2025 Summer League

[fatlever]

A better criticism of Coach Lee would have been...

The ball movement that we saw from this team during summer league and the unselfish play that we saw was refreshing and different from what we saw last year during the season. I don't know if that speaks more about the system or the players running the system.

But I don't think that says anything about Chris jent as a coach versus Charles Lee as a coach. They're running the same system at all levels. They've been very transparent about that.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

[fatlever]

Not to mention these dudes had like three practices so I don't know how much of any system you can actually put in. I think a lot of what we saw was just a group of smart unselfish basketball players sharing the ball.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

[fatlever]

Read on Twitter

?t=cCRsIg6Ayi5OPHnRYgS5ag&s=19

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

[KembaWalker]

Anyone enjoy hearing Charles Lee’s incessant jabbering during his in-game interview? I know he’s going to drop his bucket of catch phrases every time, but the stream of consciousness that poured was just grating to me. Something about the timber of his voice, the tenor droning….was glad they had to cut to commercial.

him not being involved compared to last summer league or the big boy team was probably the biggest catalyst for why the team looked like they knew how to play basketball

Odd comment

Over the two summer leagues that he coached Last Summer the team went 7 - 1. And that one loss was only by a couple of points when we sat pretty much everyone. So that's a weird reason to try to dunk on him.

I'm all for Coach Lee criticism when it's fair.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

fair enough, i actually dont remember at all about the specifics of summer league 2024 other than being pretty disappointed in NSJ and Tidjane. if the other guys did stuff to win us games i honestly couldnt tell you but i trust that it happened

[yosemiteben]

him not being involved compared to last summer league or the big boy team was probably the biggest catalyst for why the team looked like they knew how to play basketball

Odd comment

Over the two summer leagues that he coached Last Summer the team went 7 - 1. And that one loss was only by a couple of points when we sat pretty much everyone. So that's a weird reason to try to dunk on him.

I'm all for Coach Lee criticism when it's fair.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

fair enough, i actually dont remember at all about the specifics of summer league 2024 other than being pretty disappointed in NSJ and Tidjane. if the other guys did stuff to win us games i honestly couldnt tell you but i trust that it happened

Yeah it was night and day last summer compared to the year before. This summer was honestly just more of the same, but a more talented roster because our FO has actually mined the G league for talent - damning by faint praise a bit because they've had to do that to fill out the NBA roster.

[JMAC3]

Coming into SL I thought we should be a good team, so it was nice to actually see us back that up on the court.

Not many teams were featuring KJ, Tidjane, Kon, Liam, Sion, Kalk as 6 guys that were drafted in last 2 years. Plus Baugh, Hall, Sims who all spent time on NBA rosters last year. So overall 9 guys that can say they are real NBA players. Most teams might have 3-4 guys on real contracts or 2 ways, so again we should have been good.

Even with all that said, it still feels good to go 6-0 and win the SL title, which had rings, shirts and trophies. Maybe this can be our new thing, next year we will have to come back and defend our title.

[fatlever]

The big difference Last Summer compared to the years under Mitch, or night and day, as YB mentioned. Most notably the defensive pressure was ramped up considerably and offensively we were shooting a ton of Threes which we had not really done previously. You could argue that the improvements to our summer league the past two years has more to do with Jeff Peterson putting a competent roster on the floor unless with coaching. Last year we were pretty deep at guard, even with KJ Simpson hurt. Peterson made sure the team had several veteran point guards. They also made a point to add a lot of three-point Shooters to the roster. Even the scrubs last year were shooting lights out.

Mitch on the other hand never really seem to take summer league seriously and just filled the back half of the roster with local guys and players from Carolina or other local colleges. Zero effort.

These are the small things that let you know that change is happening across the organization. They are finally paying attention to the little things that hopefully ultimately add up to bigger successes.

The depth of our current coaching staff also sticks out now. Remember the one summer that we had the assistant coach under Clifford, maybe 2023, coach the team and he was so far out of his depth the team was almost unwatchable. I kind of felt bad for that guy. I don't even remember who it was off the top of my head. I thought we were about to see a summer league coach get fired mid summer league.

