Saturday, July 27, 2013

2013 Recruiting Continues: Jamal Aytes


Jamal Aytes has blown up on the summer hoops circuit. The 6'7" forward out of J Serra Catholic High School in San Juan Capistrano, California is rated as a three star recruit by ESPN and comes in at 28th in California and 66th in the nation at the power forward position. Largely unheralded before this summer, only three schools were showing interest in Aytes.

Monday, July 22, 2013

Summer League 2013 Final Statistics

Part two of the 2013 NBA Summer League wrapped up in Las Vegas tonight with the Golden State Warriors winning the offseason league's inaugural championship game. In Summer League games the West Coast Conference was represented by eleven former players. Ten played in Las Vegas and one, Kelly Olynyk, played in the smaller Orlando Summer League. 

The 13th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, Kelly Olynyk, had the best showing of not just the WCC products but of possibly every player at this year's Summer League. Elias Harris, Brandon Davies and Matthew Dellavedova also played well enough for a shot at a spot on a roster in the NBA in their first year out of college. Robert Sacre, who was taken by the Lakers with the last pick of the 2012 draft, performed well his second Summer League. Last week the Lakers signed Sacre to a guaranteed, multi-year contract. 

A number of other former WCC players took part in the Summer League. The following is a list, sorted by school, of all WCC players to log minutes in this year's NBA Summer League. Click on the player's statistics for a larger view.
BYU
Gonzaga
Loyola Marymount
Pepperdine
Portland
Saint Mary's

Friday, July 12, 2013

WCC Representation in Las Vegas' Summer League

Starting today, and continuing through the 22nd, Las Vegas will be a basketball oasis in the otherwise barren offseason landscape. UNLV's COX Pavilion and Thomas & Mack Center are set to play host to the NBA's second summer league of the year. The smaller of the two, in Orlando, wraps up today. Las Vegas' version features the 20 NBA teams that did not play in Orlando plus one team that did, the two-time defending NBA champion Miami Heat, and a select group of players from the NBA D-League known as the NBA D-League Select team.

Once again, many former WCC student-athletes have been invited to play for teams in Las Vegas. This year six of the WCC's ten schools are represented by 11 players. Click "read more" to see a full list of the former WCC student-athletes playing for NBA teams in the 2013 Summer League.

Monday, July 1, 2013

Summer League Roster Updates

Only a few days have passed since I first wrote about the WCC products heading to the NBA Summer League and already a couple things have changed. Here's a brief update, sorted by school, of who's going where as of now. There are also a few guys from the WCC already in the NBA that may return for another stint in the Summer League, they are listed in parentheses.

BYU:

Brandon Davies, undrafted in 2013, will be playing for the L.A. Clippers in Las Vegas from July 12th to the 22nd.

(Jimmer Fredette, selected 10th in 2011 and currently with the Sacramento Kings, could play for the Kings in Las Vegas)

Gonzaga:

Kelly Olynyk, drafted 13th in 2013, will be playing for the Boston Celtics in Orlando from July 7th to the 12th.

Elias Harris, undrafted in 2013, will be playing for the L.A. Lakers in Las Vegas from July 12th to the 22nd.

Steven Gray, undrafted in 2011, will be playing for the Indiana Pacers in Orlando from July 7th to the 12th.

(Robert Sacre, drafted 60th in 2012 by the Lakers, could play for the Lakers in Las Vegas. Austin Daye, drafted 15th in 2009 by the Detroit Pistons, is currently an unrestricted free agent and, if signed, could end up on a Summer League roster.)

Saint Mary's:

Matthew Dellavedova, undrafted in 2013, will be playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers in Las Vegas from July 12th to the 22nd. Dellavedova was rumored to be headed to Orlando to play with the Magic but he was not listed on the Magic's official roster, released today. Now that he is headed to Cleveland, he will face off against familiar foe when the Cavs play their first game of the summer against Elias Harris and the Lakers on July 12th at 5pm PDT. The game will be televised in California on Time Warner Cable SportsNet.

Welcome Home, Pacific!


Today the University of the Pacific returns to the conference it helped found after a 40+ year absence. Take a look at the WCC Standings section on the left hand side of the site and you'll see ten teams listed. I wrote in detail about the move for Mid-Major Madness; the table shown above is taken from that article, which you can read in full here.