A fan who won a drawing to view the first Cal hoops practice wrote up his observations of the current team. Here are the most interesting ones:
*Max Zhang played with the first team over Sanders-Frison, but apparently didn't impress the observer. MSF though looked very good down on the low block.
*Good quote about Bak Bak: "[He]'s really intriguing, thinking down the line. His frame lends to Rod Benson comparisons, but I think Bak lacks some of Benson's explosion and quickness, has a little more size at this point on his arms and shoulders, and a much, much more refined, creative, tricky, confident, and fluid offensive game from 8-15 feet than Benson had for most of his career. This, based on twenty minutes of watching one practice. Take with grain of salt."
*Harper Kamp still looks like he's got some ways to go before fully recovering from his surgery, lacks the explosiveness he showed in Pac-10 play.
*Gutierrez "was in a walking boot on his right foot/ankle. It was also a pretty small, thin, unobtrusive boot, not one of those Robocop ones, and he was suited up and shot around alone for a few minutes, so that's good. Need him."
*Here are some notes on the freshman Brandon Smith: "Seen him play several times for DLS. He seems even bulkier now, which makes him really very strong for a freshman. Showed a good handle, too, working against some pressure D from Randle. You can tell Smith is a guy who plays by all the rules, doesn't half ass, and is generally the type of player a coach would love to have."
*The senior starters looked about the same. Also couldn't tell much about Seeley and Amoke, who saw only a little bit of action. Omondi also had a nice free feature on him from Rivals.