Better coaches, better scouting, better players, and the front office telling the players and coaches that this matters... even if it doesn't.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

[Liver_Pooty]

Anyone know if they have summer league championship shirts we can purchase lol?

[LofJ]

The big difference Last Summer compared to the years under Mitch, or night and day, as YB mentioned. Most notably the defensive pressure was ramped up considerably and offensively we were shooting a ton of Threes which we had not really done previously. You could argue that the improvements to our summer league the past two years has more to do with Jeff Peterson putting a competent roster on the floor unless with coaching. Last year we were pretty deep at guard, even with KJ Simpson hurt. Peterson made sure the team had several veteran point guards. They also made a point to add a lot of three-point Shooters to the roster. Even the scrubs last year were shooting lights out.

Mitch on the other hand never really seem to take summer league seriously and just filled the back half of the roster with local guys and players from Carolina or other local colleges. Zero effort.

These are the small things that let you know that change is happening across the organization. They are finally paying attention to the little things that hopefully ultimately add up to bigger successes.

The depth of our current coaching staff also sticks out now. Remember the one summer that we had the assistant coach under Clifford, maybe 2023, coach the team and he was so far out of his depth the team was almost unwatchable. I kind of felt bad for that guy. I don't even remember who it was off the top of my head. I thought we were about to see a summer league coach get fired mid summer league.

Better coaches, better scouting, better players, and the front office telling the players and coaches that this matters... even if it doesn't.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

Marlon Garnett was the summer league coach in 2023. Jordan Surenkamp was the coach in 2022. Both of them were terrible, so it could have been either one.

Although to be fair, as you said, Mitch didn't give them much to work with. It seemed like we purposely put together nonsensical rosters. As if we were forbidden from rostering actual point guards.

[JDR720]

Like the Locked on Hornets guys have talked about in recent podcasts, the Mitch/MJ teams (mostly because of MJ) kept the 15th roster spot open due to cheapness.

That same cheapness bled down to all levels, from the Swarm to Summer league to everything else.

The new owners seem to, at least so far, not be cheapskates even if they aren't "super" wealthy. I think that has shown with the Swarm actually being good last season and our Summer League teams being very good.

[Walt Cronkite]

The last fo and/or owners viewed SL and the GL as an unnecessary obligation. Now it is a valued opportunity to grow and gel. It’s night and day, anyone that doesn’t see that just doesn’t want to.

[fatlever]

The big difference Last Summer compared to the years under Mitch, or night and day, as YB mentioned. Most notably the defensive pressure was ramped up considerably and offensively we were shooting a ton of Threes which we had not really done previously. You could argue that the improvements to our summer league the past two years has more to do with Jeff Peterson putting a competent roster on the floor unless with coaching. Last year we were pretty deep at guard, even with KJ Simpson hurt. Peterson made sure the team had several veteran point guards. They also made a point to add a lot of three-point Shooters to the roster. Even the scrubs last year were shooting lights out.

Mitch on the other hand never really seem to take summer league seriously and just filled the back half of the roster with local guys and players from Carolina or other local colleges. Zero effort.

These are the small things that let you know that change is happening across the organization. They are finally paying attention to the little things that hopefully ultimately add up to bigger successes.

The depth of our current coaching staff also sticks out now. Remember the one summer that we had the assistant coach under Clifford, maybe 2023, coach the team and he was so far out of his depth the team was almost unwatchable. I kind of felt bad for that guy. I don't even remember who it was off the top of my head. I thought we were about to see a summer league coach get fired mid summer league.

Better coaches, better scouting, better players, and the front office telling the players and coaches that this matters... even if it doesn't.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

Marlon Garnett was the summer league coach in 2023. Jordan Surenkamp was the coach in 2022. Both of them were terrible, so it could have been either one.

Although to be fair, as you said, Mitch didn't give them much to work with. It seemed like we purposely put together nonsensical rosters. As if we were forbidden from rostering actual point guards.

it was garnett. thanks for the assist.

[fatlever]

Read on Twitter

[Chapelchilla]

The last fo and/or owners viewed SL and the GL as an unnecessary obligation. Now it is a valued opportunity to grow and gel. It’s night and day, anyone that doesn’t see that just doesn’t want to.

