Pre-summer leagues<\/p>\n
On account of injuries suffered in the \u201cpre\u201d-summer leagues in Utah and California, three of the top five picks in June\u2019s draft missed significant action in Vegas, and we didn\u2019t see fifth pick Ace Bailey at all. More like bummer league, am I right?<\/p>\n
If the Vegas event is going to be the league\u2019s main attraction, there\u2019s a strong case to be made that those who want extra reps should get their fun in after the big event and not before. Even as it is, virtually every team shut down its main players after a few games.<\/p>\n
Split screens<\/p>\n
Memo to TV networks: If you\u2019re going to show the game, show the game. It was almost impossible for those who couldn\u2019t be there and had to watch on TV to follow what was happening. That was a result of the steady stream of in-game interviews, some of which were more interesting than others, but all of which were accompanied by split screens that made the actual games difficult to view. We don\u2019t need a split cam of a team\u2019s GM talking for 10 minutes; at least show us the game your announcers are ignoring to do the interview.<\/p>\n
Stepping out of bounds<\/p>\n
The surge of turnovers in summer league is likely inevitable as young players adjust to new rules and unfamiliar teammates. Still, the plague of step-out-of-bounds violations this year was almost hilarious at times.<\/p>\n
The confines of NBA spacing, with a 3-point line that comes perilously close to the sideline in each corner, doesn\u2019t leave a lot of room for plus-sized feet to maneuver. Young players inevitably learn this lesson the hard way, either by getting caught with their foot on the sideline on the catch or by taking a negative step out of bounds to start a drive. What was amazing was just how far out of bounds some players were when they caught the ball, even with the seats in Vegas encroaching fairly closely on the court. Shout out to Phoenix\u2019s Boogie Ellis \u2014 not even a rookie! \u2014 who did it twice in the same game.<\/p>\n
The Pelicans<\/p>\n
New Orleans lost all five of its summer games for the second straight year; the Pelicans have not tasted victory in Vegas since 2023. The summer Pels were 29th in point differential, first-round pick Derik Queen injured his wrist and will be out at least three months and their best player in Vegas was a guy they cut from a guaranteed contract days earlier (Antonio Reeves, recently picked up on a two-way by Charlotte). Is their summer league team also cursed?<\/p>\n
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Derik Queen drives against Darius Bazley in Las Vegas. (Ethan Miller \/ Getty Images)Worst ejection<\/p>\n
Boston\u2019s Jordan Walsh not only excessively fouled Pelle Larsson on a random blocking foul while trying to pressure him at midcourt, but also compounded the issue by hurling Larsson directly at his front office, seated courtside. Then he let out a giant Ric Flair-style \u201cWooo!\u2019 as the refs ejected him. Fun times<\/a>.<\/p>\n A 6-foot-7 third-year pro, Walsh is on a non-guaranteed deal, so using Larsson as a Swedish projectile to take out Celtics GM Brad Stevens was certainly a dangerous idea. However, he did redeem himself with four double-figure games in Vegas.<\/p>\n Players who struggled<\/p>\n Summer-league performance has some correlation to regular-season performance, but it\u2019s a small sample in a contrived environment; failing in a first Vegas campaign is hardly a death sentence for a player\u2019s career. I realize I\u2019m deflating balloons of irrational fan enthusiasm for their rookies; even draft picks who were objectively awful in summer league have one fawning clip after another of their positive plays on social media.<\/p>\n Also, I\u2019ll note again that we shouldn\u2019t overindex on summer shooting percentages, either going too high or too low. I\u2019ll use Boston\u2019s Baylor Scheierman as an example: after a rough rookie year, he superficially didn\u2019t have a great summer league given his 37.4 percent true shooting mark in four games.<\/p>\n But dig a little deeper: He averaged four assists for every turnover in a high-usage, on-ball role and plucked nine steals in 116 minutes, and the main reasons his numbers suffered were outlier bad 3-point shooting (8 of 39) from a guy we know can stroke it.