Here’s a link to video of Jon’s first NBA basket.

Other Pac-10 rookies who made their debuts this week include (through Thursday night’s games):

Demar DeRozan (USC) started in the Toronto Raptors backcourt Wednesday, picking up eight points and and five rebounds in 24 minutes.

Husky baller Justin Holiday’s brother, Jrue (UCLA), picked up a DNP – Coach’s Decision in the 76ers loss to the Magic.

James Harden (ASU) played 13 minutes against Brockman’s Kings Wednesday, scoring five points and pulling down two rebounds. He also picked up three fouls.

Chase Budinger (Arizona) scored six points and grabbed a rebound in 15 minutes for the Houston Rockets in their loss to the Trailblazers on Tuesday night, and scored 11 with two rebounds in win against Golden State on Wednesday.

Jordan Hill (Arizona) played less than two minutes for the Knicks in their loss to the Heat Wednesday and missed the one shot he took.

Darren Collison (UCLA) scored one point and had a rebound in three minutes of play for the New Orleans Hornets who lost to the Spurs on Wednesday.

Jeff Pendergraph (ASU) had hip surgery recently and will be out for a while before he gets a chance to make his Trailblazers debut.

Taj Gibson (USC) of the Bulls had six points and six rebounds on Thursday night against the Spurs.

Thanks for coming!

In today’s portion, Desmond talks about his summer in AAU ball. Some of the media coverage about Desmond’s summer alluded to some unexpected struggles on the court, and we discuss that in the portion of the interview below.

Montlake Madness: What college team did you grow up rooting for?

Desmond Simmons: I never really had a team in college basketball. I just watched it. I had my select players that I loved to watch. I never had a particular college I was rooting for. Just favorite players I loved watching play.

MM: Give me an example of players you’ve enjoyed watching.

DS: I loved to watch Blake Griffin last year. Jerryd Bayless was fun to watch…

MM: Have you played with or against any of the current Huskies?

DS: I played against Clarence Trent his sophomore year, which was my freshman year, in a basketball tournament in San Diego.

MM: What was it that ultimately made you choose UW?

DS: I would say how down to earth Coach Romar was. That pretty much sealed my deal. I went up there and saw the campus and the campus is beautiful, and the school is nice itself. The Pac-10…

But, I think it was just talking to Coach Romar. Just how honest he was. And how down to earth. He wasn’t trying to sell me anything. He was real honest and straightforward with me about everything and he just told me he wasn’t promising me anything and that I had to come in and work. And, if I earned minutes, then I’d get minutes. As honest as he was with me, I respected that a whole lot. And, I heard a lot of good things about Romar prior to going up to visit, and people were telling me a ton of stuff about how great of a coach he is and just how good of a person he is. And, when I met him, he was everything that everybody told me. So, he wasn’t just giving me a bunch of hot air.

MM: Did you feel that there were others during the recruiting process that were maybe more “full of hot air”? Or, making promises they might not be able to keep?

DS: I mean, I felt that most of the coaches I was talking to were pretty sincere. I was talking to Oregon State for a while. And, Coach (Nate) Pomeday and Coach Robinson, they seemed real sincere about what they were talking about. I don’t think they were just blowing smoke up my butt. But, I think that I got a better vibe from Coach Romar than the other coaches I had met with.

MM: I’ve heard that this summer in AAU ball was a little bit of a mixed bag for you. There were times you played really well, and times you struggled a little too. Tell me a little about how you feel the summer went and how your game progressed.

DS: I played probably more on the wing than I ever have in my AAU career. So, there were ups and downs with that, because I’m still learning, still currently learning, how to become a wing player. So, you know, I mean I played a lot on the wing this year, so there were a lot of kinks I needed to work out. A lot of things I learned from myself sometimes the hard way that, y’know… Things like making plays from the wing, things like that. So, it was kind of an up-and-down… I had some ups and downs in some tournaments this year. And, probably just because of playing on the wing more than I ever have before, so it was something new.

MM: Are you going to play on the wing for your high school team this year?

