Last Night In The NBA: More Young Talent Is Starting Show Out
Good morning everybody, happy 4th! Welcome back to another edition of Last Night In The NBA where we catch you up on everything that went down from the night before in the Association. The Utah and Sacramento Summer Leagues continued giving up four more games, and unfortunately only one of them was close. But remember, you shouldn’t care about the final scores, you should care more about how the young talent on your favorite team looks. In that respect, we have a lot to talk about. If you were out last night getting all lubed up for America and didn’t catch what happened, well keep reading. I’ll bring you up to speed before you start today’s festivities, so you can enjoy America’s birthday guilt free.
San Antonio Spurs (1-1) 103 vs Atlanta Hawks (0-2) 81
Almost every summer during these games we as fans see someone who shows us enough early where we are ready to buy into their development. For the Spurs and their fans, that is what is currently happening with Derrick White. Another extremely solid performance, throwing up 21/6/9 on 7-15 shooting, White has shown he’s maybe too good for Summer League competition.
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White leads the entire Utah league with 21.5/6.5/7.5/1.5/1.0 averages on 44% shooting, and he’s doing this while also leading the league in FGA. Remember why this is important for the Spurs, a team that could be losing Tony Parker later this summer. White got some run last year with the NBA club, and it looks as if he’s ready for a bigger role next season.
The Summer Spurs looked a whole lot more like the real Spurs, finishing with 51.4/42.9% splits, and once they got off to their 32-21 start in the first quarter they never looked back. This game was a 25 point difference by the half, and a lot of that had to due with the face that SA had 5 players in double figures and 7 players with at least 8 points. It doesn’t matter what level it happens at, once the Spurs go all Spursy on you, that’s a wrap
For ATL, their young stud in John Collins had a nice bounce back effort as well after being relatively quiet in his opener. He finished with 19/7 on 7-14 shooting in just 23 minutes
Given what we saw from Collins during the regular season, and then performances like this, if I’m a Hawks fan I’m pretty excited about Collins as a prospect. He’s another one of these guys that just by the eye test looks too good for Summer League. It’s not often you can saw that about a Hawks player, so that’s cool.
However, most people will probably focus on the night of Trae Young. Now I can fully admit, I did not watch much of any of his college career. I have no idea if he’ll be good or a bust simply because I didn’t watch him play. All I can say is that it surprised me that his shot as struggled so much this summer. Maybe this is totally normal for him and we shouldn’t look into it at all, but at the end of the day he’s shooting 25% and is tied for the most FGA in Utah with White. What surprised me even more is I remember during the Draft people talked about his passing, but he’s averaging just 3 assists a night through two games.
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I just hope Young doesn’t start pressing, because that’s only going to make things worse. I think if he has just one classic Trae Young game this summer it would do wonders for Hawks fans, because I imagine they are getting a little restless whether that’s fair or not.
You know who else that has impressed me so far this summer? Omari Spellman. This dude is blocking EVERYTHING, and he currently sits 3rd in blocks
Despite the encouraging signs from some, you’re not going to win any level of basketball when you shoot 34/21%. I guess it’s never too early for ATL fans to set their sights on RJ Barrett.
Memphis Grizzlies (2-0) 95 vs Utah Jazz (1-1) 92
Now this is what I’m talking about! Give me some Summer League drama! Say what you want, but UTA fans care about Summer League, and this was by far the best game of the night. If we had to pick an early favorite for best team of the summer, in my opinion it’s without a doubt the Summer Grizzlies. They have been fantastic, and have players littered all over the top 5 of almost every category. Guys like Kobi Simmons, Wayne Selden, JJJ, and Deyonta Davis were monsters last night, combining for 67 of their 95 points
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Kobi Simmons had another 20/5 and is the second leading scorer in the Utah league, but Wayne Selden isn’t too far behind ranking 3rd. And then you don’t have to look far to see JJJ who is 4th at 19.5 points a night. I’d say having the 2-4 best scorers so far is a pretty good lineup. The Grizzlies were fortunate to hang on to this one, withstanding a pretty legit second half Jazz fun, and perhaps the most important part of their night was the fact that they turned it over just 5 times. Normally in Summer League you see that number in the teens, so that’s impressive.
Ivan Rabb also continued his decent summer with 8/6 off the bench in his 21 minutes, and the Grizzlies are now the only undefeated team in Utah.
