What's going on with the Santa Cruz Warriors? Sea Dubs broadcaster Kevin Danna provides an insider's look at the team.
1. Sea Dubs at the Showcase
Sea Dubs at A Glance
Record/Standings
12-4
2nd Place, Western Conference
Team Leaders:
Scoring: Damion Lee (23.5 ppg)
Rebounding: Marcus Derrickson (7.6 rpg)
Assists: Darius Morris (6.5 apg)
Upcoming Games:
Thursday, Dec. 20 vs. Lakeland Magic (7:30 p.m.; ESPNU)
Saturday, Dec. 22 vs. Canton Charge (12:30 p.m.; NBA TV)
Thursday, Dec. 27 at Iowa Wolves
The Santa Cruz Warriors are in Sin City, y’all. Yep, the Sea Dubs will spend the next four days at Mandalay Bay for the MGM Resorts Winter Showcase, which gives all 27 G League teams a chance to play in front of GMs, scouts and other execs from all 30 NBA teams. With 10-day contracts becoming available in a couple of weeks and the 2-way contract window closing shortly thereafter, this is the best chance for G League prospects to strut their stuff in front of the big wigs with the hopes of getting a coveted NBA deal.
From a Sea Dubs perspective, the guys probably drawing the most attention from NBA scouts with respect to a possible call-up include Antonius Cleveland, who spent a good chunk of last season in the NBA, four-year NBA veteran Darius Morris and rookie and Santa Cruz super sub Kendrick Nunn. All three have performed very well this year when healthy. Morris is coming off an ankle injury but is expected to play this week, while both Cleveland and Nunn are full go and have been for quite some time (Nunn has yet to miss a game this year).
Other guys not on NBA contracts to keep an eye on at the Showcase include a bunch of guys from Sioux Falls (Briante Weber, DeAndre Liggins, Raphiael Putney and Jarnell Stokes, to name a few), Austin Spurs guard and 2018 G League Finals MVP Nick Johnson (yes, I’m aware he had an off game Wednesday; he’s still one of the most call-up-able guys in the league), Oklahoma City Blue guard Scotty Hopson, Salt Lake City Stars forward Willie Reed and a couple of sleeper bigs from the Eastern Conference in Johnny Hamilton of the Grand Rapids Drive and Nick King of the Maine Red Claws.
2. Sea Dubs Riding Some Momentum Heading into Las Vegas
The Warriors rebounded from two one-point losses the previous week to take care of business at home on a back-to-back, first defeating Sioux Falls 94-89 Friday night before edging out Erie 101-100 on Saturday. The Sea Dubs used a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter to take the reins against Sioux Falls before needing a bit of a comeback in the final minute against Erie on Saturday (more on that later).
The wins have pushed Santa Cruz to a 12-4 record, good for a three-and-half-game lead over the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario for first place in the Pacific Division entering the Showcase. Santa Cruz is also just a half game back of Oklahoma City for the best record in the Western Conference and G League.
There’s plenty of roundball remaining, and in the G League where rosters are always in flux, nothing is guaranteed. That said, you’d rather be 12-4 than 4-12, so the Sea Dubs have to be happy with the way things are going for now.
3. Marcus Derrickson Gets it Done in the Clutch
With Santa Cruz trailing Erie 100-97 in the final minute of Saturday night’s game, the Sea Dubs went to what had become their old reliable that evening – Golden State Warriors two-way forward Marcus Derrickson. First, Derrickson converted a layup after bullying his defender in the low post to cut the deficit to 100-99 before calmly knocking down two free throws with 9.4 seconds remaining to push the Sea Dubs to the 101-100 win (he got hammered on the foul, too, and needed a few moments to collect himself).
The final minute Saturday was the perfect way to end a highly-productive weekend for Derrickson, who posted career-highs of 27 points and 13 rebounds in the win over Erie. It was a game in which he worked a lot more on the block as opposed to being the face-up “4” he had mostly been to start the season. Head coach Aaron Miles said he had a talk with Derrickson about how Santa Cruz could continue to effectively use him, and Derrickson mentioned that he went to work down low a lot at Georgetown. Sure enough, posting up Derrickson paid off, as he was 12-for-17 from the floor against the BayHawks.
For the weekend, Derrickson averaged 24.0 points, 10.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals on 65 percent shooting (20-of-31). Good thing he’s on a two-way contract, because if he wasn’t and he continued this pace, he wouldn’t be in Santa Cruz for very long.
4. Kendrick Nunn Continues to do Kendrick Nunn Things
Kendrick Nunn is just fine coming off the bench. So much so that when Aaron Miles came to him before a game about the possibility of starting, Nunn told his coach, “I kinda like this coming off the bench thing.”
He continued to set the tone for the second unit last weekend, scoring a team-high 28 points in the win over Sioux Falls and 21 against Erie. He has now led the bench in scoring 13 times this season and is 12th in the G League in scoring at 20.6 points per game. A couple of big performances at the Showcase, and Nunn might not be in The Cruz for much longer.
5. A Little Santa Cruz Showcase History
The Sea Dubs have done a lot of great things in their first six years in the G League – four playoff appearances, three trips to the G League finals and a 2015 G League title. One thing they haven’t done? Go 2-0 at the Showcase. Santa Cruz is 4-8 all-time in 12 Showcase games over the last six seasons, having split the pair four times (doing so at each of the last two Showcases) and getting swept in 2013 and 2016.
Can the Sea Dubs reverse course this week in Vegas? Tune into ESPNU at 7:30 p.m. tonight and NBA TV at 12:30 p.m. on Saturday to find out.