Beachcombings: Smailagic on Assignment with Santa Cruz Warriors

Get the inside scoop on all things Santa Cruz Warriors and G League from play-by-play announcer Kevin Danna:

1. 10 Games In
The Sea Dubs have hit the 20 percent mark of the 2019-20 G League regular season. With 10 games down and 40 to play, Santa Cruz is 5-5 and fresh off of a 106-97 road win over the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario that snapped a 1-4 skid. The bench was huge in Sunday’s victory, with first-year G Leaguers DJ Johnson and Isaiah Reese amassing season-highs of 14 points and 11 points, respectively.

So far, the Sea Dubs have been Road Warriors, going 4-2 away from Kaiser Permanente Arena. If they can start winning some more games in Surf City, where they are just 1-3, that win-loss record could look pretty nice.

2. Alen Smailagic on Assignment
Second-round draft pick Alen Smailagic made his 2019-20 G League debut on Friday, putting up 11 points and seven rebounds in just under 19 minutes. His workload increased to just under 21 minutes in Sunday’s win over Agua Caliente, contributing 10 points and three steals while hitting a couple of 3-pointers.

The 19-year-old Serbian is an immense talent who showed a ton of potential with the Sea Dubs last season. Everyone in Santa Cruz loved him last season not only because of his skill, but because of his demeanor. If he had it his way, he’d bring the ball up the court and dunk on your head every possession. He’s coming for your throat; he’s got that killer instinct.

Famously in Santa Cruz lore, at the end of last season, the Sea Dubs were playing Agua Caliente, who had a 2nd-year NBA big Johnathan Motley on a two-way contract who was just a monster in the G League. With the game tight in the fourth quarter, Smailagic told then-head coach Aaron Miles in a huddle, “Give me the ball, I’m better than that guy,” referring to Motley. In the final minute of the game, Smailagic dunked on Motley (and got fouled, but there was no whistle) to put the Sea Dubs up four and seal the deal as part of a 20-plus point performance.

He loves the game. He came to Santa Cruz’s home opener this year on Nov. 9, a little more than a month after injuring his ankle at the beginning of training camp. He was itching to get on the court and told me at that game that he could play the next week. Obviously, the Golden State training staff wanted to be careful and make sure he was 100 percent, so it took a little longer to see him in game action, but he was able to get some practices in with Santa Cruz alongside Kevon Looney, who just returned to the Golden State lineup.

Smailagic will stay with the Sea Dubs at least through their road trip that wraps up Friday.

3. Harrison Thriving in Reserve Role
Andrew Harrison is a three-year NBA veteran who was a starter for a playoff team in the 2016-17 Memphis Grizzlies. With that kind of resume, you’d expect Harrison to be at the very least starting if he’s on a G League team. That hasn’t been the case yet this year for Harrison, who has come off the bench in all 10 games thus far for Santa Cruz.

That doesn’t mean he hasn’t been a major contributor, however, as Harrison leads the team in scoring at 15 points per game and is second behind Jeremy Pargo with 4.2 assists per outing. He was a huge sparkplug in Friday’s loss against Iowa, scoring 21 of his 30 points in the fourth quarter to help cut a 32-point deficit all the way down to seven before the Sea Dubs finally ran out of steam. He backed that up by dishing out 10 assists in the win over Agua Caliente on Sunday as the primary ballhandler when Pargo was off the floor.

“I’ve been encouraging him to drive more, just put pressure on the rim, put pressure on the paint,” Santa Cruz Warriors Head Coach Kris Weems said after Friday’s loss to Iowa. “I just liked his pace.”

Weems has said that he wants Harrison to use coming off the bench as motivation – so far, so good on that front.

4. Recent 3-game Tear for Deyonta Davis
Sunday was a foul-plagued game for Deyonta, who only was able to register 18 minutes due to his five fouls. Heading into that game, Davis was playing out of his mind, averaging 16.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 3.3 blocks on 81 percent shooting over his previous three contests. On Friday against Iowa, Davis put up a monster line of 16 points, seven rebounds, a career-high six steals and five blocks. He was mainly guarding Minnesota Timberwolves assignee Naz Reid, a skilled big who likes to handle the rock and initiate the offense. Time after time in the second half, Davis picked his pocket from the top of the key to start Santa Cruz fast breaks.

“The best thing he was doing was he was down in a stance. He was active and he was ready,” Weems said after Friday’s game. “I think as he continues to get in the shape that he needs to be in, he could put pressure on the other team’s center and big guys.”

It was also the most animated we’ve probably seen Davis be on the court in his year-plus with Santa Cruz. Normally very mild-mannered, Davis wasn’t afraid to mix it up and mouth off to an Iowa player or two.

5. Jeremy Pargo Gets his B-Diddy on Against Agua Caliente
I think the only time I heard Oracle Arena louder than when Baron Davis obliterated Andrei Kirilenko into the Stone Age was when Klay Thompson came out of the tunnel to shoot his two free throws with what turned out to be a torn ACL in Game 6 of last year’s NBA Finals. Baron’s dunk was, simply put, the best in-game dunk I’ve ever seen considering the stakes (Vince Carter over the 7-foot Frederic Weis was nasty, but France was no match for the Americans in the Olympics that year).

Now, I’m not saying Jeremy Pargo matched B-Diddy, but I am saying his baseline drive and dunk over LA Clippers assignee Mfiondu Kabengele in Sunday’s win over Agua Caliente was incredible. It even got some run on Warriors Postgame after the Golden State-Orlando game. And, when you watch it, it is in the same vein of Davis’ dunk over AK-47, and my color commentator Joaquin Wallace (filling in for Drew Shiller for that game due to his Warriors Outsiders commitments) said as much.

Kabengele, a very good player in his own right, is the nephew of Dikembe Mutombo, four-time NBA Defensive Player of the Year and one of the best shot blockers in NBA history, so insert your finger-wagging “no-no-no” joke here.

6. Sea Dubs Hit the Big Apple
Santa Cruz is in New York for its next two games, taking on the Westchester Knicks on Wednesday before heading to Long Island to take on the Long Island Nets on Friday.

The Sea Dubs return home to take on the Windy City Bulls on Sunday at 5 p.m. Wednesday and Friday’s games can be seen on NBC Sports Bay Area Plus, while Sunday’s game will be on NBC Sports Bay Area.