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HammerDown! Basketball Journal Archives July 2003 - By Bobby Gerould - Rocklin, CA.

07/22/03 ...Okay - for the record. Gilbert Arenas to the Wizards is a bummer for Warriors fans. The Wiz now have the second best point guard in the East if he rolls at the same pace as the season that just earned him NBA Most Improved Player honors. Behind only Jason Kidd, Arenas and Jerry's Steakhouse will fill some plates in the Nation's Capital. If Stackhouse's numbers were down last year, it was only because he had to defer too much to MJ. It was awkward at best for Jerry. I believe Stack will be back. Juan Dixon hopefully will welcome Arenas and the chance to play coming off the bench for Eddie Jordan. Dixon can flat out shoot, and score. The Arenas, Stack, Dixon backcourt is as good as any in the East. ...Noel Felix? He balled at Rocky Mountain Revue Tuesday. ...I still like Kenny Gregory. ...Warriors: Look at it as Speedy Claxton for Arenas. By our audit, that's the 23rd best point guard (Claxton) for the sixth best (Arenas) in the NBA. Claxton is a legit NBA starter. Being 23rd best in the entire league at your position is not awful. Especially at his age. It's just not sixth best. ...Andre Hutson impressed at Salt Lake today. ...Terence Morris is a baller looking for a team. The Houston Rockets vet from Maryland is skilled enough to play three in the league. He plays within the flow, he rebounds and he blocks shots. His game is still evolving and he's improved each year in the League. I'm not his agent but a team could do a lot worse for a 9th or 10th man. ...Robert Jackson (Marquette) can score in the post, he just doesn't stop anybody. That being said, he can score in the post. (I repeated the sentence for effect). ...To the summer league announcer concerned about the Bulls point guard duties. Didn't Scottie Pippen just run the Blazers for the last year? Don't they also have Jamal Crawford? Kirk Hinrich will have a chance to learn and play spot minutes as rookie. NBA, thanks for the replays late night of Summer League games but can I see the whole screen? You don't need to split screen me on a night when the WNBA only has two games. Truthfully, I don't care about the WNBA. ...While I'm ranting. Sam Vincent was a fine guard, and may be a great coach but Sam needs to at least attempt to pronounce the players names correctly. Nikoloz Tskitishvili was butchered all night. I also enjoy analysts that can have more positive enthusiasm for the fantastic plays. Bill Raftery comes to mind. He's not a fake. He'll question a players shot selection but also appreciate their creativity. He is just pleasant. NBA announcers always need to remember to eat a good meal before calling a game. If your blood sugar is low, you are more irritable (that's a fact).

07/15/03 ...Since I was harsh on Toronto's Summer crew last week, I must now acknowledge that Mateen Cleaves did look good the other day in a romp over the Seattle SummerSonics. Cleaves was aggressive, quick, composed, and skilled. To his credit, he is in good condition and it showed in the back-to-back situation. I also found Maceo Baston to be someone who could help with his energy. ...By the way, kudos to whoever pulled the trigger at NBA Entertainment on adding summer ball to NBA-TV, Channel 601 on DirecTV. I have deep concerns for the NBA's domestic future with the world influence suddenly so heavy. The average USA born NBA fan has a hard time keeping up.

The same thing happened to open wheel auto racing. The once dominant CART series now draws ratings of less than .1 in the USA. Yes, their worldwide television exposure is strong but in America NASCAR took over. It my honest opinion this happened because CART's best drivers where Brazilian born and spoke broken English. When Al Unser Jr., and Michael Andretti were hot so was the CART series. Like NASCAR, the NFL is largely American. Their popularity isn't hurting. Which brings me to my point. ...Which is? That having summer league games on TV is one way to give the real heads a chance to get to know the foreign players.

07/14/03 ...One more reason why I like Alonzo Mourning. ''There's no loyalty in this game. It's a business, a cold business,'' he said Saturday night at a Zo's Summer Groove dinner. ``You've got to get what you can and get out. Loyalty to the Heat organization? I am loyal to my wife and family.'' ...

07/09/03 ...Ya know I'm rejuvenated and ready for Summer League hoops. ...I'm so sick I watched all of both games televised from the Fila Pro League in Long Beach. Summer League means squat, truthfully. I've seen Pete Chilcutt dominate in Summer. ...But Summer League is fun and you can see some things if you look. What did I see? Toronto's team is wacker than a plain Ritz Cracker. I Like a little jelly or cheese on mine. I like Matt Bonner as like a 12th man in the League. Maceo Baston was solid. But Mateen Cleaves, Chris Jeffries, and the rest of the crew they trotted out there looked out of sync, unathletic, and overmatched against the Clippers Summer team. Add Bonner; he's going to get beat at any position defensively not just the three. I always hear, "he's too slow to guard NBA threes." Well, actually, Bonner is too slow to guard anybody. So..., why not play him as a three where he is best offensively? Just thoughts ya know. ...The Clipps did well in getting rookie free agents Rick Anderson, and Marcus Hatten who we had ranked 39th and 41st in the draft. Neither was drafted. Chris Wilcox, and Melvin Ely were strong against slower, shorter opponents. Bryant Notree, a point guard that nearly made the Grizzlies a couple years back, was very good. ...Michael Dunleavey Jr. showed a real ability to score off the dribble in game 1 between the Lakers and Warriors. ...Kareem Rush was impressive in scoring within the Lakers offense. ...Jason Collier was more mobile than I remember him being. Perhaps his injuries have healed.