Scout and coach break down top 10 picks' Summer League performances

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Scout and coach break down top 10 picks' performances

July 18, 2016 2:12pm EDTJuly 18, 2016 2:12pm EDT


Summer League has all but wrapped up. We checked in with a scout and a coach to see how the top 10 picks fared.

1-Ben-Simmons-071816-AP-FTR.jpg Ben Simmons (AP Photo)
A headshot of Sean  Deveney



By Sean Deveney
@seandeveney



Updated at 2:12 p.m. ET




The NBA Summer League officially wraps up Monday night in Las Vegas, but over the course of the past 10 days, the varied field of players left a sizable mark.

We wanted to know what could be taken away from the most valuable players out there this summer, the top picks from June’s draft.


While the caveat of Summer League is always one of caution — it’s a small sample size, only vaguely resembles NBA-caliber basketball and shooting percentages will be decidedly low — we checked in with an NBA assistant coach and a scout for what they saw from this year’s Top 10 picks.



Ben Simmons, Sixers.

Simmons played in six summer-league games, averaging 10.8 points, 7.7 rebounds and 5.5 assists, shooting 32.2 percent from the field and missing the one 3-pointer he attempted. He took some criticism for sitting out games to rest, though the decision was the Sixers’, not his.

Coach says: “The biggest worry about him has been his jumpshot, and he obviously didn’t change much about that worry during summer league. He is going to have to put in a lot of work on that. But he also looked like a No. 1 pick at times out there, and I think that is a big thing with him. He is a big body, but he has great physical control and instincts—his passing is off the charts for a guy his age and size. I think everyone would have come out of that thinking the Sixers made the right pick.”  


Brandon Ingram, Lakers.

Ingram saved his best for last, scoring 22 points with five rebounds and four assists in his Sumer League finale, which was encouraging considering the slow start he endured in Las Vegas. Ingram finished with 12.2 points on 41.2 percent shooting in five games.

Coach says: “He needs to bulk up. If there was anything to take out of watching him play, it was that he gets bodied up too easily, and it is great that he has good size and length for his position, but he can’t use that until he has the beef to handle himself inside. I did not see that from him. He couldn’t shoot in Vegas, but that’s not something you worry about.”


Jaylen Brown, Celtics.

Amid a raft of trade rumors involving his future team, Brown managed to shine, particularly as he scored 66 points in the final three games for the Celtics. He averaged 16.0 points on just 30.7 percent shooting, but most impressive were the 61 free throws he shot in six games.

Scout says: “He is very smooth with the ball, that is something he showed in college, but he looked really good with it in the last couple of weeks. For his size, he can handle the ball, he can draw contact, he has a little bit of craftiness to him. I think he needs to learn a bit more on the defensive end, but he has really good natural feel for defense, and he could become a top-level defender within a few years. His shooting, we all knew that was going to be his downside. No surprise there.”


Dragan Bender, Suns.

Bender struggled to assert himself in five Summer League games, averaging 8.6 points and 5.6 rebounds, shooting 27.5 percent from the field and 26.5 percent from the 3-point line. He had three games with five turnovers, though he did block four shots in his final game.

Scout says: “Deer in headlights. I think he has a good future, don’t get me wrong. But I mean, he was not ready for Summer League, so that gives you an idea how long he has to go before he is ready for the NBA. It looked like he was trying to hide a bit out there, and he is young, it happens. He is 7-1 and moves like a guard, that is what he showed. But I can’t see him contributing any time in the next year or two, he needs to build up his body, he needs a little confidence, he needs ballhandling skill, he needs all of that. He’s raw.”


Kris Dunn, Timberwolves.

Unfortunately, Dunn   suffered a concussion having played only two games in Summer League, scoring 27 points on 10-for-18 shooting in his opener, and coming back with 21 points on 9-for-17 shooting in his second outing.

Coach says: “Worst part of Summer League was that he got hurt because I love the guy. Part of it is just maturity, he is older and he was so much more ready to show what he can do than the guys he is playing against. That won’t be the way it is when the season starts. But it showed his toughness and physicality. Even his fouls, he had about 50 (15 actually) of them in two games. But that is how those games are called and he was being aggressive. He has all that, he is NBA-ready in terms of that. I think what I saw confirms he is more combo or scoring guard than point guard, I wonder how that will develop. But he is the most ready to play of anyone in this rookie class.”


