My Thoughts From The Summer League!
LAS VEGAS, NV - AUGUST 8: Jalen Green #0 of the Houston Rockets dribbles the ball against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the 2021 Las Vegas Summer League on August 8, 2021 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2021 NBAE (Photo by Bart Young/NBAE via Getty Images)
Since there’s nothing going on today, I thought I would watch all the summer league games today. We have 8 games today featuring some of the best young talent in the NBA today. I will be giving my reactions to some of the players playing, the good and the bad from every major prospect.
Boston Celtics vs Atlanta Hawks
Boston Celtics
Apparently the paint is lava for Boston, because 51/81 of their shot attempts were 3-pointers, which is pretty insane.
Payton Pritchard had 23-5-5, he looked pretty good. Edwards had 17 and Nesmith was also in double figures. Romeo Langford hit the dagger 3 out of the corner to end the game with 11 seconds left.
Yam Madar, a 2020 2nd round pick, looked pretty solid off the bench. Sam Hauser, the undrafted sharpshooter from Virginia also looked good.
Boston gets the win with some solid contributions all around. They of course didn’t have a 2021 draft pick in the first round.
Atlanta Hawks
Jalen Johnson looked really, really good. 20 points and 10 rebounds on 8/12 shooting. Got a lot of shots around the rim and played good defense. He even hit a few jumpshots, a very promising start for him as he looks to make an impact on a contending Hawks team.
Sharife Cooper struggled a bit, he had 6 turnovers, but he also showed some flashes. Obviously adjusting to the NBA with his height disadvantage will be a challenge for him, but the talent is certainly there.
DeVaughn Akoon-Purcell, a guy who has bounced around the NBA G-League and international basketball had 13 points. Max Heidegger had 12 off the bench, he looked solid as well.
But it’s very enticing to see Jalen Johnson looking good, the Hawks are going to need him with Okungwu out recovering from surgery. Sharife Cooper had some flashes. Pretty good start for the two Hawks’ rookies.
Toronto Raptors vs New York Knicks
Toronto Raptors
Scottie Barnes. Man this kid looks good. 18 points, 10 rebounds, 5 assists, and 2 steals. Had some really good moments defensively, hit a 3-pointer, hit some shots in the mid-range/post, got out in transition. Really good debut for him, looked like a supersized point guard out there. The Raptors have to like that for a debut.
Malachi Flynn, due for a bigger role with Lowry out of the picture, also looked great. 23 points and 6 rebounds on 8/13 shooting from the field, 4/5 from 3. They’re going to need that in 2022.
Liked what I saw from the undrafted Justin Champagnie and Matt Morgan off the bench as well.
But again, Flynn and Barnes looked very good, two players who are going to be solid minutes in 2022 had a nice start to the Summer League.
New York Knicks
Obi Toppin looked aggressive and good. 24 points and 8 rebounds, pretty good night. 3-PT shot still a work in progress, he was only 2/10 from outside, but a solid performance nonetheless.
Quintin Grimes was only 3/11, the 25th pick in the draft. Immanuel Quickley was awful, 5/17 shooting? Not ideal, although it’s not like he’s fighting for a roster spot or anything.
Miles McBride, the 2021 2nd round pick looked solid off of the bench. But Jericho Sims, the center from Texas who was the 58th pick in this year’s draft, really impressed me. 12 points and 8 rebounds, very lengthy and athletic center. Had some really good defensive moments and looked pretty good offensively. Might be able to grab a roster spot with his physical attributes.
Liked what I saw from Toppin and Jericho Sims. The others, McBride and Grimes, do need some work, but Toppin and Sims stole the show for the Knicks in this game.
Portland Trail Blazers vs Charlotte Hornets
Portland Trail Blazers
The Blazers don’t really have a summer league roster with Michael Beasley, Kenneth Faried, and Emmanuel Mudiay all starting, but it is what it is.
George King, the 2018 2nd round draft pick from Colorado, had 17 points on 5/6 shooting from deep. He looked good.
But off the bench, Antonio Blakeney, the youngster from LSU who previously played with the Bulls, was 9/10 off the bench, with 27 points. A walking bucket.
Still weird to see Beasley, Faried, and Mudiay in the Summer League. Not exactly youngsters.
Charlotte Hornets
The Hornets are incredibly young and they had a whopping 21 turnovers. But some of their youngsters still showed some flashes.
James Bouknight, the talented scorer selected 11th overall, had 19 points in his debut. He’s a scorer, so this really isn’t a surprise to see him scoring well right from the jump.
Kai Jones, the incredibly raw big guy, showed some flashes as a ball-handler. He had that monster dunk off the dribble and he had 10 points and 10 rebounds overall. Still very raw, but you liked what you saw from him.
Oh, and LiAngelo Ball had 16 points off the bench. Because why not.
Liked what I saw from Bouknight and Kai Jones. Those two will definitely have playing time during the season and maybe even LiAngelo, who didn’t look half bad in the game today.
Houston Rockets vs Cleveland Cavaliers
Houston Rockets
The Rockets young guys looked really good in this game. If this is how their young nucleus is going to look in the NBA, look out NBA.
I certainly have not been the biggest Jalen Green fan over the past few months, but you saw his upside in this game. Got to the rim and his ridiculously tough perimeter shots that 19 year old’s shouldn’t be able to hit. 23 points on 50% shooting for Green, really promising start for him and Houston.
