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TBT Games, Kennedy, Kane etc

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4upmc

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Was looking forward to watching Pittsburgh guys Kennedy & Kane play with Overseas Elite but both dropped out late. As the announcers have said Kennedy is the LeBron James of TBT. Despite all the former NBA players & top overseas players, Kennedy has been the best overall player in TBT. And Kane played an important role.

They still have Joe Johnson who can get buckets in his sleep. Don’t know if he can defend anymore but he can catch fire. The team they are playing has Scott Machado who is a really good PG with a little bit of NBA experience. Back when he was in college I talked about how he had a chance at the NBA.

Speaking of guys I thought had a chance at the NBA if he got in better shape was Mike Daum. He has been the best big in the tournament playing for the Illinois team. Has totally changed his body slimming down. Had a nice year last year in Spain and has an NBA skill set if he finds the right NBA team for an opportunity. The defending champs from OSU could not stop him. Andres Feliz is a real tough PG for the Illini team.

Huge upset Just now and comeback for Marshall team with Ryan Luther making the winner. Jacorey Williams is a baller!

It’s fun watching how much some guys have improved from their college days. Don’t know about you guys but I really enjoy this tournament every year.
 
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4upmc said:
Was looking forward to watching Pittsburgh guys Kennedy & Kane play with Overseas Elite but both dropped out late. As the announcers have said Kennedy is the LeBron James of TBT. Despite all the former NBA players & top overseas players, Kennedy has been the best overall player in TBT. And Kane played an important role.

They still have Joe Johnson who can get buckets in his sleep. Don’t know if he can defend anymore but he can catch fire. The team they are playing has Scott Machado who is a really good PG with a little bit of NBA experience. Back when he was in college I talked about how he had a chance at the NBA.

Speaking of guys I thought had a chance at the NBA if he got in better shape was Mike Daum. He has been the best big in the tournament playing for the Illinois team. Has totally changed his body slimming down. Had a nice year last year in Spain and has an NBA skill set if he finds the right NBA team for an opportunity. The defending champs from OSU could not stop him. Andres Feliz is a real tough PG for the Illini team.

Huge upset Just now and comeback for Marshall team with Ryan Luther making the winner. Jacorey Williams is a baller!

It’s fun watching how much some guys have improved from their college days. Don’t know about you guys but I really enjoy this tournament every year.
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Why did Kennedy and Kane drop out? One or both of them are playing in a Pittsburgh Summer League.
 
Last edited:
TheSpecialSauce said:
Why did Kennedy and Kane drop out?
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IDK but Kennedy said something on twitter about staying safe with Covid though he didn’t go into details. A former assistant Coach of his at St Johns said get well...With Kennedy saying he is ok. Someone here said him and Kane were recently playing in a PGH summer league so at least it would seem they were fine. TBT has Covid testing so who knows...
 
Dointhatrag said:
Don't forget Jamel Artis is still in there too with sideline cancer
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Yep they have a nice team. No one can stay in front of the jet quick PG Marcus Keene. So Artis & Luther (Pitt/AZ) are the 2 Pitt players left...correct?
 
FWIW, I think Artis has looked like he has not worked much on his game during the quarantine (certainly understandable). Timing/coordination with his feet, dribble and shot look very off.
 
Haas from the Purdue team is a big boy. And Devendorf is consistently one of the better players in the TBT. With Kennedy, Fogg, and Kane our and looking over the rosters, this is the weakest overall collection of players I have seen in the TBT. But I am grateful they all chose to play so I have something to watch.
 
TheChair said:
FWIW, I think Artis has looked like he has not worked much on his game during the quarantine (certainly understandable). Timing/coordination with his feet, dribble and shot look very off.
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Looks a little slower and heavier than normal. But as you said it’s understandable. You can tell who has been playing and who has not. Jon Elmore the Marshall PG looks about 45 years old and about 45 pounds over his playing weight haha. Though he still can hit the deep 3 and makes good decisions.
 
