15th Player Day - Spot Up For Grabs (15 Days Till Camp)

Let the player dedicated days begin. Of course it is an odd beginning, because we don't know who this player will be yet. Barring another substantive signing before camp, this battle likely comes down to Jamar Smith and Dionte Christmas - but you never know who might wow the team in training camp. Nobody thought Greg Stiemsma had much of a shot until he showed up at camp and started blocking everyone in sight.

An interesting side note: I had forgotten that Jamar Smith had been in a Celtics camp before and was waived. Apparently a rule allowing the last few players waived to stick with that team's D-League affiliate was what kept Smith close to the Celtics brass for the last couple years. That probably led to him getting the Summer League invite which led to a training camp non-guaranteed contract. He's still a long shot to make the team, but he does specialize in long shots (bad pun intended).

Note: For a more in depth look at how the Thunder are using this rule, check out this post from Ridiculous Upside. Good stuff.

Dionte Christmas is my pick to make the team based on his inspired play in the summer leagues. I'm not sure if there's a single thing about his game that you can point to and say that is his specialty, but somehow he's one of those guys that just knows how to score. He's aggressive and opportunistic and usually pretty smart. He kinda reminds me of a beefier Delonte West but I'm sure at least one of you is going to tear that comparison apart. Which is fine.

i hope to follow this up with some more articles on these guys but please don't be shy about submitting your own FanPosts. And if you want further inspiration, go back to this post from over a month ago on this same subject and read your own comments and the other responses.