Alec Peters NBA Draft

[agibson]

Alec got 12 minutes last night in a blowout loss (Spurs won 129-81). When I turned it on (thanks to the twitter warning from VU engineering prof and basketball fan Sami Khorbotly), they were already down 30 or so, late in the second quarter. Not the most impressive stat line: 2 points, 5 boards, 0-5 from 3, 1-7 overall, in those 12 minutes.

But, it was great to see Alec, on the court, on ESPN!

[valpotx]

He is struggling to hit shots at the NBA level.  He will only get so many chances...

[bbtds]

Josh Jackson and their white big men are just not consistent enough to be competitive in the NBA.

My thought is AP will get one more year and if his 3 point shooting doesn't improve by 8 to 10% then he'll be gone. Maybe he should be setting himself up for that college coaching career as soon as possible. The opportunities and connections won't be there long.

[valpo84]

From the relatively few minutes of Suns basketball I can stomach, they should go ahead and play Alec 20-25 mins for a few games. That team may be worse than Cavs teams post-LBJ I.  Seriously, with Booker out they had nothing last night. At 8 mins, 1st quarter, they hadn't scored yet.  Len is a stiff.  They are supposed to be rebuilding so why not play your 2d round pick.  Scoring 30 in G-League, then sitting for days and being expected to come in and start lighting it up is not helpful. It's like bringing up your star prospect in baseball and then sitting him for 4 days and then playing him once, he goes 0-4, sit for 3 more days and wondering why he isn't hitting.  He will have a long career in Europe if the NBA gives up on him.  Shoot, there's an open roster spot on the Cavs now.

[IndyValpo]

Back to the G League.........29 minutes last night, shot well but struggled overall with 6 fouls and a -14 for the game.

[agibson]

Back to the G League.........29 minutes last night, shot well but struggled overall with 6 fouls and a -14 for the game.

Yeah, it was a funny looking line also 6-10, 4-8 from 3, 4 DREB, 2A, 16 pts.

[agibson]

I took a quick stab at assembling Alec's count of days with the Suns. The trouble is I don't really know what counts: I figure game days for sure, and presumably days between games if he's with the team for both games. But, if he's up for only one game, could they count as little as one day?

Anyway, I think this is a conservative count

at least Nov 11 with Suns, one day
at least Nov 26-28 with Suns, three days
with Suns Jan 12-16, at least five days
(and didn't play with the Naz Suns on the 18th, but did on the 20th)
up from Jan 22 or earlier to at least Feb 7, at least 16 days
Feb 10 _not_ with the Suns, Feb 11 with NAZ
(NAZ doesn't play until Feb 21, Suns Feb 12 no Alec, 14... 23, 24

That's at least 25 days, probably more, of his 45.

It's possible that I missed games where he was on the bench for the Suns, but didn't play (but some of those _are_ included, above). I fully expect that I missed days where he was at practice, or traveling, etc.

[VU2014]

https://twitter.com/nazsuns/status/969085652678598656
https://twitter.com/petersalec/status/969286146705408000
https://twitter.com/nazsuns/status/969318781657825280
https://twitter.com/petersalec/status/969321000666988544

[VULB#62]

That guy is so smart. In 4 years at Valpo he developed so far. Now in the G-League he continues to develop his flopping technique    And I am not accusing him of flopping; he learned how to establish position.

[valpopal]

Alec tied the Northern Arizona Suns team record with 9 3-pointers tonight. He had game-high 34 points and 10 rebounds. 

[vu72]

I dunno, he look clumsy to me.  Kept falling over! 

[wh]

I dunno, he look clumsy to me.  Kept falling over! 

Take a close look at charge #1. His head snaps back just BEFORE the contact. Kind of like a knee-jerk reflex before the rubber hammer makes contact. lol

And on that happy note, I will be out of posting commission until the end of April, at which time undoubtedly I shall return in a more positive frame of mind. 

[valpotx]

I just wish that he could translate his shooting success to the NBA games he plays in.  I know that he comes in for very short spurts, versus playing most of the game at the G-League level, but that is the only opportunity he will get, until NBA teams give up on him.

[IndyValpo]

Alec has been back up with the Suns for the past 3 games:
DNP
3 minutes 0-1 1 assist
10 minutes 3-5 (2-4 from 3) 2 rebounds 8 points

[valpopal]

Interesting to see the NCAA use Alec answering a question as an ad to promote them and the rule that allowed him to explore the NBA but return for his senior year. How about they also ask him how he felt about "fairness" in the way the NCAA treated his best friend Jubril during his senior year?

