, Jason Maxiell, and Cheikh Samb. Is any other VSL squad fielding 5 players that are all signed or rights held by their franchise? I haven’t had a chance to look.

And the second photo is Sammy Mejia with the Dre Family after the game. Dre writes,

I spoke with Sammy Mejia after the game, congratulated him on hitting the winning shot and advised him that Pistons fans, particularly the worldwide fans at PF would be following and supporting him.

From Pistonsforum.com, courtesy of LA Dre

Good report from The Low as I noticed he was doing his game report with his laptop in tow just like the other beat writers. Met he and his ladyfriend and brother and we exchanged our game observations. Enjoyed the game much more so than the games on Friday, but then again I had more of an interest this one.

There were three empty seats in the second row behind a bench where Pistons trainer Mike Abdenour was talking, so me, the Mrs, and my nephew grabbed them. Much to my chagrin, I chose wrong and was actually sitting behind the Sixer bench where I heard their assistant coaches and braintrust discussing whom is whom and who do they like. One of those was Mo Cheeks who sat there silently through most of the game observing at the scorers table, but in the end, he moved to the row in front me and had to say that his guard Louis Williams is getting better and they need to play him more and more to get him ready to be the principal back-up to Andre Miller. Cheeks also marveled how active JMAX was. Looks like former Piston, Aaron Mckie has finally hung up his sneakers as he was one of sixer summer assistant coaches…..

Continue Reading »

From Pistonsforum.com, courtesy of LA Dre

Dallas Mavericks vs. Seattle Sonics

Me and the wife rolled into Vegas about 2:30PM yesterday with the temps hitting 110 degrees. Luckily for us the AC was working in COX Pavilion as we sat down at the at the beginning of the second quarter of the Mavs-Sonic games. The early crowd of curious onlookers were there to see Mr. Durant and based on my observations, he is long way from winning rookie of the month in November. Yeah he was the high scorer for the game, but 18 pts on 17 FGA reminds me of Kobe’s early days.. As far as playing defense and banging, it was almost non existent for the number 2 overall pick. It was almost as if the Sonic braintrust said to avoid contact to avoid injury as Durants boney legs and frame initially looked under nourished in the NBA world. On most defensive sequences he stood on the outside watching his fellow players bang for rebounds.

#5 pick Jeff Green played tentively but allowed the focus to be on Durrant. The Sonics also had Johan Petro, Julius Hodge and former Detroit Mercy player Jermaine “I can’t sing” Jackson there to hone their skills. The Mavs Maurice Ager, was clearly the crowd pleaser during this game as the former Spartan star had a series of dazzling dunks scoring 17 points and was the only player to have an autograph table set up after the game for the fans to meet him and get signatures. The Mavs first pick in the draft, Nick Fazekas, (#34 overall) had a terrible game shooting wise (1-7) and his parents who were sitting directly behind us were groaning on every miss.

Team China vs. Memphis Grizzlies.

The Las Vegas tourism bureau knows how to satisfy their visitors from overseas by bringing in Team China to diversify the crowds at the these summer NBA League games. Great idea as the Asian population at the game was in full force as they were there to support their fellow countrymen and it seems everyone in the house was waiting for a surprise visit from Yao Ming himself. Some youngster even yelled there’s Yao and a bunch of folks stood up looking. Alas no Yao sighting today other than a tall teen in a Yao Rockets jersey.

But Team China had an ace in the hole that must have infuriated the Bucks organization. Yes there wearing # 11 in the Team China lineup was the Bucks #6 pick Yi Jianlian. He received a nice ovation from the mixed crowd as he was introduced in the starting lineup. Continue Reading »

Last month, Matt Watson @ Detroit Bad Boys had an excellent piece on Cheikh Samb. In fact, I like to think it highlights the function of fan communities and blogs as being able to dig deeper on prospects, stepping outside the boundaries of the franchise practice facility or scheduled media appearances. Nothing beats first hand knowledge, and when a player is outside the USA, that type of appraisal is hard to come by. It’s a big reason why we run BadBoySummerCamp. Because a lot of news and perspective goes unreported.

If you’re interested at all in the seven foot shot blocker we traded Maurice Evans for last year, then Matt’s post is a must read.

As far as his progress as a player is concerned, Cheikh has managed to strive at gaining muscle and furthering his skills. Here, you have to take into account that he has been playing basketball for five years, a very short period of time. Considering his evolution, it is scary to imagine how far will be able to go as a player. During the course of this season, and using the idle time while he was injured, he added 12-15 pounds of muscle to his frame. His physical evolution is hard to miss when you look at the pictures from last year´s [Las Vegas] Summer League (left) and you compare them to the latest available images from one of his last games with Cornella (right).

Keith Langlois, the Pistons’ official scribe posted several insights about Cheikh yesterday,

“He’s like a sponge,” said Cowens, who worked out with Samb last week for the first time. “He’s got a lot of upside. He’s a pretty coordinated kid for a big and he moves well. The biggest thing for him now is conditioning and the strength in the core of his body.”

Samb was listed variously at 195 to 215 pounds a year ago, but since getting his first taste of the NBA he’s become a weight-lifting devotee.

“Last year when I come to Summer League, my first time, I see a lot of players, like, strong,” – and here he holds his hands well apart to display broad shoulders – “and I be like this” – and here he holds up a long, spidery index finger. “Skinny. I see I got to work on legs to get more big and come back to Spain this season. I have a little pain in my foot – I no play. I lift and lift and lift. I weigh now like 12 kilos more – I don’t know in pounds.”

There you have it. Cheikh Samb. No longer an enigma, and a possible Piston contributor.