Excluding the the handful of ball players competing in the two NBA Summer Leagues, July is essentially the official month of vacation for hoopers. As legendary tales from summer pro-am leagues pop up around the country, there will always be some schmuck on the other end of a 50+ point game.
It happens.
Brandon Jennings lit up the Los Angeles Drew League for 57 in the first weekend NBA players were allowed to suit up. SOMEONE gave up that 57 — and that's pretty much the end of the story. In July, as a defender, you can be perfectly okay with this because it's going to continue to happen with leagues going on in New York, D.C. and Chicago.
As a defender in July, you have two responsibilities:
1. If you're going to jump around the rim, make sure you know you're getting the block.
2. If you're defending the ball, don't get the color shook off your jersey.
That's it.
Tony Wroten had it going this past weekend and did everything in his power to make sure some poor soul broke the second cardinal rule of July. He gave 'ole boy one of the absolute nastiest Shammgod moves this side of the millennium.
Lefties are always tough to defend, and any ball player who says he hasn't been hit by a slick move from a lefty is a damned liar. But Wroten gave homie a Shammgod maneuver that somehow transitioned into a Tim Hardaway throwback joint that left the defender searching for the meaning of life at the elbow. To add insult to injury, the help-side defender in the paint had his T's crossed from 10-feed away while Wroten had a free lane to dot the I for the easy deuce.
All praises to Wroten, though. The spirit of the Shammgod is strong in that man. Here's highlights of Wroten's 53-point game in Seattle for your viewing pleasure.