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4upmc said:
Looks a little slower and heavier than normal. But as you said it’s understandable. You can tell who has been playing and who has not. Jon Elmore the Marshall PG looks about 45 years old and about 45 pounds over his playing weight haha. Though he still can hit the deep 3 and makes good decisions.
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His brother looks even older and heavier. It may be possible that neither guy is older than about 28.
 
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Obradoiro was low-key my favorite Spanish team to watch this year with Daum, Fletcher Magee, and Vladimir Brodziansky bombing three balls. They were a who's who of "Hey, I know that guy!"
 
Artis could have a big role today going against the Cuse zone. At Pitt he had quite a few real good games vs their zone.
 
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TheChair said:
They did not age well.

Jon still plays high level ball though. He was tremendous at Marshall. Tremendous shooter and ball handler. Very good athlete even with added size. I am a big fan of his game.
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As you stated he was a hell of a player at Marshall. He still is really good but with all the added weight he has lost quite a bit of quickness. No one is going to take the ball from him as his handle is tight but he is not the threat to drive that he once was. I think that’s the main reason he’s playing in the 2nd division in Italy instead of the top division. He started out in the top division and was dropped down to the 2nd last year. Getting in better shape could help him make quite a bit more $.
 
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Everyone on the Herd That team from that era of Marshall has been in WV and Huntington in particular far too long. Ryan Taylor from that team is an assistant at Huntington Prep
 
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4upmc said:
As you stated he was a hell of a player at Marshall. He still is really good but with all the added weight he has lost quite a bit of quickness. No one is going to take the ball from him as his handle is tight but he is not the threat to drive that he once was. I think that’s the main reason he’s playing in the 2nd division in Italy instead of the top division. He started out in the top division and was dropped down to the 2nd last year. Getting in better shape could help him make quite a bit more $.
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I think the weight is also reflecting in his shot. He has not shot it terribly well from distance this tournament and I think a lot of it is just conserving energy.

Interestingly, he has lived in the lane so far today against the best team. His skill game is just so tight that he can still do some things.

I am surprised as a pro that he has not kept the conditioning to the same level. But it happens.

I think Herd That has to sit Ot. He is the one guy presently in their rotation very outclassed today. They seem to lose a lot with him on the floor against this opponent unfortunately.
 
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TheChair said:
I think the weight is also reflecting in his shot. He has not shot it terribly well from distance this tournament and I think a lot of it is just conserving energy.

Interestingly, he has lived in the lane so far today against the best team. His skill game is just so tight that he can still do some things.

I am surprised as a pro that he has not kept the conditioning to the same level. But it happens.

I think Herd That has to sit Ot. He is the one guy presently in their rotation very outclassed today. They seem to lose a lot with him on the floor against this opponent unfortunately.
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He’s dominating in the first half. Getting to the hoop, from 3 and finding others. I’m surprised as well that he hasn’t kept up the conditioning.

Agree OT is in over his head today.
 
thirteenNINE said:
So stupid that Ot Elmore is guarding him. :eek:

Edit: Like, I don't understand what is happening here. You have JaCorey Williams, who is a good player in the Greek league, and you're playing Ot Elmore heavy minutes instead when he's a glorified team manager.
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Sure dad is the coach and all but you want to win...so no way you can put him on Johnson. Don’t put him back in the game. Johnson can score on anyone but guys like Williams or Coakley at least have the length to make it more difficult.
 
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4upmc said:
Sure dad is the coach and all but you want to win...so no way you can put him on Johnson. Don’t put him back in the game. Johnson can score on anyone but guys like Williams or Coakley at least have the length to make it more difficult.
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It felt like The Herd had no real care about defense. I mean, Johnson is an NBA HoF player at the back end, but they still could have put Williams on him for the entire game to try to slow him down more. Instead, Overseas Elite seemed to find him on every possible mismatch from the start of the game until the end.

At least it was a fun game for the first 2 and 1/2 quarters or so. It is just nice to watch real basketball players playing presently again.
 
