Doron Perkins invited to Lakers Summer Team

wyked laker · Joined: 25 Jul 2003 Posts: 18

Here's the link: http://www.adn.com/sports/story/7918018p-7811521c.html

Alaskan invited to play on Lakers summer team
HOOPS: Former Bartlett player caught the eye of NBA teams while in Japan.

By VAN WILLIAMS
Anchorage Daily News

Published: June 30, 2006
Last Modified: June 30, 2006 at 02:46 AM

After enjoying a solid two-year stint at Santa Clara University and winning MVP honors in his only season in the Japanese Basketball League, Doron Perkins of Anchorage is poised for the next chapter in his career.

Perkins, 23, has accepted an invitation to play for the Los Angles Lakers in the Southern California Summer Pro League in Long Beach, he said Thursday.

Playing for the Lakers summer-league team doesn't guarantee Perkins a spot on the team's NBA roster, he said. But the opportunity will bring him closer to reaching the world's greatest basketball stage and fulfilling a dream of playing in the same backcourt as his favorite player, Kobe Bryant.

"I'm not getting paid, but I am getting a chance to play with the Lakers," Perkins said by cell phone. "It's an opportunity to show I can play at that level."

Perkins will report to the Lakers on Wednesday for three days of orientation and practice. His first game is July 8 against the Memphis Grizzlies.

The summer pro league is made up of 18 teams, including five from the NBA -- the Lakers, Memphis, Toronto, Miami and Dallas. Teams play up to 10 games in 13 days.

Perkins, a 6-foot-3, 212-pounder, is a combo guard who feels most comfortable at the point, he said. That's where he played at Bartlett High (earning all-conference honors as a senior in 2001) and Southwestern Oregon Community College (earning two league MVPs) before arriving at Santa Clara in 2003. There, he played small forward because Kyle Bailey of Fairbanks was the point guard.

After college, Perkins signed a contract with the Toyota Alvark of Japan and had the finest season of his career. He was named the league's Player of the Year, Guard of the Year, Import Player of the Year and Defensive Player of the Year.

More importantly, he helped Toyota Alvark go 24-5 and win the Super League title. In the championship game, Perkins delivered 19 points, 11 rebounds and six assists in a 77-66 win.

"I haven't won a championship since YMCA," he cracked.

The success Perkins had overseas caught the attention of NBA teams such as the Lakers, San Antonio Spurs and Washington Wizards, his agent told him. That's how he got invited to compete with the Lakers in the summer pro league.

Which was perfect; Perkins grew up wishing he could be the next Magic Johnson.

"It's always been his dream," said his mom, Cathy Floyd of Anchorage, who remembers kneeling to play one-on-one games with her 4-year-old son in the living room. "He feels like he can go all the way."

Perkins will have his hands full. The Lakers' summer-league roster will likely include this year's first-round draft pick Jordan Farmar, the former UCLA point guard.

"I'm sure he'll be there," Perkins said. "I'll have to be ready."

Before inking a deal to play in Japan last year, Perkins participated in a pre-draft workout for the Lakers. He showed off the vertical leap (39 inches), wingspan (6-foot-8) and his mobility that made him one of the top defenders in the West Coast Conference.

He thought he might get drafted, but his name was never called. Soon he was making plans to go to Japan.

Now Perkins is back in California, hoping to land a permanent spot with the Lakers.

And although there are no promises he'll make the NBA, Perkins has already shown a knack for overcoming long odds.

chug o nomics · Joined: 27 Jul 2005 Posts: 2885 Location: Fremont, CA

Seems like an interesting character. I hope that he does well and gets a contract. It seems like Mitch is doing a great job with not only getting talented players, but getting dedicated, hard working, great-attitude players for the future (Turiaf, Evans, Bynum, Farmar, Pinnock).
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jbiggs · Posted: Sat Jul 01, 2006 8:22 am Post subject:

hmmm i thought toronto wasnt in the spl this year...
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rydjorker121 · Posted: Sun Jul 02, 2006 6:59 pm Post subject:

