Offseason Beat: NBA Summer League West: Pt. 2
Summer League is over, but at least we still have the Olympics to tide us over. In case you missed Ryan Knaus’ (@Knaus_RW) first part of Summer League recap, bang it here.
We’re also doing a ton of podcasts this summer. We did a Summer League Recap Podcast with Ed Isaacson (@NBADraftBlog), so check that out for more on the scouting side of things.
Here’s part one of the Western Conference:
Dallas Mavericks – Impact Rating 4
The Mavs were extremely busy in Summer League with five games in Orlando and six games in Las Vegas, but all those games didn’t really show too much.
Their most relevant player is easily Justin Anderson. He only played in Las Vegas and wasn’t very good either. In those five games, Anderson averaged just 16.0 points, 7.0 boards, 2.6 assists, and 0.8 steals on just 33.3 percent from the field. Interestingly, Anderson was one of the most impressive rookies last year in Las Vegas with a ton of highlight-reel plays. He thrived in transition last year, but this year they tried to make him more of an isolation guy. Not surprisingly last season, Anderson registered at just 7.3 percentile in his isolation plays last regular season and 25.0 percentile in the postseason — he did only have 16 isolation plays last year.
Even though Anderson made some strides in the postseason last year, the acquisition of Harrison Barnes hurts him tremendously. Yes, we’ll see a lot of Barnes at the four, but Anderson still isn’t a great fantasy target.
On NBATV, coach Rick Carlisle said that there are some roster spots up for grabs. Perhaps the player who had the best chance to get on the roster was second-round pick A.J. Hammons. The Purdue product was somewhat disappointing with just 17.0 minutes per game and averages of 4.5 points, 4.3 boards, 1.2 assists, 0.5 steals and 0.5 blocks in six games. The Mavs are going to need some depth up front, especially with Andrew Bogut’s injury history. Hammons is a large human, so it’s not going to be easy for him to get big minutes out of the gate.
Jonathan Gibson was one of the most impressive “who is that guy?” players. He turned in terrific averages of 17.0 points, 3.0 boards, 1.7 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.3 blocks and 2.1 turnovers on 50.7 percent from the field and 81.8 percent from the line. His eye-catching play actually got him a three-year deal with some guarantees, so we’ll see him in camp. He’s still very unlikely to be in the rotation, but obviously the Mavs guards are injury prone.
The other noteworthy player who could make the roster is Dorian Finney-Smith. Although, he did not look good in his six games, making just 16.0 percent from the field.
Denver Nuggets – Impact Rating 8
The Nuggets have some incredible depth. That depth was on display in Las Vegas with several rotation guys out there.
We only saw Emmanuel Mudiay and Gary Harris in the opener, so there’s really nothing to discuss here. Harris was awesome in Vegas last year and looked wonderful again. Meanwhile, Mudiay didn’t have a great run in Vegas last year and was horrendous to start his rookie year. However, he tweaked his shot mechanics later in the season and he did look a little more comfortable in his one game — this is meaningless. The Nuggets are saying Harris’ job is safe, so he’s still a fine late-mid pick. He’s really good.
Perhaps no player had more riding getting minutes at a secondary position than Jamal Murray. Since he began the draft process, Murray has been saying he is a point guard and not just a scorer. The 6’4″ SG scored 20.0 points per game in his freshman season at Kentucky — not an easy feat. On the other hand, his assist:turnover ratio was just below 1.0 (2.2:2.3).
Well, guess who had a sub-one assist:turnover ratio again? Yep. Murray had 2.4 assists per game and 2.8 turnovers per game in Las Vegas. He was one of the most inconsistent players at the event with several games coming in the tale-of-two-halves variety. Of course, the potential is definitely there for arguably the best pure scorer in the draft.
The bottom line is Murray can really fill it up when he’s on. He averaged 19.6 points per game on a 51.6 true shooting percentage during his time in Vegas, which is just fine. He’s going to be in the rotation and shouldn’t get much pressure behind him from Malik Beasley (leg, did not play).
With Murray not really performing as a facilitator, that’s not a good sign for his multi-category output. The Nuggets might still run some of their offense through Nikola Jokic, so using Murray in a Stephen Curry-esque point guard role could make sense — that means a lot of off-ball movement. Murray is really just a late-round flier for now. I do like his Dynasty value, though.