<\/p>\n That said, here are some guys I\u2019d be a bit more concerned about:<\/p>\n Khaman Maluach, Suns: Could the Suns have done what Atlanta did and walked away from the draft with an unprotected future first from the Pelicans and the 23rd pick instead of staying at No. 10? Discussion over whether Phoenix fumbled the bag by not taking the New Orleans offer will only heighten if Maluach can\u2019t give the Suns a quality big.<\/p>\n Phoenix opted to take the Duke project, and I\u2019ll emphasize the word \u201cproject\u201d here; his was a rough entry to professional basketball. The 7-1 Maluach only posted a 13.5 percent rebound rate, took nearly half his shots from 3 and had one assist in 70 minutes. Watching from courtside made me more concerned about his hands, as contested rebounds and alley-oop opportunities escaped him at times.<\/p>\n Khaman Maluach looks on during a break in action against the Wizards. (Candice Ward \/ Getty Images)<\/p>\n Jeremiah Fears, Pelicans: Fears only shot 40 percent for the summer, but I wasn\u2019t as troubled by his shot-making issues. A lot of his misses in the paint were plays where he was trying to draw a foul but didn\u2019t know what was going to get called at this level. He should adjust to that pretty quickly. Additionally, whatever you think of his shooting \u2014 4 of 22 from 3 is outlier bad \u2014 he\u2019ll do better than that.<\/p>\n Also, the clips of Fears\u2019 best stuff<\/a> remain filthy: nasty slaloms to the cup past multiple defenders, with some juice as a finisher once he gets there. What\u2019s more troublesome is the lack of playmaking. Fears had a 21-field goal attempt, zero-assist outing \u2014 troubling from a point guard prospect \u2014 and left Vegas with only 13 assists against 25 turnovers. While his main promise is as a downhill guard who can score, Fears has to be more threatening as a passer.<\/p>\n Brooklyn\u2019s draft class: Four of the Nets\u2019 five first-round picks played in Vegas (we never saw Drake Powell), and wow, this was not good.<\/p>\n Two of the three worst-performing first-rounders by PER were Nets imports Nolan Traor\u00e9 and Ben Saraf, while fellow first-rounders Danny Wolf and Egor Demin weren\u2019t much better. Given that many league observers already had questions about Brooklyn\u2019s choices and strategy on draft night, this was not a great kickoff.<\/p>\n While some of these struggles can be written off as shooting variance, Traor\u00e9, in particular, looked overmatched. The guard prospect didn\u2019t have a single steal or block in his 67 minutes and only shot 7 of 23 from the field in his three games. Saraf had identical shooting numbers but at least spiked his box score with some promising defense and playmaking.<\/p>\n One other thing that became obvious while watching these guys try to play together was how poorly they fit with one another. All four of the first-rounders who played are guys who need the ball in their hands to be effective but aren\u2019t particularly threatening from the perimeter. That often resulted in situations where somebody like Saraf or Wolf was in the corner as an alleged floor-spacer.<\/p>\n Carter Bryant, Spurs: I\u2019ll couch this by saying I thought Bryant did some positive things, especially at the defensive end. He had multiple impressive on-ball sequences, including turns against Cooper Flagg<\/a> in the Spurs\u2019 contest against Dallas. The future stopper potential is definitely there.<\/p>\n Bryant also made some nice reads that, unfortunately, didn\u2019t result in assists, and he blocked 10 shots in six games. However, his overall offense was a complete dud, with some head-scratching shoot-pass decisions and blown finishes. In six games (including a couple in the California Classic), he had six 2-point baskets, and he had more turnovers (19) than field goals (14). I\u2019m still relatively bullish on Bryant because of his defense and the fact that his 3-point shooting (8 of 31 this summer) should straighten out, but a 3.0 PER for summer league is no bueno.<\/p>\n Kasparas Jaku\u010dionis, Heat: Miami\u2019s\u00a0first-rounder had his positive moments, including a 19-point first half against Atlanta. But the overall trend line from his six games of summer action was pretty disappointing.<\/p>\n 19 FIRST HALF POINTS FOR KASPARAS JAKU\u010cIONIS \ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n The @MiamiHEAT<\/a> rookie is showing out in his #NBA2KSummerLeague<\/a> debut! pic.twitter.com\/kwFLV4eYgs<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/GettyImages-2224751042-1024x683.jpg\")
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