Okay, I’m not going to say much about the Pelicans here since, well, summer league rosters are fluid and usually only have a handful of viable players who will be on the team by opening night. That leaves me knowing very little about their team and, in reality, not even really caring that much.
What these games come down to, then, aren’t the opponents but the Lakers. And with a roster full of young guys who are all candidates to be on the team come October, my eye will be on the talent the team has accumulated over the past couple of drafts.
First up is D’Angelo Russell who enters his second season looking to re-establish his value as a high end prospect. Last season wasn’t the poor campaign some would have you believe, but drama followed him and his play was up and down enough under Byron Scott that there are a lot of analysts down on him. And while I am not one of them, I am very interested in seeing him this summer.
After Russell, all eyes will be on Brandon Ingram. Word out of practices is that he is the “real deal” and that he has “god given talent” that “you cannot teach” — at least if you listen to Larry Nance, Jr. and Russell. So, I think we are all more than anxious to see the 18 year old on the floor for ourselves and in real game action.
Lastly, I am quite intrigued to see both Nance and rookie 2nd rounder Ivica Zubac. Has Nance added some range on his jumper? Will he dunk on the entire opposing team at least once? How are his ball skills progressing? I am looking for growth from Nance and this is the environment where he can start to move skills from practice to game situations.
As for Zubac, this isn’t a great place for big men to shine, but I am interested to see how he moves around the floor and how he fits within the offense. What types of screens does he set? How does he finish in the P&R? Can he rebound in traffic? Can he protect the rim? These are all things that he’ll be asked to do in game situations and I’m interested in seeing how it goes.
Ultimately, though, I’m just happy basketball is back — even if it’s not quite “NBA” basketball. Summer League is a place where at a lot of competing agendas try to blend as best they can to try and get results, both as individuals and as a team. The Lakers have more guys who are expected to be on the opening night roster than other teams, so the hope is that leads to more teamwork and a better chance to glean some meaningful insight. Let’s get it.
bluehill says
Just a summer league game, I know, but still excited to see the first steps of new and hopefully not too long of a journey back to relevance. Go Lakers!
rticse says
Let’s go Lakers!
Clay Bertrand says
Last year, in his Summer League debut, DeAngelo Russell was out of shape having been preparing for the Draft. As such, very early in the game, you could tell he was physically outclassed.
On an early play, he went up awkwardly for a rebound, was off balance and was also sorta low bridged on the play. He fell hard right on his butt and it was clearly the kind of RIGHT ON THE TAILBONE hardwood fall that you see when a guy doesn’t have the chance to brace himself. He left the game and basically moved very gingerly for the rest of summer league (2 more games—-3 total).
It just seemed like he was physically UNREADY and that he clearly wasn’t in game shape. He seemed a half step behind and then he got dinged up. He looked anything but fluid. I think he even had knee and ankle issues in addition to bruising his butt and he really seemed to never be able to shine because of his dings and his being a 1 and Done Rookie.
This year, he knows what to expect physically, there are fewer Byron Scott plays to bog down the offense and I think he will exhibit much more confidence this Summer League as he should being a 2nd year guy.
Interestingly, Mike Bresnahan keeps saying that DeAngelo will NOT be playing Point Guard and especially with Calderon and Huertas on the roster, will be playing most of his time at the 2 spot. I don’t know if this is going to be the case. Bresnahan seems to believe that the Lakers think he is NOT a PG after all and that they would rather develop him as a 2 who can play a little 1 at times. This seems to go against what has been said publicly. I have heard Luke call Russell a POINT GUARD on more than one occasion (including after practice this week) and though he certainly can work off the ball and be something of a combo guard, I believe him playing at the 2 negates his the advantages that he holds as a PG namely his size.
A 6’5″ PG is big. A 6’5″ SG is more or less average. Also, it seems that though clearly smaller quicker guards are hard for him to stay in front of, his surprising effectiveness in the post against smaller players is a match up advantage in the Lakers favor almost ALL the time. I don’t see him posting guys that are his size or bigger very effectively. We obviously have mucho flexibility with a very versatile back court for Luke to go big or small, traditional or positionless but I still feel that DeAngelo being developed as a PG is especially advantageous.
Let’s see how he looks and lets see Ingram and Zubac and LARRY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Like Darius, I’m just stoked for some basketball sloppy as I know it will be.
Lets get it INDEED!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Go Lakers!!!!
Clay Bertrand says
I forgot to mention Anthony Brown!! I hope he can regain the shooting stroke he had at Stanford now that he’s had more experience from NBA range.
30twhite40 says
Looking forward to see how Brandon Ingram looks. Hopefully he will be a foundation piece and a building block in the Lakers future. It’s Summer League so lots of turnovers and sloppy play but should be a few good moments for the Lakers.
matt24 says
Good thing i am not the gm, i wanted to draft diallo, zubac looks waaaay better
fern16 says
Ingram looks very goo!!
fern16 says
Zubak looking great too!! DAR and Ingram look veeery good togheter. They can do a LOT of damage.
smokedaddy says
Larry Jr and Ivica are both looking great. Very active on both ends. Mixed results for DLO. Brandon really showing some great flashes.
matt24 says
Looks like alot of zone defense, byron scott never used zone defense
fern16 says
Let me say this and I don’t say it lightly but for me Ingram looks beyond Summer League level. I know i know, I don’t know how many of you are watching the game but he looks that polished on both ends of the court already.
smokedaddy says
I am just loving BI. Damn! Hard to believe Zubac is just 19. Very strong and fluid with really good timing effort blocking and defending. Great looking shot.
fern16 says
Tomorrow Simmons vs Ingram ohhh boyy!!!
fern16 says
I don’t know. He had some turnovers but he heated up in the second half. 15 points and 8 rebounds at the half are a little more than a “mixed bag”
fern16 says
Zubac is looking better than what i thought. The babyface has game and defense!!! Im REALLY exited about these kids!!!