DS: I’ll play on the wing, probably, all year.

MM: Is that a decision you make with your coach with an eye on your future?

DS: Me and my coach have discussed it. My freshman year, going into Salesian High School, we had discussed that eventually I was going to work my way to the wing. Last year, he intended to play me on the wing more, but I ended up playing in the post more than on the wing. Next year, we’re going to focus on me playing on the wing in practice, and during the season. It was also something about, since I was going to Washington next year, I would have to get used to playing on the wing, so it wouldn’t do me any good playing in the post my senior year and then heading to Washington to play on the wing.

Thanks for coming!

The Dawgs are picked 13th in the nation in today’s preseason USA Today/ESPN Coaches’ Poll, just behind Cal (12th). No other Pac-10 school made the top 25, but UCLA earned the 29th-most votes, just missing out.

USC earned multiple votes at well. Go figure.

Desmond Simmons is a 6’7″ forward from Salesian High School in the Bay Area. We were thrilled to catch up with him recently and talk basketball, UW, and about some of the difficulty he had during AAU ball this summer. You’ll have to come back tomorrow to get the whole interview, but here’s part I:

Montlake Madness: Introduce yourself to the Husky fans. We want to know more about you.

Desmond Simmons: On the court, I play really hard. A lot of energy. Dive for loose balls, rebounding, crashing. A lot of energy. Off the court, I would say I’m a pretty laid-back kind of mellow person. A lot of people say I’m a mellow kind of guy. That’s me off-the-court — just a real chill person.

MM: What do you like to do when you’re not playing ball?

DS: I listen to a lot of music. I like all kinds of music. I like to draw. I’ve been drawing since I was little. It’s a big hobby of mine.

MM: What kind of stuff do you draw?

DS: I draw a lot of cartoon characters. Sometimes I draw pictures of sports players, like I take a picture of an actual athlete and I just draw it out on a big poster board or something.

MM: What college or pro player does your game resemble the most?

DS: Some people tell me, I would say, someone like Boris Diaw, an inside-out kind of guy with range. I guess Boris Diaw to some extent.

MM: Are you more of a post player or a wing man? I know Boris Diaw is kind of a hybrid, but where do you think you fit in on the Huskies?

DS: Kind of like Boris, a little bit of both: inside and out. Most of my basketball career, I’ve been playing the post, but the last, I would say, since freshman and sophomore year, I’ve been getting out on the wing more. So, I mean, for the Huskies, I would be, uh, a guard with multiple positions. So, I could probably guard some posts, guard some guys on the wing. Play some post, play some wing. A little bit of both.

MM: Have you watched Quincy Pondexter play much?

DS: Yes.

MM: So, compare your games, since you’ll be coming in after he’s leaving. I know some people are going to hope you come in and fill a similar role to some degree.

DS: Well, Quincy Pondexter is an exceptional player. I like his game a lot, because he also goes inside-out. And so, I guess, his mid-range and my mid-range are kind of alike. He has a good mid-range game. I think my mid-range game is pretty decent.

MM: How often are you in touch with coaches or players at UW at this point?

DS: I talk to Coach Romar and Coach Fortier pretty often. I call them up a little bit here and there. I’m in touch with them very frequently. Maybe a couple of times a week. I call Coach Fortier maybe twice per week. He’ll probably give me a call once or twice a week.

MM: Have they given you stuff they want you to focus on between now and next season? Areas of your game they want you to strengthen?

DS: Yeah. They’ve told me to work on getting consistent with my jump shot. Getting consistent where I can knock down open jump shots. And my ball-handling is improving, but making it more sound. Getting bigger, getting stronger. That’s always something you need to work on because you think you’re strong in high school, but when you get to college, it’s a whole different game.

MM: What are you most looking forward to about playing at UW?

DS: I heard the fans are real crazy out there. They get a lot of fan support out there. It’ll be nice to play in front of a big crowd every night (we’re) at home. That’s something to be excited about.

