Barstool NBA News and Notes: Orlando Summer League Wrap Up, Milos Teodosic Arrives, Dirk, Restructures Contract, More Signings
The NBA offseason continues to move forward despite all the major fireworks pretty much being over. There really aren’t any big name unrestricted free agents out there, there are some notable RFA’s and Paul George and Jimmy Butler already got traded. That said, there is still plenty of noteworthy stuff happening day in and day out in this league, so I plan on doing a recap each day just to make it easy for everyone to stay up to date. Obviously for any team specific stuff go ahead and check out the normal guys who do that.
Milos Teodosic Signs with the Clippers:
How about this A+ line from Patrick Beverley, who played with Teodosic in Greece when they were both on Olympiacos:
This is by far the best news of the day. Milos Teodosic is one of the most fun players to watch in the entire world. The 30-year old Serbian was the FIBA Europe Player of the Year in 2010, EuroLeague MVP in 2010, EuroScar Player of the Year in 2016 and an All-EuroLeague 1st and 2nd Team selection combined 6 times. He’s arguably the worst defensive guard in the NBA now, but that’s irrelevant because him throwing lobs to Jordan and Griffin will be must watch TV. He’s absolutely magnificent in the pick-and-roll, which means we’ll see a lot of that with Blake and DAJ coming up to the high post. Just take a look at some of his passes here:
Teodosic should step in and start at point guard right away with Patrick Beverly next to him in the backcourt, but don’t be surprised if Doc plays one of them off the bench. He showed out playing for Serbia as they won the Silver medal in the Olympics this past season when he put up about 12 points and 7 assists per game. He’s been someone most of the basketball world has wanted to see in the NBA and have waited to see him. He made his way up in Europe with Olympiacos and CSKA Moscow. Here’s five minutes of Teodosic highlights, you won’t be upset:
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Orlando Summer League Finishes
Today was Championship Day down in Orlando, which will finish up the first summer league of the year. Again, for those who haven’t paid attention to that league, it’s an 8-team summer league where standings are based on a points system. You get points for winning a quarter and winning a game, then there are 4 games today to determine final standings with 1 playing 2, 3 playing 4 and so forth. Here were the standings after the four round robin games:
7th place game: Knicks beat the Heat 91-72: I talked about this game a little bit more (from the Knicks side) in the Knicks summer league recap, but the Heat finished the summer league without a win. The two stories here are Damyean Dotson (2nd round pick of the Knicks) and Bam Adebayo (1st round pick of the Heat). Dotson finished with 20 points in this game and solidified himself as a guy who should be on the opening day roster for the Knicks. What impressed me the most in watching him, besides his shooting, was the fact he played on the ball for some time. He has a quick release with his shot and plenty of range. With the Knicks desperately needing help on the wing he fits in there. Adebayo struggled in this game going 1-for-10 from the field (but did go 11-of-14 from the FT line). Overall, he was one of the more impressive players in the summer league. He finished by averaging 17.3 ppg/8.3 rpg/2.3 bpg. More importantly he looked more fluid on the offensive side of the ball, where there were questions. He showed off more of a midrange game and shooting off the bounce. If he can continue to do that, it makes it that much easier to play him alongside Hassan Whiteside.
5th place game: Hornets beat the Magic 86-78: Dwayne Bacon led the way with 29 points -and it paid off as he was just signed to a 3 year deal, 2 of which are guaranteed – for Charlotte as he finished his summer league averaging over 15 points per game. The Hornets were without Malik Monk all summer, which gave a guy like Briante Weber more playing time. Keep an eye out on Weber to be called up to the NBA this year as he’s still one of the best defensive players in the country. While everyone was excited to see Jonathan Isaac for the Magic (he played just 3 games), it was Marcus Georges-Hunt, who looks to have a really good chance of making the roster. He put up 14/4.8/2.8 averages and is still just 23 years old.