For the Jazz, the problem was clearly the first half where they only scored 40 points. Down 17 at the break it looked like we might have been witnessing a blowout, but then came a huge 52 point second half including a great 25-16 fourth quarter. Grayson Allen didn’t play, but Naz Mitrou-Long more than made up for him from then guard spot
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I’ve also been really impressed so far with the playof Tony Bradley. He blocked everything under the sun in the opener, and was a beast once again last night with 18/14. Did you know he leads the Utah league in rebounding?
Considering you never know what’s going to happen with Gobert and his health, having a serviceable center is important for UTA moving forward. It seems like maybe they have that in Bradley, who did play a little last year and if he keeps playing this well should find his way onto the court more this season.
Miami Heat (1-1) 89 vs Los Angeles Lakers (0-2) 74
To continue the theme of guys showing they are maybe too good for Summer League, the Heat have one of those guys in Derrick Jones Jr. You know how they call baseball prospects AAAA players? That’s like what Jones Jr is, but for basketball
He signed that new deal and ever since then has looked fantastic for the Heat, doing a little bit of everything. He’s currently 2nd in scoring in the Sacramento league while shooting 54% from the field. Not bad. Last night the story was not only Jones Jr, but the play of Duncan Robinson as well, who was automatic from behind the arc
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Not for nothing, but Robinson is shooting 62% from the floor (!!) so far this summer, and despite me not having any idea who he was before summer league started, I sure know who he is now. Shoot like that and you may find yourself at the end of MIA’s bench.
Bam was also solid with 9/10 on 3-6 shooting in his 21 minutes, and if we’re being honest he’s probably too good for Summer League as well.
For the LAL, well, it’s been a rough few days let’s just say that. Last night they struggled to score the basketball finishing with 40/30% splits and couldn’t even break 80. Only two players in double figures, one starter and NBA rotation guys like Josh Hart went 0-fer. As it should be the focus will be on the two Lakers rookies, considering they are going to have to play a decent amount given the fact that the Lakers need shooting
Meh.
You add the 20 turnovers and the fact that they broke 20 points in a quarter just once, this game really wasn’t as close as the score looks. A 10 point MIA fourth is why this was only a 15 point game, because make no mistake the Lakers were getting their shit pushed in for basically the entire night. Do we think LeBron regrets his decision yet or nah?
Golden State Warriors (2-0) 71 vs Sacramento Kings (1-1) 54
Well, this certainly was something. Seeing a Summer League team score 54 points was not something I ever expected to see, and whole De’Aaron Fox didn’t play, it’s still pretty pathetic. We’ll get to the Kings in a minute, but first we should talk about these goddamn Warriors. NBA squad, Summer League squad, it doesn’t fucking matter, they just keep on winning. You could tell me that this team would be like the 8th seed in the East and it wouldn’t even phase me.
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Jacob Evans made his debut and led the Dubs with 13 points
Kendrick Nunn struggled in his second game going 3-12 from the field, and despite the blowout the entire team struggled, as they finished with just 36/30% splits. The Warrior took care of the ball with just 9 TOs, but for the most part this was what they would probably consider a poor performance.
You know what’s scary though? Jordan Bell I think is making threes now. Fuck you Bulls you cheap assholes
For SAC, like I said Fox didn’t play, and considering he’s been the best player in the Sacramento league that’s pretty significant. Other guys stepped up, with Justin Jackson having nearly half their points with 20, Frank Mason III continued his solid summer with 16/4/5 on 50%, but that was pretty much it.
Marvin Bagley III after taking the internet by storm the other night struggled going 3-16 from the field,
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and Harry Giles went 2-9, but he did have 4 steals and honestly it’s just great to see him play in back to back games. The SAC bench didn’t help things much, going a stellar 2-19 from the field. As a team SAC shot 27/15% and honestly this game was over after the first quarter once they found themselves down 27-11. I would say this is why you should be careful buying into the Baby Kings, but then again this was against the Warriors so I can mostly forgive the pathetic performance.
And that’s it! You’re now all caught up on everything that went down last night in the NBA. Both leagues are off today for the holiday with things kicking back up on Thursday. We’ll get LAL/GS, MIA/SAC, MEM/SA, ATL/UTA which are all good matchups but in the meantime have an awesome and safe holiday, I’ll see you all Friday morning to fill you in on what happened!