ACC players in summer league

The ACC will be strongly represented in Las Vegas the next few days.

This shouldn't come as a surprise since most of the players on these rosters are guys who are simply hoping to make the team -- and the ACC didn't have much talent coming out this year.

Remember when the ACC used to have players picked in the top 5?
In 1995, Joe Smith, Jerry Stackhouse and Rasheed Wallace were all taken in the top five.
Antawn Jamison and Vince Carter taken back to back.
In 2002, Duke's Jason Williams and Mike Dunleavy at 2 and 3, with Maryland's Chris Wilcox at 8 and Juan Dixon at 17.

Last year, Brandan Wright went 8th (and averaged a puny 4 pts. and 2.6 boards), and this year it's J.J. Hickson at 19th.

Well, at least in 2007 there were 6 players taken in the first round, even if none were in the top five. This year there was only one player period in the first round.
And don't blame Tyler Hansbrough and Tywon Lawson for going back to school. The ACC has a dozen teams, so there were 10 other schools with no draftable talent.

Just in case you're trying to remember who DID get drafted:
#42 Sean Singletary to the Sacramento Kings
#57 James Gist to the San Antonio Spurs
#59 Deron Washington to the Pistons

Those who didn't get drafted included James Mays and DeMarcus Nelson.


But, back to Summer League.
Let's run down the draft choices first:
San Antonio won't be in Vegas, so you won't see Gist. However, sometimes when a team doesn't play, it allows a second-rounder or free agent to play on another team for experience.
Cleveland won't be there, so there is no J.J. And no team is gonna let a first-rounder play in someone else's summer league and risk him getting hurt.

But Sean Singletary and Deron Washington will be there.
As free agents, James Mays will be there with the Bobcats along with Wake's Kyle Visser and Miami's Guillermo Diaz.
Kyle Hines, the 6'6 power forward from UNC-Greensboro will also be there. He'll be hard to miss since he may be the most solidly built player on the floor.

DeMarcus Nelson and Ga. Tech's Anthony Morrow will be trying to join Golden State with a strong showing. An obvious difference in styles there. Nelson is a banger and good rebounder with a so-so outside shot. Morrow has had back surgery and isn't as athletic, but he sure can swish an open jumper. Not sure Golden State is gonna have anybody to set him up, though.
Baron Davis jumped ship, and Elton Brand decided to go to Philly instead.

By the way, trying to make the roster is Tamar Slay. This dude is 28 years old, for crying out loud. If you haven't made an impression by now, stick with the minors or Europe and let the younger ones have their day in the sun.

Joining Deron on the Pistons will be former Arizona and Ga. Tech guard Will Bynum -- a 5'11 shooting guard masquerading as a PG.

An interesting team is the Denver Nuggets. The team has Allen Iverson, Carmelo Anthony and Marcus Camby as its core. Others include the oft-injured Nene and Kenyon Martin.
Of course, Kenyon has been the subject of trade rumors for a couple of years. Huge money going to a guy averaging 12 pts. and 6 1/2 boards.

J.R. Smith (who spurned UNC at the last minute to enter the draft -- gee thanks, McDonald's All-Star Game) was the team's best 3-point shooter, but he's a free agent.
If he leaves, who is gonna hit the open jumper?
Well, the team also needs a PG so that Iverson can slide over to the SG when the team needs his scoring more than his distributing.
So, the summer league team includes 6-1 SG Chris Lofton and pseudo-point guard Taurean Green. It also has Dookie Dahntay Jones and Va. Tech's Jamon Gordon. Not to be confused with Jamont Gordon of Miss. State.

It could also be a huge chance for a former Virginia player who has done well outside the NBA.
Elton Brown, 6-9, was forced to play center in college. As a frosh, he actually showed a pretty nice 3-point stroke, but the coach said No Way.

In the D-League in 2007, Brown averaged 18.4 points and 9.6 boards while shooting 51.7% from the field. He led his team to the D-League championship game, averaging 25.3 and 11.7 in the playoffs. Then he was signed by the Lakers, but when he didn't make the final cut, he went overseas to play another year.

Can't find his stats from overseas -- he played for Hapoel Holon, an Israeli basketball club based in Holon -- but I bet he kicks butt in the summer games because he and old man Jelani McCoy are the only big men on the whole roster so he'll get plenty of minutes.

Javaris Crittendon, who never should have left Ga. Tech after just one season, will be trying to regain his confidence with Memphis. He struggled early on with the Lakers who were happy to throw him in as an extra during the Pao Gasol trade talks.

A couple of Maryland teammates will be on the Suns squad. D.J. Strawberry and Ekene Ibekwe -- and yes, I did spell it right all by myself.

Ekene was just the fourth player in Maryland history to record 1,000 points (1,109), 500 rebounds (781) and 200 blocked shots (231).
In a French league this past year, he averaged 11 pts. 6.5 boards and 1.8 blocks, good for second in the league.

Since it traded away Mike Bibby last year, Sacramento is looking for PG help. In addition to drafting Singletary, the summer league roster is LOADED with PGs. Among them is Zabian Dowdell, one year removed from Va. Tech.

This past year, the Kings tried to make do with Anthony Johnson (one of the worst shooters in PG history along with Anthony Carter -- but he somehow got how after being traded and hit 15-30 on 3's) and Beno Udrih, who isn't very fast, but ended up supplanting Johnson because at least Udrih can score (13 pts.).

Toronto will feature another Va. Tech player, Coleman Collins, and Duke's Daniel Ewing. Ewing and John Lucas III are the only ballhandlers on the team, so there should be good minutes.

Ewing spent two years with the Clippers before playing overseas last season.

And finally, Jason Rich of Florida State will lace 'em up for the Wizards. He'll be sharing minutes with 2007 draftee Nick Young, and somebody named Mike Peeples of Fairleigh Dickinson -- whoever that is. So, don't expect Jason to get minutes over their draft pick.

The last times I saw Jason, he put up 22 pts. on Wake in the ACC tourney, then followed it up with 23 against UNC. He hit a combined 18-37, which is just the slightest bit under 50%, and 5-11 on 3's, which is 54.5%.

Unfortunately, his career ended with his worst performance ever. He had 10 TO's against Akron to get knocked out of the first round of the NCAA tourney. His next-highest total was only 6, and even that one has an asterisk next to it because that game against Clemson went to double OT.

Let's all wish the Atlantic Coast guys good luck in the summer league games.