Kenyon Martin Jr, the incredibly athletic forward, had 17 points. He looked really good and even showed an outside shot with 3 makes from downtime.
Turkish center Alperen Sengun had 15 points, 15 rebounds, and 4 blocks. He’s very productive and he looked really good. 7 offensive rebounds is impressive and he’s a pretty good free throw shooter. That good free throw shooting is likely due to the fact that he talks to the ball before every free throw attempt (not making that up).
Josh Christopher, the late first round pick, had his moments. Pretty good showing for the Rockets young guys in Summer League Game #1.
Cleveland Cavaliers
The Cavaliers also looked pretty good in their first summer league game.
Lamar Stevens played a little bit last year and he had 15 points and 9 rebounds. Should have a spot on the Cavs 2022 roster.
Evan Mobley struggled. 6/17 shooting with just 12 points and 5 turnovers. Struggled with physicality, had the ball knocked away from him a lot. Obviously, it’s only his first game, but not a great start. Did have his moments defensively, where his versatility is his greatest strength.
Really liked what I saw from Isaac Okoro. Already a good defender, showed some offensive upside. Got to the rim off the dribble and hit some outside shots. 17 points is a good sign for Okoro, who is the perfect compliment to guys like Sexton and Garland in the backcourt.
Obviously Mobley struggled, but I really liked Stevens and Okoro in this game. Obviously Mobley will be better in future games, but the Cavs definitely have some promising young pieces.
OKC Thunder vs Detroit Pistons
OKC Thunder
The Thunder’s future looked pretty good in this game. Josh Giddey had a dunk on the very first play, but then hurt his ankle soon thereafter. He played just 5 minutes, hopefully he’s ok.
Jeremiah Robinson-Earl, the 2nd rounder from this year’s draft, looked solid. Showed some range as a stretch big, finished with 14 points and 6 rebounds.
Theo Maledon, the 2nd rounder from last year, finished with 15 points, 5 rebounds, and 11 assists. Aaron Wiggins, another 2nd round pick from this year’s draft, had 13 off the bench and looked solid as a scorer.
Tre Mann, the rookie taken with the 18th pick, struggled. 3/14 shooting with just 6 points in 25 minutes.
But a pretty good showing for Sam Presti’s youth project. Obviously Josh Giddey getting hurt early sucks, but their 2nd round picks from the past two drafts showed themselves well. But even if these guys don’t work out, OKC still has plenty of picks to try and build a winner.
Detroit Pistons
Cade Cunningham showed flashes in his debut. He played on and off ball and seemed like a really good teammate throughout the game. Only 5/17 shooting, but he’s going to be good, one game doesn’t persuade me otherwise.
Saddiq Bey looked good with 14 points and 12 rebounds, trying to build on a fantastic rookie campaign. Killian Hayes was ok, so was Tyler Cook.
Luka Garza was surprisingly good, the 2nd round pick from this year’s draft showed great hustle and heart. There were concerns that while he was incredibly prolific at Iowa, his game wouldn’t translate in the NBA. He looked really good in this game, so maybe he can still work out in the NBA.
I definitely liked the Cade/Killian dynamic. Both had the ball in their hands and both played off-ball. Both showed a willingness to pass, so I am a lot more optimistic that they can both coincide with one another. Cade struggled, but he’s still going to be good. Guys like Saddiq Bey and Luka Garza were solid as well. Future is still bright in the Motor City.
Denver Nuggets vs Miami Heat
Denver Nuggets
Unless I’m missing something, why isn’t Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland playing? Why isn’t Zeke Nnaji playing? Nnaji was your first rounder from last year and “Bones” Hyland was your first rounder this year. Unless I am just completely inept (a likely possibility), I would have liked to see these guys playing.
This game was over from the start without those two and Bol Bol shooting 2/8 from the field certainly does not help his notion to be played more.
Denver, play your young guys, PLEASE!
Miami Heat
The Heat don’t have much young talent with Precious Achiuwa leaving in the Lowry sign-and-trade (which is being investigated currently, so maybe he comes back). I really only recognize Max Strus and KZ Okpala on this roster. Both of those guys weren’t particularly good in this game, but Miami won so who cares really.
The Heat are an older team going all in. They don’t have a good future plan. I think that sums things up well.
LA Lakers vs Phoenix Suns
LA Lakers
The Lakers don’t have rookies. They traded their first round pick to the Wizards in the Westbrook trade. The Lakers are old and trying to contend, they don’t have a lot of young talent. Other than Talen Horton Tucker, they haven’t drafted any youngsters.
Sure, they signed Malik Monk (23) and Kendrick Nunn (26), but they didn’t draft them. So the Lakers don’t really have a summer league team, which is precisely why I didn’t really care much for this game.
Phoenix Suns
The Suns are also older and don’t have much of a summer league team. They traded their first round pick away this year for Landry Shamet. But, in defense of that move, Landry Shamet is one of my favorite role players, so I think that balances things out well.
The only guy here that kind of “matters” (that term is incredibly subjective, I know), is Jalen Smith. The Suns took a massive reach on Smith last year and he hardly played at all.
In this game, he had 15 points and 12 rebounds. On 39% shooting, but hey, that’s a double-double.
Side note, there is a Jalen Smith and a Jaleen Smith on this Suns Summer League roster. Just thought I’d point that out.
What Are Your Thoughts From The Sumer League Games Today? Leave A Comment Down Below!
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