Buddy Hield, Pelicans.

Hield averaged 16.8 points, which sounds pretty good, but not when you consider he took 19.8 shots per game. Hield struggled from the field (32.7 percent) and 3-point line (22.9 percent).

Coach says: “He took a lot of shots from what I saw. I would not say they were all great shots because he was being contested so much. But that was going to be the case all along, because he is their best weapon and a lot of defenders wanted to prove themselves against him. I thought he got frustrated. He’ll get more space in the season. He has a great stroke from the perimeter, though. I would like to see him run the pick-and-roll better, that is not something he is comfortable with. I also would worry about his defense, because he is not real strong and I am not sure about him moving laterally. Some of that can be covered up with experience, and I think he is a smart enough guy to figure out some defensive tricks and go from there.”


Jamal Murray, Nuggets.

Murray’s numbers shot up in his last three Summer League games, once the Nuggets pulled back starters Emmanuel Mudiay and Gary Harris. In those three games, Murray scored 29, 20 and 29 points, shooting a combined 30-for-64 from the field (46.9 percent).

Scout says: “The one knock on him, if he is going to play some point guard, he still needs to work on that transition. I did not see a guy who is going to run the offense that much. Not yet. But look, you want to see him be a scorer, and he was able to do that. I did not see him make a lot of mistakes, and that’s big for a guy his age, that he is not going to hurt you when you put him on the floor. He can shoot, that is obvious. But they have a lot of guards there in Denver, and he is going to have to do more than shoot if he is going to get onto the floor.”


Marquese Chriss, Suns.

Chriss played only three Summer League games before he was sidelined with an illness, but he was one of the most athletic players to take the court this summer, and though his numbers were so-so—10.0 points and 9.0 rebounds—he showed as much potential as any SL player.

Scout says: “We knew it before the draft, he is going to bring a lot of athleticism and I think that gets him on the court very early in his career. He gives a lot of effort, he can rebound even when he is out of position and he is going to do a lot of good things around the rim. His footwork is just naturally good, and he has a very live body—he does not need a lot of effort to get up and down the floor or to jump or follow-jump. He is comfortable shooting midrange jumpers, too. I think he has the capability of being a great help defender, but he needs to learn when to go for the block and when to make the smart play. Positioning, that will be the first thing they teach him, I am sure.”


Jakob Poeltl, Raptors.

There were not many touches available for Poeltl, who played an average of 25.2 minutes over five games, yet shot just 21 times. He averaged 6.8 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks.

Coach says: “His footwork has always been a good thing for him, a strength, and I thought he looked very capable about handling pick-and-rolls and defending the middle. I am not sure he got a chance to show much more than that, it did not seem like their perimeter guys were looking to feed the post, so he did not get to show much offensively. But I don’t think he will be asked to score much if he does see the floor for that team, so as long as he is solid defensively, he has a chance to play.”


Thon Maker, Bucks.

Maker pulled off a rare feat, fouling out in a game against the Grizzlies—Summer League games are only 40 minutes, and you get 10 fouls. He was certainly not lacking for aggressiveness. He finished with averages of 14.2 points and 9.6 rebounds, shooting 37.7 percent from the field, and had a 17-rebound game against the D-League Select team.

Scout says: “There’s the comparisons to Giannis (Antetokounmpo, the Bucks’ guard) and obviously they are very different players, but I think the comparison works when you talk about effort. He tries so hard. Both ends of the floor. So what you have to do is teach him some better fundamentals and sort of rein in his game a little bit and see where he settled in. I thought that was the same thing with Giannis, you never worry about energy with him, just with the mistakes. I think you can live with that. But I can’t see Maker having anything close to the same impact as Giannis. He can pass the ball from the post, I think he is going to have a nice perimeter game eventually. Defensively, his lateral quickness is not there, so I wonder if that is something he can ever improve. He is going to be worth watching.”



bob


.

nice breakdown for me, since I only watched a couple SL games when the Celtics played myself.

not surprising that most of the kids shoot lousy.