Las Vegas Summer league - July 7-17, 2017

[LBJKB24MJ23]

yup. he's only going to get better.

[Mr Burns]

Love the way he bounced back tonight! It's still summer league though can't get too high or too low on a players performance in summer league but what stood out to me was the passing. Not even trying to boost the kid but my goodness that court vision is SPECIAL. I can't wait to see what he does surrounded by NBA level talent that can actually finish plays off. Easily could have had a 15+ assist night.

[roc]

Tyreke Evans and MCW were...

lol MCW's NBA debut against the Heatles is still one of the more puzzling ones when looked at in the context of his career.

Even the Sun Shines on a Dog's Ass someday but not everday

...some days

[CoreyGallagher]

So injury aside, was not a pretty game from Fultz. Seemed to be short arming a lot of his mid range jumpers, needs to take more in the flow of the game and spotting up instead of using that step back so much.

Seems to have not died though, which is good.

[kbitboc]

Jaylen Brown looks like a low iq player. Tatum has a great post game and jumper already but looks a little slow. Reminds me of slower young Melo but without the quick first step.

[CalGTR]

I don't even begin to care about the results of these games, or even if Lonzo's shot is going down. But it's legit to make observations about any of these guy's game. For Lonzo, he was clearly better tonight than last night. He was more aggressive, and more creative and accurate with his passing. I can see why many think he'll be a gifted passer and facilitator. Although, he's going to have to learn the pick-and-roll game to be a good facilitator. But his passing was terrific tonight. And he did pull down rebounds. I doubt that will be a big part of this game, but he did pull down boards tonight. He has good length for a point guard. That's the good news.

Bad news is that he is atrocious on defense. And his shot his broken. I'm not judging on merely missing some shots, but on his technique and how/why he's missing those shots. It's not bad luck causing those misses. He's going to have a real tough time against actual good defenders in the NBA. Sure, he's going to hit some shots. But he's going to need to be wide open to have a chance to hit a decent percentage.

Right now, he shows great passing, mediocre offense. And he's a defensive liability. Of course he'll improve over time, but he's way behind the other top rookie PGs as far as scoring and defense are concerned. Is great passing, mediocre scoring, bad defense enough from the PG position to build your team around? I can't see trying to build a championship-level team with that PG. Not in today's NBA. No amount of flashy passing is going to make up for horrible defense and mediocre scoring. Will be interesting to continue to see how this unfolds, even if Lonzo develops the way the Laker's think he will.

[rate_]

All rookie 1st team just off initial impressions:

G Fox
G Kennard
F Tatum
F Swanigan
C Adebayo

[socal74]

Jaylen Brown looks like a low iq player. Tatum has a great post game and jumper already but looks a little slow. Reminds me of slower young Melo but without the quick first step.

Defense as bad as Melo's also

[Alonzo_Morning]

That defense looked world class bad

[Mik317]

All rookie 1st team just off initial impressions:

G Fox
G Kennard
F Tatum
F Swanigan
C Adebayo

Most of those guys probably won't get the minutes in the regular season

[akhan786]

All rookie 1st team just off initial impressions:

G Fox
G Kennard
F Tatum
F Swanigan
C Adebayo

The only thing I'd switch would be Zhou Qi over Swanigan.

[XcalibuR]

Some fantastic passing out there. Already one of hte best in the NBA in the transition. But his scoring still an issue

[gts1]

Dazzling. Can he be a triple double machine as a rookie ?

He'll have better teammates to pass too in the regular season so i expect multiple triple doubles.

against much better defenders and defenses... what he did tonight was good to see but let's wait until he's doing it against actual NBA players... not guys who'll be looking for a place overseas to play starting next week

[Tzar]

I don't even begin to care about the results of these games, or even if Lonzo's shot is going down. But it's legit to make observations about any of these guy's game. For Lonzo, he was clearly better tonight than last night. He was more aggressive, and more creative and accurate with his passing. I can see why many think he'll be a gifted passer and facilitator. Although, he's going to have to learn the pick-and-roll game to be a good facilitator. But his passing was terrific tonight. And he did pull down rebounds. I doubt that will be a big part of this game, but he did pull down boards tonight. He has good length for a point guard. That's the good news.

Bad news is that he is atrocious on defense. And his shot his broken. I'm not judging on merely missing some shots, but on his technique and how/why he's missing those shots. It's not bad luck causing those misses. He's going to have a real tough time against actual good defenders in the NBA. Sure, he's going to hit some shots. But he's going to need to be wide open to have a chance to hit a decent percentage.

Right now, he shows great passing, mediocre offense. And he's a defensive liability. Of course he'll improve over time, but he's way behind the other top rookie PGs as far as scoring and defense are concerned. Is great passing, mediocre scoring, bad defense enough from the PG position to build your team around? I can't see trying to build a championship-level team with that PG. Not in today's NBA. No amount of flashy passing is going to make up for horrible defense and mediocre scoring. Will be interesting to continue to see how this unfolds, even if Lonzo develops the way the Laker's think he will.

