Las Vegas Summer League 2019

[The Moose]

Sekou looked good on offence but lost on defence, basically the opposite of what I expected. Fortunately he has all the tools to become an excellent defender, although his potential lack of defensive iq and instincts is concerning.
I really hope the organisation and the fans are patient, because it feels like like it will be year or two before he puts it all together enough to produce consistently.
I read is work ethic is outstanding which is a great start.

Overall, I think Bruce Brown and maybe Svi and Sekou will be the only rotation guys on opening night from the SL roster.

Also, wtf was Jarrett Allen playing? We should've brought Kennard on for a game to give them 30 too

[zeebneeb]

I hope frenchy starts. No reason not to have him do so.

May as well. Got absolutely nothing else to look forward to.

[thesack12]

I hope frenchy starts. No reason not to have him do so.

May as well. Got absolutely nothing else to look forward to.

He's not ready. Because of that you risk him losing his confidence if you throw him in the fire too early.

[Kilo]

Detroit basically had enough of Summer League, got out of it what they wanted and basically threw in the towel. When you're playing a team who is running out a player who started 111 games over their career, including playoff games - it's not serving it's purpose anymore. We got five games out of it - Sekou got into one game. Now get back to your regularly scheduled off-season workouts.

[Invictus88]

Sekou didn't look ready for any meaningful NBA minutes for the reason already stated -- being completely lost on defense. You just can't be as bad as he was (being spun around the opposite direction while searching for his man) over and over and expect to get any playing time.

He either needs to learn *really* fast or I think you can expect him to spend a large chunk of his time in the D league learning fundamentals.

[NYPiston]

Man, some of you guys sure do draw a lot of conclusions from one summer league game.
Sekou looked raw but perhaps we should give him more than one summer league game in which he came off of an injury to judge his NBA readiness.

[Snakebites]

Man, some of you guys sure do draw a lot of conclusions from one summer league game.
Sekou looked raw but perhaps we should give him more than one summer league game in which he came off of an injury to judge his NBA readiness.

I think when we're talking about a teenager you assume they're not ready for immediate minutes until they prove otherwise.

And he certainly didn't prove otherwise. I'm definitely anxious to see him in the preseason but I do think it's fairly unlikely he'll get playing time right away.

[El Chivo]

Sirvydis looks far from ready ; Doumbouya looks raw, but can be used as a rotation guy in some circustances. Bone and King are fine as g-leaguers.

I'd give a closer look to Donta Hall and Matt Costello if the management thinks Drummond/Maker/Griffin/Kieff can fill the whole 48 minutes per night (I do).

[thesack12]

Man, some of you guys sure do draw a lot of conclusions from one summer league game.
Sekou looked raw but perhaps we should give him more than one summer league game in which he came off of an injury to judge his NBA readiness.

Or maybe some of us are cognizant of the fact that the kid is all of 18 years old, and has only been playing basketball for 6 years. In addition, not only is he going to have to adapt to an entirely different way of life moving half way around the world but he's going to need to try and adapt/blend his skillsets and style to an entirely different breed of basketball over here. Let alone try to navigate the MONUMENTAL competition bump from the french league to the NBA.

[NYPiston]

s.

I think when we're talking about a teenager you assume they're not ready for immediate minutes until they prove otherwise.

And he certainly didn't prove otherwise. I'm definitely anxious to see him in the preseason but I do think it's fairly unlikely he'll get playing time right away.

I never thought he was ready for immediate minutes regardless of what he did in Summer League.
Point being that it's impossible to draw any conclusions good or bad from such a tiny sample size in an exhibition game.
If Summer League meant anything, the Pistons didn't need to trade for Westbrook, they already have one in Bruce Brown.

[Snakebites]

s.

I think when we're talking about a teenager you assume they're not ready for immediate minutes until they prove otherwise.

And he certainly didn't prove otherwise. I'm definitely anxious to see him in the preseason but I do think it's fairly unlikely he'll get playing time right away.

I never thought he was ready for immediate minutes regardless of what he did in Summer League.
Point being that it's impossible to draw any conclusions good or bad from such a tiny sample size in an exhibition game.
If Summer League meant anything, the Pistons didn't need to trade for Westbrook, they already have one in Bruce Brown.

You said we shouldn't judge his "NBA readiness". I don't know how else to interpret "readiness" then being ready for minutes.

He may still develop into a good or even great player one day, but he's not "NBA ready". That's all I was saying. His play in the summer league isn't what concludes that, but it fits with the notion that a teenager isn't ready for NBA minutes unless they're a freak like Lebron.

