DISCLAIMER: Some of these posts may look familiar to the loyal readers from Sixersoul. You are not crazy. These posts were taken from my old site, edited and added to Liberty Ballers. This helps us avoid starting with a blank blog and it also gives any new readers a chance to accommodate themselves with the writing, so they know what to expect at Liberty Ballers. If you've read this before, bare with me. The posts will be brand new after these first 3-4 posts.
Coach Cheeks ended camp early, which is just another example of how well he knows his team. Now that the most anticipated Sixer TC in years is over, I thought we'd take a quick look at the week that was. Training camp is always difficult to dissect, but DeepSixer and phillyBurbs have some detailed coverage.
Here's what I took away from camp.
Things I liked:
-"Yeah, we’ve been doing a lot of game-like situations. This is not the first time I’ve ran up and down. Achilles felt great, knee is back, everything felt great. I don’t have anything to complain about."--Elton Brand
-Obviously every one says the right things in camp, but I'm relieved that Andre didn't say something to the effect of, "I've gained 30 lbs this off-season and I'm never playing hard again because I'm rich now. Oh yeah and don't call me Iggy!"
-Willie Green did not run with the first team.
-No more "Jason Smith injuries".
-Theo teaching Sammy not to goaltend, "[Theo] was telling me, ‘sometimes you have to let it go.’ That’s something we’re really going to work on."
-Coach Cheeks making them run "17's" and then shoot free throws. It's a simple drill, but I think it's very beneficial.
-In the open scrimmage, the second team only lost by 13. That's shows our depth. A second team of Lou, Rush, Willie, Reggie and Theo isn't too shabby.
-Thad's play in the open scrimmage. "He played fantastic. I can't think of anything he didn't do. He hit a three-pointer, he crashed the offensive boards, he finished in transition, he came off the curl cut, he defended, he rebounded..."-Kate Fagan...After the scrimmage, head coach Maurice Cheeks said of Thad: "He was great, really good. And not one time did we run a play for him."
Update: According to phillyBurbs Willie had a game-high 29 in the scrimmage; Lou dropped 18 and Thad had 26.
-Mo Cheeks giving the guys a day off. He knows his team.
-Mo Speights is getting noticed for taking charges. If you watched the Summer League, you know the dude can score, but I'm impressed with what I've been hearing about him thus far.
Things I didn't like:
-A shirtless Reggie Evans practicing post moves.
-Kareem Rush running with the first team to start camp.
-Sam trying to figure out his new role in the offense along side EB.
Well, that's a lot to like. Obviously it's only training camp and it's hard to gauge anything at this time of year, but so far so good.