I met a few folks who work for NBADraft.net out in Vegas last week; today they posted an evaluation of some of the players in the Reebok event. I found it interesting how most of what they posted jived with what I saw, especially in their comments on Nolan Dennis having a little bit of Chris Douglas-Roberts in his game:

http://www.nbadraft.net/node/1627

I’ve been out of town for a week covering the AAU circuit, but apparently the Tigers haven’t been playing much pickup ball lately and had to be goaded by ops director Rod Strickland into getting on the court last night. So after flying back into town, I went to watch. Since they were done after 45 minutes, I don’t have too much to write about. I guess at this point in the summer, basketball isn’t necessarily a big priority (sarcasm meter high).

Anyway, a couple things were noteworthy:

- Angel Garcia’s high school coach was there. The rumblings on Garcia’s eligibility are more hopeful, but we’ll see. He’s in Puerto Rico right now.

- Pierre Niles looked good (not necessarily physically - he’s still got a long way to go), but he played as well as I’ve ever seen him. Nice to see him getting in there and fighting, keeping loose balls alive, using his body to get in position. He passes out of the high post so well, he could be useful in a number of sets the Tigers use. Yeah, he made a couple jump shots too (and a 3-pointer), but that’s fools gold. If that’s going to be his game, he won’t be playing.

- Wesley Witherspoon ran the point. My gut feeling is that point guard won’t be his ultimate position, but he really does have a lot of tools. He just isn’t strong, and if you want to finish plays at this level, you have to have some strength. A lot of Witherspoon’s freshman season will depend on where his body is at on Nov. 1. That’s only three months from now.

- Tyreke Evans has a devastating first step, but my sense is that Calipari will have to work with him on cutting out some of the unnecessary jukes and shakes in his game. If you can’t get by someone on the first try at the college level, you’re not going to get by him. Memphis’ offense is based on the concept of running downhill, and that’s the biggest adjustment Evans will have to make.

- There were some not-so-encouraging things I saw, too, but not real reason to harp on it (OK — too much bear-hugging, not enough defense). I imagine the intensity and frequency of these sessions will pick up when John Calipari gets back into town. Though the coaching staff can’t watch the pickup games, the mere specter of Calipari sitting in his car outside the Finch Center is enough to motivate, I’m sure.

After a couple days of this, the routine gets repetitive. Many of the coaches have already left town, and the ones that are in the stands seem to have the glazed-over look. It’s just too much basketball, really.

- I started off watching John Wall for a third time. He’s really, really special. He’ll definitely have to work on improving his defense, but he does a lot of the same stuff Derrick Rose did. I never saw Rose play at the AAU level, but it would be interesting to compare them at this point.

- I watched Nolan Dennis’ team play against the Kenny Boynton team. Dennis does a lot of good stuff and has a quick first step, especially along the baseline. He made some great moves to the rim in the second half of that game but was playing with some foul trouble. He’s a good court leader, always communicating with teammates and is very active on the bench. Boynton has a strange-looking shot, but it goes in most of the time. He hit a couple big buckets down the stretch to pull out the victory. John Calipari and Billy Donovan were both there watching him.

- I then went over to watch the Memphis Magic team play. Though they won the afternoon game, they lost in the quarterfinals at night (I didn’t see it). It’s a talented team, but they don’t play together particularly well. Joe Jackson had a pretty good game and looked much better than last week at the Battle of the Bluff in Memphis. He’s so small out there, but he can really pop off a bunch of points in a row.

- Christian Watford had a very poor first half, but picked it up in the second half. He played much better after Calipari walked in the gym. Wonder if that’s a coincidence? Watford has had a tough week - a lot of people are down on him after this performance. Calipari, Derek Kellogg and Randy Bennett of St. Mary’s were the only three head coaches watching that game.

- Mardracus Wade has a chance to be pretty good. He’s only a rising junior, but Clyde Wade’s cousin is really active defensively and is athletic enough to get the job done. He shoots it pretty well too. He’s worth keeping an eye on at Mitchell this year. If he keeps getting better, he’ll have a shot to play at Memphis.

