I know the Energy won, but I’m going to start with Tulsa on this one, because Latavious Williams got the start. And he was very good. 17 points on eight shots, 7-7 from the free-throw line, eight rebounds, two steals and a block and only three fouls and one turnover (plus a defensive three seconds call) in 29 minutes. Yeah, that’ll work. I don’t know how polished or unpolished he looked, but I’m officially intrigued. His fouls came in different circumstances – one was out on the perimeter guarding Curtis Stinson, one came checking Earl Barron, one was offensive – so it doesn’t appear that there’s anything in particular he needs to work on other than “try not to foul someone in the act of shooting.” Keith Clark put up some nice scoring and rebounding numbers – 11 points on six shots, seven rebounds – though he missed five of his six foul shots and fouled out himself in 15 minutes of playing time. The fouls were a problem last year as well, and with Williams, Mullens and Weaver getting most of Oklahoma City’s focus I’m not sure how Clark fits into team plans (he was draft-eligible last year), if at all. If I had to point to one factor in Tulsa’s loss, it’s that they had only 13 assists on 31 made field goals, and no 66er finished with more than five assists (Ansel Guzman). Kyle Weaver can’t get there fast enough, because while he’s not strictly a point guard, he does a good job of facilitating the kind of ball movement that was absent last night.
via More Fun with Preseason Boxscores – Ridiculous Upside.
That’s right, I’m interested in preseason box scores for the kid that jumped from high school to the D-League. What of it?
Also, Tulsa’s going to be sick this year. They sent down Mullens and Weaver to go with Latavious Williams. That team could roll any top 25 college team in the nation, outside of Kansas and Kentucky.
I’m so excited the D-League season starts next weekend, and by so excited, I mean “so frustrated that they always open play during a family weekend when almost no one is in town and I of course can’t access futurepass.” For the love of God, guys, just start the first weekend in December. College football teams not in a championship game are done by then, and college basketball is still in warmup mode. Capitalize!
