NBA Summer League | July 9th-16th

[ballsrchr]

Usually you can justify your pre conceived opinions both good and bad with summer league.

Summer league overreactions are the best.  Go check out the civil war battles on Clippers Reddit after one poor Wagler game.  Ha. You have some calling him a bust while others say Shai and Brunson were bad in their summer leagues and then it is countless back and forth.

Brunson wasn't very good in his summer league.  Part of it was he was trying to play "team" basketball while the rest of players were in a knock down free for all for only themselves.  I think most of them felt they really had to make a showing to get on a team.  There was no summer league "team" back then.  It was just a bunch of selfish ball hogs.

Brunson worked it out...

[Winter]

While Wagler struggled with the Clippers, Baba Miller did not.

12 pts (3-4)
3-pointers (1-1)
5 - rebs
3 - blks

I predict that guy is in the Clippers rotation to start the season. He's a handful.

[Winter]

BTW, I think Wagler is a good comparison to Larry in a physical sense. Neither of them are very explosive. Both may get knocked around and struggle from the perimeter, but overall, I think Larry's vision and skill as a PG may be more refined.

[Smitty]

SL is much less about the counting stats. Sure, it helps if you stand out in that regard - but I want to see the process. The vision for what role you can play at the next level. Against higher competition.

By far the biggest standout was Morez. If there was any doubt before, I think even one SL game changed your mind. He will contribute to winning basketball in the NBA Year 1. Of course, he’s not a finished product. Plenty to get better at. But I’d be willing to bet he has a long productive career. i.e. NOT a BUST! Probably the biggest deal of all… considering the Mavs draft pick situation.

I want to see more of everyone else. Sure, I have my instant reactions and opinions there. I’ve already posted them. I think everyone else on the team is more of a question is all. The flashes by Sergio were impressive. The willingness to shoot the open shot from Poulakidas. Lawal’s athleticism or Ish’s selfless play. All of it encouraging… just far from being able to talk in absolutes about any of them is all.

Each game we will learn more. See what each player is capable of and start to see what role they can fill at the next level.

[dirkfansince1998]

Dybantsa vs Peterson was the most physical and intense summer league game I can remember. Both trying to prove something. Both teams willing to do whatever it takes to stop the opposing guy. Sometimes too much.

[Chicagojk]

buckets won't come as easy in the paint as they do in the summer league when the real games start.  

Morez had pretty limited passing highlights last year.   Last night, he didn't really do anything impressive passing.   Although, a hidden plus was they gave him the ball a lot at the top of the key.  Most of the times, he just handed the ball off or rotated the ball.   He looked confident with the ball and sure what he was doing with this.  This is a good sign that eventually he could make more difficult plays in time.   Just a small thing but he looked confident with the ball.

[michaeltex]

As with most of us, I try not to get too worked up about SL play. That said...

• Rez looks like he's ready to contribute and he's going to be hard to keep out of the starting lineup as the season moves on.
  
• Serge looked OK, but seemed to get pushed around a bit. Part of that is addressed in the weight room, and part is just getting used to the NBA style of play.
  
• Nemby looked OK as well, but seemed to forget he was on a team with other options. I'd like to see him demonstrate more setup skills to show he's ready to run the offense.
  
• Ish looked comfortable out there, seemed to keep the ball moving well and had some good looks that just rolled out.
  

All in all, not a bad showing against a team that already had a few games under their belt. 3pt shooting was disappointing. Looking forward to Saturday.

BTW, any idea why they didn't include a true center-type, like Cisse, in the team makeup?

[FireNicoHarrison]

I would like to see Rez at the 4 some games.

[Jym]

Rez set more solid picks in his first summer league than KP did his entire time here

[StrandedOnBeauboisHill]

Rez set more solid picks in his first summer league than KP did his entire time here

Dusty must have had him watching Powell tape at Michigan

[hakeemfaan]

Of the top 10 draft picks, Rez probably needs the ball the least to prove what he can do. And still he managed 27 points.

I haven't seen Wilson play, but it appears the top 3 draft picks are studs. Acuff looks good too. I don't know how Burries is doing, and I think Brown missed a game or two because of injury. But after one game, it's pretty apparent that Johnson wasn't a reach at #9. If anything, he looks he could have gone higher.

