NBA Summer League Thread

[NYRaider]

36 minutes ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

Cade Cunningham - 26 mins with 12 points on 5-17 (2-7 3PT), 6 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, 2 blocks, and 5 turnovers.

LiAngelo Ball - 16 mins with 16 points on 5-10 (5-8 3PT), 2 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals, and 1 turnover.

Your agenda is alive and thriving for now 😅

Imagine if Gello ends up being the best Ball brother. 

[DirtyDez]

I’m buying Houston stock rn 

[TheRealMcCoy]

2 hours ago, NYRaider said:

Imagine if Gello ends up being the best Ball brother. 

The Jalen > Cade stuff is cool and I get why you feel that way, but now you just saying crap lol

[NYRaider]

1 hour ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

The Jalen > Cade stuff is cool and I get why you feel that way, but now you just saying crap lol

It was a joke, lol. I don't think my sarcasm is always detected when I post here. On the Gello note though, LaMelo is a great brother. Dropped out of HS to move to Eastern Europe to essentially save his brothers career. Then played in Lavar's fake league for a year so that his brother would have a place to play and now he has even gotten him a chance to compete for at least a 2-way contract with the Hornets. Lonzo would never, he probably hates Gello tbh.

[TheRealMcCoy]

4 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

It was a joke, lol. I don't think my sarcasm is always detected when I post here. On the Gello note though, LaMelo is a great brother. Dropped out of HS to move to Eastern Europe to essentially save his brothers career. Then played in Lavar's fake league for a year so that his brother would have a place to play and now he has even gotten him a chance to compete for at least a 2-way contract with the Hornets. Lonzo would never, he probably hates Gello tbh.

I know it was a joke, but even still you've gone too far lol. But, yeah Gelo and LaMelo both seem cocky (I'm sure Lonzo is too just not as much), but you know family is super important to the all the Balls (lol?). Why would Lonzo hate Gelo though? I don't get that or why you are typing it with two Ls.

[NYRaider]

Obviously it's just the summer league so you can't put too much weight on it as we've seen other guys have bad outings and then become good NBA players. Trae Young went 4/20 in his summer league debut and LaMelo Ball became the first top 3 pick in NBA history to be held scoreless in his NBA debut (no summer league due to covid). 

Again, one summer league game means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. But the reason I personally had Green over Cade was on display tonight. Green's a freak athlete that can get to his spots at will. Cade isn't a bad athlete but he's just not very explosive and we saw that on a few occasions tonight. And for a guy that has been touted as a primary ball handler/PG, having 2 assists and 5 turnovers (after averaging more TO than assists in college) really can't give you a ton of confidence that he can be that type of player in the NBA. 

But yeah, it's only a single game but plays like the 2 starting at 2:11 kind of highlight how Cade's lack of explosiveness can make it difficult for him to get to his spots and create efficient looks for himself. @TheRealMcCoy

 

[NYRaider]

2 minutes ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

I know it was a joke, but even still you've gone too far lol. But, yeah Gelo and LaMelo both seem cocky (I'm sure Lonzo is too just not as much), but you know family is super important to the all the Balls (lol?). Why would Lonzo hate Gelo though? I don't get that or why you are typing it with two Ls.

Lavar Ball has always said he was the walking bucket of the family, lol. If Georges Niang can carve out a role in the NBA, I think Gelo can as well. 

Again, another joke about Lonzo hating Gelo, but Melo really has essentially saved Gelo's chances of playing in the NBA by sacrificing what was in his own best interest to play in crap leagues just so Gelo would have somewhere to play. Even the fact that the Hornets signed him just goes to show how much pull he has in Charlotte, the team wants him to be happy there. Lonzo being with the Lakers and then being pretty average on the Pelicans didn't provide him with that same type of pull. But I definitely love the fact that Melo has made sacrifices and had a crazy route to get to the league, which was almost entirely due to the fact he had Gelo's back. 

