Summer Pro League: Day 1 by: MistiLynn

NBA Pros 123 - Gwinnett Gwizzlies 110
Dallas Mavericks 91 - Sacramento Kings 80
San Antonio Spurs 69 - Los Angeles Lakers 75

Final stat sheet

I got to Long Beach easily enough, and quite anxious. I needed a basketball fix! I went to the box office to pick up my tickets and they were not there, they told me to go inside and check with the desk. I go inside and pick up the little envelope that has my name on it but the problems don’t stop there. My season tickets aren’t inside, only a floor ticket for Sunday’s games, not Saturday’s. So the guy calls all over the place, no one can find my game tickets and no one knows what to do. Finally, after about 15 minutes (literally) they tell me to go sit in seat 35 of the press row and they will bring my tickets to me.

The seat could not have been better, I was almost at half-court so I had a perfect view of everything. I could feel the vibrations on the floor when they dribbled the ball, that’s how close I was. The guy sitting to my right was a reporter, we talked throughout the first two games (he left at the start of the Lakers/Spurs game). He actually interviewed me about the Rudy T signing in LA and took down my name and information so I might be in the paper. (edit: I did end up in the paper)

The first game was pretty exciting. It was Gwinnett Gwizzlies vs NBA Pros. Penny Hardaway was listed on NBA Pros but wasn’t there, unfortunately. They did have one guy that caught my eye – Steven Barber. He reminded me a lot of Tony Parker, including the relationship with his coach. The coach was really hard on him, yelled at him a lot but you could tell he did it out of care and that Barber was the leader of that team. Great court vision, some spectacular plays, great passing, good at finishing at the basket – the only thing I’d say he really needs to improve is his outside shot. He didn’t have good range. NBA Pros won the game in a blow-out, 123-110. Needless to say, there was no defense going in that game.

The seats are starting to fill up a little more as the Dallas Mavericks play the Sacramento Kings. As a side note, even summer league Kings are hated in Southern California, they were boo’d quite a bit whenever they were announced. Josh Howard was truly the star for Dallas, he ended the night with 26 points and he earned every one of them. He had a dunk at the 5:34 mark in the first quarter that actually broke the basket! It folded down, as it was designed to do, so they fixed it easily enough but it was a monster dunk. Turnovers were a constant problem, but you’ll always have that in summer league.

Jon Stefansson is quite a character. He apparently has some bad stuff in his past that caused his high school to forfeit 3 CIF titles (a la Chris Webber?) but the guy can definitely play. He’s a bully though, a little Karl Malone Junior. He has good D, a good outside shot and can lead the fast break. Sacramento was completely disorganized and had problems with the shot clock, they were called for several shot clock violations and ran it down to a second on several more. The game turned into a slam dunk competition, with contestants such as Josh Howard, David Bluthenthal, Kevin Martin and Ajani Williams – those guys can dunk! But the defense was just horrible, which allowed them all the opportunities. Devin Harris from Dallas played very well, has a deadly outside shot finishing the night with 22 points and 8 assists. He’s going to do very well next year. Game ends with Dallas winning, 91-80.

At half-time of the Dallas/Kings game, I went off in search of a restroom and ran into some of the Lakers instead. First I talked to Brian Cook, I asked if he would take a picture with me. I told him that I had a web site for him and he said he knew about it! I asked if he liked it and he said yes.

So then I talked to Brian Shaw and got a picture with him. I asked him if he heard anything about Horry coming back to the Lakers since Rudy T signed on. He said he didn’t know anything. I asked if he’d talked to Robert and he said no. I wasn’t going to get any information out of him. I watched Luke Walton be interviewed, said hi to him and moved on to Devin Brown.

I said hi to Devin and reminded him of our meeting in San Antonio at Sherlock’s, he remembered me. He said hi and asked how I was doing. Hedo Turkoglu walked by just then so I said hi to him and congratulated him on his contract with Orlando. He said thanks. I returned to the game.

It’s the start of the Lakers/Spurs game and the place is packed. So crowded, in fact, that they tried to kick me out of my seat. Now, remember I mentioned that they didn’t have a ticket for me and were supposed to bring me one? They never did so they tried to kick me out! I refused to move and told them the name of the girl I talked to. They found her, eventually, and she confirmed that I was okay. She said that they’d overbooked the floor seats and that she needed to move me down to the end of the row, that they’d add on a chair for me. No, I was adamant. This was the game I was there to see, the most important game, and she wanted to stick me down at the end where I couldn’t see anything? I paid for my ticket and I wasn’t moving. She came back 2 more times to see if I’d change my mind, really starting to annoy me, and I still wouldn’t move.

