Earlier in the week, we ran a basic poll question, asking you all which player you most enjoyed watching in the NBA Summer League held out in Las Vegas. One guy cleared the question easily.
First round pick Sergio De Larrea ran away with the vote, getting 63% of the vote. And why was obvious if you were able to watch more than the opening game. In four contests, De Larrea averaged just under 30 minutes, while putting up 8 points, 8.8 assists, five rebounds, a steal, and a block. While those numbers may underwhelm some, it was clear watching him in the third and fourth games when he had 12 assists in a win over the Grizzlies and 14 assists in a win over the Thunder that this guy has something.
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Now, don’t get me wrong, Morez Johnson Jr. had a great debut but he played just two games and the second one was against a Lakers team full of try-hards, and Dallas looked flat-out asleep. Vsevolod Ishchenko was a surprising delight, but his lows were a bit lower than De Larrea and he didn’t play as consistently. That said, he’s an obvious future hardcore fan favorite once he makes the transition to the NBA.
Sergio is the guy we’re going to talk about all summer. If the Mavericks get wild and play him at the starting point position immediately (unlikely, but let a man dream for now), we could be in for a fun ride. And look, if you want to get top-notch value for him, on our partner FanDuel, he’s a +25000 to win Rookie of the Year. How can you NOT take that bet?
He needs to continue to work on his shot, but the playmaking and vision were really something. If his outside shot can fall consistently, even from just a catch-and-shoot situation, then we the Mavs might have a stew going.