[tweet]971064237576671232[/tweet]

[VU2014]

As cool as it is to see AP in this ad why is the NCAA paying this advertising? What purpose does it serve? Is it purely just an attempt at a PR boost?

[agibson]

I took a quick stab at assembling Alec's count of days with the Suns. The trouble is I don't really know what counts: I figure game days for sure, and presumably days between games if he's with the team for both games. But, if he's up for only one game, could they count as little as one day?

Anyway, I think this is a conservative count

...

That's at least 25 days, probably more, of his 45.

Thanks, IndyValpo, for the updates. Let me update this cumulative count too. Saturday Alec was DNP with the Suns, but was apparently on the bench. They play again tomorrow.

So, with the team at minimum March 4 through March 10.

That's a total of at least 32 days, probably more, of his 45.

The Suns already converted one two-way player this year to an NBA contract. He quickly transitioned to playing regular minutes with the team. But, who knows, maybe Alec's next? Presumably it still saves them some salary on the first half of the season, compared to starting him on an NBA contract.

[IndyValpo]

I took a quick stab at assembling Alec's count of days with the Suns. The trouble is I don't really know what counts: I figure game days for sure, and presumably days between games if he's with the team for both games. But, if he's up for only one game, could they count as little as one day?

Anyway, I think this is a conservative count

...

That's at least 25 days, probably more, of his 45.

Thanks, IndyValpo, for the updates. Let me update this cumulative count too. Saturday Alec was DNP with the Suns, but was apparently on the bench. They play again tomorrow.

So, with the team at minimum March 4 through March 10.

That's a total of at least 32 days, probably more, of his 45.

The Suns already converted one two-way player this year to an NBA contract. He quickly transitioned to playing regular minutes with the team. But, who knows, maybe Alec's next? Presumably it still saves them some salary on the first half of the season, compared to starting him on an NBA contract.

He was back with Northern Arizona last night scored 16 I believe. Interestingly the guy the promoted two way player got phased out of PT and ultimately cut.

[agibson]

He was back with Northern Arizona last night scored 16 I believe. Interestingly the guy the promoted two way player got phased out of PT and ultimately cut.

Interesting. The guy in question is Mike James. Apparently never played with the Naz Suns. Played a bunch of minutes for Phoenix, even started 10 games. Was waived two weeks after they converted him to a regular NBA contract. The Pelicans picked him up on another two-way in January (apparently you can do that), he never played in the G league and was waived by the Pelicans after a month, having played in four games.

He's now back with Panathinaikos in Greece where he played before coming to Phoenix.

So, yeah, obviously it can be a rough business as you're trying to break in.

[IndyValpo]

7 3's last night. Alec is currently 2nd in the league in 3 pointers per game.

[valpotx]

He needs to translate it to his limited playing time at the NBA level, otherwise he will just be another G-League superstar.

[VU2014]

He needs to translate it to his limited playing time at the NBA level, otherwise he will just be another G-League superstar.

I hope he does start taking advantage of the limited minutes he gets with the big league club. My guess is if he couldn't catch on with a NBA team with a two-way contract, he'd eventually move on to play at the highest levels of Europe and still make really good money.

[valpo64]

sometimes these 2-way players go a year or two before they finally catch on with an NBA club, or are traded and they get a second chance at the big-time.  Hopefully AP will be the next guy to do so.

[IndyValpo]

Final regular season game tonight for the Northern Arizona Suns. They did not make the playoffs so hopefully he will be up with the big club for the last 10 games.

[agibson]

That's a total of at least 32 days, probably more, of his 45.

The Suns already converted one two-way player this year to an NBA contract. He quickly transitioned to playing regular minutes with the team. But, who knows, maybe Alec's next? Presumably it still saves them some salary on the first half of the season, compared to starting him on an NBA contract.

Alec's game log got pretty crazy for a while.

PHX
4 minutes 3/15 (@ Utah)
bench 3/17 (PHX)
12 minutes 3/20 (PHX)
bench 3/26 (PHX)

NAZ
14 pts 3/11 (AZ)
7 3's 3/16 (AZ)
18 pts 3/21 (AZ)
39 minutes 3/23 (AZ)
15 pts 3/24 (AZ)

Seemed like he was playing, or at least on the bench, for whoever was in Arizona. So, some appearances for Phoenix which really ay have just put one day against his 45 day NBA ticker.

Still, if they want him on the bench for the rest of the NBA season, I guess they'll have to give him a real contract. We'll see.