[Billl]

He's not ready to be a focal point. Fortunately, we aren't going to be asking him to do that. He looks ready to run the floor and take open jumpers. Will he make a ton of mistakes on D? Yeah, he's a young rookie. That's going to happen. As long as he's aggressive and giving 100% effort, you still need to play him consistent minutes.

[NYPiston]

You said we shouldn't judge his "NBA readiness". I don't know how else to interpret "readiness" then being ready for minutes.

He may still develop into a good or even great player one day, but he's not "NBA ready". That's all I was saying. His play in the summer league isn't what concludes that, but it fits with the notion that a teenager isn't ready for NBA minutes unless they're a freak like Lebron.

I said his NBA readiness shouldn't be judged primarily on a few minutes of one Summer League game.
I never said that he is ready for NBA minutes.

My general point is that Summer League means very little in regards to projecting these guys at the NBA level, remember when Stanley dominated Summer League that one year? It's a glorified scrimmage in the middle of summer although I'm sure some evaluating goes on for the two way contract guys in particular. Otherwise, it's not much more than a little entertainment to pass the time in an otherwise long offseason. Nothing should be taken from these games good or bad.

[Invictus88]

You said we shouldn't judge his "NBA readiness". I don't know how else to interpret "readiness" then being ready for minutes.

He may still develop into a good or even great player one day, but he's not "NBA ready". That's all I was saying. His play in the summer league isn't what concludes that, but it fits with the notion that a teenager isn't ready for NBA minutes unless they're a freak like Lebron.

I said his NBA readiness shouldn't be judged primarily on a few minutes of one Summer League game.
I never said that he is ready for NBA minutes.

My general point is that Summer League means very little in regards to projecting these guys at the NBA level, remember when Stanley dominated Summer League that one year? It's a glorified scrimmage in the middle of summer although I'm sure some evaluating goes on for the two way contract guys in particular. Otherwise, it's not much more than a little entertainment to pass the time in an otherwise long offseason. Nothing should be taken from these games good or bad.

I don't really know what your expectations are given that it's the offseason and Summer League is all we have to base opinions on at the moment. The alternative of having everyone hold their tongue and post nothing isn't very realistic either.

Now for Sekou specifically, there's nothing wrong with saying he isn't ready for NBA minutes. He's 18 with very little experience.

He seems more polished on the offensive end (which is expected since it's something you can practice outside of game situations). But compared to his peers *at summer league* he was spun around on defense like a top multiple times; looking totally lost.

This wasn't a case where he looked athletically unfit or doesn't have the potential to succeed. It's a case where he lacks instruction and practical experience in game situations. But he needs to be brought along slowly; facing the right pace of competition to make strides. If you throw him to the wolves against nba competition things will be going too fast for him to get a foothold; and his progression will be stunted.

So let's see how he learns during the preseason at a slower pace. If it's not fast enough he begins at the G league; which again isn't a problem.

But TLDR: I don't see anything wong with saying a guy isn't ready for NBA minutes. Because if you can't show you can play defense then that's the only conclusion to draw for an 18 year old not named Kevin or LeBron.

[NYPiston]

You guys are still misunderstanding me. I never said there's anything wrong with saying that he's not ready for NBA minutes and in fact I stated that I don't expect him to be ready to be a big contributor this season.
What I'm saying is I don't agree with saying he's not ready based purely on a few minutes of Summer League play. Preseason will determine if he's ready or not.

[Invictus88]

You guys are still misunderstanding me. I never said there's anything wrong with saying that he's not ready for NBA minutes and in fact I stated that I don't expect him to be ready to be a big contributor this season.
What I'm saying is I don't agree with saying he's not ready based purely on a few minutes of Summer League play. Preseason will determine if he's ready or not.

We aren't misunderstanding you. You aren't ready to say anything because you feel you have incomplete data. That's fine. But you are also telling others that they shouldn't say anything either. Sorry. This is a discussion forum. The Pistons are/were playing summer league games. We are going to talk about them. We are going to draw conclusions. They may be fleeting. They will likely change. But it's kind of what you do in an internet forum?

[NYPiston]

t.

We aren't misunderstanding you. You aren't ready to say anything because you feel you have incomplete data. That's fine. But you are also telling others that they shouldn't say anything either. Sorry. This is a discussion forum. The Pistons are/were playing summer league games. We are going to talk about them. We are going to draw conclusions. They may be fleeting. They will likely change. But it's kind of what you do in an internet forum?

