Judgment Day AM Notes

G/F Bryce Taylor rattled off seven straight points during the first scrimmage of the day. He may have solidified a spot for himself in demonstrating the one thing lacking from his game: consistency. He swooshed a couple three’s, and when defenders closed out on him, he drove baseline and dunked convincingly with two hands.

The torrid pace of the scrimmages really helps to showcase the athleticism of these players. Taylor, F James Gist and PF Joey Dorsey get off the ground with such quickness that help defense can’t get over in time to contest their dunks.

(Dorsey, #28, climbing the ladder once...)

Dorsey is positively the most electric player out there. While many other players soar into the air for the strong but plain two-handed dunk, Dorsey takes pride in abusing the rim. His dunk of the day was a double-pump that he threw down behind his head. The guy leaves nothing to be desired.

(JD swatting our boy, #10 Eric Maynor)

But frankly, Dorsey's showmanship might work against him at times, causing coaches and scouts to overlook his fundamentally solid post moves. He nabbed one from the Big Fundamental (Tim Duncan) today when he faced the basket off the low block, stepped through and spun PF Jon Brockman to clear space for an easy reverse lay-in.

PG Sherron Collins is officially the fastest person on the floor. For everyone who played Sega Genesis, Collins actually looks like Sonic the Hedgehog when he takes off in transition. His legs are a total blur underneath his stocky frame, and once he gets going, he shoots up the floor.

Our support of PG Eric Maynor’s campaign to make the team has probably reached the point where it’s foolish to even try to look impartial. He wowed the crowd a couple of times last night with accurate bullet-passes to cutters in the lane. However, it’s implausible to say that he could beat out PG Drew Neitzel, PG Mario Chalmers or PG Scottie Reynolds for a job at the point. Neitzel might be the sneakiest passer of them all. He lies through his body language, squaring up to a teammate on the wing only to throw a bounce pass to someone cutting on the baseline.

While SG Chris Lofton continues to be a disappointment, SF Tasmin Mitchell and SG Josh Carter made late pushes for their cause. They passed well with C Roy Hibbert around the basket and both played smartly when guarded by either slower, bigger opponents or by the smaller and quicker guys. Mitchell went after PF Maarty Leunen on consecutive trips down the floor, knocking down a J and then shimmying with his back to the basket before throwing in a baby hook.

(Mitchell, #12, hits a fadeaway from the corner over Oregon's Maarty Leunen #37)

Josh Carter’s really smooth stroke begs comparison to the former LA Laker, Jamal Wilkes. In addition to having wonky release points, both guys can unpredictably score a deluge of points. A four-time NBA Champion, Wilkes was known as someone who could catch fire and drop 30 on a given night. Likewise, Carter sunk eight 3’s against Nebraska earlier this year as part of a 26-point game. Cornhusker coach Doc Sadler said after, “How the heck do you let Josh Carter get eight 3’s? That’s ridiculous!”

This is likely the last time all the attendees will be on the floor together. We’re not sure whether the roster is going to 16 or 12, but if you’re looking for predictions, here are 14 guys who we think will survive to tomorrow:

Roy Hibbert, Drew Neitzel, Mario Chalmers, Scottie Reynolds, Wayne Ellington, Derrick Low, Josh Carter, Tasmin Mitchell, Bryce Taylor, Shan Foster, Brandon Costner, Joey Dorsey, D.J. White, Eric Devendorf

Special thanks to Haverford’s own Dorothy Labe for these great action shots.

Waking up from the Nightmare on Elm Street: Day Two PM

As fate would have it, Friday the 13^th was a crazy day of basketball in the Gooding Arena. The morning session was Freddie Krueger ugly. Both Jonathan Tannenwald of Soft Pretzel Logic and Dick Weiss echoed our concerns about the level of play in their respective blogs. But when the Pan-Am’sters came back at 5 PM for round two, they salvaged the day. Like the end to any nightmare, somebody woke up. Three white team guards, PG Drew Neitzel, SG Eric Devendorf and SG Wayne Ellington were the first to stir. Right out of the gates, Neitzel hit a three off the dribble. Devendorf found Ellington on a back door cut for a reverse lay-up to set the Tar Heel guard off on a cascade of points. He drained a 12 footer from the baseline, followed it with another mid-range jumper and then put the white team on top comfortably with a spot-up three.

