Las Vegas Summer League: Ben Simmons, Brandon Ingram to face off – CBSSports.com
Las Vegas Summer League is a place where potential is unveiled, dreams come crashing down with bad performances, and anybody can become a star under the blinking lights of the Vegas Strip. On Saturday in Vegas, we’re going to see the top two teams in the 2016 NBA Draft square off, a reigning MVP look to repeat, and lots of young talent emerge as potential building blocks.
Here are five things to watch on Saturday:
Marquee Match-up: Ben Simmons vs. Brandon Ingram
Ben Simmons has already looked like a pretty impressive player in his first couple summer league games in Utah. While the shots weren’t falling for him, he instantly became every Philadelphia 76ers favorite teammate by slinging the ball all over the court. He was the No. 1 pick in the draft because of comparisons to LeBron James — in the sense that he’s a tall forward who can pass the ball like a point guard. He has all of the potential in the world and in the Vegas Summer League setting, he could really become a star in this setting.
He’ll be going against the No. 2 pick in the draft Brandon Ingram. Ingram looks like Pixar’s version of a stick figure, but he’s already showing off as a smooth scorer. He handled the ball well in his first showing Friday night in Vegas and showed that deft scoring touch that made him such a no-brainer as the second pick in this draft.
The good news is we’re going to find out on Saturday if the Sixers made the right decision by taking Simmons or if the Los Angeles Lakers were gifted the right star in Ingram. OK, maybe that’s a bit dramatic, but we should see the two players square off, guard each other quite a bit, and show off their skills. Top 2 picks going at each other in Vegas Summer League is a great tradition. It continues on Saturday.
Sneaky Stacked Team Alert: Phoenix Suns
First game of Saturday gives us the Phoenix Suns against the Portland Trail Blazers. While Portland has a couple of intriguing options on their summer roster, the Suns are stacked beyond belief. Assuming everybody plays from the main core of players on there, the Suns will feature Devin Booker, Dragan Bender, and Marquese Chriss. They’ll also have Tyler Ulis out of Kentucky running the show, meaning they’ll have Big Blue Nation ooh’ing and ahh’ing at every pass and the crowd falling all over the 150-lbs point guard’s every crossover and made shot.
Everybody loves an underdog and Ulis will simply look like an underdog to those who didn’t see his career at Kentucky.
Booker could easily put up 30 a game in this environment. He’ll be the best shooter in the gym and he developed some solid scoring touches off the dribble in his rookie season. Chriss is a high-flyer who could dunk on anybody at any minute. And casual, non-draft obsessives will expect Dragan Bender to be a meek, European big man. But he could be just as likely to baptize someone at the rim as Chriss is. The Suns should be all of the fun and a great way to kick off the day’s games.
The Potential For Scorching Nets
It’s disappointing that Caris Levert won’t be in action for the Brooklyn Nets’ summer team but the Summer Nets still have some guys who can light it up. D-League assassin Sean Kilpatrick will share the court with college volume scorer Isaiah Whitehead. Kilpatrick has been an incredible shooter in the D-League and has had a few opportunities in the NBA to show it. Whitehead was a bucket-getter at Seton Hall, who would often shoot from distances that are far beyond reasonable.
But those aren’t the only guys to pay attention to. We could have a serious aerial assault from the Nets with Chris McCullough and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson on the squad. Both guys have an affinity for putting unprepared rim protectors in Vines. The Nets are fun. Say this again with me: The Nets are fun. It’s a real thing, even if it’s just summer league. Pay attention to their talent this weekend.
The Denver Nuggets are must-watch Summer League Material
We may not see Gary Harris the rest of Vegas Summer League. Not because of an injury, but he may be too good to play in the rest of the week’s action. Maybe in the coming years he’ll channel his inner-J.R. Smith by showing up randomly to a summer session and just put up a bunch of reckless shots, but for the most part Harris doesn’t seem to benefit from playing in Vegas. That doesn’t mean you should turn away from them during Saturday’s action.
They still have two absurd talents playing. Emmanuel Mudiay had a great duel with Kris Dunn in the first day’s game, and is almost too physically imposing for most summer match-ups. Jamal Murray struggled to begin his summer debut, but he finished with 14 points and looked to be capable of causing problems for the defense. They’ve also got first-round pick Juan Hernangomez, who showed a great shooting touch while getting 13 points on just six shots in Day 1. He got to the free throw line 10 times and wasn’t afraid of drawing contact against jumpy defenders.
Denver could dominate this tournament, but they’ll probably end up resting Mudiay and Harris as the week goes on. Get your views in now and enjoy the talent.
Kyle Anderson Looking to Go Back-to-Back in Vegas
If Kyle Anderson continues to play, he may be the most unstoppable person in the building. It’s not that he’s necessarily the best player on the floor or in summer league, but his length, size, and skill set make him a scoring machine in Vegas. He just finished a couple of games in the Utah Summer League and was completely dominant. He did whatever he wanted. It was exactly like he played in the Vegas Summer League a year ago when he was named the MVP.
So the San Antonio Spurs trotting him out again almost guarantees a back-to-back performance. And the thing about it is he has kind of a killer mentality in that way. He wants to dominate this lesser level of play, and considering he’s a legitimate rotation player on the Spurs, he should easily be able to keep up the devastation he’s laying down on the court. If Anderson plays more than two games in Vegas this year, he’s going to be named Vegas MVP.
Maybe he gets his jersey retired on the back wall like Nate Robinson did.
