NBA Summer League: Who has impressed?

[DowJones]

I have watched a few NBA Summer League games here and there and I will throw out names of 3 players I thought were impressive.

JJ Hickson: He has really surprised me. He is very strong in the post but he is more athletic than I ever imagined. He also has really long arms and a surprising face-up game. He is averaging 22 and 8 in through the 1st 2 games, but stats can sometimes be mis-leading in summer league games. That is not the case with Hickson as he is getting his points the same way he would in a regular NBA game with the Cavs. He did not get 1 play called for him the other night but still lead all players with 18 points. He is great at getting offensive rebounds and he can really finish around the hoop. It is still early, but Hickson really reminds me of Al Jefferson with his strength and ability to finish around the hoop.

Kevin Love: He is a rebounding machine and you can tell that he has a GREAT feel for the game. I have him pegged as the early favorite for rookie of the year honors...even ahead of Beasley and Rose. I think Love will average around 15 and 10 all year long. He isn't the greatest athlete, but anyone that can rebound the ball like him will have success in the NBA. His outside touch is also extremely impressive and that will allow Jefferson to operate in the post with more freedom. My big problem is that a Love-Jefferson front-court is pretty soft defensively.

Marreese Speights: He has been the best player in the SL so far. I watched many Florida games last year and Speights never had this type of effort on a consistent basis. I am not saying he was lazy, I just don't think he knew how to push himself. He has been really nasty when he goes up for dunks and you can see his athletic ability for a guy that is 6-11. He also has a GREAT mid-range jumper for a man his size. What has really impressed me is his play on the defensive end. He has been active and making himself a force on that end of the court. I still think his NBA-game will translate a little less than Love/Hickson, but he is a steal for Philly.

[fivas14]

I've only seen a few teams play.

I've seen the Mavs/Blazers/Pistons

I've been every impressed w/ Will Bynum, Walter Sharpe and Jerryd Bayless.

[Malinhion]

Mario Chalmers

"I think Mario's the steal of the draft," Bird said after watching a few of Chalmers' games at this week's Orlando Summer League.

New Jersey coach Lawrence Frank also had high praise for the 6-foot-1 bundle of energy. Through four games, Chalmers has averaged 16 points and 6.25 assists. He's gone 35-for-37 on free throws, a high total for a point guard. Defensively, he has been just as solid. "If he's not the best," Frank said, "he's one of the top three players here." (Beasley, Westbrook, Lopez, Rose also in attendance)

Bulls coach Vinny Del Negro is another who was impressed by Chalmers, and that comes from a guy who says you can't always draw definitive conclusions at Summer League. "There's certain guys that have a certain feel," Del Negro said. "And they stick out a little bit."

The point guard has been so impressive in his first three summer league games that he secured a three-year contract that could be worth as much as $2.3 million. This is how highly the Heat think of Chalmers: His first-year salary is $700,000, roughly $250,000 more than a minimum deal.

Riley on concerns about lacking a true starting point guard: "I'm a little bit concerned about it, but not overly, because we like Chalmers. Marcus is, we feel, is legit, needs a chance. And Dwyane can fill in back there…"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5OlOUXuVxa4

Derrick Rose has never beat Mario Chalmers at anything.

[Bernman]

I would argue that Hickson has been even more impressive than his statistics would indicate. In his second game he had the unenviable task of matching up against Joey Dorsey.....who by the same token also looked impressive much in the mold of Ben Wallace.

Ramon Sessions of the Bucks is providing further affirmation that April was no fluke. Aside from statistics, which have been good, he's been making some passes that only offensively special point guards make. Case in point a no look alley oop to Joe Alexander last night and a pick and pop where he checks down to his second option which was a baseline cut by Mbah A Moute. He has an exceptional change in gears, touch around the basket, and nose for the ball on the boards. Defense still appears to be his weakness, although he's been at least solid against point guards who won't sniff the NBA. Expect him to be the Bucks' starting point guard next season and Mo Williams to be jettisoned.

Other top performers have been talked about at length already like: OJ Mayo, Kevin Love, Brook Lopez, Chris Douglas-Roberts, Marco Bellinelli, Russell Westbrook, and Marresse Speights

[Vindicater]

Kevin Love and Brooke Lopez were the guys I wanted my timberwolves to go after.

It looks like I ws thinking the right thing as both guys have been great

[NetsForce]

Brook Lopez and Ryan Anderson surpassed my expectations which weren't that high to begin with.

Bayless and Love have also had some very impressive performances... Although I was kind of expecting both of them to play very well...

Dahntay Jones is also another guy who's played very well but isn't getting much attention from the average fan.

[BballFanAddict]

I have learned my lesson several times over not to take much of anything from these summer league games. The bottom line is, the competition is horribly inferior to the actual NBA. I watched the Blazers vs Wolves game and before it even began I knew any 1/2 way competent college level Big would have their way verses my Blazers, because the Blazer summer league front court is attrocious and inferior to any I have seen in the past. Kevin Love put up better numbers than he did in college, and for good reason, the competion in the pac 10 was better than the summer league.

Same goes for Bayless and any other player putting up big stats. It just is not anywhere NEAR the actual NBA level, and therefore not indicative of how these guys will perform next season.

[suckfish]

Jerryd Bayless
Kevin Love
Russell Westbrook
Mario Chalmers
OJ Mayo

[Bibby4Three]

Austin Cook has been really impressive. He's averaging I think 22 points per game and his shooting ability is awesome. He's going to be a good person.

[deeney0]

Bayless is better than I thought he was going to be

[Prophet_C]

Tractor Traylor

I'm impressed he can still run up and down the court.