We all have incomplete data. We've seen him play a grand total of 10 minutes or so against live competition on this side of the pond, that's it.
Chances are that he won't be ready for the NBA grind because he's raw but we won't know until we see him play against NBA players for more than a tiny sample size. What's so controversial about that statement?

I didn't tell anybody how to feel, I didn't tell anybody that they can't have an opinion, I didn't tell anybody that they can't talk about Summer League. I'm just stating my own opinion that it's too soon to draw any conclusions about a player based on such a small sample size. That's all it is, my opinion nothing more nothing less. You can disagree if you'd like, that's what message boards are for.

[Invictus88]

t.

We aren't misunderstanding you. You aren't ready to say anything because you feel you have incomplete data. That's fine. But you are also telling others that they shouldn't say anything either. Sorry. This is a discussion forum. The Pistons are/were playing summer league games. We are going to talk about them. We are going to draw conclusions. They may be fleeting. They will likely change. But it's kind of what you do in an internet forum?

We all have incomplete data. We've seen him play a grand total of 10 minutes or so against live competition on this side of the pond, that's it.
Chances are that he won't be ready for the NBA grind because he's raw but we won't know until we see him play against NBA players for more than a tiny sample size. What's so controversial about that statement?

I didn't tell anybody how to feel, I didn't tell anybody that they can't have an opinion, I didn't tell anybody that they can't talk about Summer League. I'm just stating my own opinion that it's too soon to draw any conclusions about a player based on such a small sample size. That's all it is, my opinion nothing more nothing less. You can disagree if you'd like, that's what message boards are for.

I do.

If you say "I don't agree with people *saying* X" and then reply that people are "misunderstanding" you when they give a conflicting point of view then that's on you. You aren't sending a message that it's okay to disagree. You are sending the message that people aren't agreeing because they are missing your point. You're also inferring the act of *voicing* the message is somehow incorrect.

I replied saying we understood your point perfectly. I still do. I also think it's pointless to continue. So I won't.

[NYPiston]

.

I do.

If you say "I don't agree with people *saying* X" and then reply that people are "misunderstanding" you when they give a conflicting point of view then that's on you. You aren't sending a message that it's okay to disagree. You are sending the message that people aren't agreeing because they are missing your point. You're also inferring the act of *voicing* the message is somehow incorrect.

I replied saying we understood your point perfectly. I still do. I also think it's pointless to continue. So I won't.

I'm saying that you guys are misunderstanding me because a few of you replied saying that I'm insinuating that it's wrong for somebody to say that Sekou isn't ready for NBA minutes when in reality, I said that I don't agree with coming to the conclusion that he's not ready based PURELY on his Summer League performance which is the only evidence we have of him playing against live competition.
Again IMO, there's nothing with thinking that he won't be NBA ready this season but IMO, it shouldn't be based on a few minutes of Summer League action.

In any event, it does seem like a pointless exercise because we're going around in circles. Honestly, I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers. I just wanted to clarify my position. It's all good.

[hoophabit]

I do.

If you say "I don't agree with people *saying* X" and then reply that people are "misunderstanding" you when they give a conflicting point of view then that's on you. You aren't sending a message that it's okay to disagree. You are sending the message that people aren't agreeing because they are missing your point. You're also inferring the act of *voicing* the message is somehow incorrect.

I replied saying we understood your point perfectly. I still do. I also think it's pointless to continue. So I won't.

I'm saying that you guys are misunderstanding me because a few of you replied saying that I'm insinuating that it's wrong for somebody to say that Sekou isn't ready for NBA minutes when in reality, I said that I don't agree with coming to the conclusion that he's not ready based PURELY on his Summer League performance which is the only evidence we have of him playing against live competition.
Again IMO, there's nothing with thinking that he won't be NBA ready this season but IMO, it shouldn't be based on a few minutes of Summer League action.

In any event, it does seem like a pointless exercise because we're going around in circles. Honestly, I'm not trying to ruffle any feathers. I just wanted to clarify my position. It's all good.

Welcome to the board. I found your position entirely reasonable. It was Sekou's first game in his NBA journey with very limited prep. Sometimes he looked impressive, at other times lost. Yeah, let's see how the preseason goes after he's had more time with the team and coaches. He is a very smooth athlete, but he looks callow, which is not surprising in an 18 YO. I'm not sure what it is about him, but I get people wondering about his size. I looked at him at times and wondered 6'9"? Then, during FTs, he stood right beside Jarrett Allen and looked only a little shorter. He certainly needs to get stronger.