The Warriors released all the pertinent information about this year’s summer league team, including the complete roster and schedule. Here’s the roster:
Guards
Will Blalock, Iowa State
Brian Chase, Virginia Tech
Jason Rich, Florida State
Kashif Watson, Idaho
Jeremy Wise, Southern Mississippi
Forwards
Andre Brown, DePaul
Joe Ingles, Australia
Kasib Powell, Texas Tech
Anthony Randolph, LSU
Tremaine Townsend, Cal State Northridge
Ekpe Udoh, Baylor
Reggie Williams, VMI
Brandan Wright, North Carolina
Centers
C.J. Giles, Oregon State
Here’s a look at the schedule (the NBA Summer League takes place from July 9-18):
Friday, July 9: vs. New Orleans Hornets, 7 p.m., COX Pavilion (Las Vegas)
Saturday, July 10: vs. Detroit Pistons, 5 p.m., COX Pavilion
Sunday, July 11: vs. Washington Wizards, 5 p.m., COX Pavilion
Tuesday, July 13: vs. Miami Heat, 7:30 p.m., Thomas & Mack Center
Thursday, July 15: vs. Phoenix Suns, 3 p.m., COX Pavilion
Assessing the roster: It will be interesting to see how much Anthony Randolph and Brandan Wright play. Randolph is in his third season and has dominated this league two summers in a row. Considering he’s coming back from injury and doesn’t really have anything to prove against this competition, I wouldn’t be surprised if Randolph only plays a game or two or plays reduced minutes. Brandan Wright might be in the same boat. Do the Warriors really want to risk Wright’s recuperated health against this kind of competition? Maybe they do. Maybe they want to see both of these players and give them a chance to get some run against semi-legitimate competition. But that would surprise me. Reggie Williams and Ekpe Udoh should play major minutes. As far as the rest of the players are concerned, I have no idea who will play and to what extent. None of the names jump out at me.
Assessing the schedule: The lineup of opponents means Warriors fans will get to see Darren Collison, Marcus Thornton (Hornets); Greg Monroe, Jonas Jerebko (Pistons); John Wall, JaVale McGee, Cartier Martin, Jerome Randle (Wizards); and Michael Beasley (Heat). It’s too bad Stephen Curry is sitting out Summer League this offseason. It would be nice to see him go up against Collison and especially Wall. But the July 10 game against the Pistons will be interesting with a matchup of Udoh and Monroe, the player the Warriors drafted and the player most Warriors fans and national media think the Warriors should have drafted. It will be nice to see former Cal product Jerome Randle, though he doesn’t figure to get much playing time on the Wizards’ roster.
Other thoughts: The Warriors will be coached by assistant Stephen Silas. That’s a great opportunity for Silas, but it’s interesting to note the absence of Don Nelson. Near the end of the season, Nelson said he was excited to coach the summer-league team this year because he enjoyed working with the young talent on the roster. But according to a report by Marcus Thompson II, Nelson will be in Maui, not Las Vegas, during summer league. Judge that news however you like.
This excerpt from the Warriors press release today is interesting:
This year, NBA TV will air the full 58-game NBA Summer League schedule, including 39 games live, along wit offering live daily studio programming with NBA GameTime. Fans will also have the opportunity to watch every game live on NBA.com through the NBA Summer League Broadband, a subscription service offering fans a full slate of live NBA Summer League game webcasts via NBA.com/summerleaguebroadband. The complete package will be $14.95 for access to all 58 games on a live basis, as well as on a video-on-demand basis for up to one week following the conclusion of the league’s final game. The Warriors will have four of their five games broadcast live on NBA TV.