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Practice remained hotly contested from that point forward. SF Bryce Taylor dove head first after a loose ball at center court, only to be buried underneath a massive scrum. Coach Wright loved the energy, stepping onto the floor to join everyone on the bench who stood up in applause.

(Taylor's body was eventually excavated from the pile)

However, the competition for that possession was child’s play in comparison to the ongoing war for the roster spots of the guards. Ten guys are in the hunt, all vying to play the 1 and 2 – and determining the ones with the inside edge depends mostly on who you ask. During yesterday’s opening ceremonies and today’s morning chapter, the guards really seemed to be pressing. Washington State coach Tony Bennett remarked that it was clear just how hard everyone was trying. But their effort didn’t necessarily translate into points – that is, until tonight.

Ellington was the first to break out of the slumber, showing the coaches and scouts alike that he can blow by quicksanded defenders who do a better job watching his explosive first step than staying with it. But he doesn’t need to take the ball to the tin – he just separates and elevates for his smooth shot. Tonight’s performance probably seats him as the favorite two-guard.

However, Eric Devendorf can’t be too far behind. Ignoring his connection to selection committee head Jim Boeheim for just a moment, Devendorf garners respect from everyone in the arena for the manifestation of his attitude in his game. He truly embodies his David Ortiz beard and tattoo-covered arms. It’s not a chip on his shoulder, but an inherent toughness that drives him to seek the ball and respond whenever his man puts the ball in the basket on the other end. He and Big East rival PG Scottie Reynolds had a few heated trips when guarding each other, in which neither wanted to give the other any room to breathe. When Reynolds slinked off of him or didn’t make it back in time on a fast break, Devendorf buried a couple of baseline jumpers.

(Eric Devendorf looks like a G and plays like one too)

Of these ten guards – Ellington, Devendorf, Reynolds, PG Sherron Collins, PG Mario Chalmers, Neitzel, SG Derrick Low, SG Chris Lofton, SG Josh Carter and PG Eric Maynor, we were most impressed with Maynor, and he yet again concludes the night’s tip sheet. Pat yourself on the back if you called him a sleeper going in to the Trials. While Chalmers and Collins are the no-doubt two best guys to start a fast break, they didn’t have Maynor’s composure in transition or in a half-court set. His distribution was extraordinary; he hit PF Jon Brockman for an ‘oop, found the big man again for an open jumper and then set up Alonzo Gee for two three’s. Maynor even created assists where they had no business being. After his defender closed out on him, Maynor swung the ball to Jon Brockman, who despite being a career 0% three-point shooter, swooshed one from downtown.

Unfortunately, it looks like SG DeMarcus Nelson’s run is over. He has a serious wrap around his right wrist and thumb, which prohibited him from participating in today's second session. While we don’t have the official diagnosis yet, the words “4 to 6 weeks” came out of his mouth after the night cap.

We expect to see the roster trimmed to sixteen by Sunday and twelve shortly thereafter. If this fabled unlucky day is a sign of things to come, the discussions in the selection committee’s conference room may become as impassioned as the battles on the floor.

The Small Forwards Are Coming

To fully appreciate our freedom in this great country, many of us will spend our July 4^th chowing down with friends and family, ogling a great display of fireworks and then reliving the real fight for independence at the theaters with the Michael Bay/Steven Spielberg instant classic, Transformers. Like many of its predecessors, this story of robot/human cooperation is about more than freedom and justifying immigration policy. Even if it’s not against giant metal shape-shifters who double as Walther P38’s, when the U.S. goes into proverbial battle against the Pan-American competition, they will need to take cue from the heroes of this July 4^th film: work together, win together.

(Tyrese Gibson, center, needs some help from his friends)

However, this motto of cooperation does not transcend the entirety of the basketball universe. The professional game has changed so drastically over the last ten years that it has left the NBA in jeopardy. These changes are embodied in the transformation of the roles of positions in the pro's, namely the small forwards. Formerly the defensive stoppers and transition scorers, small forwards served as the off-ball cog needed to complement more mechanically skilled passers, shooters and big men. Scottie Pippen was the prototypical NBA small forward, named to the NBA All-Defensive Team 10 times, and maybe best known as an opportunistic scorer, taking advantage of defenses who over-committed to His Airness.

