Linking Laconically is Tearing up the Summer League

Twitter / RicoBeard: Wow!!! Nix is on fire...
40 points and 10 rebounds for Derrick Nix in Moneyball play this past weekend, matched up against Adreian Payne. You don't want to read too much into summer league numbers, but it's a good sign for his conditioning, if nothing else.

Michigan State's Derrick Nix hoping to take advantage of second shot | Lansing State Journal | lansingstatejournal.com*
Speaking of which: Outside of fulfilling those obligations, Nix has been working on his game and trying to keep his weight down. Nix's end goal is to get between 260 and 265 pounds, and he estimates he has 10 more to shed. He has also been running sprints and stadium steps with the football team three times a week in an effort to reach his goal.

MSU's Adreian Payne preparing for bigger role | Lansing State Journal | lansingstatejournal.com*
The other half of the match-up. "I'm expecting him to really step up a notch," Izzo said last month. "I think he will on the offensive end. For us to be really good, it's gotta be on the defensive end because he could be a guy that would have to guard 6-5 guys. He's good enough to do it. He's just gotta continue to work."

Izzo's next team has similarities to title squad but big part still missing | Lansing State Journal | lansingstatejournal.com*
I.E. It's deep, but not that experienced. 2001 might be a better comparison: Several major senior contributors have departed, but there's plenty of talent left to contend immediately.

Former Michigan State forward Draymond Green: Smarter than the average NBA rookie? | Michigan State Spartans | Detroit Free Press | freep.com
Day Day's first 47 minutes of NBA summer league play: 15 points 15 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 steals.

Warriors' Draymond Green has IQ to fit in - SFGate
"His basketball IQ is far beyond any rookie I have ever seen come into this league," said assistant coach Pete Myers, who played nine seasons and has been a coach or scout in the league since 1999. "He knows himself, he has a mental toughness and a physical competitiveness. It's going to be hard to keep him off the floor."

Basketball Prospectus | Scouting Summer League
Coming off the bench, Green played a key role for what might be the best team in the NBA Summer League. Green shot the ball with NBA three range and effectively went up in traffic to collect rebounds against much bigger opponents. The Warriors used Green as a four, which is probably his best position defensively but will cause some issues in terms of help defense because of his limited stature.

Top 2013 recruits: Parker's a throwback with nary a fault to find - NCAA Division I Mens Basketball - CBSSports.com News, Scores, Stats, Schedule and RPI Rankings
The 17-year-old Parker spends much of his time watching tape of former NBA stars like Michael Jordan, Pete Maravich, Oscar Robertson and even Bob Cousy. *Swoons*

MSU's Denicos Allen, Max Bullough on Butkus Award watch list | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
All your watch list nominations are belong to us.

Five Spartans, two Wolverines on Lombardi Award watch list | The Detroit News | detroitnews.com
That'd be five MSU players out of 12 eligible positions (linemen/linbackers): Allen, Bullough, Gholston, Rush, McDonald.

Terry Denbow | Maybe, just maybe, insularity exists | Opinion | CentreDaily.com
We've avoided in engaging in much PSU scandal talk here, but this is an interesting take from the former MSU VP based on his time in "The Valley."

*I'm going to continue to link to LSJ articles, even though there's a paywall now. Pick your free seven articles per month wisely. Also, in their defense: (1) newspapers do kind of have to find a way to make some dough and (2) they've clearly stepped up their MSU sports reporting since going to the pay model--Moneyball reporting/tweets, for example. MLive, too. Competition is good--if any of it works. Otherwise, we're back to just Rexrode again.