And the new practice facility, better hotels on road, more training staff and chefs in house. They are making an effort to get ahead of the NBA perks curve rather then always be at the tail end of it.

[JMAC3]

Jaylen Sims and MJ Walker are two guys I wouldn't be surprised if they end up on 2way deals on another team.
Peterson did a good job putting the SL team together.

[yosemiteben]

Read on Twitter

Lol

[luciano-davidwesley]

The big difference Last Summer compared to the years under Mitch, or night and day, as YB mentioned. Most notably the defensive pressure was ramped up considerably and offensively we were shooting a ton of Threes which we had not really done previously. You could argue that the improvements to our summer league the past two years has more to do with Jeff Peterson putting a competent roster on the floor unless with coaching. Last year we were pretty deep at guard, even with KJ Simpson hurt. Peterson made sure the team had several veteran point guards. They also made a point to add a lot of three-point Shooters to the roster. Even the scrubs last year were shooting lights out.

Mitch on the other hand never really seem to take summer league seriously and just filled the back half of the roster with local guys and players from Carolina or other local colleges. Zero effort.

These are the small things that let you know that change is happening across the organization. They are finally paying attention to the little things that hopefully ultimately add up to bigger successes.

The depth of our current coaching staff also sticks out now. Remember the one summer that we had the assistant coach under Clifford, maybe 2023, coach the team and he was so far out of his depth the team was almost unwatchable. I kind of felt bad for that guy. I don't even remember who it was off the top of my head. I thought we were about to see a summer league coach get fired mid summer league.

Better coaches, better scouting, better players, and the front office telling the players and coaches that this matters... even if it doesn't.

Sent from my SM-G973U using RealGM mobile app

Money G Marlon Garnett

[Bassman]

Excellent article on grading the rookies:

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/25227822-grading-every-nba-teams-top-rookies-2025-las-vegas-summer-league

[yosemiteben]

https://www.spotrac.com/news/_/id/2912/eastern-conference-summer-league-notes

On the draft: “We had the best draft in the league. Of course, 29 other teams will probably say the same thing,” a Hornets front office executive said. “But we’re fired up. We wanted guys who could complement LaMelo (Ball) and Brandon (Miller) and to help open up the floor for them. Kon (Knueppel) and Liam (McNeeley) can do that. But we didn’t want one-skill guys. We all saw Indiana and the Thunder, right? You have to be able to be versatile. We’re getting there. And we hit in the second round with Sion (James) and Ryan (Kalkbrenner) too. We considered both of them at 29, but knew that Liam wouldn’t come back around. So, we held our breath and still got both guys. Internally, we’ve said we feel like we have four first-rounders, because all four guys we got had first-round evaluations on our board.”

On a full roster: “Yeah. We’ve still got some work to do, for sure. That’s what the rest of this summer will be about. There are some difficult decisions coming, but that’s not bad thing, right? Better that than not having enough guys,” a Hornets front office executive said.

On frontcourt depth: “I get why you are asking. But we think we’ve got guys who can play. Mason (Plumlee) will help with his experience and his passing ability. We’ll have Grant (Williams) back and he’s a great connector. We love Moussa (Diabate). He plays with such great energy and he’s awesome on the glass. And Ryan (Kalkbrenner) has been awesome out here (Summer League). We think he’ll shoot it eventually too,” a Hornets coach said.

On LaMelo Ball and Brandon Miller and their health: “Those guys are still our anchors, pillars, foundation, whatever you want to call it. But you are right, we have to get them on the floor. They played like 20 games together last year. That’s not going to cut it. We have to figure that out, and we’re confident we will. Our roster moves at the draft and beyond were about building around those two guys with complementary and connecting pieces to them,” a Hornets front office executive said.

[MasterIchiro]

On frontcourt depth: “I get why you are asking. But we think we’ve got guys who can play. Mason (Plumlee) will help with his experience and his passing ability. We’ll have Grant (Williams) back and he’s a great connector. We love Moussa (Diabate). He plays with such great energy and he’s awesome on the glass. And Ryan (Kalkbrenner) has been awesome out here (Summer League). We think he’ll shoot it eventually too,” a Hornets coach said.

Too funny.