3rd place game: Pacers beat the Thunder 89-80:
The Thunder need help with their bench and they may have found someone in this summer league. Josh Huestis, the former Stanford star, is developing more and more on the offensive side of the ball and can play that ‘positionless’ brand of basketball we are moving to. Huestis has played seven games with the Thunder over the last two seasons, but going back and watching his shot this summer compared to previous ones, he’s more consistent. He’s made adjustments with the release point and stayed consistent with his form, which is allowed him to shoot over 47% from the field during his time in Orlando. Throw in the fact he’s got good size at 6’7″ and can defend multiple positions (he was on the All-Defensive team in the Pac-12 for two years), there’s a good chance the Thunder bring him on.
Title game: Mavericks over the Pistons 83-81 in OT.
This game was drunk for quite some time. To start there was a murder by Lorenzo Brown:
We also saw Luke Kennard showing off this really nice display of moves (along with some shooting) during the title game. This was always one of the most underrated parts of Kennard’s game – the ability to create his own shot off the bounce. Most people see white guy from Duke and assume he’s just a catch-and-shoot guy, but Kennard is much more than that, even if he won’t yam on someone.
Then there was Dallas calling timeout while on a fastbreak with 4.1 seconds to go in regulation. The score was tied. That’s summer league hoops in a nutshell. But, Dwight Buycks took over in overtime before Johnathan Motley hit a 10 foot jumper off a somewhat busted screen and roll play at the buzzer to give the Mavericks (without Dennis Smith Jr.) the win.
Zach Randolph Getting His Number Retired in Memphis:
This is pretty awesome when you think back to Randolph’s career. He started his career with the Trail Blazers during those Jail Blazers years, with plenty of stories coming out of that whole team during that time. From there he looked like a massive failure with the Knicks. He lasted just over a year before being traded for Quentin Richardson to Memphis. He became a two-time All Star in Memphis while also being heavily involved in the community. This dude absolutely busted his ass to change his game, stay in shape and it paid off. Awesome that Memphis is retiring his number as each team does it differently.
Dirk Restructured Contract and Returns to Dallas:
Just a ho-hum 20-year career for one of the all-time best players.
Detroit Puts Itself in Weird Position with Kentavious Caldwell-Pope:
This is in response to the Pistons announcing the formal signing of Langston Galloway. It means one of two things here. Like Dan said above, they have to clear salary to bring back KCP if a team signs him to an offer seat – a almost guarantee. In fact, look for the Nets to offer him a max deal similar to what they did with Otto Porter. The other thing it can mean is Detroit has a deal lined up to trade KCP which will result in a salary dump. All in all it just doesn’t make sense to get the Galloway signing official as you lose a ton of flexibility with this. Keep an eye for an offer sheet signing very soon.
Thunder Resign Andre Roberson:
The Thunder resigned Andre Roberson to a 3 year/$30 million deal. It seems a little cheap considering what the market is going for and he does have a specialty. He’s coming off a year in which he was second-team All-Defense and fills out a wing spot plus provides depth to a team that needs more help from its bench. That said he does have his weaknesses, most notably shooting free throws during the playoffs. He shot just 42% from the line in the regular season and a disgusting 14% in the playoffs. With the inclusion of Paul George in the lineup it will be easier to at least hide Roberson on the offensive side of the ball.
Monta Ellis Waived by Pacers and Contract Stretched:
In a move to create salary cap space for a team completely rebuilding, the Pacers waived Monta Ellis and then stretched his contract. One thing to note he does have a player option worth $11.7 million in the 18-19 season, but that won’t count against the Pacers salary cap. The Pacers will continue to try and build around Myles Turner, and have said they’re willing to try Lance Stephenson at point guard during times this year. Again, this is a smart thing as Ellis can go now to a contender as he can provide scoring off the bench and the Pacers can continue their rebuilding process. Just keep an eye on where Ellis is rumored to go.
Report says James Jones Won’t Return to the Cavs:
Finally someone will end the streak of James Jones consecutive NBA Finals appearances.