Lakers Lose First Summer League Game To Cleveland Cavaliers

Last season, the Lakers had what may have been one of the worst Summer League teams in NBA history. They went through the summer league session without recording a win, and looked awful in all of their losses. For their first game of this year’s Summer League, the Lakers fell to the Cleveland Cavaliers 70-62, but there were some positives to take away from this game and some things to keep an eye on as the Summer League progresses.

One of the more glaring things that stood out in this game, especially in the first half, was the team’s willingness to share the ball. Guys were constantly looking to make the extra pass and find their teammates. There were a few times where a back side cutter was missed, and a few times where they were a bit over zealous with their passing, and it led to some turnovers. Even though it won’t show up in the assist numbers (only 11 on the game), I really enjoyed this team’s willingness to share the ball — especially in a situation where everyone is essentially competing with each other for an opportunity to get an invite to training camp.

The team defense was a bit suspect, especially in the second half. Once the Cavaliers started to finally make some jumpers, perimeter defenders started to close out a little harder, making it easier for shooters to get to the rim and compromise the rotations. As expected, the rotations weren’t sharp for the most part, and that led to a few easy buckets for the Cavs front court guys, things you’d expect from a team that hasn’t exactly spent a lot of time together.

Here are a few things that particularly stood out from individual players.

• In the Lakers first Summer League game, Marcus Landry was the most impressive over the course of the game. Landry finished with 14 points on eight shots. He hit three-of-eight from three, and got in the lane to draw foul shots. He scored 10 of his 14 in the third quarter, and kept the Lakers in the game when the Cavs started finding their shot. Landry was also aggressive on the defensive end in stretches. He has some nice size at 6-7, 225 and used that to his advantage when defending smaller guys.
• Robert Sacre, the only guy we know for sure who will actually suit up for the Lakers next season, had a fairly decent game. They ran a lot of HORNS, and Sacre was able to knock down the mid range jumper a couple times early in the first, which was a nice sign for the team. That’s one of the things Mike D’Antoni would like to see out of his young bigs. If Sacre can find a way to stretch the floor a bit, even if it’s just bringing his defender out to about 15-feet, will earn him some minutes this season. He still looked a bit raw on the defensive end of the floor, but he continues to work hard when he has minutes. Early on, he was really scrappy on the boards and created a couple of second chance opportunities.
• Elias Harris had some really strong points in tonight’s opening game. Harris was most impressive when attacking the rim. There was a play early in the first where he took the ball strong to the rim, used his body well to fend off the defender and finished. Harris also wasn’t too bad off the ball, constantly moving without the rock in his hands and cutting when opportunities presented themselves. Harris was one of the backside cutters that was missed a few times, but was found on a gorgeous drive from Josh Selby and finished with a dunk in the third quarter.

Overall, the first game was pretty much what you would expect from an inaugural Summer League game. A lot of feeling out both teammates and the opponent in a sloppy first half. Things got a bit better in the second half, but it wasn’t exactly great basketball. Regardless of the results, this year’s Summer League team looks a bit better than last year’s rendition, and they’ll have opportunities to win some games this season. I don’t expect them to win this year’s new NCAA style tournament, but they’ll be competitive in some games, and we’ll get some good looks at some guys who can potentially get an invite to camp.