Official 2018 Summer League Discussion Thread (July 17 - Final: Lakers vs Blazers)

[PlantedTanks]

[Baron Von Humongous]

[ibitegirls]

Brandon Anderson’s assessment

Link: https://medium.com/@wheatonbrando/nba-summer-league-analysis-manifesto-2018-basketball-every-team-ayton-trae-bagley-bamba-hart-sexton-knox-ad48b24fdca3

Los Angeles Lakers

LeBron really is a magician. Dude just signed two weeks ago and already he has this team losing finals. It’s like he’s been there for years.

Josh Hart

Josh Hart was the Summer League MVP. He played with the confidence of a guy who knows everyone’s there to see him and he can do anything he wants. He made big plays in crunch time, and he shredded other teams early. He was too good to play much at Summer League but then played the whole time anyway because doggone it, he’s competitive and that’s kind of what makes him Josh Hart. Hart looked like an adult playing with kids — mostly because he is, at age 23. He’s mature and intelligent and played the game at a different speed than everyone else at SL. He was the Lakers emotional leader, even down to getting himself ejected late on two separate occasions to make a point to the team. Hart said in an interview that the coaches challenged him to play with more confidence. No one at Summer League played with more confidence. Hart is always in control of his game. He knows exactly what he can do and exactly how to do it. That’s basketball IQ defined.

Hart flashed the whole array of skills. He is very comfortable shooting either off the catch or dribble or on a step-back jumper, and he’s terrific driving to the rim. He has a smooth dribble and attacks downhill, absorbing contact and finishing with either hand, with a nifty Euro side step to create space if needed. Hart drew a lot of fouls, and he was aggressive in pick-and-roll reads and made good decisions. Off the ball, Hart shows excellent movement and cutting. He knows how to get into space and find cracks in the defense. He led all scorers at 22.4 points per game.

Simply put, Hart is the exact sort of guy someone like LeBron James will love playing with. I’m not sure anyone on the Lakers is a better fit next to LeBron. He’s confident, instinctive, and smart, can play on or off the ball, and is an excellent rebounder and strong defender for his size. He’s a gamer. You want that guy on your side, not on the opponent. There was a little summer gunner and some stat inflation against inferior opponents, and Hart isn’t going to be a regular season star, but he proved himself very valuable.

I always expected good things from Hart, but I did not expected to be so impressed with Moe Wagner. I didn’t have a first-round grade on Wagner but he looks like an NBA player. Wagner is a lot more athletic than he seemed at Michigan. He runs the court well and especially surprised on defense, where he racked up four stocks a game. We already know Wagner can shoot as a stretch big, but he showed a nice feel around the basket and might be able to contribute some defensively. Add in his brash energy and he feels like a Laker and a guy LeBron will want to play with.

I liked Wagner as a pick a lot more after the Lakers signed LeBron, and the same was true for Kansas sharpshooter Svi Mykhailiuk, whose name I can finally spell without looking. We already know Svi can shoot the lights out of the gym, but we didn’t know he could create his own shot a bit and shoot off the dribble as he did at SL. Svi is smallish and isn’t a good dribbler, and his size and lack of athleticism cost him on breaks or trying to finish at the rim. He’s still mostly just a shooter. But the Lakers don’t have many of those. Svi scored 16.6ppg and hit 41% of his threes, second in SL in total points.

Isaac Bonga is fun. He’s crazy long, just all arms and legs, and it’s incredibly raw. He was the youngest player in the draft and is still learning how to dribble and handle, like a fawn that was handed a basketball. He got called for traveling several times in one game, and he can’t shoot. How’s that for a project?

Summer League cult hero Alex Caruso was also present. I don’t feel the need to evaluate him.