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TheChair said:
It felt like The Herd had no real care about defense. I mean, Johnson is an NBA HoF player at the back end, but they still could have put Williams on him for the entire game to try to slow him down more. Instead, Overseas Elite seemed to find him on every possible mismatch from the start of the game until the end.

At least it was a fun game for the first 2 and 1/2 quarters or so. It is just nice to watch real basketball players playing presently again.
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None of those guys who actually played for Marshall can play any defense.
 
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BballinsiderfromPitt said:
None of those guys who actually played for Marshall can play any defense.
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No they can’t but it kills you starting Ot on him as you dig a hole. You run a rotation of the non Marshall guys in Williams, Coakley and the Texas Tech guy. The guy from Tech was not put on him much but he may have had the best combo of strength and length.
 
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TheChair said:
It felt like The Herd had no real care about defense. I mean, Johnson is an NBA HoF player at the back end, but they still could have put Williams on him for the entire game to try to slow him down more. Instead, Overseas Elite seemed to find him on every possible mismatch from the start of the game until the end.

At least it was a fun game for the first 2 and 1/2 quarters or so. It is just nice to watch real basketball players playing presently again.
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Yep you have to make it more difficult as Williams did at the start of the 2nd when he was at least able to contest with length. Starting Ot was ridiculous.
 
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Both teams defending pretty well in game two which is making the announcing team appreciably sad which is increasing my enjoyment exponentially.
 
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rockypanther said:
Luther looks a lot different. Lot slower.
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I do not think he looked much different. I think he was put into a game with a lot more skill and athleticism surrounding him. Also, the style was just a lot different than he played for most of his time at Pitt and Arizona. He is a system and role guy more than anything else.

I am sure that Ryan is a pro somewhere, but he is not a high level pro (NBA, G-League, top Euro League level guy). Not at this stage and maybe never.
 
recruitsreadtheseboards said:
What is funny, is I was watching him and his interview and thought "holy crap Phil Kessel is playing in the TBT".
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He is not exactly a man that screams fitness. He certainly some guile though and probably is a monster rec league guy some years down in WV.
 
TheChair said:
I do not think he looked much different. I think he was put into a game with a lot more skill and athleticism surrounding him. Also, the style was just a lot different than he played for most of his time at Pitt and Arizona. He is a system and role guy more than anything else.

I am sure that Ryan is a pro somewhere, but he is not a high level pro (NBA, G-League, top Euro League level guy). Not at this stage and maybe never.
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Actually I was quite surprised that Luther ended up in the new Latvian/Estonian league this year with Ventspils who are a pretty big club. Played pretty well too, led the team in rebounding and three point percentage, but the Latvian/Estonian league is really top heavy so the competition isn't super great unless you are playing one of the top 4 teams.

Still, a higher level than I would have expected for him so that's nice to see.
 
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Didn’t see the first game but the Marquette team has many good pros.

For Sideline Cancer to make it a game in the 2nd half Keene and Creek need to get hot especially form 3. Thompson is tough. He may be able to match up with Johnson to take a break off Artis or Creek trying to watch him. Thompson won’t get backed down and can move his feet well for a big.

As the announcers keep saying Johnson can still play in the NBA.
 
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Red Scare played pretty well in the first game but Jamil Wilson was on fire in the second half and if he's not going to miss a three that Marquette team is a real tough out. Lot of grown ass men on that team.

Sideline Cancer is in this second game with a shot, they are really playing some nice defense again today, but their shot selection in the first half was really poor. They're getting more from Keene in the second half though so this one still could have a fun ending.
 
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Overseas Elite just lost this game due to overcoaching. No need to call a timeout on a 2 on 2 where you have a 6'5"+ guy with position under the hoop on a 5'9" guard.
 
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TheChair said:
Overseas Elite just lost this game due to overcoaching. No need to call a timeout on a 2 on 2 where you have a 6'5"+ guy with position under the hoop on a 5'9" guard.
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Right? Keene was already going for the intentional foul. It was over.
 
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