thedcdime

By: Willis and Bohlin

The Maryland Terrapins and the Georgetown Hoyas have quite a few players competing for roster spots this year in the NBA Summer League installments in both Orlando and Las Vegas. The DC Dime has been following these former Hoyas and Terrapins stand outs as they continue to chase their NBA dreams, in this post we will break down what these players have done up to this point.

Georgetown:

Hollis Thompson: As we previously posted, Hollis Thompson signed a three-year contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder after going undrafted. Thompson had been nursing a groin injury for which he had to have minor surgery. This procedure has kept Thompson from competing in any summer league games for the Thunder. All indications are that Thompson will be with the Thunder after training camp and into the regular season so this should only be a minor bump in the road for Thompson as he begins what will hopefully be a long NBA career.

Henry Sims: Sims is pulling double duty this summer and played for the Utah Jazz entry in the Orlando Summer League and is also on the Chicago Bulls roster for the Vegas Summer League, basketball obviously never stops for Sims. Sims had trouble getting steady minutes with the Jazz summer league team averaging only 11 minutes per contest. In those 11 minutes per game of playing time Sims was able to average 4 PPG and 2 RPG.

While these numbers will not blow anyone away they were more than enough to garner Sims an invitation to play with the Chicago Bulls entry in the Vegas Summer League this week. Sims made his Bulls summer league debut last night and chipped in four points to go along with six rebounds. With the Bulls recent loss of Omar Asik to the Rockets in free agency there is a more than decent chance that Sims, if he performs to the level he did his senior year at Georgetown, could realistically receive an invitation to training camp and have a legitimate chance at making the Bulls roster. If you want to catch Sims in action in Las Vegas his next game will be today, July 18th, at 6 pm EST against the Houston Rockets.

Jason Clark: Jason Clark has fared rather well through two games with the Miami Heat entry in the Vegas Summer League. Even though the stats don’t show it in his VSL debut against Toronto where he did not register one point, rebound or assist, Clark was very much involved in the action. For some reason however, his teammates were not looking to get him involved on offense. Despite this Clark did quite the job when given the opportunity to guard Raptors lottery pick Terrence Ross as Clark helped hold Ross to only 14 points on 14 shots.

Clark was more aggressive on the offense end in his second game, a 50 point blowout win against the hapless Los Angeles Lakers summer league team. In this matchup Clark was able to contribute six points, five rebounds, one block and one assist. Clark will need to continue to pour in these types of contributions to the Heat in order to receive an invite to training camp but knowing his work ethic I have little doubt in my mind he will continue to perform. If you want to catch Jason Clark’s next game in Las Vegas his Miami Heat will be going up against the run and gun Golden State Warriors tonight at 10:30 pm EST on NBA TV.

Maryland

Terrell Stoglin: There’s not a whole lot to report on for the 6’1 Stoglin, who decided to forgo his junior year at Maryland, yet remained undrafted. Stoglin is not playing many minutes for the Toronto Raptors this summer, and even though he has appeared in 3 games thus far, the results have not been good. Stoglin’s most prominent performance came against the Miami Heat, where he played 5 total minutes. In those minutes, he got to the line twice and scored 5 points right off the bat. His aggressive mentality that he showed off in college also came out that game immediately. While you’d think he would get more minutes, that simply isn’t going to be happening this summer. I’m sure the Raptors aren’t disappointed with his play, but in order for them to truly gauge his abilities, they need to showcase him a little more.

Ekene Ibekwe: Yes, there has been an Ibekwe sighting in Las Vegas! Ekene is playing for the Portland Trailblazers this summer, and he has appeared in two games thus far (playing 10 minutes in both). I got the chance to see both games, and Ibekwe has shown off his rebounding ability that he had way back in ’07 for the Terps. He has collected 7 rebounds so far (4 against Miami, 3 against Houston), playing hard and trying to show his value as an offensive board cleaner. Ibekwe’s shot hasn’t gone down a lot, as evidenced by his 2-of-7 shooting in two games thus far, but the fact that he’s looking to score and getting quality chances is something, right?

Tags: basketball, Big East, ekene ibekwe, ernie sims, Georgetown, Georgetown Hoyas, Hollis Thompson, Hoyas, jason clark, Maryland, Maryland Terrapins, nba, sports, Stoglin, Summer League, Terps, Terrapins, Terrell Stoglin, vegas summer league