Minnesota Sports Forum

Sometimes these tourneys show some worthwhile players to target for teams. Amile Jefferson is playing for team USA so that's why I am paying attention and watching. So yeah he will not be playing in the summer league. He is playing for his pal JVG though so...

So tonight was USA vs Mexico which is the host. It was a brutal start USA down early at least 18-0. Amile started the game but was pulled early. I have no idea why. It wasn't him getting his pocket picked or throwing bad passes etc. in less than 7 minutes he had 4 points and 4 rebounds plus he was easily switching on anyone. Mexico just came out and took the ball away from USA and was pretty much just linking these guys and hey they were hitting shots at the end of the shotock etc. Overall team USA defense was not really the problem but offensively it was ugly preparing me for summer league play. David Stockton was a better PG than Caruso who started and had 7 turnovers. Ayon played a familiar type of game both somewhat effective and annoying.

I watched the game via ESPN+. I signed up for a free 7 day trial. I'm still somewhat confused on what you really get with it.

So who won?

Q12543 wrote:So who won?

Mexico 70-78 but honestly it was less close than that at the end. Sad

USA plays Cuba tomorrow afternoon and I was looking at the box scores from the past few games (they have played in November February and now) and...Its kinda crazy the guys that are on and off the roster. I'm not sure anyone has played on all 3 rosters. I'm starting to feel a little bad for being disappointed in them for losing to Mexico. JVG must have some level of interest in getting into coaching to do this. Its like being a D-league coach with a little higher stakes...even though we know they will still qualify. I'm sure its tough to get some of these guys to come and play. I mean what are they really getting out of this?

I'm watching Senegal's last game in their qualifiers and Dieng. Early Dieng's shot was absolutely horrible. He airballed 2 shots including a FT. He did have an offensive rebound where he tipped the ball away from a guy that had position on him and then dunked and got fouled...then missed the FT. He had a turnover when he tried to go to work in isolation and got double teamed. He checked out with a couple minutes to go in the quarter and all in all he looked about as bad as I have ever seen him play. There were also a couple times defeneively he was guarding nobody. It was really strange. He did check in for the last minute of the quarter because another player got hurt. He got a screen assist and a massive block in the final seconds.

Best play was a Senegal player Faye threw the ball off a guy's back on an inbounds play and had an easy dunk. I've never seen it where the player was that far away the the inbounder.

Nobody needs to detail the rest of this game except Dieng wasn't as bad as the 1st quarter but he was simply not good in this game. Senegal was doing pretty well and then had trouble sealing the deal. I've been a Dieng fan since his senior year in college but he looked bad in this game. If someone wants more detail about Dieng I will provide it.

USA vs Cuba was a yawner around half way through the 3rd quarter. Some takeaways.

David Stockton is kinda fun to watch. He is kinda quick and plays hard and with purpose. He gets into guys on defense.

Amile didn't particularly stand out. The thing that he has is he moves very well and he also moves with purpose. He really knows how to set screens and then quickly gets to a spot teams have to pay attention to where he is be cause he is moving somewhere. He is a bigtime communicator on the floor as well. It's a completely in fair comparison because of the HOF career player and lack of length and overall athletic ability but he does move around like KG in some ways. He moves more like a SF than a big and that helps. Cuba has a big that was pretty big and seemed to be pretty decently skilled. Jefferson battled him and after a couple early fouls did so without those calls. I like Jefferson and he probably looks better in an environment where he is even more of a guy that's a cog and where he knows his role but if we sign some sort of worthwhile vet (espcially if that guy can shoot 3's at all) over him I can deal with that. I still hope the Wolves can develop him though. We will see. I still probably value him higher than Q's take on him but I probably fall closer to that after watching these 2 games.

Thornton has the look of a professional scorer. He can get up shots. What level he is idk but he can be fun to watch. He looks for his but he did try and make plays for other though.

USA had a bunch of bad turnovers but let's be honest these guys have likely had only a bit more time together than a summer league team. I'm sure other teams they are playing with have guys that haven't been playing practicing with the team but these guys are basically thrown together. These guys are playing risking injury for...not a whole lot. I mean sure some team at home or abroad can see them in a couple games but yeah.

Did anyone see the video of the fight that broke out during Australia Vs Philippines? That was nasty and terrible security.

monsterpile wrote:Did anyone see the video of the fight that broke out during Australia Vs Philippines? That was nasty and terrible security.

All i saw was a gangly thon maker doing jumping jacks all over the floor.

I'm watching Senegal's latest game against Mozambique. I'm starting to worry about Dieng. He has looked nothing more than just any other player. His effort level in the first half was Wiggins-Esque. The 2nd half he has been putting forth more effort so far but honestly based on these games I wouldn't want to see this guy on the court for us next year. It's bizarre espcially the effort. How did this guy go from being an effective player and advanced stats darling to a negative guy? He has to be one of if not the biggest differences in the CARMELO projections from the previous year to last season. Thibs and sending him to a bench role absolutely can have some...maybe even as much as 70% of the blame but Dieng has to be better than that. Is there something going on with him we don't know? I'm honestly really puzzled.

He just picked up a T for bitching at a ref because the smaller guy that has been having to guard him flopped. Before that Dieng had been getting every call against that guy in their arm fighting type thing. He had a nice drop pass on a set play that led to an easy basket.

Dieng got switched onto #2 a guard that has been lighting up Senegal and picked his pocket when down the other end and...blew the dunk. Sigh. A couple minutes later #15 (another Senegal big) jumped a passing lane dribbled past a player did somewhat of a eurostep and...certainly did not miss the dunk. He looks more intruiging right now than Dieng. He is bigger more athletic and moves his feet better.

Senegal won. Their PG looks like a really solid player at this level. Dieng shot 3's in this game and spent a bunch of time drifting around the perimeter and often calling for the ball. That's enough I'm signing off.

Thanks for the write-up on Dieng Monster. That's too bad that he doesn't look good. I remember a summer or two ago he really became a go-to guy for Senegal and was hitting the corner 3, making post moves, and really expanding his game. It seems as if he's hit a wall of some sort. Not good.