Derek Fisher walked in and everyone started cheering for him. He did an interview just down the aisle from me and when walking back I got his autograph. I said to him, “Please stay in LA, Derek.” Then the guy next to me said to Fisher, “Hi Derek, I’m Peter Holt. You really killed us this year.” Woah, stop the presses. Peter Holt is sitting next to me!

I turn to him and say, “You’re Peter Holt?” He said yes. Jackpot!!!! I spent the rest of the game talking with him and asking him every question I could think of and dared to ask, he was quite talkative and very honest. I got a lot of good information from him. I told him about being a Robert Horry fan and that I followed Robert from the Lakers to the Spurs. I had a picture of Robert in the cover of my binder so I showed him that as sign that I really was supporting the Spurs (since I’d spent the first quarter cheering for the Lakers, LOL). I told him about Spurs Central and that I was writing a game report for SC, which was supposed to include a scouting report of Beno. He laughed and said it is going to be difficult for me to scout Beno since he won’t be playing until Utah’s SL.

He asked about how I got into basketball, how I got to be a fan of Horry, where I was from, all of that. I told him about the shirt that Horry gave to me and showed him on my digital camera a picture of the shirt framed, he thought that was cool. At the end of the game, he stood up and said, “It was nice talking to you. Keep supporting us.” I replied, “It was nice to meet you, keep Robert Horry around.”

Kareem Abdul-Jabaar walked by me, doing an interview down the aisle same as Fisher did. He wasn’t interested in signing autographs but I said hi to him.

As far as the game went, I didn’t watch it as closely as I would have liked. I was so focused on pumping all the information I could get out of Peter Holt, besides being excited about meeting Brian Cook, that I wasn’t all that focused on the game. I can tell you that Cook got called for a foul everytime he so much as LOOKED at someone, it was really sad. He was pulled out in the first quarter after three quick fouls. He really needs to work on his defense without fouling.

Fuller on the Spurs was not a pretty sight, he has horrible decision making abilities and no shot to speak of, though he got his share of fouls. The Spurs in SPL do resemble those of the regular season in two respects: #1 – all defense and no offense and #2 – can’t make their FT’s. Devin Brown played VERY well in the first quarter then, as Peter Holt said, he started to play selfish and wasn’t making his shots. The team was good at penetrating and getting to the basket but none of them could finish. It was getting very frustrating.

There was one funny moment at the 8:06 mark of the 4th quarter. The ref missed a traveling call, everyone was yelling at him for it so he called a 3-second violation instead. I guess if you miss one call you can make it up by calling something else.

With 21 seconds to go, Sasha Vujacic on the Lakers was intentionally fouled then ran into Devin Brown, you gave him a bit of a push to keep from knocking him over. Sasha thought it was hit and got defensive, they were quickly surrounded as Devin apologized and it all got worked out.

Sorry Spurs fans, the Lakers took the game 75-69. It was down to the wire with free-throwing deciding the outcome. Afterwards I stayed around long enough to get my final stat sheet and then went over by the Lakers locker room to wait for Brian again. Kareem Rush emerged first, signing autographs for the people around but Brian was right behind him and that’s all I cared about.

I waited patiently as Cook signs autographs for the kids and then chatted with some guy he obviously knew. Then it was my turn. I asked him how he enjoyed his first year with the Lakers and he said he enjoyed it very much. I handed him a game program from when he was in college, he looked a bit surprised that I had that. As he signed it he asked where I was from. I think he was trying to figure out how I got the game program from Illinois so I told him I was from around here but that I saw him play with the Lakers and said to myself, “He’s going to be really good.” He said thanks. I asked, “So, you do like the web site?” He said yes, he really liked, and I said thanks. I handed him my business card and told him that I work for XXX and if he ever needed anything to give me a call. He took the card, shook my hand and that was that.

I thought about going back for the Clippers/Knicks game, I really did. But I was so excited by all that had already happened, I was hungry because I hadn’t eaten since 10am and I was tired so I decided to leave. However, I wanted to clear up this issue with my tickets before I left so I headed back to the box office.

