LAKERS -vs- HEAT - 7-3-23 - Thoughts and :-(( Ratings

[DancingBarry]

Summer League Game 1... Always my favorite game of the year to read massive overreactions from folks. Guys are often busts (and later get paid massive contracts in the NBA) or amazing steals and the next big thing (and end up out of the league or on the fringe).

I remember some horrific to lukewarm debuts from some excellent ballers. You don’t have to play like a superstar in the summer league and you can suck badly one game, then show something later. Alex Caruso looked completely awful in his Laker debut, then later in the summer league had a triple-double.

So little matters in the first game. Someone can be atrocious, then just crush it later. What we hope to see are flashes of skills and guys putting together some games or moments as the summer league goes along.

Slow start for L.A. today as the Lakers got hammered in the first half, down 60-40 by halftime. They did a better job meeting the aggression and the moment in the second half, but still fell short 107-90. Some details below.


Christie -- -- He had 11 points in the first half, looking much improved over this time last year. He looks confident out there even in the chaos of a first summer league game. He had a nice cross between his legs to change directions in transition and score a layup. He hit a short pull up off a rock-back dribble in the paint. He’d hit another short one across the paint in the second half. I like seeing guys with his length getting into the middle of the paint and finding space. Really hard to defend that. His length also drew a foul on one of those pull-ups. He’d sink a catch and shoot three, miss a corner three and miss a pull-up three. Good start to the summer league as he’s very much looked like he was ready to contribute as a rotation piece this next season. Keep that up. The Stats: He scored 17 points on 6-11 shooting (1-3 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 6 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 3 fouls in 32 minutes. He was a -6.

Hood-Schifino -- -- All eyes on JHS, the Lakers pick at 17. On court, you can see his size. At times, he almost moves like a PG version of Rick Fox. To start the game, it looked like the game was moving way too fast for JHS on both ends. In the second half, you could see a change when his pace picked up and he got more comfortable. He’ll catch up with that in a lot of areas offensively, but defensively is something to look at. Focusing on his strengths first, his midrange pull-up game was money in college. You could see he was getting a little caught by surprise by how closely guys were able to recover and challenge his jumper in that first half and he missed just about everything. He found more space as the game went along and his speed picked up. He’d hit a floater and a short pull-up in the lane later in the game. He got a couple scores on the drive. One he attacked left after a change of speeds for a layup. Another he attacked right, bumped off the defender and scored an And-1 layup. You want to see him use his size consistently like that. He struggles some to get separation with his handle. That impacted him on a couple of drives that resulted in difficult challenges in the first half. Some more work on the handle and more craft using the body more consistently will help a lot. On the concerning side with the speed of the game, there were multiple times defensively where guys blew past him. In college, we saw some slow-footedness that had him ushering guys to the paint. That was the case today. So, you question whether he will be able to cover the point. Let’s see how the D picks up here the more he gets used to the speed at this level. He did show some of his strengths defensively, though, recovering to block a shot on one drive. He may have also stripped the ball once, as well. I expect a much better start in the next game. I probably watched about 10 full games of his in college and this was the worst stretch of ball I recall. So give him a little time to adjust. I like the aggression even if the shot wasn’t falling. The Stats: He scored 15 points on 6-19 shooting (0-5 from three, 3-3 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 4 assists, 1 steal, (1 block, but no credit), 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 29 minutes.

Swider -- -- He’s got the rare 2-year, 2-day deal. Our designated three shooter was back in action. He lit it up last summer league. He’d miss a couple attempts early before beating the shotclock for a three. He drain a couple more as the game went along. He let a man fly by on another and sank the corner three. He drained a quick-fire three off a quick feed from Christie on the perimeter. Some sloppy passing in this one that resulted in turnovers. Those are the kinds of things you don’t want to see from him. He needs to be clean on other things since the D can be marginal at times. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 3-9 shooting (3-6 from three, 4-4 from the line) to go with 5 boards, 1 assist, 3 turnovers and 3 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -8.

Killeya-Jones -- -- Back with the summer league squad for a second go around, he got the start over Castleton. Not sure why except maybe if he is familiar with some of the play calls they want to run? In any event, kind of a warm body out there. Castleton outplayed him for sure. He’d score on a jumphook in the middle of the paint in the second half. He also drew some FTs crashing the glass. The Stats: He scored 3 points on 1-5 shooting (0-1 from three, 1-4 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 2 steals, 2 blocks, 3 turnovers and 2 fouls in 19 minutes. He was a -7.

Figeroa -- -- Played with a lot of energy and bounce. Late in the game, we went super small, running him at center. During that stretch, he had a couple putback dunks getting a running start at the rim from the perimeter. A lot of drive attempts, a couple of those got him to the line for FTs. Some were awkward misses, where he was either off balance or just missed a gimmie. He missed his threes, looked like misses as soon as they left his hand. Good effort out there. The Stats: He scored 13 points on 5-11 shooting (0-3 from three, 3-6 from the line) to go with 7 boards (3 offensive), 1 steal, 1 turnover and 1 foul in 22 minutes. He was a -9.

