Josh's first pro game

[dukelifer]

The summer league is up an running. Josh had his first game. Not much of a stat line- 3 bounds and 2 misses from the line in 5 minutes in a loss. Oden did not set the world on fire either- 6 points- 2 bounds and 10 personal fouls! In a different game, Durrant scored 18.

[JasonEvans]

The summer league is up an running. Josh had his first game. Not much of a stat line- 3 bounds and 2 misses from the line in 5 minutes in a loss. Oden did not set the world on fire either- 6 points- 2 bounds and 10 personal fouls! In a different game, Durrant scored 18.

Yeah but Durant only shot 5-17 and he grabbed a grand total of 1 rebound in 30 minutes of play. He did not hand out a single assist.

The most impressive player of the day though was LaMarcus Aldridge, the guy who will star alongside Oden in Portland. He had 26 points on 10-16 shooting with 11 boards and 3 blocked shots.

-Jason "Shav is on the Sixers roster-- I wonder how close he is to playing again" Evans

[Fish80]

Hard to draw much from 5 minutes of action. But 3 rebounds is not bad - extrapolates to 21 boards for 35 minutes! Go Josh!

[dukelifer]

Josh will definitely need to impress in these summer games. He will need to assert himself. I recall Boozer doing very well in the summer games and that helped him make the team. McRobert's has some time but he needs to show he can do his thing- even if it is getting a lot of boards. Of course he will need to get some minutes.

[WeepingThomasHill]

Josh better pick it up to secure a roster spot. 3 boards and 0 points is not going to impress anyone, even if he is Oden's buddy. Otherwise, he could wind up in the Turkish league next year.

[cato]

Josh better pick it up to secure a roster spot. 3 boards and 0 points is not going to impress anyone, even if he is Oden's buddy. Otherwise, he could wind up in the Turkish league next year.

Seriously. What is he thinking limiting himself to 5 minutes of action?

[ACCBBallFan]

If you get tired of summer reruns on TV, NBA Summer league is available free, worth every penny but not much more

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/schedules/index.jsp

[jimsumner]

How do we know that Josh didn't limit his playing time, either by what he did or did not do in practice or in his limited PT? Maybe he's sick or had jet lag or hasn't picked up the plays or whatever. But I can't imagine that Portland wants to limit his playing time for some sort of capricious reason. I expect he'll get more of a chance to show what he can do but the idea that a zero-point game doesn't help his chances of making the team seems pretty much indisputable to me.

[bhd28]

How do we know that Josh didn't limit his playing time, either by what he did or did not do in practice or in his limited PT? Maybe he's sick or had jet lag or hasn't picked up the plays or whatever. But I can't imagine that Portland wants to limit his playing time for some sort of capricious reason. I expect he'll get more of a chance to show what he can do but the idea that a zero-point game doesn't help his chances of making the team seems pretty much indisputable to me.

Probably part of his lack of PT is due to him playing behind the 1st overall pick this year and 2nd overall pick last year, plus another first round pick from last year (Freeland). Obviously, Portland wants to get Oden, Aldridge, and Webster a good amount of PT together early in the summer league. Aldridge got 31:46 of a possible 40 minutes PT at the 4 spot. That puts Josh with a max of just over 8 minutes at the 4. I guess he could play at the 5, but that is behind Oden and Freeland (who combined for over 30 minutes at the 5). Hopefully he will be good enough that they cannot afford to take him out. Other than that, I think we can expect Aldridge to play fewer minutes in later games as coaches try to get a better look at the 'unknowns'. Hopefully he takes advantage of it.

[TampaDuke]

Oden did not set the world on fire either- 6 points- 2 bounds and 10 personal fouls!

Josh's best prospect of making the team and getting PT might be Oden's foul performance. If it keeps up, Josh should at least afford the Blazers 6 additional big-man fouls to help protect Oden/Aldridge and company.:D

[heyman25]

Sounds like he signed a2 year contract thanks to Arn Tellem

[coblue]

I know greed is why regular season games aren't on but why in the world not show these free to all that want to peek in?

How could that do anything but grow interest in the league?

I mean NBATV is useless except for PPV. In contrast, NFLTV is an awesome vehicle to promote that league.

[SilkyJ]

I know greed is why regular season games aren't on but why in the world not show these free to all that want to peek in?

How could that do anything but grow interest in the league?

I mean NBATV is useless except for PPV. In contrast, NFLTV is an awesome vehicle to promote that league.

You can watch online at NBA.com:

http://www.nba.com/summerleague2007/index.html

Click on the scoreboard on the left. Free sign-up takes 30 seconds.

[dukelifer]

Not much better outing for Josh- 0 for 2 with 2 bounds in a loss in 13+ minutes. Oden had 13pt and only 9 fouls! Terry had 4pts on 2-7 shooting for the Mavs. At least Josh is getting some playing time.

[WeepingThomasHill]

He better make sure he saves his money from that guaranteed contract. Arn Tellem delivered a Christmas miracle by securing him a guaranteed deal.

[dukeblue33]

did anyone watch? i watched some and while i knew he was sort of in between SF and PF for the NBA it was sort of bizarre watching him play SF, and i think he played it in most of his minutes today

[OZZIE4DUKE]

He better make sure he saves his money from that guaranteed contract. Arn Tellem delivered a Christmas miracle by securing him a guaranteed deal.