I love Juan Hernangomez. He is a little bit like Dragan Bender as a guy with a power forward body and small forward skills. The Spanish forward took a lot of high-percentage shots, making 54.5 percent from the field with averages of 10.2 points, 8.2 boards, 1.8 assists and 0.6 steals. He’s still only 20 years old and is surprisingly expected to stay with the big club out of the gate. If the Nuggets do keep him, he wouldn’t be in the rotation while the Nuggets are healthy. His long-term Dynasty value looks promising, though.
Not much else here. Petr Cornelie had some nice plays, but he’s going to be stashed. The D-League’s reigning Most Improved Player, Axel Toupane, looked pretty good yet again. He also had this gem:
It was Jimmer time, as well. Jimmer Fredette should probably be going overseas.
Golden State Warriors – Impact Rating 2
For the second year in a row, the Warriors didn’t have a healthy first round pick, Damian Jones (pectoral). The Vanderbilt product tore his pectoral muscle at a pre-draft workout and is expected to miss the start of the season. He’s super athletic and would fit in nicely as a center in the Dubs’ system, but that’s way down the line.
Kevon Looney (hip) was their first-round pick last year and he didn’t play this year due to a hip issue. His hip kept him very limited in Summer League last year and he played just five games during his rookie season. Looney is potentially a plus-offense four, but he’ll need to stay on the court. He’ll play a lot of five for the Warriors once Zaza Pachulia misses time.
While the Dubs technically didn’t get a first out there this year, they felt they grabbed one with the 38th pick. They were able to pull off a trade with the Bucks to snap up Patrick McCaw, and would later give him a guaranteed deal much like a first-round pick.
Simply put, he looked awesome. The 6’7” wing averaged 15.8 points, 3.2 boards, 2.2 assists, 2.0 steals, 0.6 blocks, 2.6 turnovers and 2.6 treys. He was fairly consistent in his 33.8 minutes per game, hitting at least 50.0 eFG% in four of his five games. McCaw had a slew of fancy plays and was as advertised as an on-ball defender.
As great as he was, he has quite the roadblock for minutes. McCaw has the size to play some small forward, but a former MVP occupies that spot right now — Kevin Durant looked awesome for Team USA on Friday, obviously. Plus, Klay Thompson won’t be losing playing time. Basically, he’s going to need multiple players to miss time. If that does happen, he has potential to be a nice per-minute player for steals and treys. For what it’s worth, he’s already the fourth guard on the depth chart.
That’s pretty much it here. Mamadou Ndiaye is a giant and Keifer Sykes had some bright spots. Robert Carter signed with the Dubs just after the draft, but he was a bit of a letdown.
Houston Rockets – Impact Rating 5
Michael Beasley is 27 and was the No. 2 pick in 2008, but he was on the Summer League squad. Super Cool living up to his nickname. Nothing to see here, though.
Of the 476 players to actually see NBA playing time last regular season, no player saw fewer than Sam Dekker’s six minutes. His back injury from last year sidelined him for the vast majority of the season while he wasn’t in the rotation to begin with.
The 2015 No. 18 pick only played seven games in the D-League, averaging just 11.9 points per game. Recently, Dekker was effective in Las Vegas with averages of 14.4 points, 5.6 boards, 2.4 assists, 0.8 steals and 1.8 treys. The Wisconsin product was viewed as a shooter, but he really attacked the basket this month with a slashing style. It seemed pretty obvious the Rockets wanted him to adapt the at-the-rim or treys shots plan.
So what now? Dekker is more of a traditional small forward, but he is 6’9” and it wouldn’t be too wild to see him get minutes next to Trevor Ariza. Plus, the Rockets didn’t have a first-round pick this year and didn’t add any other small forwards — Eric Gordon will play some three, though. Dekker could be competing for a rotation spot with…
K.J. McDaniels, who put up across-the-board averages of 16.0 points, 5.2 boards, 2.4 assists, 1.8 steals, 1.6 blocks, 3.0 turnovers and 1.8 treys. He’s looked good in Summer League before, so there’s really nothing to this. McDaniels does have some decent upside, but he’ll need Trevor Ariza, Eric Gordon or even James Harden to miss time to have an impact. He’ll really have to make some treys to endear himself to coach Mike D’Antoni.
Montrezl Harrell was one of the stars of Summer League last year, but he wasn’t able to really get anything going during the regular season. He also didn’t really improve this month either.