Castleton -- -- He picked up quite a few cheap fouls or non-fouls. Really ticky-tack calls by the refs. Sometimes you have hand checks and things you aren’t used to at this level, but the refs seemed way to whistle happy. He showed a little bit of his handle on some pushouts, but didn’t really show off how that plays out in his high-post, face-up game. But you might get a little picture there that he can move with the ball some. He scored a couple times off interior feeds and handled some tough passes for scores. We saw a rare jumper out of him when he rattled in a 16-footer straight away. Not great on the challenges as he didn’t seem as disruptive as he can be and, in fact, got baptized on the break on a throwdown. The passing skills weren’t quite as prevalent as in college where they ran a lot of offense through him. He did hit Hodge for a layup on a give-and-go. As the summer league goes along, I suspect we see a little more offense run through him and the passing comes out as the team starts to gel more. The Stats: He scored 11 points on 5-5 shooting (1-2 from the line) to go with 4 boards, 2 assists, 1 block, 2 turnovers and 6 fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -10.

Lewis -- -- Decent feel-out game from him. Like Castleton, he came off the bench. Good overall play. Not a tremendous amount of action. In the first half, he missed an iso baseline jumper. He attacked a close out and dished to Castleton for a score. He scored a layup on an off-ball cut when a teammate spotted him. He up-faked from the three line and drove for a layup. In the second half, he missed a three on a jab step. He drew FTs a couple times, once crashing the glass, another time getting hacked badly. He played mostly clean out there until picking up a late double dribble where he was about to pass, but did not. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 2-4 shooting (0-1 from three, 3-4 from the line) to go with 3 boards, 3 assists, 1 steal, 1 turnover and no fouls in 16 minutes. He was a -7.

Hodge -- -- As I mentioned in his thread, I think it will be a little tough for him to show his skills because he plays off of others a lot and wouldn’t be a primary ball handler. His first touch of the game, he drilled a three on a handoff from Castleton to start the second quarter. A set play to get him one of those touches. He had a great perimeter steal showing a little bit of this active hands and reach as he took it the distance fora dunk. He’d get another And-1 layup off a give-and-go with Castleton. So, played well with his big as those two know how to play team ball. Second half, he missed a couple of threes. Both seemed like shots because he hadn’t gotten touches. I think as the team comes together more, his touches will pick up. The Stats: He scored 7 points on 3-6 shooting (1-4 from three, 0-1 from the line) to go with 1 offensive board, 1 steal and 3 fouls in 18 minutes. He was a -17.

Baugh -- -- He’d bank in a floater and show some touch on another tricky drive. He showed some of those playmaking skills with a nice find of Lewis cutting for a layup. The Stats: He scored 4 points on 2-6 shooting (0-1 from three) to go with 3 boards, 2 assists, 1 steal, 2 turnovers and 2 fouls in 24 minutes. He was a -14.

DuBois -- -- He didn’t start Lewis or Castleton. Hard to say why on Castleton. Lewis looked good but he has Christie in front of him where they might want to play both Max’s at the same position. Could also be that Figueroa has been playing with a lot of energy and standing out in practice… Late in the game, we went super small with Figuroa at C and Swider at the PF. That didn’t do much… Their attempt at zone, too, looked awful…

[Alpha]

Thanks DB!

[Laker7]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacha_Killeya-Jones

Why is this guy on the team? Bounced around multiple overseas and G-League teams. Got cut or left teams early in the season. WTF?
_________________
Darvin Ham is an idiot!

[deal]

Thanks DB, I didn’t get to see the game.


Hopefully, the young guys get it going soon.
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Lakers need to build a freaking team !

[A Mad Chinaman]

"PG Version of Rick Fox" - lol!!

Initially was wondering when did Rick Fox ever moved like a Point Guard/PG - lol!!

[pio2u]

[LakerDYnasty72]

Christie- Best player on the team. Looking like a contributor this year. That stroke on his three ball has always looked good. Plays good defense. Seems to realize that's what's going to get him some playing time from Ham. Where would he have gone if he had stayed just one more year at Michigan State?

Hood-Schifino- He surely is a big guard. Not a super athlete by any means, but has enough athleticism to excel in the league. Still needs to tighten up his handle. He's going to have to play defense with his mind more than his body. By that, I mean he will need to study lots of film of his opponents, become familiar with their respective games, and learn to anticipate what he can expect.

Swider- he's never going to be a demon on defense. Again, just like the others, he needs to really lock into study, study, study of opponents. His jumper will always be his meal ticket in the league.

Lewis- the kid is going to be good. He's long, athletic, and has a nice stroke on that jumper. Film study will do him some good. It'll help him to better use his athletic gifts, especially on defense.

Castleton- Anyone over 6'10, who can handle the ball a bit, move their feet, play agressively, and learn to box out will be a welcome addition to the team. He is welcome.

Hodge- He has game. He played within himself except for a few instances. Looks like his defense can translate fairly well in the league.

The only one who looked like crap was the starting center, Killeya-Jones. I have to look at a couple of more games to get insight on Baugh and the others.

Thanks DB!

[tox]

Thanks DB! Feel like we saw pretty similar things, although you seemed a bit warmer on Castleton than me. Was pretty disappointed in basically everyone's defense besides the Maxes and maybe Baugh + Hodge for a few possessions

[pio2u]

[Alpha]

[LFsnz67]

It's going to be interesting in a couple of years to look back and see if the Lakers made the right choice between JHS and Jaime Jaquez Jr.