Josh got a guaranteed contract? First I've heard that.

[SilkyJ]

Josh got a guaranteed contract? First I've heard that.

According to the article on the front page its guaranteed...

[dukelifer]

Josh had 8 points (4-8 shooting), a few bounds and a few assists in a game against the lakers. While not a breakout- certainly a more positive outing.

[johnnydakota]

Josh had 4 assists, and many others that either resulted in free throws or missed wide open looks. He easily could've had 8 or 9. He also looked good handling the ball as a help in pressure situations. He will find his niche and continue to improve. It helps that he's got 2 years to work on things as well.

[lavell12]

The thing that impressed me, was the little ten to twelve foot jump shot he had in the game. He never really had that a Duke, I think he has a problem and that is he scores in half court offense while playing inside yet it seems teams like to play him out on the wings b/c his passing ability but that hurts his scoring ability. Also in fast breakes they didn't let him run the ball down the court for one of his exciting dunks. But overrall he looked solid.

B-

[DukieUGA]

glad to hear Josh had decent numbers his second game out. If those were his averages for the year in his first year in the NBA they would be pretty good. Not good enough to save him from the lashings of that Bradley guy in Atlanta, as Shelden just discovered. Too bad for Josh that he had not developed creative ways to score while at Duke, b/c last year Duke really needed that from him. He may yet develop more diversity to his offensive game and blossom. I'm hoping he can do better in the NBA than he did at Duke, just to shut the Duke-doesn't-develop-good-pro-players yappers up.

Anybody got word of what Shav is doing lately?

[johnnydakota]

Josh with 11 pts., 5 reb., 5 ast., and a block vs. Suns.

[JasonEvans]

Anybody got word of what Shav is doing lately?

He is still rehabbing the broken ankle. He has been working out some but is not ready to play games yet. He is listed on the Sixers summer team roster because there as some hope he might be able to play at the 2nd summer league in salt Lake City in a few weeks, but that now looks unlikely.

The Sixers do expect him to be ready for formal training camp in a couple months.

-Jason "he recently exercised his option on his contract and will be making $1.1 mill this season-- at the end of this year, he is a free agent" Evans

[Jarhead]

Josh with 11 pts., 5 reb., 5 ast., and a block vs. Suns.


He is still rehabbing the broken ankle. He has been working out some but is not ready to play games yet. He is listed on the Sixers summer team roster because there as some hope he might be able to play at the 2nd summer league in salt Lake City in a few weeks, but that now looks unlikely.

The Sixers do expect him to be ready for formal training camp in a couple months.

-Jason "he recently exercised his option on his contract and will be making $1.1 mill this season-- at the end of this year, he is a free agent" Evans

I'm confused a little bit. That's not unusual, but I wonder how josh is able to tally 11 pts., 5 reb., 5 ast., and a block against the Suns if he is not ready to play in games.

[johnnydakota]

Josh is playing, Shav is recovering.

[Jarhead]

Oh. OK, sorry for the confusion. My bad, whatever that means.

[ACCBBallFan]

Josh with 11 pts., 5 reb., 5 ast., and a block vs. Suns.Since the rosters made it a retro ACC game with Eric Williams and Chris Ellis from Wake reenacting their former practices with one on each team, DJ Strawberry from MD, Cameron Bennerman from NC St and Josh McRoberts from Duke, I out of character watched the NBA game.

DJ was outstanding except for one bone head play on a 3 on 1 where he got too fancy and blew the advantage. The announcer did comment that they are not sure his style is compatible with how the Phoenix Suns play though, plus that the one mistake offsets so many positives.

Josh and Taureen Green teamed particulaly well, and Green was on fire from 3-land. Josh could have been credited with even more assists as he inbounded the ball to Peteri Koponen who hit a Dockery shot from mid court just before the half with no assist credited, and Green barely missed on another Hail Mary at end of 3Q.

Josh tried one monster right handed dunk like many of you have seen, but he was a little farther out and it clanged off. He did have a two handed dunk the posterized the Suns player. Both dunk attempts drew exceitment from the otherwise pretty bland announcers.

They also commented on how much more athletic he appeared than what they rememebred form Duke and that the past couple of games have solidified why the Blazers feel he was a steal at # 37.

Steve Blake BTW has been reacquired by the Portland Trailblazer but was not yet on hand to play and there is only one more game in Las Vegas Summer League tonight.

Other than 1-4 from FT line, Josh was his typical stat stuffer self in about 30 minutes of PT. The announcers commented a couple times how well he led the receiver to the spot they needed to be in order to be open and score rather than where they were as he released the ball.

At end of game he almost turned the ball over on inbounds play which was also reminiscent.

Also when he had the ball at shot clock was about to expire he rarely shot it, but did a just in time pass to someone else who usually scored or drew a foul. Part of that Josh can't go one on one to get his own shot syndrome.

Oden is not playing because of tonsolectomy. Not sure why the 6' 11" guy Lemarcus Aldridge from TX did not play. Announcers referenced it would have been good if their twin towers could have used the 5 summer league games to get accustomed to playing together but did not indicate what kind of injury prevented Aldridge from playing. Another one of thei big guys T. Freeland apparently is having back spasms and did not play much.