D-League Showcase: Day 1 Standouts
Day one of the NBA D-League Showcase is in the books. Four games down, 15 to go.
Though I would love to be there, I could not make it this year. Nonetheless, I watched most of each game yesterday and will provide my news and notes from each contest. There have already been a couple of upsets and impressive performances on the season’s largest stage.
Canton Charge 122 vs. Idaho Stampede 103
This was the least intriguing game of the day for me, personally, but that’s mostly because I wanted to see Pierre Jackson play and he didn’t suit up for Idaho. Hopefully he plays in their Saturday matchup against the Fort Wayne, but who knows.
Canton had some help via the flex assignment rule with both C.J. Wilcox (Clippers) and Cristiano Felicio (Bulls) being in uniform for the team. They were both vital in the win, too. Wilcox reigned down six 3s and Felicio showed great promise as a young big man. He moved well, made some nice post moves and finished with 18 points and eight rebounds in just 22 minutes of play. His conditioning needs to improve, but that comes with playing time and is one of the key reasons Chicago sent him on assignment.
While the NBA prospects played well, the bench brigade proved to be offensive juggernauts on this day. Nick Minnerath has been flying under the radar all season and he used yesterday’s platform to make everyone aware of what he can do. At 6-9 he has quality size and he can really shoot it. He pulls the trigger with confidence and wears his emotions on his sleeve, which is enjoyable to watch. All in all, he had 24 points in just 27 reserve minutes.
Minnerath’s partner in crime was John Holland, who was equally effective with 19 points in 18 minutes, scoring from an array of spots on the floor. The two combined for 43 points on 15-21 field goals, which will be hard to duplicate in their next game.
Idaho has trouble scoring, as they are 18th in the league at just 97.2 points a night. Putting up 103 points was great for them, but it wasn’t enough on this day. Jeff Ayres had a quality game and continues to be the consummate pro on that roster. Byrce Dejean-Jones showed flashes, but 18 points on 18 field goal attempts isn’t exactly ideal. Pressey has struggled since returning to Idaho and early foul trouble slowed him down against Canton. He needs to be the steadying hand for this young roster and he has yet to find his footing.
Texas Legends 105 vs. Westchester Knicks 103
Man, what a game. Jimmer Fredette missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer (actually, it might have come after the buzzer), but the excitement was present the entire game. Also, this was the only game of the day that did not have at least one NBA assignee.
The man of the hour was Brandon Ashley. I’ve been impressed with his versatility all season long, but yesterday he showed he can do it all with 16 points, seven rebounds, six assists and five blocks. He shot an efficient 6-11 from the field and is starting to show his worth as a potential call up down the road. The other guy who jumped out at me was Tu Holloway. His reputation is as a scoring guard but he was masterful running the offense for the Legends, finishing with seven assists and only one turnover.
Watching him, you can tell he has a great handle on how to play the point guard position — he knows when to attack and when to defer to his teammates.
Fredette finished with 24 points and he matched Holloway with seven assists, but he also had five turnovers. The one that stuck out to me was in the open court, where Toure’ Murry pick pocketed him and took off for a dunk on the other end. Fredette needs to show that he can run the point if he wants to stick in the NBA. He scores in bunches and he’s a thrill to watch, but I’m not sold that he’s ready to be a true backup point guard yet.
Oklahoma City Blue 119 vs. Delaware 87ers 114
This was the first real surprise result of the day. The Blue came into the game only 4-14 on the season, while Delaware had been 7-3 over their last 10 games. This was also the game I was most looking forward to because I wanted to see J.P. Tokoto try to shut down Sean Kilpatrick, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Marquis Teague chose the best time to have his most impressive performance on the season. Teague finished with 26 points, nine assists and only two turnovers on the day. It was a University of Kentucky kind of day, too, as Dakari Johnson was ultra-efficient shooting 8-9 from the field and posting 18 points. Perhaps even more encouraging was Johnson’s vision out of the post — he posted six assists by finding open shooters out of double teams, which he has not been adept at doing up to this point in his rookie campaign.
Sean Kilpatrick was as advertised, scoring 35 points on 12-25 from the field. Kilpatrick is much more decisive this season and it’s helping him all over the court. His defense is still a bit suspect and he tends to get caught ball watching, which leaves his man free to cut and find open looks. But when on-ball, he uses his lateral speed well to stay in front of his man. I can’t imagine he will be in the D-League too much longer with performances like this.
Kilpatrick’s back court mate Jordan McRae struggled a bit. He had 19 points, six rebounds and six assists, which looks great on the surface but he regularly took questionable shots — the main reason he only shot 5-18 from the field. Also, he had a season high seven turnovers and fouled out for the first time all season.
Iowa Energy 91 vs. Austin Spurs 83
This was the shocker of day one. The Energy came into the Showcase on a seven-game losing streak and beat the 14-4 Spurs? Never would have called this one.
What might be even crazier is that Iowa is missing Perry Jones III, Cartier Martin and Patrick Christopher, who are all out due to injury. They only suited up eight players and two of those were on assignment from the Memphis Grizzlies. Go figure.
The NBA assignees were instrumental in this victory. James Ennis had 19 points and seven rebounds for the Energy and Jarell Martin posted a double-double with 17 points and 10 boards. Ennis ran rampant all over the court and at one point had a nice chase down block that invigorated his team. Their athleticism and playmaking stood out against solid competition since Austin has a couple former NBA guys of their own.
Alex Stepheson leads the league in rebounding at 13.4 per night and the 28-year-old journeyman held down the fort yet again, posting 12 points, 16 rebounds and three blocks in the win. The only thing to harp on was his carelessness with the ball — he gave it up six times and at least half of those were just ill-advised passes out of the post. Andrew Harrison has been solid for the Energy this year but last night wasn’t his night. He shot 1-10 from the floor, posting six points and five assists. Iowa needs Harrison to find his shooting stroke if they want to reach a consistent level of play moving forward.
Believe it or not, Harrison did not have the worst game of the night. That award went to Nick Johnson, who fouled out in just 18 minutes with six points. For a guy who most thought wouldn’t be in the D-League long, that’s not the type of performance you want with all 30 NBA clubs watching. I’m sure he will bounce back in a big way when Austin plays Erie on Friday.
Orlando Johnson was aggressive for most of the game, but it didn’t translate well as he shot 4-15 from the floor for 13 points. Draft rights player Cady Lalanne had an underwhelming game as well. I was looking for him to show more assertiveness in driving to the basket, but at this point he seems content settling for jump shots.