You mentioned his "horrible" defense five times in that post. It's summer league. Hardly anyone is playing defense out there. When he's got his actual head coach dogging him to play D it will likely look better. Just pump the breaks a little bit. Ease up on the hyperbole and let's see what he does. He's 19 years old and hasn't played competitive basketball since last March. Let's look at the tape of Steph Curry in his first summer league game. I doubt that you will find even a shred of defensive effort. Indeed, you will likely find that many, if not most, top rookies do not play any kind of defense in summer league.

The fact that you feel so emboldened to make such steadfast proclamations after having seen a 19 year old play two summer league games says more about you than anything that you substantively wrote.

[RingsDontLie]

Jaylen and Tatum vs Lonzo .... lucky BI didnt play

Uggghhh...can you imagine this version of Ball with Ingram...wow. Can't wait to destroy the Celtics in the regular season. I got Giannis in my Ingram poster, I'm looking to add Tatum and Haywood to be in my ingram poster collection next.

Also....Kuzma had 31 points and outplayed Tatum with ease. I feel Kuzma is the better prospect than Tatum from this game. And obviously Ball is on another level from Tatum, probably the shoe in for ROY now.

[CalGTR]

I don't even begin to care about the results of these games, or even if Lonzo's shot is going down. But it's legit to make observations about any of these guy's game. For Lonzo, he was clearly better tonight than last night. He was more aggressive, and more creative and accurate with his passing. I can see why many think he'll be a gifted passer and facilitator. Although, he's going to have to learn the pick-and-roll game to be a good facilitator. But his passing was terrific tonight. And he did pull down rebounds. I doubt that will be a big part of this game, but he did pull down boards tonight. He has good length for a point guard. That's the good news.

Bad news is that he is atrocious on defense. And his shot his broken. I'm not judging on merely missing some shots, but on his technique and how/why he's missing those shots. It's not bad luck causing those misses. He's going to have a real tough time against actual good defenders in the NBA. Sure, he's going to hit some shots. But he's going to need to be wide open to have a chance to hit a decent percentage.

Right now, he shows great passing, mediocre offense. And he's a defensive liability. Of course he'll improve over time, but he's way behind the other top rookie PGs as far as scoring and defense are concerned. Is great passing, mediocre scoring, bad defense enough from the PG position to build your team around? I can't see trying to build a championship-level team with that PG. Not in today's NBA. No amount of flashy passing is going to make up for horrible defense and mediocre scoring. Will be interesting to continue to see how this unfolds, even if Lonzo develops the way the Laker's think he will.

You mentioned his "horrible" defense five times in that post. It's summer league. Hardly anyone is playing defense out there. When he's got his actual head coach dogging him to play D it will likely look better. Just pump the breaks a little bit. Ease up on the hyperbole and let's see what he does. He's 19 years old and hasn't played competitive basketball since last March. Let's look at the tape of Steph Curry in his first summer league game. I doubt that you will find even a shred of defensive effort. Indeed, you will likely find that many, if not most, top rookies do not play any kind of defense in summer league.

The fact that you feel so emboldened to make such steadfast proclamations after having seen a 19 year old play two summer league games says more about you than anything that you substantively wrote.

Only making observations about his game as it exists right now, acknowledging that he may well develop over time. His defense right now is bad, and much worse than other young point guards. It's a weakness in his game right now, along with his limited scoring ability. Doesn't mean he won't get better over time.

[RingsDontLie]

Wow. Looking like a great on ball defender too. This guy could be the sleeper pick in the draft folks. And he has great range. Looked better than Tatum out there.

Kyle Kuzma
31pts, 9 rebounds, 5/10 3 pointers. One thing that Kuzma has over Tatum is the 3 ball. Tatum only had one 3 pointer. Kuzma had 5 3 pointers and shot 50% from 3. Crazy.

Watch on YouTube

[RingsDontLie]

Ball is looking more like the generational talent of this draft class. Kuzma can be something very special as well.

[Tiesto_Lakers]

He's beasting so far. Was a great player at Utah, many teams slept on him.

[PierceFan4ever]

Jaylen and Tatum vs Lonzo .... lucky BI didnt play

Uggghhh...can you imagine this version of Ball with Ingram...wow. Can't wait to destroy the Celtics in the regular season. I got Giannis in my Ingram poster, I'm looking to add Tatum and Haywood to be in my ingram poster collection next.

Also....Kuzma had 31 points and outplayed Tatum with ease. I feel Kuzma is the better prospect than Tatum from this game. And obviously Ball is on another level from Tatum, probably the shoe in for ROY now.

Idk if you're trolling or maybe you're just legit dumb.

Not appropriate. Person all attacks. DoM