Summer League Rookie Analysis

[Plewis]

First off, I've watched all three games so far. The Game against the Warriors was by far the most watchable game.

Starting with our 1st pick, D.J. Augustin:

Game 1 vs. Clippers
23 min | 4-9 shooting | 1-2 3pt | 5-6 FT | 3 Rebounds | 2 AST | 2 Steals | 2 TO | 14 pts.

Game 2 vs. Heat
34 min | 5-9 shooting | 1-3 3pt | 4-5 FT | 3 Rebounds | 2 AST | 0 Steals | 5 TO | 15 pts.

Game 3 vs. Warriors
30 min | 9-14 | 2-3 3pt | 10-11 FT | 6 Rebounds | 0 AST | 1 Steal | 5 TO | 30 pts.

1st thing that sticks out to me, over the 3 games D.J. had 4 AST and 12 TO. That is a terrible assist/turnover ratio. What bothers me about this is that we picked him so that we can have a non-selfish, pass-first PG who doesn't turn the ball over. So initially, that's not a good sign. However, we must keep in mind that D.J. has a terrible supporting cast, and with Gerald Wallace, Jason Richardson and Matt Carroll on the other end of his passes, that will go up dramatically.

D.J. has shown flashes of greatness, especially in his 3rd game against the Warriors. He showed the ability to catch and shoot at a high percentage, as well as pump-fake then draw the foul (especially in game 3.) He has also shown the ability to hit his FT consistently. He can drive and dish or finish in traffic. He showed the ability to rise up, absorb contact and still finish. He has great hands when the ball is loose and can come up with the loose ball more times than not. D.J. calmly walks the ball up the court, and has great presence as the leader. We'll see how if his leadership abilities can be sustained during the regular season. In the first 2 games, D.J. showed that he can put the ball at the rim for his PFs to slam down, however, did not look to make many plays for his teammates in the 3rd game. He showed that he can take advantage of a defender looking the other way and send precise bounce passes to cutters. D.J. shows an opportunistic rebounding ability, he slides under the bigger men and finds opportunities to come up with the ball. Defensively, he is nothing special. He works hard to stay in front of his man but often gets run by and needs help from his teammates.

Overall, D.J. will be a solid backup this year, and has the ability when he's on to take over a game offensively.

Shooting % .563 | 3 pt % .500 | FT % .864 | 19.7 PPG



Alexis Ajinca:

Game 1
16 min | 1-7 shooting | 1-2 FT | 4 Rebounds | 3 points

Game 2
21 min | 3-8 shooting | 0-3 3pt | 5-5 FT | 4 Rebounds | 1 AST | 1 TO | 2 BLK | 11 pts

Game 3
5 min | 0-2 shooting | 1 TO

Alexis sucks. If he is supposed to compliment Okafor then this is a bad fit. He cannot defend PFs, he is easily taken off the dribble and adding weight will only make that a more glaring weakness. His shooting is god awful right now. He gets knocked around under the basket when going for rebounds. The only way I see Alexis contributing to this team is if he adds weight and stays underneath the basket. He's 7 feet tall and shooting fade away 10-15 footers... which would be fine if he can make them consistenly. He needs to bulk up and work on his inside game because the finesse stuff that he has now is not going to work. Right now, he gets a D-.

Kyle Weaver

Game 1
15 min | 1-5 shooting | 0-1 3pt | 2-3 FT | 2 Rebounds | 2 steals | 1 TO | 4 points

Game 2
20 min | 1-5 shooting | O-1 3pt | 4 Rebounds | 1 BLK | 3 TO | 2 points

Game 3
20 min | 3-5 shooting | 1-1 3pt | 2 Rebounds | 4 AST | 1 steal | 2 TO | 7 points

Kyle Weaver, while not putting up good numbers in the first 2 games, had a strong showing against the Warriors in game 3. The coaches let Weaver play PG for part of the 2nd half, and Weaver looked more comfortable dribbling, driving, and shooting. Weaver showed that he can drive, hang and make an acrobatic layup as well as find the find the open man. His court awareness in game 3 was raised significantly over the first 2 games. He was able to feel the open man and pass without looking at him. Sometimes his teammates weren't ready for his passes, but if they were could have finished easily. I think Kyle can find his nitch on this team if he can develop his shot. If he can learn to shoot at a higher percentage that will open up his strong penetrating game where he knows that he can dish or finish in traffic.


