FanPost

Kenner League Recap: July 18, 2015

Peak, DSR, White: did not play today. White was on the bench in street clothes. Still looked a bit gimpy, the ankle probably still bothering him. Peak and DSR were not in the gym.

ISAAC COPELAND: 22 pts, 3-7 2pt, 7-9 ft, 3-6 3pt, 4 reb (2 off), 2 bl, 2 TO

-Hit quite a few pull up jumpers, some for 3. He gets this shot off quickly, with great elevation. Definitely NBA level skills on this shot - but it is generally not the kind of shot you want to take unless it is late in the shot clock. Still, you can see his combination of athleticism and skill when he pulls up for a jump shot

-defended the rim well, contesting quite a few shots

-had a number of good drives, but struggled to finish. This should come in time, as he gets more experience on what the best finishing moves are in specific situations, and as he gains more strength

-made a great clutch 3 on a pull up jumper off an inbounds pass. It was like the Ray Allen 3 in the NBA title series a couple of years ago. He gave his defender a little push off and bounced about 3 feet in the air to get free outside the three point line, then caught the pass and went right up to hit the three. Very pretty, clutch move

MARCUS DERRICKSON: 8 pts, 1-5 2pt, 2-4 3pt, 4 reb, 1 assst, 2 st 1 bl, 1 TO

-was covered by Green for much of the game. Did not force things (other than one wild LH airball), so had a bit of a quiet game

-played solid D on Jeff. Jeff took him off the dribble a few times, but Jeff has embarrassed plenty of NBA players with his driving ability. Marcus also had possessions where he stayed in front of Jeff well and forced jump shots

-fouled Jeff a lot!

-had a beautiful pump fake/Drive and finish off the glass. Smooth, powerful, athletic move

-had a nice help defense play vs. Sims that forced a turnover

-note on Henry: he played really poorly today. You would never guess that he was an NBA player from today’s performance. Other than a clutch 3 late in the game, he missed shots, turned the ball over, and just seemed out of rhythm all game.

RIYAN WILLIAMS: 8 pts, 3-8 2pt, 2-2 ft, 0-6 3pt, 5 reb, 2 TO

-always active and aggressive, which is not always a good thing! He went right at Jeff Green a number of times, with predictably bad results

-Had a nice reverse layup vs. Copeland in transition.

-played good D on Jorgensen (GW guard, good offensive player) on a late game drive

-beat Copeland off the dribble for a nice drive/finish

-definitely quick and athletic, but his skills are just not strong enough for him to finish consistently at the rim, or to hit jumpers.

JESSIE GOVAN: 23 pts, 10-18 2pt, 3-8 ft, 9 reb (3 off), 2 bl

-Ran the court for a nice finish in transition

-the other team was very small, so Jessie got pretty much whatever shots he wanted in the post

-defensively: whenever he tried to close out hard on a shooter, the most basic pump fake resulted in Jessie running right by the shooter and allowing an easy drive to the hoop. He has a lot of work to do on learning how to close out properly, and on perimeter D in general.

-Not shooting his free throws well. His form is solid, and he shot 75% +in high school, so hopefully this is not a long term issue

KALEB JOHNSON: 18 pts, 6-11 2pt, 3-4 ft, 1-2 3 pt, 8 reb (2 off) , 1 asst, 1 TO

-Nice cut and finish through the lane

-Again solid on the boards. Loves to grab the D board and start right upcourt. always keeps his head up looking to pass ahead in transition

-Had a spectacular one handed follow up dunk attempt, but slammed the ball off the back rim

-Had a nice +1 finish in transition

-Definitely purely LH, but he is very tough to stop around the basket if he can get any angle at all going left

-Johnson is a fun player to watch. Does a bit of everything, plays hard, gets a lot of garbage baskets around the rim. Hit one of his 2 threes, 3/4 foul shots - if he shoots that well consistently he will be a real complete player.

AKOY AGAU: 17 pts, 8-12 2pt, 1-1 ft, 0-2 3pt, 12 reb (3 off), 1 asst, 4 bl, 3 TO

-Agau had a very strong second half on both ends of the court. He is very active and pretty athletic, and he makes the right decisions/movements on the court quite consistently. It looks like he may have the tools and understanding of the game to be a nice complementary player.