Sorry it’s late (almost 2 a.m. Memphis time!) but I just got in from watching games, then a late dinner. Observations:

- I went to watch Lance Stephenson. First time I’ve seen him. I was so personally offended by his play, I had to leave at halftime. I just couldn’t take it anymore. It was like when you walk into a bad movie and 30 minutes into it, you know this thing is going nowhere. Folks, he’s a complete circus. A walking debacle. The pouting, the bad body language, the lazy play, the throwing elbows when he gets frustrated. And he’s not even really that good. Certainly not worth the trouble. I have it on very good authority that Memphis is NOT recruiting him. By the way, when I left his team was down 15 to some suburban Chicago kids.

- I got another look at the Atlanta Celtics. Once again, Derrick Favors did not impress me, relative to the expectations and ranking. If he’s the best player in this class, this class is crap. He’ll be a very good college player, but he’s no one-and-done. Not even close. He gets rebounds against guys that aren’t as talented or physically gifted as him, but the rest of his game leaves me ambivalent. Once again, Terrance Shannon played very well until he got hurt early in the second half. What I like is that every move he makes is a strong move; nothing weak. He rebounds everything with two hands, and when he doesn’t get the rebound, he’s sprinting back the other way. And he knows exactly what he is. I talked to him afterwards, and he described himself as an energy guy. On a very good team with some serious talent, he will be very effective, a guy you win with. He won’t be as good if he has to be the best player on a mediocre team.

- The kid I loved in that game on the other team, the Texas Ambassadors, is Daniel Alexander. He’s a 2010 kid who can really, really stroke it from deep and competes hard. He’s 6-8 and will be a big time player for somebody down the line.

- Karron Johnson is a talent, but he’s got some issues. He admitted to me that he likes to talk on the court, but he probably does it a little too much. He’s got a lot of the Shawn Taggart mannerisms and body language, which isn’t a surprise since he and Taggart are very close friends (both from Richmond, Va.) The Tigers could certainly do worse than Johnson as their 4 man for this class. Seton Hall is on him hard, and Bobby Gonzalez was there watching today. Johnson has nice skills and can play a physical game.

- Another kid to watch in the future is Davonte Grace, a 2011 guard who plays on Johnson’s team. He’s got a chance to be real nice.

- Nolan Dennis played better today than yesterday, when he had a migrane. He’s got long arms and just a nice feel for the game and where people are on the court. They’ll have to surround him with some tough, physical guys, but he’ll be a good player at Memphis. He’s a little more skilled than some of the guards Memphis recruited in the past.

- Yesterday, Avery Bradley was the man for the Northwest Panthers. Today, it was Abdul Gaddy. I didn’t pick up a stat sheet, but rest assured he was a monster. Really like both of those kids, and they play off each other so well. I don’t get the sense, however, that they’re going to go to the same college.

- After some digging around today, let me reiterate a point I made in this morning’s blog. I have no idea whether or not DeMarcus Cousins is ultimately going to de-commit from UAB, but he is indeed calling some major programs and expressing interest. Let me repeat. Schools are not tampering with this commitment and trying to recruit him; Cousins is calling them. It’s obvious to me he’s not completely solid on UAB at this time.

- By the way, I did not know this until tonight, but Derrick Rose came over on Tuesday to watch John Wall. Rose was in town anyway and made an appearance, which is good for the Tigers since Wall basically idolizes Rose.

I’ll be out to watch Derrick Favors, Christian Watford and Terrance Shannon again, then I’m going to try and catch a bit of Lance Stephenson, who I have not seen in person. Later this afternoon, Karron Johnson and Tony Wroten are on the agenda.

On another topic entirely, a blog called BSR Underground posted a note this morning about DeMarcus Cousins reconsidering his verbal commitment to UAB. I have never heard of or seen this blog before, but I have heard rumblings along the same lines for over a week from various sources in the business. If true, it will have huge ripples in this recruiting year. I’ll try to dig around on that one a little more today.

LAS VEGAS — Hello from Vegas, where the entire college basketball world is hanging out this week. Saw a bunch of kids today, including several who are interested in Memphis. I’ll give some quick-hitter thoughts and will have some more in-depth articles in the paper later in the week and toward the weekend.