Pippen’s focus was not on putting the ball in the basket, even if he averaged over 19 points per game on greater than 48% FG shooting in seasons that he was a starter with the Bulls. Today’s small forwards approach the game from the flip side, handling the ball and the offensive load as much as possible. Even though many of these scorers found statistical success during the regular season, they were largely MIA during the playoffs. The leading NBA small forward, LeBron James, led his Cavaliers to an astoundingly low average of 80.5 points per game over the four-game sweep by the Spurs during this year’s Finals. (80 points a game means 20 points a quarter, which is less than one basket a minute with the NBA’s 12-minute quarters.) These scoring woes exemplify the league’s problem: small-forwards are trying to take over NBA offenses. Writer Jack McCallum echoed this sentiment, reporting in last month’s Sports Illustrated that some coaches wanted to make LeBron the first cut on the 2006 Olympic team for his “inability to function in an offense without the ball.”

(Some would argue LeBron James, above, spends too much time as a ball handler.)

(Scottie Pippen, a true small forward, demonstrated his versatility on both sides of the ball.)

While small forwards comprised the largest portion of the players selected in last Thursday's NBA draft (15), a sign that the league remains off-track, there are only five players listed at that position who will be in attendance at that Pan-Am Trials. SF Tasmin Mitchell, SF Maarty Leunen, SF Alonzo Gee, SF Brandon Costner and SF James Gist all seem to uphold the standards of a small forward, playing off the ball and scoring their points via an amalgam of jumpers, transition baskets and tough hoops in the lane. Even if these five have spent their college careers as versatile off-ball contributors, expect Coach Jay Wright to drive home a team-oriented philosophy in which no one brings the ball up the floor aside from the potential PG crew of Mario Chalmers, Sherron Collins, Eric Maynor, Drew Neitzel, Scottie Reynolds, Kyle Weaver and maybe Eric Devendorf. “The United States hasn’t won a gold medal in the Pan American Games in a long time," said Wright. "We have got a lot of work to do. I rely on the committee to pick the team. Once they pick the team, we will try to figure out the best way for that group to play and hopefully be able to compete for a gold medal.” Wright’s equal valuing of all positions will create the balance needed to win. “I hope when we put the team together we have a mixture of an inside game, great shooters, and also some slashers,” added Wright.

It seems that these apocalyptic Independence Day movies carry with them important lessons about freedom, aliens and of course, sports. Independence Day taught us that, in addition to destroying a technologically superior army with computer viruses uploaded from a 1996 IBM laptop, our greatest asset is our ability to cooperate. Everyone sacrifices for the good of the human race - even the President jumps into the cockpit of a fighter plane.

Do the 'Do (HairDo)

In late January, Kansas Jayhawk teammates and Chicago-natives PG Sherron Collins and SF Julian Wright took a trip to the barbershop, where they shaved matching patterns in the front-right portion of their heads. The “Chicago shave” as duped by KU bloggers, doesn’t have any real significance for Collins and Wright, except to show their allegiance to the Chi. “It doesn’t signify anything. I do it all the time back home. It’s my graphic design,”[1] KU’s then-freshman guard said to Gary Bedore of the Lawrence Journal-World. If Collins is in search of a buddy to inscribe the Windy City style in their ’do after arriving on the Main Line for the Pan-Am Trials this July, he need not look to his fellow Jayhawk backcourt mate. That other KU rep, PG Mario Chalmers, is a native of Anchorage, Alaska. Along with G Russell Robinson, these two formed the formidable Jayhawk backcourt, leading the break all the way to the 2007 Elite Eight. With Julian Wright as the only loss from last year’s team, it’s hard to imagine anyone who will stand in Kansas’ way in the Big 12 or even in the country. However, one problem remains. As Wright is predicted to go to the Hawks with the eleventh pick or the Clippers with the 14^th pick in tomorrow’s NBA Draft, who will Collins get his hair cut with? If they both make the 12-man roster, maybe he can convince Chalmers to head over to the Hair Cuttery to get American Flags in the back of their heads before heading south.