Overall, D.J. has the only hope of contributing to the Bobcats this year. Alexis and Kyle both need some work... and I am not sure of Alexis will ever be a solid contributor to this team. Right now he looks like a big waste of money.

Jermareo Davidson and Orien Greene have both showed strong summer league play.

Various Notes:

There was some speculation that the Bobcats could get DeMarcus Nelson, however, he was on the Warriors squad and had a decent showing. Marco Bellinelli looks to be a very solid shooter and should be a good contributor to the Warriors this year. D.J. Augustine racked up 7 fouls in the game against the Warriors. Also, Brandon Wright, the player we gave up for Jason Richardson... looked like nothing special out there. At this point, I think it was a good decision to trade him away.

Game tonight (Friday July 18) against the Pistons at 6 pm EST

Thanks for reading.

[Plewis]

Bobcats lost to the Pistons on Friday and beat the Knicks today.

strong showing from Kyle Weaver and Orien Greene.
Still no production from Alexis Ajinca.

More analysis coming early next week.

[black1605]

ajnica is not 100% and hasnt been getting a lot of PT

[Plewis]

Originally Posted by black1605

ajnica is not 100% and hasnt been getting a lot of PT

True. I saw LB talking about that on a vid. Do you know what is wrong with him? D.J. hasn't played the last 2 games... I wonder if he's hurt.

Jermario Davidson and Kyle Visser both look a lot better than Ajinca right now, hopefully that'll change.

[countryboi]

D.J. Augustin is fine...part of his problem is the players he is playing with suck ass...why pass to them bums when they only going to mess it up he is better off shooting it himself which is why he shooting over 50 percent

ajinca is fine he was raw when we drafted him....he needs to go more to his low post scoring cause right now that was the only time he was effective...even when open his jumper was off...he is long and can run the floor and block shots and shoot i wouldnt worry about ajinca

[eaton_branden1]

DJ has played major minutes all summer league so I guess the coaching staff just wanted to get a look at the other point guards on the team.

I've been the most impressed with Davidson though this week he'll be a major part of our big man rotation next year. Ajinca is most likely going to start his NBA career in the D league.

[Plewis]

Don't get too hyped about any of these guys though... remember that Adam Morrison and Sean May both had great summer league showings when they first came into the league. However, I am also impressed by Jermareo Davidson. He was the go-to-guy for the bobcats in the first 2 games.

[solorca]

So you are telling me that Alexis, a guy who couldn't even compete in France, is having trouble against NBA players? Shocking!

[Plewis]

Alexis shot 4 for 22 from the field including 0 for 5 from the 3 pt. line. Great choice LB, glad to see you're finally moving this team in the right direction.

Orien Greene shot .800 from the 3 pt. line and seems to be a sharpshooter. However, he's 26 yr. old and hasnt been in the league yet. So I'm a bit skeptical. He finished 3rd in scoring.

Jermario Davidson finished 2nd in scoring after a strong showing. He shot .606 from the field and showed a good touch up to 15 ft. away from the basket and the ability to run the floor fluidly.

D.J. was the leading scorer for the team despite only playing in 3 games. He also finished #1 in minutes; and was probably sore so the coaches decided to let him rest. He proved that he can produce in the summer league and we can only hope that translates to the season.

[Plewis]

D.J. sat out the last 2 games with knee tendonitis.... not good news.

[Jackofalltrades]

So the Bobcats have several more years of suckage to look forward to...



...awesome....