I’m also just looking forward to getting better. Just going to the next level. It’s something exciting itself, y’know, moving on to college, Division I basketball, playing in the Pac-10. Playing against UCLA, USC, Arizona. You know, that’s just really exciting. . .

***

Tomorrow, part II, in which Desmond discusses some of the much-talked-about struggles he had in some of his AAU tournaments this summer.

Thanks for coming!

Can you tell that I’m excited?

A couple of links this morning:

Here’s Rivals.com’s Pac-10 preview, picking Cal to win the league, and Quincy Pondexter as its most underrated player.

Percy Allen blogged about Lorenzo Romar’s press conference yesterday, and reported that Tyreese Breshers will be ready to start the season, but not at 100%. He also reported that Justin Holiday should be ready for the November 13th opener against Wright State.

Here’s the Times story on Breshers’ journey back to health.

UW’s website did a preview of the team’s guards.

And, it isn’t Husky-related, but this article should be required reading for anyone who’s ever thought of saying “I can’t” when faced with a steep challenge (read: all of us).

Tomorrow: An interview you’re not going to want to miss.

Coming up soon: The Montlake Madness Pac-10 Preview. We’ll preview the players and teams likely to make the most noise in the conference this season.

Thanks for coming!

Turner had more ups and downs than the average freshman last year. He averaged 17 minutes per game as a key scoring option off the bench early on, before an ankle injury caused him to miss four games. When he returned, his scoring touch was there, but his minutes went way down. Then, in the NCAA Tournament, Elston Turner averaged 20 minutes per contest, showing off a more well-rounded game and raising expectations for this season.

I had a chance to speak with Turner recently. Here’s what we discussed:

Montlake Madness: What’s new? What part of your game have you been working on this off-season?

Elston Turner: You’re gonna see how much more I’m gonna be aggressive. Not just being a three-point shooter, but getting to the foul line, going to the basket, a lot of mid-range. You know, that’s 80-85% of the main things I’ve worked on this summer: being more aggressive and not just settling for the three-point jumper.

MM: How much do the increased minutes you saw very late last year in the NCAA Tournament bolster your confidence coming into this year?

ET: It helps a good deal. Going into the tournament, my dad was talking about how I have to be more aggressive, and if I have an open shot, don’t pass it up. And, if I feel like I can do something with the ball, then go ahead and do it. And, I started to do it in the Tournament and a lot of people could see it then.

MM: What’s it like having a coach at home (NBA coach, Elston Turner, Sr.) and a coach at school? Any discrepancy between the advice that they suggest to you?

ET: No, not really, because they talk all the time. They played in the NBA together. They both know what’s the best thing for me. When they both tell me one thing, it’s likely right. So, I haven’t had a problem with that yet.

MM: What’s the path from here to a professional career for you? What do you need to develop?

ET: Being more aggressive. Having more people notice me. Doing little things. Not just being an offensive player, but also playing defense and rebounding. Getting to the ball, stuff like that. Just so I can stay on the court and have more people notice me.

MM: What’s the battle like for rotation spots at practice? How do you work that out with being friends off the court? You and C.J. (Wilcox) particularly?

ET: You really don’t think about it as a player. Like you said, we’re real good friends. (C.J. and I) are roommates. We hang out a lot. And, I mean, really we’re just encouraging each other, so whoever gets the minutes, we’re not gonna be mad. We’re gonna be encouraging. I’m just trying to tell him a little bit about the offense. Because, I’ve been through it last year. I’m just trying to help him out and have him be the best player he can be.

MM: Would you rather start or finish?

ET: I’d rather finish.

Hey, thanks for coming.

More on this later. Also, Percy Allen gives the first part of his Pac-10 picks on the Times blog.

In case you were wondering, a closed scrimmage is generally an exhibition game played behind closed doors (no fans, no media), so teams can assess how they function as a full unit after playing only against themselves in practice up to this point.

