First game pitted a whole team against almost nobody, so they had to recruit some randoms. I didn't know that many people there, because they didn't have programs yet.
Julian Welch looked skinner though, and he was looking pretty good. He was going hard to the rack and finishing well in traffic with both hands. I was impressed. He looked like he'd had a good summer so far. I didn't see much of the jumpshot, but his passing looked okay too.
Halverson was the same as he ever was. He looks so explosively athletic, but his hand-eye coordination/basketball instincts will just never allow him to be the Zach Puchtel-type player we'd like him to be, I think. It's crazy, he goes up for alley-oops and he's way above the rim. Then, he drives down the lane and is throwing up finger rolls from his waist when it would be easier to just dunk it.
Now, the main reason I was there was to see Wally Ellenson. It's clear that he can get up. He had a couple dunks off alley-oops, and just missed two absolutely nasty dunks, one a 180 one-handed alley oop, and another a putback where he caught it below the rim and was going for a two-handed tomahawk. It's clear that his jumper is rusty. Even in warmups, he couldn't find the range. I think it'll develop into a weapon, but maybe not this year. His ball-handling is not nearly good enough for him to utilize his jumping ability that much this year. Plus, he's not aggressive enough in going after rebounds, and he had difficulty with the physicality of some of the older guys. And he'll struggle on the defensive end, though his leaping ability helped him make some blocks on the weak-side. It doesn't help that he's still more fast than quick right now. All in all, I see a lot of promise. He's got a big frame that can put some muscle on, and with some good body control and the excellent leaping ability, even in traffic. Plus, his shot looked okay mechanically, but just a bit rusty. I don't think he'll contribute this year, but I think he's got a lot of promise for the future.
In the second game, Andre was there. He was being guarded by some small quick defenders who were keeping him out of the lane for the most part. His pull-up jumpers looked pretty good, as did his outside game. I'd say his was about 50% from the field, roughly, at half-time, which is when I left. I'd love to see him use his quickness to get by guys and finish at the rim like Julian was doing, but I still liked what I saw. I'd love to see him use Pulley to really work hard on his man-to-man D though. He appears to have been working on his runners in the lane, which looked pretty good too.
All in all, it was kind of a disappointing opening night for Pulley, what with the struggles to field a team in the first game, and the lack of names besides Andre in the second. I'll still be checking Pulley off and on through the summer though.
Julian Welch looked skinner though, and he was looking pretty good. He was going hard to the rack and finishing well in traffic with both hands. I was impressed. He looked like he'd had a good summer so far. I didn't see much of the jumpshot, but his passing looked okay too.
Halverson was the same as he ever was. He looks so explosively athletic, but his hand-eye coordination/basketball instincts will just never allow him to be the Zach Puchtel-type player we'd like him to be, I think. It's crazy, he goes up for alley-oops and he's way above the rim. Then, he drives down the lane and is throwing up finger rolls from his waist when it would be easier to just dunk it.
Now, the main reason I was there was to see Wally Ellenson. It's clear that he can get up. He had a couple dunks off alley-oops, and just missed two absolutely nasty dunks, one a 180 one-handed alley oop, and another a putback where he caught it below the rim and was going for a two-handed tomahawk. It's clear that his jumper is rusty. Even in warmups, he couldn't find the range. I think it'll develop into a weapon, but maybe not this year. His ball-handling is not nearly good enough for him to utilize his jumping ability that much this year. Plus, he's not aggressive enough in going after rebounds, and he had difficulty with the physicality of some of the older guys. And he'll struggle on the defensive end, though his leaping ability helped him make some blocks on the weak-side. It doesn't help that he's still more fast than quick right now. All in all, I see a lot of promise. He's got a big frame that can put some muscle on, and with some good body control and the excellent leaping ability, even in traffic. Plus, his shot looked okay mechanically, but just a bit rusty. I don't think he'll contribute this year, but I think he's got a lot of promise for the future.
In the second game, Andre was there. He was being guarded by some small quick defenders who were keeping him out of the lane for the most part. His pull-up jumpers looked pretty good, as did his outside game. I'd say his was about 50% from the field, roughly, at half-time, which is when I left. I'd love to see him use his quickness to get by guys and finish at the rim like Julian was doing, but I still liked what I saw. I'd love to see him use Pulley to really work hard on his man-to-man D though. He appears to have been working on his runners in the lane, which looked pretty good too.
All in all, it was kind of a disappointing opening night for Pulley, what with the struggles to field a team in the first game, and the lack of names besides Andre in the second. I'll still be checking Pulley off and on through the summer though.