-Hit a nice 12 foot baseline jumper early in the game. He missed two 3’s, but he looked comfortable taking the shots, and they were not bad misses

-got the ball in the middle, just past midcoast on the break. Made a very goo pass for a layup. He runs quite well, and hustles consistently.

-Struggled to finish in the post in the first half, but then converted post opportunities pretty effectively in the second half

-Generally a good passer, keeps his head up and is always looking for open teammates. Looks to pass a bit more than he looks for his own shot. Had a really nice pass from the post to a cutter in the lane.

-Had a nice block coming with help from off the ball

-Had a great block late in the game on Marcus Ginyard under the hoop. Ginyard pump faked, Agau did not bite. Then Ginyard shot, and Agau went straight up and swatted it. Pretty quick off his feet

-played good post D, but against smaller and not especially talented players.

-In general, Agau had a good game (very good second half) against one of the better Kenner league teams. If he plays like this consistently, he could be a solid contributor. More of a 4 than a 5, but might be able to play 5 in small lineups because he moves his feet well enough defensively to switch onto smaller players, and may be a good enough mid range shooter to at least offer a little bit of a threat away from the basket.

TRE CAMPBELL: 36 pts, 11-13 2pt, 5-5 ft, 3-9 3pt, 3 reb (3 off), 1 asst, 1 st, 1 bl, 2 TO

-Fantastic game from campbell, especially his 21 point second half. He was in attack mode every minute of the game. Scored on a mix of drives to the basket and pull-up jumpers off the dribble.

-Excellent in transition all game. Particularly impressive play - on a 2-on-1 fast break, the defender did a good job of denying an easy pass while also cutting off an easy drive to the hoop for campbell. Trey pulled up at around 12 feet in the lane and knocked down the jump shot. Pretty advanced decision making and execution.

-the one concern with Tre - he really plays nothing like a point guard when he is playing his best. He is pretty much always looking for his own shot. This is not necessarily a problem, but he plays with much more of a scoring mentality than with a "set up teammates" mentality. He is not forcing bad shots when he plays this way, as he is good at finding himself good shots - especially in transition.

-Very impressive how fast he played today. He was flying up court every time he got the ball, really pushing the tempo effectively.

TREY MOURNING: 6 pts, 3-7 2pt, 0-1 ft, 0-1 3pt, 11 reb (2 off), 3 asst, 2 l, 2 TO

-not as involved offensively today, but played a very strong defensive game. Controlled the defensive boards, and challenged a lot of shots at the rim even though he did not have a whole lot of blocks.

-had a good block followed by a long look ahead pass that led to a transition basket

-hit a tough contested turn around jumper +1 on which he absorbed a lot of body contact and still was strong enough to hit the shot. The amount of muscle/strength he has added since last year is really impressive

-Had a perfect high post back door pass - classic georgetown big man pass

-defensively he struggles to stay in front of smaller, quicker guys. Probably not a big problem, he won’t be guarding guys this quick except in screen switch situations in real games

-played strong help D throughout the game. Came off his man to slow the opponent attacking the basket, but also cut off the passing angle to his original player. Trey really seems to understand how to play on both ends of the court, real smart player.

-set a killer screen at the top of the key late in the game. The screen freed up campbell for a 3 on which Tre was fouled because the defender was out of position due to the good screen and scrambling to recover.

-on the whole - trey’s improvement is very impressive. He really does look like he can provide some meaningful minutes against quality competition this season. He probably would not score a whole lot, but he may be able to provide really sound defense, and play solidly within the offense.

Other Notes:

-Patrick Ewing Jr. was again helping to coach Clyde’s and tombs, acting pretty much as head coach. At one point he got called for two Ts. the ref seemed to want to throw him out of the gym. But John Thompson Jr. ambled over to the sidelines from his usual seat against the wall behind the far basket, had a word with Patrick and the ref, and Pat remain on the bench (though noticeably quieter/calmer for the rest of the game). Good to see Big John is still able to work the refs!

Stay Casual, my friends.

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