The girl remembered me, said they still don’t have my tickets and to check inside again. I went to the desk where some girl was sitting who had no idea what was going on. She called a guy over who at least recognized the name of the girl that had helped me earlier. He was told that they still don’t have my tickets but to give me a card with her name on it so I can fight this out again tomorrow. Well, my season tickets were general admission, only Saturday’s was supposed to be court-side. I don’t think this guy realized that though because he gave me a media pass to bring back tomorrow night as well as a card with the girl’s name on it. Maybe I’ll get more scoop tomorrow and get to talk to more people. Stay tuned!!!

Here is a summary (yes, this is summarizing!) what Peter Holt told me:
1. Robert Horry - He said it’s unlikely Robert comes back. All the Spurs can offer is the veteran’s minimum, which Horry knows, though they haven’t decided yet if they will make even that offer. He thinks Rob can still get more money elsewhere and that the Lakers are a strong possibility because of the Rudy T signing. The Spurs are not at the point yet where they know whether or not Horry is returning and he doesn’t think Robert has any idea what he’s going to do either. He also said that Robert has coaching aspirations. He wasn’t happy with how Robert played in the playoffs (duh) especially after they played him so few minutes during the year to keep him fresh. I reminded him of Rob’s play in the first round and he remembered that he did play very well, especially that one game.

2. Kevin Willis - He really likes Kevin’s influence on the team, his leadership and presence in the locker room. If he did come back, it’d be for the vet’s minimum again but if not, then bringing back Horry is more likely.

3. Malik Rose - They have been desperately trying to trade Malik and cannot find any takers so they’re stuck with his contract. His take on the situation is that Malik feels he’s being held back by Pop’s style of play and wants to do more. The Spurs gave him the contract because he played a certain way then he decided he wanted to get a lot more touches offensively and is upset because he’s not getting that. Still not a good situation.

4. Hedo Turkoglu - He played well during the season but disappeared and played so horribly, they have no intention of matching Orlando’s offer. Good riddance. He said they have plenty of defense and need some offense so he doesn’t mind that Hedo is leaving.

5. Brent Barry - He’s very excited about the addition of Barry. He was the #2 focus of their off-season plans (Manu being #1) and is glad they got him.

6. Tony Parker - They are getting prepared for negotiating with Tony next summer. He specifically said summer so I take it that Tony will not be signing an extension in the fall.

7. Jason Hart - He’s a free agent and they haven’t thought much about him. Beno is coming in and since he’s a first-round draft pick, has a guaranteed contract so Beno will be the back-up point guard. When the salary cap figures come out on Tuesday night/Wednesday, they’ll have a better idea of what they have to work with.

8. I thanked him for being an organization that keeps in such good contact with their fans. He said that they have to work harder for their fans because they are a small market team but at the end of the day, the fans want to win so they have to keep winning.

9. Devin Brown - He was happy with Devin’s play in the first quarter of the game but then he starting playing selfish and wasn’t hitting shots.

10. The game - It was a close game up to the very last possession, free throw’s were the deciding factor and the Lakers won by 6. Holt wasn’t happy with the lack of aggressiveness from the team and the fact that they couldn’t finish at the basket. They were penetrating and getting to the basket but couldn’t finish it. He was happy with their defense.

11. Beno Udrih - He hasn’t met the guy or seen him play, just seen some clips. He’s anxious to see Beno play in the Utah summer league so they can get a better idea of what he’ll bring to San Antonio. He will get into San Antonio on Sunday and have a physical. After they watch him a bit in Utah will give them a better idea if they need someone like Jason Hart.

Los Angeles Lakers
12. Rudy T - They have a good pick up in Rudy T. He went over and said hi to Rudy T, who was there. Holt came back and said, “He didn’t know me from Joe Schmo, we just know of each other.”

13. Shaq - He said LA has no choice but to trade Shaq and that the deal with the Heat will probably be it. I asked if he would do that trade, if he were LA, and he said that they don’t have much choice.

14. Derek Fisher - Derek walked by and Holt introduced himself to Fish and said, “You really killed us, Derek.” He’s aware of the rumor of Derek going to Houston and said that Houston will have a very scary team if Derek went there. They’re already scary with Yao and McGrady together, but adding Fisher …..