(Julian Wright on left, Sherron Collins, right)

Chalmers, whose hair we assume is still trimmed tight to his head, completes a triumvirate of Alaskan born basketball stars to do serious damage in college ball – but he happens to be the first one not to do so at Cameron Indoor. The “Alaskan Assassin,” SG Trajan Langdon led his East Anchorage HS team to the ’94 State Championship, setting the Alaska AAAA Men’s record with 2,200 career points en route. Langdon and Chalmers are the only two players to ever earn Alaska 4A Player of the Year honors three times over. That 1994 ’chip capped off Langdon’s third in four years, defeating Juneau by over thirty points. Langdon was named to the All-Tournament team for the third straight year. Juneau-Douglas HS, however, would gain redemption when PF Carlos Boozer came up through their ranks. Boozer, also a three-time All-Tournament team selection, led JD to two championships in his four years before following in Langdon’s footsteps to play under Mike Krzyzewski at Duke. Chalmers succeeded Boozer as the heir to Alaskan basketball, leading his Bartlett HS squad to two championships as well, and finishing as a runner-up in two more.

Despite their unique and totally different styles of play, Chalmers and Langdon are tied together by more than their allegiance to Seward’s Folly. Passing over the Russian Jack Springs Park on Debarr Road, their alma maters are separated by less than four miles. Their birthdays are even closer, as they were born almost ten years apart to the day (close enough – it’s 10 years and 6 days). And both guards were named after someone of great importance: Langdon got his name from a Roman Emperor. The second of the “Five Good Emperors,” Trajan’s reign from 98 C.E. to 117 C.E. marks the period in which the Empire reached its greatest territorial extent. Chalmers was named after someone whose impact was slightly more immediate, his mother Almarie. Mario’s full name, Almario Vernard Chalmers bears the resemblance. And Mario chooses to pay homage to his mom’s basketball career too; he wears her number 15 from her days at Winston-Salem State and Methodist College.

(Trajan, the emperor)

(Trajan, the basketball player... is there a resemblance here?!)

The only real similarity between Langdon’s and Chalmers’ games is their stroke from beyond the arc. Before SG J.J. Redick hit an incredible (and Duke record-breaking) 457 3-pointers, the “Alaskan Assassin” drilled a then-record setting 342 on 802 attempts. Chalmers did some damage from downtown in high school, leading the state in 3-point shooting. But his game is not limited to dialing long distance. Better than his 3-ball, Chalmers’ best asset is his quickness. Along with Marquette’s G Jerel McNeal, the Big East defensive player of the year, Chalmers is arguably the best defender at the Trials. He earned the co-Big 12 defensive POY with Oklahoma State’s F Marcus Dove, an all-around long defender, for his ability to put tremendous pressure on ball handlers and sharp anticipation in intercepting passes. He led the Big 12 in steals for the second straight year, this time breaking G Darnell Valentine’s KU record of 92 steals in 1981 with 97 in the ’06-’07 campaign.

Chalmers’ defensive prowess will give the U.S. exactly what they’re looking for in the Pan-Am games: easy baskets. When asked what the key was in overcoming the alarmingly low numbers of assists produced by Team USA during the ’03 games, in which PG Andre Barrett (Seton Hall) led the squad with 2.4 assists per game, Coach Jay Wright noted that defense would be the key to improvement. “Hopefully, we can get some easy baskets and our defense can create scoring opportunities,” said Wright.

As much as the international competition tries to slow down Team USA with zone defenses, Chalmers is a fast-break starter, complemented well by Sherron Collins, a fast-break finisher. Tom Keegen of the Lawrence Journal-World gave that label to Collins: “Sherron Collins is a finisher. He finishes drives to the hoop. He finishes games.”[2]

Even though he finds F Brandon Rush instead of Collins on this ’break, check out what Chalmers can do once he has the ball in his hands: Chalmers dish. I implore you to watch this video twice – it’s only visible from the first view, which is a shame, but watch Chalmers’ wrist action. PG Darren Collison’s body is in the way on the second angle, blocking the camera from capturing the execution of the Pistol Pete Maravich “wrist pass.” This Pistol video is absolutely classic, and also worth a watch – it also might teach you something the next time you’re looking to make your opponent “eat air.”

Hopefully Chalmers and Collins, despite being little guys at 6’1’’ and 5’11’’ respectively, can be on the floor at the same time to give us a glimpse of what will be on tap all next year at the Phog Allen Fieldhouse, and maybe even in Rio this summer.

[1] Bedore, Gary. "Collins Goes 'Ballin': Freshman 'Fabulous' for KU." KU Sports.Com: Lawrence Journal-World. 16 Jan. 2007. 26 June 2007 .

[2] Keegan, Tom. "Keegan: Collins One Fine Finisher." KU Sports.Com: Lawrence Journal-World. 20 Feb. 2007. 26 June 2007 .