From: tamada@cheshire.oxy.edu (Michael K. Tamada)
Subject: LA Pro Summer League Report
Organization: Occidental College, Los Angeles, CA.  USA
Distribution: usa
Date: Sun, 23 Aug 1992 22:34:17 GMT


Well no one has written about this so here is a short report on the LA
Pro Summer league, which finished last week:

     Because of $#@! work I only made it to the final game, between
the "NBA Stars" and "NBA Pros."  The teams featured the likes of    
Sam Perkins, Sedale Threatt, Pooh Richardson, Lester Conner,
Olden Polynice, Tracy Murray, Derrick Martin, etc.  Brian Williams 
was on one squad but was in street clothes due to his heart condition.

Story #1:  Without question, the play of Pooh Richardson.  He averaged
more than 38 points per game in the league and was MVP.  (Magic was
on hand to give him the trophy at halftime.  Magic hung around and
gabbed with the players while a gaggle of young and not so young kids
followed him around like the Pied Piper.)   In the game I saw,
Pooh sort of laid back and had only 2 points at halftime.  But in the
second half he exploded, took over the game, had something like 20
points.  He looked like the second coming of Kevin Johnson out there.
     Of course, Summer League is not the NBA.  But Pooh has already
shown himself to be at worst a decent point guard in the NBA, and
I think this summer he showed he's ready to go to the next level.

Story #2:  John Williams  (the fat one, from the Bullets) played with the NBA
Pros.  He looked like the steretotypical fat guy at a playground who only gets 
to play when the other guys take pity on him.  Can't run, can only jump
in emergencies.  But great all-around skills; he was used as a "point 
forward" a lot -- he'd stand outside the 3-point line until he got the
ball, and then he'd generate some offense with it, either backing in
or shooting or passing off.  And he was quite effective at that.
He was even given the ball to run out the clock at the end of the
first quarter, like a point guard -- and he hit a 3-pointer.
I'd think that lack of height and mobility would hurt him on defense,
but he stripped the ball 1-on-1 from both Sam PErkins and Jerome
Henderson (who looked good out there).
     On the other hand he was almost totally unable to help out
his teammates on defense (he`d always arrive a full second late) and
he had no speed or hustle on open court offense.  So he can only
fit into some very specific types of team concepts.

Story #3:  Lester Conner looked great.  I've always thought of
him as a defensive ball-stealer foremost and a ball-handler second,
without much scoring ability.  But he was both agressive and effective
at putting the ball in the basket; he averaged around 25 points in
the league.  ALso, he`s been around a lot of years but he looked
pretty young and spry.
     On the other hand, unlike Pooh, Lester Conner has been around a
long time and if he had 25+ point NBA scoring ability we would've
seen it by now.  So I'm not predicting that we'll see Lester in
the All-star game.

Other players:  Syracuse alum Stevie Thompson looked like a junior version 
of David Thompson, he could really fly and score.  But lack of height and
outside shooting may keep him in the CBA.
     Cedric Ceballos looked ok, not great.  Tracy Murray had a poor
game (although he did get around 19 points), however he apparently looked
good in other games.  David Wingate and Corey Gaines looked like the 
marginal 12th men they've been in the NBA.  
     Interestingly, despite the presence of Threatt and PErkins I
didn't see any of the Laker rookies like Anthony Peeler play.  Irving
Thomas was on the NBA Stars roster but didn't play either.  Ditto
Byron Scott.
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  |__	       o
  | W			   Mike Tamada
		  |\	   Institutional Research Office
		   \O	   Occidental College
		    |      tamada@oxy.edu
		   /|
		  | |

Newsgroups: rec.sport.basketball.pro