just got back from the first laker game at the long beach summer pro league...here are a few of my thoughts... Jannero Pargo - the game was owned by this guy. he put up a ton of baskets...they didn't announce the final stats but i believe he put up 25-30 pts. most of his points came off running the fast break & creating space for himself. one highlight was when he ran coast to coast, spun around one defender, and then another, and another until he finally pulled up for a jumper. he also had this nasty crossover from the left wing where the guy bit hard and went to the floor...pargo calmly pulled back for a 3. although most of his points were from creating his own, he still did a decent job of initiating the triangle. he was the floor general, yelling at guys like Leon Smith to get into their positions and make their cuts. pargo also created some fastbreaks with his 3-4 steals (usually from double-teaming and stripping the man in the post) Kareem Rush - rush was usually on the court when pargo was off, so for a lot of the game rush was doing all the ballhandling. in the first half, he had a nasty habit of picking up his dribble before seeing who to pass to...which lead to a couple turnovers. his handles for the most part are decent...he did a fairly good job breaking the press...but he can always improve the mental aspect of initiating. Luke Walton - walton had a very quiet game. for the most part, all he did was look to pass...which was pretty much expected as he's not a bigtime scorer or anything. he has very nice floor vision...he didn't get that much playing time as i had hoped...but when he was on the floor he did an excellent job of hitting the open man, which was usually somewhere behind him. i believe the only stats he really got were a 4 assists and some boards. Brian Cook - i was impressed by this guys mobility. when playing defense, he always helped out on smothering the PG on the pick & rolls. the game started off with him and he had 3 blocks. i can't remember that much of his contribution on the offensive end...but i liked what i saw. Ross (can't remember full name) - i've been hearing a lot of laker fans are calling this guy a sleeper...he's a tall guard that had a very nice set of handles. he didn't shoot that much but he did a very nice job initiating with rush and pargo weren't on the floor. i liked his quickness when he had the ball. Kareem Abdul Jabbar Jr - this guy is a G with no handles. we were up by 20 pts but then his lack of handles led to turnovers and quick threes by the other team... that's all i really remember...oh yeah, lakers won 91-87 over teh Canadian National Team
