LAS VEGAS — I have a lot of notes.
After spending nine days watching Summer League basketball in Salt Lake City and then Las Vegas, talking to people around the league and players, I had a lot of notes that didn’t neatly fit into the other stories I wrote or videos I was a part of. Observations, thoughts on players, quotes from coaches and players, and a lot more.
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So here are my notes on some of the things I saw and heard. One bit of caution: I didn’t see everyone and certainly not every game, and I am no scout. As with everything in Summer League, take it with a grain of salt.
• Top four picks all looked very good. It’s just Summer League, but you can see why the Wizards, Jazz, Grizzlies and Bulls did not want to trade out of the top four spots in this draft. AJ Dybantsa is an incredibly fluid athlete who just glides past defenders and makes it look effortless, and he also showed some defensive chops. He’s got to work on his outside shot (1-of-11 from 3), but he lived up to the billing.
After watching Peterson in Utah, where he masterfully handled the Grizzlies’ blitzing defense, he seemed to press in his Vegas debut against Dybantsa. That said, Jazz fans should be excited. Peterson showed exactly why Utah was not worried about what Washington did with the No. 1 pick, they were going to get an elite player.
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Carlos Boozer was exactly as advertised — just so polished and smooth, versatile, and his passing has dramatically improved in the past year. He is going to play a big role for Memphis starting this season. Caleb Wilson might have the highest ceiling of any of the top four, there is a lot to like, but don’t read too much into his hot-shooting opener when he hit as many 3-pointers in one game as he did during an entire season at North Carolina (seven). He is more of a project than the other three, but Tiago Splitter is a great fit for him as a coach.
• Peterson is feeling better with the ball in his hands. After watching every one of his Summer League games in person, I was baffled that Bill Self didn’t put the ball in Darryn Peterson’s hands as a creator more often at Kansas. I know there were the cramping and injuries, but sometimes basketball is as simple as “give your best player the ball.” Peterson was open about feeling better on ball with the Jazz this summer.
“I’m back having fun,” Peterson said in Las Vegas. “I wasn’t really experiencing it that much at Kansas. I was off [the ball] a ton. So just, I feel like myself again.”
• Early Rookie of the Year thoughts? Usually, I leave Las Vegas with a sense of who is going to be in the running for Rookie of the Year. After this summer, all I know is that we might have the deepest ROY field we’ve seen in years.
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• What was everyone talking about? What were the biggest topics of conversation among media and teams? The Jaylen Brown trade still has everyone shaking their heads early on, but other topics started to dominate the conversation: The pause in the Kawhi Leonard trade, and then especially the Gary Trent Jr. contract (which the league is now investigating). Also, the second apron and its impact on the league and team building were constant topics.
• One player who really impressed me: Kingston Flemmings. We knew he could score, but Atlanta‘s No. 8 pick showed off his skills as a quality floor general — he just gets the ball to the right man at the right time and orchestrates things. Also, he has a fantastic hesitation dribble, the ability to create space, and makes a lot of smart decisions. Fantastic vision and hits the open guy. Atlanta has a winner here and a guy who could fit right in with what they need.
• Also in Atlanta, Henri Veesaar — the big man out of North Carolina — has good instincts and a smooth jumper, he has potential as a stretch five. However, he needs to hit the gym and get a lot stronger, he was getting pushed around in Las Vegas the guys are only going to get stronger come the NBA season.
• Labaron Philon has the ball on a string, and he is lightning quick. He struggled a little finishing in the parts of the games I saw, but he’s got the skills to create space in the NBA and that matters. He could be a steal at 22 for Philly.
• Speaking of later first-round steals, Cameron Carr looks like that for the Lakers. He is very athletic, has great elevation on his jumper, moves and cuts well off the ball, and just has a good feel for how to play the game. It’s easy to see him stepping in and giving the Lakers 10-15 minutes a night right at the start of the season.
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• Yaxel Lendenborg is a hand-in-glove fit with Golden State, he can step in right now and give them quality minutes, and a needed burst of youth and athleticism. His decision-making and processing of the game were just way ahead of the guys in Summer League, and he looked NBA-ready. He hit 4-of-4 from 3 in his Las Vegas opener, and if he can be a quality shooter from deep, that is a bonus.
• Bennett Stirtz is a very Thunder player, always making smart decisions, in the right place.
• Aday Mara knows how to be big on defense and you can see him contributing on that end right away (which is part of why the Thunder wanted him). He’s got to become a better finisher around the rim, but he has his moments.
• Really liked Detroit rookie Ebuka Okorie, the point guard out of Stanford, who put up 20 in his NBA Summer League debut. As advertised, he is able to get downhill against anyone. He showed that across a couple of games.
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• Spurs rookie big man Tarris Reed is a physical force inside. Not the most skilled guy, but he walks in the door with NBA size.
• Not that Toronto needs another athletic wing, but Allen Graves looks like a good pickup at No. 19, shows a lot of potential to develop into a solid rotation player.
• Chicago two-guard Dailyn Swain had the ball in his hands in Las Vegas, and there were moments when you could see all the potential and moments when you were left scratching your head. He was thrown into the fire and had the maturity to understand that mistakes would come, he had a great attitude about it. If he learns from his mistakes over the course of the next year, the potential to be a quality NBA player is there.
• Morez Johnson is another of the Michigan crew who looks like he could step in and play meaningful minutes right away in Dallas. Clearly an NBA build already, he showed some potential as a short-roll guy who can distribute and score, and his 3-point form looks good. A lot of potential here.