- If I were drafting out of the 2009 class, Renardo Sidney would probably be my first pick. His talent is just off-the-charts. He’s a big man who likes to play around the basket, which is rare these days, but he can also do some other things. Sidney, who is originally from Jackson, Miss., but now lives in Los Angeles, has been criticized for being out of shape but his AAU team likes to get up and down the floor and he seems to be OK. His conditioning will need to improve, granted, but I think he’s a dominant big guy. He and his father both told me that Memphis is definitely on his list and WILL get a visit. So there’s some news for you.

- John Wall is really breathtaking. For the first 10 minutes I watched him Wednesday night, he didn’t do much. But after that, he was unstoppable. I’m not sure how well he shoots it from the outside because he didn’t need to. Like Derrick Rose, Wall has that extra gear and just blows by people. He’s not quite the athlete Rose is, but he plays a simpler, more straightforward game and doesn’t try to make hard plays.

- I watched Nolan Dennis for a half. He’s already committed to the Tigers. Dennis looks like he’ll be a nice piece to the puzzle, but I didn’t really get to see a fair representation of him. He was playing with a migrane headache, which made him sick. Despite not feeling well, he made a few little plays that showed some toughness, even though he lacks physical strength. He’s got an interesting, herky-jerky game.

- Christian Watford impresses me less every time I see him. He doesn’t seem to me to ever play hard, and his defense is lacking severely. I’m not the only one who thinks he might be a bit overrated - in fact, several coaches I talked to today feel the same way - so we’ll see how that develops over the summer.

- Derrick Favors is not the best player in the class of 2009, but he’s very good. The 6-9 forward lacks some skill, but he is a good rebounder and runs the floor.

- The guy to watch off the Atlanta-based team with Favors and Watford is Terrance Shannon. You won’t find him high in the national rankings (Rivals has him at 126), but I wouldn’t be surprised if he moves up. Either way, the Tiger coaches are watching him closely this week and don’t be surprised if they get heavily involved in this one. Shannon is a high-energy guy whose motor runs at all times. He’s a 6-7 forward who is thick enough to play the 4 position and plays kind of a junkyard dog-style game.

- I watched the Abdul Gaddy-Avery Bradley team from Washington. Gaddy is a good point guard, but Bradley is the man off that team. He’s an absolute assassin. He plays an aggressive game, and I think he’s undoubtedly a top-10, maybe top-5 player in this recruiting class. He said he was definitely interested in Memphis and would visit.

Disclaimer: It’s July 17.

Having said that, I got a good feel today for some of the returning players and where they stood at this point in the summer.

- Robert Dozier was the best player on the court today. His outside shot looks better than ever, and he was aggressive on both ends of the court. This is what you expect to see from a senior.

- Shawn Taggart looks like he has a bit more elevation; perhaps it’s a result of his knee finally being healed from ACL surgery nearly two years ago. I still question whether he’s going to play tough enough inside.

- Jeff Robinson looks huge. He told me he weighs 233 pounds. Maybe he should be playing linebacker. If Robinson wants to get on the court, he needs to rebound because that’s what this team will need. I don’t think anyone’s going to out-muscle him, that’s for sure.

- Antonio Anderson looks a bit smaller than he did last season, but there’s nothing different about his game. Antonio is Antonio.

- Doneal Mack looks like he is pretty much where he was at the end of last season.

- Pierre Niles has improved a bit, but he’s still got a long way to go, folks. When he drops another 30 pounds, then I’ll evaluate him.

- Willie Kemp better get on the stick because Roburt Sallie is a point guard. And a very good one. He’s woefully out of shape at this point in time, however. He’s got a few months to get his conditioning up to par, and if he does, Sallie will be very much in the mix to start. Sallie is a good shooter, but I love the way he distributes the ball. He makes quick decisions and gets the ball where it needs to be. He’s also a threat to rebound.

- As far as the newcomers, Tyreke Evans more than held his own. He’s not the kind of guy who will ever look great in a pickup game, but he did make at least two shots on game-points, which is telling. You want to know who’s going to make the big play to close out a game.

- I am a bigger fan of Wesley Witherspoon every time I see him. I cannot stress enough how much I love the way he gets from point to point. He just has no strength right now to finish plays.