Rockets beat Suns 100-97 in Summer League opener

Donte Green scored 40 points on 12-of-20 shooting to lead the Rockets past the Summer Suns 100-97 last night in Las Vegas in the opening game of the 2008 Summer League for both teams.

Suns sophomores D.J. Strawberry and Alando Tucker - last year’s picks in case you forgot - each scored 22 points in the Suns 2008 Summer League debut.D.J. shot 7-for-15 from the field and missed on his only two 3-point attempts, including one in the closing seconds of the game that would have tied it at 100. Alando went 6-of-16 from the field and both grabbed 6 rebounds as well.

The biggest news of the day had to be Robin Lopez first game with the Suns. Robin had a solid game more or less confirming the scouting reports we saw immediately after the 2008 Draft: athletic player, solid rebounder, good defender, can run the floor but can’t shoot.Lopez scored a good 19 points (5-for-13 from the field but a very poisitve 9-of-11 from the free-throw line), grabbed 5 rebounds, had 7 fouls called on him in 27 minutes of play.

From what we’ve seen last night nobody else really emerged as a possible candidate for a spot on the 2008/09 Suns roster.

It was the usual Summer League game, a lot of young athletic players running and hustling on both sides of the court, up and down all night. At least it was a real game of basketball.

The Suns (0-1) will now face the Spurs (1-0) on Thursday afternoon (5:30 PM).

Go Suns !

The Direction of the Suns !?

After watching his press conference (Check it on YouTube) I already love Robin Lopez! But...

Lopez is at best an NBA bench player, maybe a solid pro for years but will take time to develop since the guy, based on what I know is very limited with the basketball. Next year he could be more or less a Brian Skinner (no blonde beard...but that hairs rock), more athletic but a worse mid range shooter, even if Steve Kerr stated he has a good shooting touch.
He also has the perfect skills (solid defender, good rebounder) to play alongside Stoudemire (great offensive player, possibly the best in the NBA at his position). I would have loved the pick in the second round.

With second round pick Goran Dragic very unlikely to be in Phoenix next season. It means the Suns are still looking for the 2008/09 back up to Steve Nash. He has a nice upside, but he's at best a 2-3 year project. He'll be ready once Nash will be gone.

The direction of the Suns is quite unclear at the moment.

The Suns roster looks like this:

Guard: Steve Nash, Raja Bell, Leandro Barbosa, D.J. Strawberry and Goran Dragic, maybe.
Forwards: Grant Hill, Boris Diaw, Alando Tucker.
Center: Shaquille O'Neal, Amaré Stoudemire, Robin Lopez.

So far the Suns are the same as last year: very good, old at key positions, not enought depth, without a clear identity and overall not good enough for a Championship run.

Go Suns !

With the 15th pick of the 2008 NBA Draft the Suns pick Stanford Center Robin Lopez

So the Suns picked Stanford 7-foot center Robin Lopez with the 15th pick and drafted Oregon guard Malik Hairstom in the second round (48th overall) and sent him along with cash to the Spurs for the rights to Slovenian guard Goran Dragic who look very promising (I have seen him play a few times and he's a very good young player) but won't be available at least for another year or two.

Robin's brother Brook was drafted with the 10th overall pick by the Nets. I wonder if it has ever happened before.

The Suns need a point guard NOW and a small forward, unless Coach Porter think he can use Diaw at the 3 position.

Lopez is a solid player, a good defender and rebounder. I am just not sure what this pick means for the Suns. I expect a few additional moves in the offseason and above all I expect a very different Suns team next season, maybe not in the roster but for sure in the way they'll play.


Go Suns !