[ffz2000]

Love has brought it every game. I love his outlet passes.

[Roxflynorth]

The good:

I am very high on Bayless and his first step is incredibly fast which reminds me of Tony Parker. Portland is one year away to be contender bound if Oden lives up to expectations. Emotionally I hate Blazers stuck us up some draft picks but I have to admit they have done a marvelous job in boosting their roster.

Brook Lopez is a solid pick and he is going to shine in New Jersey because Nets is rebuilding, and he would probably start in the first day of the season. He will be given enough playing time for him to be great. Frank is a pretty good coach in developing young players and I believe he has a bright future.

OJ Mayo is gonna be a very good player in few years. He has all the tools and Rudy Gay will be very happy because OJ will throw him lob after lob. OJ is very fast and strong and he need some works on his shot selections especially now Miller is gone and how well he trust his teammates is critical. OJ is better off at 2 than playing at 1 and would maximize his offensive ability.

CDR reminds me in Cuttino Mobley with better potentials. I don't know why he falls this far - he was the most efficient scorer in Memphis Tigers last year and Tigers would not achieve so much success without his contributions. I disappointed Rockets didn't draft him but it was reasonable we drafted needs than talent because Mutombo couldn't get any younger. CDR is going to make every team regret not to draft him.

The bad:
Augustin probably one of the fastest guy not name Bayless in this year draft. He is ready to play and he is long. However he lacks of size and I don't see he shows that much of his assisting abilities. Bobcats draft him because they want to push the tampo and create more scoring opportunities. Unfortunately, Bobcats always look good on paper at first and missing in action at second. In NBA, not many short guys can be as successful as Tony Parker. I watched his game and I believe he is more like Earl Boykins than Tony Parker.

I watched game after game that Kevin Love in college and I believe he at best is David Lee type but more likely a deteriorating Sabonis. He is pretty impressive in summer league - He average double-double for every single game. However, I was very disappointed when he played in UCLA. He was pretty much a dead man walking in defensive end. He might be happy in Timberland because Al Jefferson will make up his deficiencies and I hope he would change my impression during the season and I will start a thread and apologize for what I think on him.

[Storm Surge]

Donte Greene scored 40 pts in his first ever sumer league game and he didn't even look like he was trying that hard...

[Bibby4Three]

What a terrible post^

Cuttino Mobley? Oh Puhh-lease!!

I mean he's a good person but c'mon now, let's be real...

[wilt]

From a European perspective the storyline so far is certainly Petteri Koponen.

Yeah, for a first rounder you expect to perform here. But still, expectations were very modest mostly as almost nobody really had seen him play other than maybe in the Hoop Summit seeing he played in relative obscurity in Finland which is a 3rd tier European league at best. So him coming over and basically being totally unimpressed and just taking a big role next to Bayless is great. I mean, the guy definitely isn´t having any sort of confidence issue, that much is clear after 3 games.

Aside from those "mental" aspects he´s also showing that he might very well be able to effectively play as a Point Guard at 6´4/6´5 whowing pretty good mobility and quickness on both ends of the floor, showing a slightly odd looking but promising Jump Shot off the dribble and fairly good vision without making too many mistakes considering the type of setting (wild play, not much Cohesion) and the pressure he´s feeling (basically he wants to come over now at all costs and knows there´s only 1 spot that is maybe available).

Also shows great intangibles out there, loves to set good screens as a guard.
Bottom line : On a couple of NBA teams he could see minutes right now, for the Blazers now the most pressing questions might not be "can he play ?" but "how in the world do we get him developing best ?" as there simply aren´t any minutes available, especially seeing that with Bayless and Fernadez you have 2 Rookies allready that are going to be starter material, have Roy playing heavy minutes.

And if he´s staying in Europe he might be forced to sign a longterm contract as he´s not having quite the buzz arround him as a Brandon Jennings and is simply an unproven 19 year old from a 3rd class league who can´t really make many demands.



From the 2nd round guys of this years draft Mario Chalmers looked great, Chris Douglas-Roberts was solid and could definitely find a role this season allready, Deandre Jordan looks like he could definitely be a rotation guy if he´s willing to and asked to keep it simple for now, also James Gist looks pretty solid for the Spurs and might be a contributor there in a year or 2.

[GameTime_3]

Jerryd Bayless -looks good, but will he translate into a PG?

Micheal Beasley- Half of the Time he looked great the other half look like he was not intersted in playing.

Marreese Speights- this guy looks like a future star in the league, he has a nice jumpshot and overall great feel for the game, it helps when you have T.T and K.Smith backing you up tho.

Russell Westbrook-Reminds me of a young Steve Francis.

Mario Chalmers- Looked great! He was one of the top 3 players in orlando SL and the MVP of the HEAT SL.

OJ Mayo-Nasty 3 ball and great feel for the game, if he can work on his PG skills you may have to consider him for R.O.Y

[Bibby4Three]

Mario Chalmers is going to be a very good person.

[360]

Brook Lopez, Love, Bayless, and Chalmers. Mayo has turned the ball over alot, but I will add him to this list because his 3pt shooting, freethrow shooting, and defense have been very good, his teammates have sucked it up big time, he was asked to do alot, and had to play 4 games in 4 nights (I don't think any other team has played that many games in a row).

[NetsForce]

The thing with Bayless and Mayo for me is that plain and simple they're not point guards. So for me people asking if they can play the point are missing the point (no pun intended)... Bayless and Mayo both have the potential to be great scoring guards instead of forcing them into being something that they're not they should both be allowed to excel at what they do best.

Both Bayless and Mayo have good passing abilities but if they shoot first and past second so be it, that's their style of play and they're really shooting guards anyway.