Second-year forward Oso Ighodaro scored 17 points while adding six rebounds and four assists as his Phoenix Suns on Wednesday fell to the Minnesota Timberwolves 89-85 in their fourth and final Summer League game.
It was a down game for fellow NBA sophomore Ryan Dunn, who shot 3-for-13 from the field and 2-for-8 from 3 in the loss. The game was tied at 83 with a minute to go before Dunn missed a triple attempt that would have tied it, allowing the T-Wolves to keep the separation with free-throw makes to win.
Undrafted rookie Boogie Ellis led the Suns with 23 points, and now the Suns have a sense of where their young players are heading into camp.
The top standout of the entire time in Las Vegas was Dunn, who displayed more offensive stuff than the standstill shooting, which stood out last year and led to early playing time as a rookie. It came with the efficiency of 49% shooting overall and 38% accuracy from 3, while taking nearly half of his shots from deep (16 of 33 total).
A few takeaways from the last game and beyond.
Raw center prospects are showcased to close Suns’ Summer League
The game’s most intriguing matchup came at center, where 18-year-olds Khaman Maluach (No. 10 pick) of the Suns got run against Minnesota’s Joan Beringer (No. 17 pick).
Maluach got off to a strong start with a made three to showcase hints of a stretch game, and he finished with eight points, seven rebounds, two blocks and six fouls in 27 minutes.
His bothersome stature at the rim showed to some degree, but his lack of production from a statistical standpoint remains with Summer League play over — and a lot of it has to do with him being just 18 years old.
Beringer’s performance included a lot more rim-to-rim speed and vertical pop in comparison to Maluach, but in 27 minutes as well, he produced just six points, five rebounds, a block and seven fouls.
Point is, these guys are prospects and projects. It’ll take time. But Maluach’s vocal nature and fearlessness trying new things — and Beringer’s aggressiveness that matches his athleticism — are why they eked up the draft boards.
Maluach’s final summer line in three games (23.3 minutes per): 10.0 points, 5.7 rebounds, 1.3 blocks, 2.3 turnovers, 4.0 fouls, 0.7 steals, 36 FG%, 23 3FG%.
Aggression without results
For the Suns, Ighodaro and Maluach got to the foul stripe a combined 16 times but only made five on Wednesday. It’s not surprising for Ighodaro but a thing to watch for Maluach, too. He went 7-for-16 over his time in Vegas.
The Summer League also suggested that Ighodaro might be viewed as more of a power forward than small-ball center by this new Suns regime.
Regardless of position, he did not do much to test the theory that he could add a jumper to his arsenal of rim-running, passing and added ball-handling. He took one three on Wednesday and missed it, and his 3-of-10 free-throw accuracy in the Vegas finale alone might explain why he’s not green-lit to do so. Ighodaro was 6-for-10 at the stripe before Wednesday.
That said, Ighodaro’s rebounding pop and attacking off the bounce were the second-best positives of the Suns’ Summer League after Dunn’s “too-good-to-be-here” run that ended with a shooting dud Wednesday.
Ighodaro played all four games for the Suns to average 12.2 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.8 steals and 0.8 blocks. He shot 57% overall in 29.3 minutes.
Speaking of positional determinations …
Rasheer Fleming missed the start of Summer League but did a decent bit of work in two games to end it.
He had seven points, seven rebounds and two steals against the T-Wolves on Wednesday. In his two games, he played more of a traditional wing role and looked legitimate while moving horizontally on defense against true perimeter players rather than bigger power forwards (there was talk he could maybe be a small-ball 5 even).
The shot looks good, too.
Not Koby Brea good, mind you. Brea’s summer ended with a thumb issue sidelining him after he went 6-for-14 from 3-point range over three games.
The guy you didn’t know about but maybe should
Ellis was the Suns’ MVP if we take out the NBA players who were drafted.
The USC product not only showed that his aggressiveness and scoring might be able to translate to the pro level. He also gave a lot of juice on defense, diving on the court for loose balls and disrupting the point of attack, which he’ll have to do at his size to play some 1 if the NBA is on his mind.
Let’s all apologize for not recognizing his defensive efforts if we were too busy watching Bronny James two years ago and not enough Big Ten basketball this past year.