The Rockets signed Chinanu Onuaku on July 20 after Summer League, so he should be making the roster. The No. 37 pick of the 2016 draft was expected to go in the first round, but he had a minor heart issue before the draft to cause a slide. Still, Onuaku didn’t fare well in Vegas and may have been out of shape.
His most noteworthy highlight is his underhanded free throws. Here are a couple from Las Vegas (via The Cauldron):
Los Angeles Clippers – Impact Rating 2
The Clippers haven’t got much out of their first-round picks lately. They didn’t have one in 2015, 2014 first-round C.J. Wilcox has been traded to the Magic this summer, 2013 pick Reggie Bullock was already traded to the Pistons, and they didn’t have a first in 2012 and 2011.
Well, they got themselves an NBA-ready player in Brice Johnson with the 25th pick in 2016. Of course, it was a horrific start for the four-year UNC product in Orlando. The coaching staff benched him in the first quarter due to poor play and looking flat-out lost. Johnson did have some really nice stretches in his five games, averaging 15.4 points, 6.8 boards, 1.6 assists, 0.8 steals and 0.6 blocks on 50.0 percent from the field and 85.0 percent from the line.
Earlier this month, there was some talk of the Clippers playing Johnson to start his rookie year. However, his chances for playing time took a big hit with the Marreese Speights and Brandon Bass signings.
For now, it looks like some players will have to miss time for Johnson to get on the fantasy radar. His fantasy floor is pretty solid, so just keep an eye on him.
That’s pretty much it here. Andrew Andrews has a great name and Branden Dawson had a sad run after a nice Summer League last year.
Los Angeles Lakers – Impact Rating 8
Perhaps this is the one of the most relevant Summer League squads. Let’s start with a popular breakout candidate in D’Angelo Russell, who looked awesome this month. Yes, it’s Summer League, but Russell really attacked the basket and showed new facets to his game. The game just seemed to slow down for him compared to last Summer League.
Russell showed a little bit of ball-handling to go with his scoring, averaging 21.8 points, 6.2 boards, 4.0 assists, 1.5 steals, 0.5 blocks and 2.5 treys. He didn’t have any prolonged slumps in his four games and didn’t have too many “bad shots” either.
Even with the positive month, it’s only a small factor for his possible breakout. Byron Scott is gone, Luke Walton is in, Kobe Bryant is retired, and Russell has a year of experience. Chances are people could reach for him in drafts, but his upside is massive.
Fellow No. 2 pick Brandon Ingram didn’t fare quite as well as Russell, which is to be expected for a rookie. Ingram bookended his trip to Las Vegas with great first and last games, but was awful in his three middle outings.
Overall, he showed he was definitely more of a small forward, which fits into his stats at Duke last year. Ingram only had 24.6 percent of his shots come from within three feet last year while 40.3 percent of his shots were from deep. The 6’10” big also was sub-par on his shots at the rim, making just 58.8 percent of those at Duke.
This isn’t surprising to hear and perhaps the Lakers knowing he was going to be so raw factored into their decision to pick up Luol Deng. Ingram likely won’t be a big factor right off the bat, especially since he is more of an offense-first player. It’s going to take him a bit to get rolling, so don’t expect a big start to his career. Maybe he plays more down the stretch once the Lakers fall out of it.
Larry Nance was one of the most pleasant surprises last year. He did have a knee injury cut his season short, so the injury concerns are there with an ACL tear back in February 2015 while at Wyoming.
As we talked about on the pods this week, Nance is a great fit for coach Walton, and perhaps more than Julius Randle. There was a slight emphasis on Nance shooting the rock for his 9.0 points per game, which will obviously be a focus for him in order to see bigger run. He also turned in a seven-steal game and looked great on the perimeter.
Nance has a decent fantasy floor and is worth a late-round pick right now. We’ll see how it shakes out in camp with Randle.
Lastly, there’s Croatian big man Ivica Zubac from Mega Leks. In the first game, he was terrific, using his size extremely well with all-around defense. Although, he did sort of plateau after that and looked tired late in most games. Zubac has already been given the nickname of Zublocks thanks to his 2.6 blocks per game in Vegas. He has some skill and can shoot the ball a bit, but he is just 19 years old. Timofey Mozgov isn’t bulletproof, so maybe we see some Zubac in this rookie season.
We’ll be back early next week with the other Western teams.
