Jamar Smith (Boston Celtics), 6’3″ Guard, University of Southern Indiana
With the devastating injury to rising star Avery Bradley and a long recovery, the Celtics added depth in the backcourt with Jason Terry, Courtney Lee and then last wek’s signing of Leandro Barbosa.
But Danny Ainge has been very shrewd in placing players in their NBDL affiliate the Maine Red Claws, and Smith is one. Smith had a good showing during summer league in Orlando, showing great range and his ability to flat-out shoot. He may get some early minutes if he can earn Doc Rivers’ trust during preseason.
Smith was the Division II Player of the Year in 2009-10 after transferring from Illinois, where he was a Big-10 All-Freshman selection.
The 25-year-old Smith averaged 14.8 points and 2.5 assists for BK Prostov in the Czech Republic last season. UPDATE: He was cut Oct. 16 along with Dionte Christmas, who averaged 18.6 points and 4.4 rebounds with AGO Rethymno Aegean in Greece last season.
Scott Machado (Houston Rockets), 6’1″ PG, Iona University
This Rockets have committed to a multi-year contract with Machado after his strong performance in summer league, which shows how they feel about his upside.
That said, they are loaded with point guards (Linsanity 2.0?) despite trading away Kyle Lowry and allowing Goran Dragic to leave as a free agent. I’ve done plenty of homework on Machado over the past few years and while I think he can earn rotation minutes if he plays well, the Rockets may decide to place him with their D-League affiliate in Rio Grande and watch his development. This, to me, is a great opportunity for Machado.
As a senior at Iona, Machado broke the school record for assists in the first game of the season and broke Ronald Moore’s MAAC record on Feb. 18 against Nevada. He was named a finalist for the Bob Cousy Award and the Wooden Award. UPDATE – Machado had 11 assists in just 23 minutes two Sundays ago against San Antonio (Lin was 1-for-10 in that game). But he is conspicuously absent from the Rockets team stats on NBA.com. Houston is currently in a one-week stretch with no exhibition games.
Maalik Wayns (Philadelphia 76ers), 6’1″ PG, Villanova
My buddy Jon Wasserman of NBADraft.net, who’s lenses are are tight as anyone’s from an evaluation standpoint, clued me in to what Wayns did for Orlando during summer league.
He’s a tough kid coming out of a program known for tough guard play, in a tough city.
An early entry candidate for the 2012 NBA Draft following his junior season at Villanova, he was named second team All-Big East in 2011-12 after averaging team-highs of 17.6 points and 4.6 assists to go along with 3.8 rebounds per game. Wayns ranked seventh in the nation in free throw shooting (89.2%) this past season.
Last season, he led the Wildcats in scoring (17.6 ppg), assists (4.6 apg) and minutes played (33.6) and became the 55th Wildcat to surpass 1,000 career points. UPDATE – He was a plus-12 in 17 bench minutes against the Celtics on Sunday night, and is having a strong preseason averaging 1.5 points, 4.7 assists an shooting 44 percent (8-for-18) on 3-pointers.
Phil Jones (Minnesota Timberwolves), 6’10” F/C, UNC-Charlotte
The Wolves added Jones to their camp roster because they love his size and his ability to face up and hit pick and pop jumpers. He provides more skill and depth up front than the more ballyhooed Greg Stiemsma, and with minutes available up front for the Wolves, there could be a great chance for Jones to make an impact during camp — especially with Stiemsma out with an injury.
Jones has the chance to show off his skill set which includes a sound 15-18 foot shooting range, something not often found from developing 6’11 250 prospects.
The 27-year-old has been playing the past two years overseas, making stops in Uruguay, Brussels and Romania. A U.S. Virgin Islands national team member, Jones played at the 2009 FIBA Americas Championship, averaging 8.5 points and 4.8 rebounds in four games. UPDATE — Jones was cut on Oct. 14.
Wesley Witherspoon (San Antonio Spurs), 6’9″ F, University of Memphis
If there’s anyone who knows how to reach down and get every last ounce of a player, it’s Gregg Popovich. Witherspoon is considered a long shot, but with his size and length he could find himself getting reps at the 3-4 position if he can improve his perimeter game, one that offers a lot of open looks in the Spurs’ spread system.
Witherspoon is coming off his senior year at the University of Memphis, where he helped lead the Tigers to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. In four seasons with the Tigers, Witherspoon appeared in 121 games, averaging 8.2 points and 3.7 rebounds in 21.0 minutes. As a junior he was named to the All-Conference USA third team and was the Conference USA Sixth Man of the Year in 2008-09. UPDATE – Shooting 9-for-14 in 3 games, once of which was a start, with three DNPs.
Kevin Jones (Cleveland Cavaliers), 6’8″ F, West Virginia
I’ve watched Jones develop for over a decade, and I can tell you that he is a pro in every sense of the word. He fits a nice need for the Cavs, or can develop into a great second-effort player who can stretch the defense from the perimeter.
He’s not at the usual NBA size for a 4, but I can see him developing into a crowd-pleasing, extra- effort player with more range than, say, the Bulls Taj Gibson.
A second team All-American who Bob Huggins called the hardest worker he’d ever coached, Jones went undrafted. “Of course it was disappointing, because you felt like you put in the hard work and you’ve done enough to get drafted – at least somewhere; you figure a team would see something in you,” Jones told Joe Gabriele of Cavs.com. “But it didn’t happen, and it might have been a blessing in disguise. Because it seemed like teams were just picking guys to stash overseas. UPDATE: Has logged only 18 minutes of court time in two preseason games without taking a single shot.
Carldell “Squeaky” Johnson (Atlanta Hawks), 5’10” PG, Alabama-Birmingham
If you love basketball, this guy is so easy to root for.
Since going undrafted in 2006, he has spent time with three different teams in Mexico and one in Belgium, as well as having three different stints with the Austin Toros in the NBA Development League. He has been a non-roster invitee of the San Antonio Spurs on two occasions and in December 2011, he signed with the New Orleans Hornets but never appeared in a game.
A native of New Orleans, in his first season playing for UAB Johnson started in 22 of 32 games and led the nation in assist–to–turnover ratio (3.83). UPDATE: Was waived late last week. Appeared in only appeared in one preseason game (Oct. 10 at San Antonio), totaling one assist and one steal in 13 minutes (0-3 FGs).
Mychel Thompson (New York Knicks), 6’7″ SG, Pepperdine
The Knicks are trying make up for their lack of future picks (this year aside) from going all-in on the Carmelo Anthony trade and other aggressive moves like the Marcus Camby and Jason Kidd trades, by trying to groom young players in Erie of the D-League.
Thompson, the brother of Golden State’s Klay Thompson and the son of former Blazers forward Mychal Thompson, started last year with the Bayhawks and had a shot of espresso with the Cavs before finding himself on the Knicks summer league roster this August.
Thompson has the genes to be a rotation player, but has yet to break through. With injuries to Iman Shumpert and Ronnie Brewer, who will be out a much shorter length of time, there may be an opportunity for a shooter on the Knicks roster to compliment Anthony. Thompson has the skills for the job. Nice profile here by Berman of the Post. UPDATE: Shooting only 22 percent (5-for-23) in four games, to of them starts ahead of J.R. Smith, who will be coming off the bench this season whether he likes it or not.
Tommy Dee is the founder of TheKnicksBlog, editor of CHARGED Magazine and is a regional scout for Marty Blake and Associates. If you like what you read here, feel free to follow his other thoughts on Twitter.