[NYRaider]

3 hours ago, DirtyDez said:

I’m buying Houston stock rn 

I've said it before, the Cade/Jalen situation is very similar to the Edwards/LaMelo situation last season. Cade and AntMan had a ton of hype coming into the league, a lot of which had to do with the fact that casual fans had seen them play a ton at major college programs, while no one watched much of LaMelo or Jalen in the season leading up to the draft. I think Cade will be a good pro, I just don't think he's a transcendent talent like some have suggested. And even if he is good, he'll have to be legit great to live up to expectations. 

Green like LaMelo kind of got lost in the sauce playing out of public view so they weren't as highly touted and didn't have as much pressure on them entering the league. Green is a special talent and as @J-ALL-DAY mentioned earlier he has been considered one for years, his personal brand/exposure really just got dinged because he played in the G-League. 

[TheRealMcCoy]

15 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Again, one summer league game means absolutely nothing in the grand scheme of things. But the reason I personally had Green over Cade was on display tonight. Green's a freak athlete that can get to his spots at will. Cade isn't a bad athlete but he's just not very explosive and we saw that on a few occasions tonight. And for a guy that has been touted as a primary ball handler/PG, having 2 assists and 5 turnovers (after averaging more TO than assists in college) really can't give you a ton of confidence that he can be that type of player in the NBA. 

I get all that about Jalen's athleticism versus Cade and admitted his ceiling is probably higher if things go right. I really liked what he showed in that game both the little he did as a playmaker and especially as a scorer. He can create space instantly and his first step can get him past guys with ease too on drives. If he can become a more reliable playmaker he's gonna be an even bigger problem. I think Cade's A/TO ratio should get better. It's going to have to. I've seen some say he's Paul George-Lite (like less athleticism but similar games).

But, on that play you showed its not like Cade did anything too special getting into his shot. It was kind of easy to see what he was trying to do and its not like his release point is very high either. The defender had a good reaction to it though.

Edited August 9, 2021 by TheRealMcCoy

[TheRealMcCoy]

7 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Green like LaMelo kind of got lost in the sauce playing out of public view so they weren't as highly touted and didn't have as much pressure on them entering the league. Green is a special talent and as @J-ALL-DAY mentioned earlier he has been considered one for years, his personal brand/exposure really just got dinged because he played in the G-League. 

It might've hurt him a little bit as far as going 1st overall, but he still went 2nd.

The G-League and playing against NBA talent/athleticism consistently probably helped his transition to SL though. A lot of these players in SL are probably worse than a good amount of the guys he had to face in the G-League.

Edited August 9, 2021 by TheRealMcCoy

[NYRaider]

6 minutes ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

It might've hurt him a little bit as far as going 1st overall, but he still went 2nd.

The G-League and playing against NBA talent/athleticism consistently probably helped his transition to SL though. A lot of these players in SL are probably worse than a good amount of the guys he had to face in the G-League.

I just mean it hurt him in terms of his personal brand and the expectations people have for him coming into the league. IIRC, Cade reportedly got like $8M per year from Nike, while Jalen got like $2M per year from Adidas. 

In the long run I think it might be beneficial for Jalen that he didn't have the same hype or expectations that Cade did coming into the league. Cade has been hyped as the next Luka Doncic, the best prospect since LeBron, etc. That's almost impossible to live up too. While with Green he had some hype but a lot of people had him as the 3rd or 4th best player in the draft. 

Again, I'm not going to put much stock into one summer league game. But who Jalen/Cade played against last season is beside the point. Jalen is an elite athlete that can get to his spots at will, hit the 3 at a decent clip, and looks like an elite athlete amongst elite athletes. Cade's lack of elite athleticism was on display last year playing in the Big 12. 

[TheRealMcCoy]

14 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Lavar Ball has always said he was the walking bucket of the family, lol. If Georges Niang can carve out a role in the NBA, I think Gelo can as well. 

Wasn't the knock on him cement feet? I don't think his shot was ever really a question. He always had the best looking shot out of all of them.

15 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Again, another joke about Lonzo hating Gelo, but Melo really has essentially saved Gelo's chances of playing in the NBA by sacrificing what was in his own best interest to play in crap leagues just so Gelo would have somewhere to play.