30twhite40 says
Agree, Ingram is looking good.
matt24 says
Zubac with the post hook vs a true big
KL2016 says
That’s why we signed Zu.
Ingram really looks good.
BuckFoston says
ZuBlock!!
30twhite40 says
Welcome to the NBA Buddy Hield as Nance Jr rejects the shot.
Joel_ says
Zubac was drafted where again? 🙂
KevTheBold says
Great little game,.. that Zubac is a keeper, and a steal.
Not surprised that Ingram did so well,.. that kid has star potential written all over him.
Good to see D’Angelo taking charge and using what he learned over the process.
Can’t wait for tomorrow’s game !!
smokedaddy says
guysmiths21rules well. ah. no.
fern16 says
DAR on Ingram: ” He looked like he wasn’t even triying, when he really tries is going to be scary”
Joe Kerr says
I like Russell at PG because of his size advantage, but the dude is really a SG. However, in today’s NBA, with guys like Westbrook and Rose, being a scoring PG is run of the mill. If he focuses on scoring primarily and letting assists come to him naturally, I think he would be fine at PG.
Msway says
Talking about upside, Zubac is going to be an absolute monster. Mitch said that the kid made the all America teams Big’s disapear. He is 19,Is he going to grow more? 5 years from now he will be entering his prime,We need more 2nd round picks.
bluehill says
I have to keep telling myself – it’s just a summer league game, but that was fun to watch and makes me feel a lot better about the future.
EuropeanLaker says
With that kind of summer league game it seems like the new hope that came with hiring Luke Walton and drafting Ingram wasn’t just the desperate need of a brighter future. This guy can play? Of course it is just the summer league but you want him to avoid the talk that comes with an underwhelming performance. If he keeps on playing like that in the next couple of summer league games he won’t have to go through the same that D’Angelo experienced a year ago.
Just like the rest of you I loved Zubacs performance. I was very surprised that he was able to have such an impact on defense without fouling. I think that is a very promising sign for the defensive game a 19 year old kid from Croatia will have (in a few years).
Speaking of defense, A. Brown was great at that end of the floor. I hope he can gain some confidence on offense during summer league.
It seemed like Nance really has added some range on his jumper. That’s very encouraging. With his defense (fueled by some outstanding effort and activeness) I am very curious to see what Randle achieved during the summer.
The only disappointment was D’Angelos defense. I like the way he communicated with his team mates and what he did on offense but despite all the chatter about him beeing a bust I was always confident that he will be fine on that end of the floor and he is capable of being a leader (although it’s nice to get some confirmation). It is the defensive side of the ball where I hope for some improvement.
But nevertheless I am really looking forward to the next game against the 76ers.
Gunslinger3 says
Anybody know where i can catch the replay online? I am actually in Vegas, and have league pass and direct tv, but keep running into blackout messages
bleedpurplegold says
He could join me and my friend anytime he wants xD
Many things to be exited about in this game. Zublocka looked like a top10 pick to me, ingram is indeed the real deal, nance jr. developed a three and can be our stretch 4 and a.brown showed he deserves a spot in our rotation. Dlo was aggressive down low, which i like, cause with his length against other pgs this will be a great weapon in his arsenal. He knows he will get his j off anytime he wants so giving them some other things to handle will keep them honest, which will give the other guys chances. Our defense looks a little bit improved, too, mixing it up and showing the offense different looks with different zones as well as some man2man.
I would like us to get out of some shooting slumps a little bit quicker, which costed us some big leads in the first half, but that will come with experience. Really looking forward to the sixers game
BigCitySid10552 says
– Only the 1st summer league game, but watching this game made me feel pretty good. Our guys have gone from irrelevant to interesting. NBA, were back.
Minor Threatt says
A lot of positives last night, against a N.O. team that got some decent looks but couldn’t buy a bucket. As European noted, a guy I was happy to see contribute was Anthony Brown. He only shot 1 of 5 on threes, but was really active on the perimeter. Several times he was disruptive enough, fighting through screens, that he caused the Pelicans to have to shoot from beyond the arc (where they were terrible; 3 for 20) to beat the shot clock. If he can get back his three-point stroke from college — just enough to keep opposing teams honest — he is going to be a valuable rotation guy. He reminds me of a slightly bigger Bazemore; I’d love to see if we could develop our own.
Also, as many people noted, Zubac surprised. He appeared to get lost down low on defense rotations occasionally, and he was sometimes out of position on the defensive glass (he probably should have had more than two defensive rebounds). But those are pretty minor complaints for a 19-year-old. When he learns better positioning, he’s big enough that he can clean up the boards. He also erased a couple of mistakes down low; on one sequence he showed surprising agility to change direction and block a shot. He has some hops! And on offense, he showed nice touch, hands and range — pretty much everything you’d want to see. Makes me think he can be a really good P&R man.
One other thing: Zach Auguste’s game wasn’t always pretty, but he came as advertised: high-energy and with constant motor. I don’t know if there’s a place for him, but I’ll be interested to see how he looks during the rest of Summer League. Certainly a guy I’d be interested seeing on the D-League roster, at least.
Laker Old Timer says
BI looks like the reincarnation of Jamaal “the Silk” Wilkes and Zublock as the Yosemite El Capitan direct from Croatia. Ole Lakers, sorry you will be missing a lot of fun this coming season.
Shaunis007 says
or keep dar at the 2 and sign wb at the 1 next year
A Horse With No Name says
Awesome El Cap reference—as an old valley climber and Camp Four denizen, that made me smile U0001f60a