Summer League Opening Day, how the rookies performed.

[BuckWrestler141]

min fgm-a 3pm-a ftm-a off def tot ast pf st to bs pts


1# G.Oden 20:35 3-4 0-0 0-3 1 1 2 0 10 0 4 2 6
2# K.Durant 29:46 5-17 1-4 7-9 1 0 1 0 1 0 1 0 18
4# M.Conley 27:55 4-6 0-1 4-6 1 4 5 2 4 3 0 0 12
5# J.Green 28:57 2-6 0-1 3-3 0 1 1 0 8 0 3 0 7
6# J.Yi 28:40 7-15 0-0 9-12 1 3 4 0 7 0 7 1 23


G.O had a rough game (10 fouls), he looked pretty nervious out there. They were throwing triple teams at him all day though, and Portland has nobody who can hit a 3 besides roy (who didn't play).

Yi looked great, I have a bunch of his clips.

Conley had a pretty solid first game.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Debut review: Oden outing much fouler than Durant's

Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images
Oden found himself on the bench with early foul trouble.


LAS VEGAS -- Kevin Durant struggled. But compared to Greg Oden, he was marvelous.
Oden received a rude welcome to the NBA in his professional debut Thursday night, committing 10 personal fouls and four turnovers while scoring just six points in Portland's 74-66 loss to Boston on the opening day of the NBA's Las Vegas summer league.

Entire Article: ESPN - Sheridan: Durant, Oden struggle in debuts - NBA

 

[ScriptOhio]

Oden, Durant, Yi take lumps in professional debuts

Greg Oden finished with just six points and two rebounds in 20 minutes.

LAS VEGAS -- Greg Oden got in foul trouble. Kevin Durant got swatted. Yi Jianlian got posterized.
The NBA's three most intriguing rookies made their pro debuts Friday night at the Las Vegas Summer League, and to say it was a learning experience would be like saying the weather outside the Thomas & Mack Center was a little warm.

Also:
But while most of the focus was on Oden and Durant, Yi and another top draft pick -- Mike Conley Jr. of Memphis -- might have been the best rookies on the night.

Entire article: SI.com - Writers - Marty Burns: Oden, Durant*take lumps in pro debuts - Saturday July 7, 2007 2:32AM


Another SI article:

Dubious debut

Oden struggles, fouls out in summer league debut

Greg Oden attempts to block the shot of Boston's Gerald Green in the Blazers' loss.
AP

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Greg Oden's foul troubles followed him to the NBA.
The Portland Trail Blazers center, the first overall pick in last month's draft, picked up three quick fouls in the opening three minutes of his professional debut Friday night in the Las Vegas summer league and fouled out with 10 fouls.
"It's amazing," said Oden smiling. "I usually get thrown out after five."
League rules allow 10 fouls before disqualification.
"It's a different game [in comparison to college]. They call it different," Oden said. "There are a lot of things you can't do with hand movements and hand checks."

Entire article: SI.com - NBA - Oden fouls out -- with 10 fouls --?in pro debut - Saturday July 7, 2007 12:42AM

 

[ImFrigginFly]

I wouldn't take too much stock in his "struggles".

 

[BuckWrestler141]

I wouldn't take too much stock in his "struggles".

Never said I did (nor should anyone with half a brain), but it was his opening day, it's fun to watch. and no need for the quotations to make seem as if he didn't struggle, because he did.
I still don't have any doubt he will turn into an all-star, possibly even this year, and Yao's backup in the game.

 

[exhawg]

Even at OSU Greg had a hard time knowing when to foul, or even what is a foul. IMO it is going to take him some time this year to figure that out. I'd look for him to have a bunch of early games with less than 20 maybe even 10 minutes

 

[Basketbits]

When is the next game? And isn't there a webcast of it?

-basketbits.org

 

[Napoleonbuck]

Oden already played today. 13 points(I think), 5 rebounds, 4 blocks, and 9 fouls. I've read that all the travel pre and post draft has really killed his stamina.

I think once he gets into a basketball routine again, he'll be fine.

Summer League games are beyond pointless anyways. I read today that Tim Duncan was dominated by Greg Ostertag in his first summer league game. These are basically auditions for undrafter FAs to make the NBADL or CBA, though sometimes one will make a regular NBA roster. Lots of me first basketball, that obviously favors guards over bigs. Think AAU ball times ten.

 

[ScriptOhio]

Oden better in second summer game

Greg Oden had 13 points, five rebounds and nine fouls in Sunday's loss to the Mavs.
AP

LAS VEGAS (AP) -- Top pick Greg Oden's second summer league game with the Portland Trail Blazers was better than his first, but still not up to the high profile center's expectations.
Two days after he was disqualified with 10 fouls in 20 minutes, Oden had 13 points, five rebounds and nine fouls Sunday in a 72-68 loss to the Dallas Mavericks. Summer league rules allow for 10 personals.
"I felt more comfortable, but we lost so it doesn't matter," Oden said. "I'm all about winning."
Oden picked up his ninth foul with 3 minutes, 23 seconds to play, but didn't foul out. Fouling out twice, with double the amount of fouls at his disposal from this winter at Ohio State, would have been embarrassing, he said.

Entire article: SI.com - NBA - Oden better in second summer league game - Sunday July 8, 2007 7:52PM

 

[ScriptOhio]

Oden overwhelmed but more effective in Game 2

LAS VEGAS -- You can add one more link to the stretchy chain that will forever bond Greg Oden with Kevin Durant.
Oden, like Durant, now knows how it feels to start a summer league game by getting his shot rejected by DeSagana Diop.
It happened to Durant on opening day of the NBA Summer League and it happened to Oden on Sunday, when the No. 1 overall pick played as a pro for just the second time, hoping to rebound from his deflating debut with the Portland Trail Blazers.
"I told him [later] at the free-throw line he's stronger than a lot of guys in the league right now," Diop said, declining to crow too much about putting Oden on the same Swatted Team with Durant.
"He's going to be all right."
That remains the unanimous view shared by the dozens of coaches and personnel experts who have descended upon the desert, even though Oden hasn't wowed anyone yet.

Entire article: ESPN - Stein: Oden overwhelmed but more effective in Game 2 - NBA

 

[OSUsushichic]

Funk and Homicide
The sloppy, bizarre, freewheeling, wonderful NBA summer league.
By David Roth
Posted Tuesday, July 17, 2007, at 4:35 PM ET

There's no good reason why Kevin Durant, a 6-9 forward, would spend a whole game guarding Marco Belinelli, a smaller, quicker guard. But since the NBA's Vegas summer league doesn't operate based on reason, that's just what happened last week. Their coaches decided it might be fun to let the two rookies have a run at each other, and the pair combined to hoist 45 shots (30 of them misses) in 40 minutes of play. It was business as usual in the NBA's annual showcase of first-year hopefuls, veteran no-hopers, and the middle-class strivers in between. Sure, the NBA's summer leagues?just-concluded ones in Las Vegas and Orlando, and the ongoing Salt Lake City-based Rocky Mountain Revue?can be little more than sloppy simulations of authentic pro basketball. But they're also more exuberant and less scripted than the hoops we choke down all season, and a welcome reminder that pro basketball can still be fun.

The sloppy, bizarre, freewheeling, wonderful NBA summer league. - By David Roth - Slate Magazine