Oh okay lol. I agree then Melo is being a great younger brother looking out for Gelo how he has.

I don't think playing against grown men was really bad for his development though and I think going abroad forced him to grow up a bit more too which was a knock on him when he was in HS.

17 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Even the fact that the Hornets signed him just goes to show how much pull he has in Charlotte, the team wants him to be happy there.

Oh no doubt and to me that's the sign of a smart franchise. You should do whatever it takes to keep your star player happy and it seems like they are doing that.

18 minutes ago, NYRaider said:

Lonzo being with the Lakers and then being pretty average on the Pelicans didn't provide him with that same type of pull.

Honestly the Lakers weren't really a great spot for him development wise with Luke Walton at the helm and then LeBron coming in his second year here. I was kinda glad for the Lakers young guys that they got out and pretty much had a team of their own to help build up. Not sure why the relationship with the Pelicans soured the way it did, but he was making nice progress there at least offensively/shooting.

His defense took a step back and I'm not really sure why that was. It's not even like he was bad on that end I don't think, but he wasn't as much of a positive. Hopefully he picks it back up and is more consistent in that area since we already know how Lavine is on that end lol. Caruso will help with defense off the bench though.

[TheRealMcCoy]

1 minute ago, NYRaider said:

I just mean it hurt him in terms of his personal brand and the expectations people have for him coming into the league. IIRC, Cade reportedly got like $8M per year from Nike, while Jalen got like $2M per year from Adidas. 

Ah that makes sense and I don't know why that is cause Green seems like the more flashy player on and off the court (look at his suit on draft day lol), but I digress. So, do you think in the future if guys are making the choice they should still pick college over G-League?

 

[NYRaider]

15 minutes ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

 I think Cade's A/TO ratio should get better. It's going to have to. I've seen some say he's Paul George-Lite (like less athleticism but similar games).

But, on that play you showed its not like Cade did anything too special getting into his shot. It was kind of easy to see what he was trying to do and its not like his release point is very high either. The defender had a good reaction to it though.

That's the biggest issue with Cade for me, I think his ceiling is more along the lines of a guy like Joe Johnson/Brandon Roy. A good scorer/secondary playmaker but he's not a PG and I think a lot of people want to pigeon hole him into being that kind of player after seeing Luka's success in the league. Which isn't really fair to Cade because Luka is a generational talent. 

The first play to me just showed how his lack of quickness, as we saw at Oklahoma State, makes it difficult for him to consistently create space for himself. And the second play, despite scoring off the screen, you can just see that he's not the greatest athlete. 

Detroit's best possible outcome, imo, is to hope that Hayes can develop into a quality PG. And then to pair Cade on the wing with an athletic forward, someone like Peyton Watson/AJ Griffin Jr. As we've seen how pairing Jayson Tatum with Jaylen Green has helped both guys a ton. 

[NYRaider]

5 minutes ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

Wasn't the knock on him cement feet? I don't think his shot was ever really a question. He always had the best looking shot out of all of them.

Have you seen Niang try to play defense? lol 

6 minutes ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

I don't think playing against grown men was really bad for his development though and I think going abroad forced him to grow up a bit more too which was a knock on him when he was in HS.

100% it was great for his development, especially as you said doing it overseas from such a young age. He bounced around a ton during his pre-NBA career but I think that definitely made him a lot mentally tougher more than anything. 

8 minutes ago, TheRealMcCoy said:

Honestly the Lakers weren't really a great spot for him development wise with Luke Walton at the helm and then LeBron coming in his second year here. I was kinda glad for the Lakers young guys that they got out and pretty much had a team of their own to help build up. Not sure why the relationship with the Pelicans soured the way it did, but he was making nice progress there at least offensively/shooting.

The Lakers were a terrible team for Lonzo to end up with, particularly because of how much pressure Lavar put on him with his outrageous predictions and statements about how great Lonzo would be. He had a target on his back from day one playing for the Lakers and as a guy that was expected to be a franchise changing talent from day one. Playing in LA is tough, especially when you're supposed to be a key piece playing with LeBron. Lonzo is good, I think a lot of his struggles have been more mental than anything.