Yeah, I remember him being one of the more impressive athletic specimens in last year's summer league. His frame (6'3" 212) is also intriguing for the PG position if he can make the transition. Overall, nice signing.
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Possible FA Swingmen/PGs: Derek Anderson, Dahntay Jones, Troy Hudson, Anthony Carter, Voshon Lenard, Hassan Adams, Milt Palacio, Jumaine Jones, Donta Smith, Qyntel Woods, Sasha Pavlovic, Devin Brown, James White Others of interest: Keith Van Horn, Anderson Varejao, Mike Sweetney, Brian Skinner, Zarko Cabarkapa, Chris Taft, PJ Brown, Chris Webber, Chris Andersen

dogster · Joined: 29 Dec 2005 Posts: 417

Doron Perkins:

Pros: Yes, definitely keep an eye on this dude. He plays with remarkable determination and seems to keep learning. This is the guy who dropped something like 20 points in the first half of a game against Morrison, Turiaf and Gonzaga. He fizzled in the second half. They had him guard Morrison despite the size differential. He has some defensive skills. Good fundamentals; he has played quite a bit of basketball. I think he's mostly a shooting guard but he's been developing his PG skills in a fierce attempt to get to the next level. He lit up the Japanese professional league (a bunch of midgets) on both ends of the court, won the championship, and won best player/best defensive player/best guard awards.

Cons: Injury prone (in high school). Temper, frustration, at least in college. (Japan may have helped.) Just as short as Farmar. Spectatular cold streaks separate spectacular hot streaks.

Outlook: He and Farmar are going to have to duke it out, and that will be interesting. It remains to be seen if he has anything to offer the big kids' game.

rydjorker121 · Posted: Sat Jul 08, 2006 10:59 am Post subject:

Perkins was highly regarded by the Mavs last year. He's athletic and quick, with a nice PG build, and is a good perimeter defender as well. It would be interesting to see where he fits on the team.
_________________
Possible FA Swingmen/PGs: Derek Anderson, Dahntay Jones, Troy Hudson, Anthony Carter, Voshon Lenard, Hassan Adams, Milt Palacio, Jumaine Jones, Donta Smith, Qyntel Woods, Sasha Pavlovic, Devin Brown, James White Others of interest: Keith Van Horn, Anderson Varejao, Mike Sweetney, Brian Skinner, Zarko Cabarkapa, Chris Taft, PJ Brown, Chris Webber, Chris Andersen

SirLaker · Joined: 30 Jun 2006 Posts: 713 Location: Santa Clarita

FormerBronco · Joined: 08 Jul 2006 Posts: 2

Clearly, from my newbie-ness to this forum and my tell-tale Username, you are going to assume that I am biased to think Doron is better than he is... And you may be right. :-)

In my personal (as biased as it may be) opinion, Doron never should have been at Santa Clara... He got the raw end of the deal when he got injured in high school, and he played under a dinosaur of a coach who is still around only because he's been around forever. He dominated in Japan, but that was Japan, and no one is really able to keep up with Japan's basketball league (nor do they have any real reason with a majority of kids formerly coming into the league straight out of high school, now coming straight out of Freshman year).

I'm glad he's got a spot on the summer league team, and I hope he can get noticed in the midst of the Bynum's and Farmar's of the team.

This forum is great since I can't make it to any of the games and the official Summer Pro League website looks like someone closed their eyes when they were designing it and adding functionality to it... bang

gildedgirth · Joined: 02 Apr 2006 Posts: 9

I saw Doron at tuesday's SPL game. I had no idea at the time who he was. In the first half he had a couple nice plays. I think Jordan Farmar was out at the time so he was sharing the double guard duties of bringing the ball up court, so I wasn't paying much attention to him. But after a nice pass or two by Doron for an assist and I think a bucket by Doron himself, I asked my uncle sitting next to me, "Who is this guy?".

We had no clue, but I pulled out my roster list and learned it was Doron Perkins. For limited minutes, he did well enough to have people take interest in him. Atleast he did for me.

strategos · Joined: 11 Oct 2005 Posts: 905 Location: Poland, Wroclaw

KB24@CL · Posted: Thu Jul 13, 2006 7:43 am Post subject:

the problem is we have enaugh backups.
So right now either you are starting material (which he is not) or you are out.
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