Sounds to me, based on the Tweets below, like the scrimmage was hardly a cake walk for the Huskies. But, hopefully it was a learning experience. I’m not going to read too much into what the players report on Twitter, or get too concerned about anything (other than injuries) that happens so early on in the preseason. But, just for fun, here’s what the players had to say on their Twitter pages:

Tyreese Breshers:

Just landed …. watchin film wit Coach the whole flight … learned a lot of stuff … I got a lot to work on

Just got done wat our scrimmage … We figured a lot of things about ourselves and I figured out a lot about me. . .

Abdul Gaddy:

On way to airport!! Learned a lot about our team!! Time to get back n the lab and improve on weaknesses…

Isaiah Thomas:

We gotta take what we did wrong 2 heart and build on it and get better plain and simple. We good, still early I aint worried at all. Go time. . .

On the bus headed to the airport.. We played horrible the 1st 20min but after that we played like Washington basketball suppose to play!

NOV 13th 1st regular season game. We gon be ready, mark my words! We was alil rusty today playin wit each other bcuz we basically had 2 days…of practice where we had enough guys to go up and down and scrimmage alil bit. So were good we jus gotta get some chemistry! That’s all!

Matthew Bryan-Amaning:

ok so on the way bk 2 the 206…the trip as a learning curve we’ll see in practice if we leant anything!!

Thanks for coming!

Big Foot not pregnant with coach’s baby: In a little bit of Northwest basketball drama, Washington proposed a series of games to Gonzaga, all taking place at Key Arena, and alerted the media. Gonzaga fired back, saying “not so fast,” first through its athletic director, then with some tough talk from coach Mark Few, who seems to have given more thought to the idea of sasquatch/human copulation than may be healthy.

Dawgfluenza: More than half of the Husky roster came down with the flu, starting with Darnell Gant shortly after the team’s Midnight Madness event on October 16th. While it’s likely the afflicted players put in an impressive amount of virtual court time on NBA 2K10, the illnesses preventing the team from starting their real practice regimen until late in the week. Here’s our post on the outbreak, and here’s the wire story from the AP (national coverage!) picked up by ESPN.

LoRo wants you!: The flu bug seemed to trigger Coach to reconsider his reluctance to add a walk-on or two to this year’s squad, likely to warm the bench during games, but push players in practice (and, ensure enough healthy bodies to run a full-court scrimmage). Eight players showed up to Thursday’s walk-on tryouts, and Coach planned to call any lucky winners on Friday. No word in this recap from The Times as to whether one of the contestants was UW tight end, Kavario Middleton.

Sports Illustrated <Hearts> the Huskies!: CNNSI picked the Husky backcourt as the sixth best in the nation, but left out Scott Suggs when they listed the Dawg’s guards. Montlake Madness is channeling Shaq and suggesting the nickname “The Big Oversight” for Suggs this season. We also sincerely hope Scott makes Luke Winn feel stupid by season’s end. (Cal was picked fifth.)

Sports Illustrated <Hearts> the Huskies!, part II: CNNSI also picked Isaiah Thomas as the ninth most exciting player in the country, ranked ahead of Michigan State’s Kalin Lucas and NCAA Tournament opponent, Jarvis Varnado, but behind Willie Warren, and number-one pick, Greivis Vasquez of Maryland.

In case you missed it: We caught up with Husky legend Jon Brockman to talk about his NBA experience so far. . . We spoke to Abdul Gaddy. . . And, check out Doug Haller’s blog. He covers Arizona State for The Arizona Republic, but often does a good rundown of what’s going on around the Pac-10. . . And, here’s another great college hoops blog as well, called March Madness All Season.

Thanks so much for coming!

*We may move these to Mondays once the season gets going, so they can cover the weekend’s games as well.

Finally, this looks to be winding down, as all had been quiet on the Josh Smith front for about a week before this news.

There are a lot of people who think Josh is a lock to choose UCLA, including Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis and much of the local media covering the team. I just don’t know, but I take heart in the fact that he hasn’t announced yet. Hopefully, the coaches and players can make some major headway next weekend and convince Josh that playing at home for a year or two is the way to go.

Thanks for coming!