Edit:  Braden Burries stat line Summer League:

"In 16 minutes he recorded 12 points, two rebounds and one assist on 37.5% (3-for-8) shooting from the field and 25% (1-for-4) from the 3-point line".

Labaron and Yaxel look like they should have gone earlier. 

It is a marathon. Not a sprint. Let’s see how they look. 

Two things that I liked that I feel can translate is that Rez at least looks confident enough to shoot. Next the dribble from the 3 point line to the paint.  

Small things that gives me hope that he can be a legit two way player. 

On the negative side I felt that a couple of rebounds he didn’t block out particularly well.  For me a top notch rebounder is always someone who cleans up the defensive glass more than someone who gets offensive rebounds. 

Just small nitpicks from game 1. As mentioned it is a marathon and he was mighty impressive.

[DallasMaverick]

Last year, Ryan mostly deferred on offense. I think the coaches told Nemby before the game to be more aggressive in looking for his own shot. Which he did, at the beginning of the game. Unsuccessfuly.

Then went back into his comfort zone.

[Winter]

Dallas Hoops Journal
https://dallashoopsjournal.com/ryan-nemb...ohnson-jr/

LAS VEGAS — Ryan Nembhard shared the floor with Morez Johnson Jr. for the first time Thursday, and what stood out to the Dallas Mavericks‘ second-year point guard wasn’t just the scoring.

“I love him already,” Nembhard said. “He plays so hard on both ends and impacts the game somehow, whether his shot is falling or not. Rebounds, blocked shots, switching one through five, he had some really good floor game getting us into our next actions. I loved watching him last year at Michigan, and it’s been great playing with him today.”

Johnson’s box score, a game-high 27 points, 8 rebounds, and 3 assists in the Mavericks‘ 101-90 Summer League loss to the Golden State Warriors at the Thomas & Mack Center, backs up part of what Nembhard was describing. But Nembhard’s praise centered more on the possessions that don’t show up in a stat line: closing out on shooters, switching across positions, and finishing plays other people started.

The clearest example came with 6:03 left in the second quarter, when Johnson chased down Golden State’s Jack Clark for a highlight-reel block, one of several defensive plays that had him affecting the game independent of whether his own shot was falling.

[Scott41theMavs]

No shade to our already-beloved Rez, but Caleb freaking Wilson…. I need voodoo dolls of Kidd and Middleton.

Once again, the bright side is that we got one of the two or three guys - maybe even the *one* guy - who will be listed in the same breath as the top four when pundits “re-draft” this year in a couple of years.

Also, I need to eat crow on Rez, not in the sense of where I had him on my big board (he was 10th), but in terms of seeing him as the most worthy upside guy at that point. He might be even more explosive in terms of ceiling than I thought, but I had him gravely underrated in terms of floor.

[KillerLeft]

I know it’s only summer league, but I think I’m going to end up taking the L on Caleb Wilson.

[cow]

I know it’s only summer league, but I think I’m going to end up taking the L on Caleb Wilson.

I'll take the easy W.

[KillerLeft]

Actually, the entire top 10 has been crazy good, basically. Acuff might be a dud if he can’t hang on defense to summer league standards, but even Burries looks like a stud out there. What a great draft class.

[Winter]

Wilson is a ball of energy. I originally thought he would struggle with his 3-point shot ... but it looks like he's ahead of schedule.

I always thought he should be lumped completely with the three players ahead of him. There's just so much to work with. I'm thrilled he's in the eastern conference.

[Winter]

Actually, the entire top 10 has been crazy good, basically. Acuff might be a dud if he can’t hang on defense to summer league standards, but even Burries looks like a stud out there. What a great draft class.

I think Wagler is the only odd man-out in that group. So far, at least.

The top 11 really ending with Yaxel. Mara is number 12, and I'm sure the jury is still out on him. Several in the bottom 20 looked good (Philon, Ejiofor, Reed, Carr, Graves, Thomas, Peat), but 10 out of the top 11 had great intros to the NBA.

[Dirknows]

Actually, the entire top 10 has been crazy good, basically. Acuff might be a dud if he can’t hang on defense to summer league standards, but even Burries looks like a stud out there. What a great draft class.

Gonna be very interesting to see how the top 10 plays during actual NBA games.