2009 Pro Summer League – Day 2 Thoughts; Matt Barnes in Orlando?

Ryan Anderson has looked great so far.

Michael Jordan, move over. Ryan Anderson is officially the greatest player in the history of the NBA. Well, maybe not, but he sure has looked good in his first two summer league games in Orlando. After scoring 21 points in his Magic debut, Anderson scored 33 points and pulled down 14 rebounds. He made 11 of his 15 shots and was two for two from downtown. He also showed that he can throw the ball down with a rim-rattling dunk. It may just be summer league, but Anderson is really showing a lot of potential and with PF being such a question mark for the Magic right now, it’s a bit of a relief. Anderson was easily the best player on the floor.

The Magic came from behind to defeat the Boston Celtics 85-82.

Some observations from day 2:

- Once again, Magic fans were disappointed by the absence of PF/C Milovan Rakovic. He should see action tomorrow.
- C Steven Milosevic, a 7-footer out of Germany, played, but scored just 4 points, grabbed only 2 boards and picked up 5 fouls.
- Courtney Fells was scoreless in 16:41 on 0-8 shooting. Ouch.
- I was disappointed that Richard Hendrix didn’t play after raving about him yesterday, but coaches have set lineups for each game in order to get an extended look at each player during in-game action.
- I liked what I saw from Jeremy Richardson yesterday, but he played only 9 minutes today.
- I’d like to see more of Lance Allred just because of the Magic’s need for another front court player. I want to see what the near 7-footer can do.
- Darian Townes is not that athletic, but he has a big body and really goes after the basketball. He played for 25 minutes, scored 10 points and picked up 7 rebounds. I was fairly impressed with Townes. I don’t see Townes making the team, but he did have a good game.
- Russell Robinson showed some flashes today. He got into the lane a few times and wound up dishing out 6 assists while only turning it over twice. He has joined the list of players on the summer league roster with a chance to make this team.
- Maurice Ager has not.
- Kasib Powell looked very good today. He made some big shots, including the game winner. He had 14 points on 50% shooting.
- All in all the Magic looked a lot better today. They had a lot more energy.

Paul Coro over at azcentral.com says that the Magic have interest in Phoenix Free Agent SF Matt Barnes.

Barnes’ agent, Aaron Goodwin, told him that Dallas, Cleveland, Orlando and the Lakers (pre-Artest) were the first teams showing interest in him but nothing about the Suns. The silence probably has more to do with Jared Dudley’s emergence and hopes of re-signing Hill than anything about Barnes

Matt Barnes would be a good fit in Orlando.

I am a big Matt Barnes fan. He is a very aggressive player, a solid defender and has a nice outside shot. He could be a good fit off of the Orlando bench. He could even start at SF if Rashard Lewis stays at PF. Barnes received the most minutes of his entire career last year and had his best statistical season. He averaged 10.2 PPG, 5.5 RPG, and 2.8 APG in 77 games (40 starts) last season. Barnes is just 29 years old. He was a big part of the Golden State team that upset the then defending champion Dallas Mavericks in the 2007 playoffs. He averaged 11.1 PPG, 5.7 RPG and 2.4 APG against Dallas and the Utah Jazz during the Warriors’ run. It’d be nice to sign Barnes and one or two Free Agent PFs.

Orlando will continue Summer League action on Wednesday. They face the combined New Jersey/Philadelphia team tomorrow night at 7:00 PM.

This combined team has a few players to keep an eye on.

Philadelphia

- Marreese Speights, a second year PF from Florida, was decent in his rookie season and should dominate at his position this week.
- Jrue Holiday was a very sought after player that wound up being drafted by Philly. He’s a combo guard from UCLA that was taken with the 17th pick.

New Jersey

- Chris Douglas-Roberts was a very good player at Memphis who was taken in the 2nd round of the 2008 draft. He has a chance to make an impact with Vince Carter now in Orlando.
- Terrence Williams was New Jersey’s first round pick. The rookie from Louisville is a good defender and should see a lot of time at SF for the Nets this year.
- Jeff Adrien is a player that we at HowardtheDunk had our eye on after the draft as an undrafted free agent. He wound up with the Nets. He’s extremely undersized for a PF, but very strong, active, and hard working.

(Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger.Subscribe to his RSS feed and add him on Twitter to follow him daily.)