roasthawg
Starter
That's what I was thinking. Skills aside, his physical/athletic profile doesn't fit. Slow and not a good leaper. Just big and strong.
Summer League Impressions (other than Kings)
- Thread starter Blob
- Start date
Players association gonna fight for no summer league and 2 game preseason and 30 game season with minimum contracts of 10mil per year 3 years guaranteed.
KingsFanGER
Starter
Bogut was slow but won a championship with the Warriors. Zaza isn't quick but won a chip. You sometimes need a true big on a team. And we saw during last season, that Papa is able to protect the rim and rebound, he even hit some smooth jumpshots here and there. What's happening now is, that the Kings for whatever reason decided to still play offensive sets, that were implementent when DMC was still with the team and therefore ask our bigs to post up or make plays out of the high post. That's way beyond Papa's skill level. In a lesser role he might look quite serviceable.
Everbody is big on bringing the young guys around slow this time, because more playing time could somehow destroy their confidence. But then we ask guys to do things in SL, that aren't there for them yet. What's that going to do with their confidence?
roasthawg
Starter
Yeah no I get it... Just tough to watch. The kids have only had like three months off and we're expecting them to be drastically improved. The apparent regression is what sucks but it's one game and in the summer league. Hopefully tonight's game is better.
I agree. From a basketball standpoint we should be looking to be a lot more perimeter oriented, run more PnRs rather than throwing it to Skal or Papa in the high post.
You have four guys from last year wanting to show how much they've improved and three rookies from this year trying to show that they belong. I think once everyone relaxes a bit they'll be able to play better team ball.
Blob
Starter
I wonder how many "fanboys" of Lonzo (who I thought was mediocre at best yesterday) ever saw Jason Williams play??? J-Will was an incredible talent and athlete and passer. He puts Lonzo ball to shames in terms of showmanship and fearlessness and bravado on the court. The difference between J-Will and Lonzo is J-Will would force you to guard him. He was also relentless in attacking the paint to draw and dish or finish on his own. I actually find Lonzo Ball to be a boring basketball player. He is a boring personality and his game is boring. J-Will was undeniably a better passer, shooter and athlete.. Once the hype wears off and he is averaging 7 PPG 9 APG and 38% FGs in February I think most NBA fans will be bored with him, even Laker fans.
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Blob
Starter
I may have underestimated Dennis Smith. The main issue I had with him was his effort towards the end of the college season. He was completely disengaged. He looked engaged yesterday. And unlike Fultz he is definitely a PG. But he is going to struggle defensively and he does not cover a lot of ground with his strides. The escape quickness is not there. That is a concern for a player of his length (6'3"). He is more of power PG than a speed PG. He does have pretty good court vision though and held his own against Dunn. Good debut. And Lauri M. can put the ball down on the floor which makes him formidable when he gets run off the line. He showed something. The guy who was a disaster was Cameron Payne, looked worse than a rookie, and who the Bulls gave up a lot to get. So glad we didn't trade for him.
Blob
Starter
I didn't watch the game yet but yeah if you shoot the ball 26 times you should get to the line more than zero times.
roasthawg
Starter
Very good point, let's see if they look a little better tonight.
Mitchell just ended up settling for a ton of jumpshots. Think of Lonzo's 1st game. I think once he improves his ball handling, he'll become a better all-around scorer. He has the quickness, but his handles aren't at the same speed. Mitchell-Hood could be a nice scoring punch
Kingsfan23
All-Star
I'm not sure I see Mitchell as a lead NBA guard as of now, or at least in the sense of being the primary playmaker, so it might be interesting how he does against NBA twos.
The Effort Police
Starter
Well, at the moment I'm certainly not regretting trading away Chriss.
Lots of people on here disliked him here despite not even watching him. His attitude concerns were so damn overplayed...it even went as far as people blacklisting him.
Suicide King
Starter
I don't foresee myself ever regretting it. I don't care how well he plays.
Tetsujin
The Game Thread Dude
To be fair, if people were going to be bent out of shape by Boogie's perceived attitude problems then they're completely justified in worrying about Chriss's attitude.
kingjatt
Starter
They showed a lengthy interview of him in the arena during halftime and he seems to really want to be great, he can easily end up being the best in this draft and being picked at 9 the Mavs got great value.
He is outplaying everyone out there today, different level.
roasthawg
Starter
Dsj is the man. I'm glad we got Fox, makes it easier to stomach him going one pick before #10. I had him in my top five based on him having a good chance at being a great individual talent. Whether or not that translates to winning is what we'll have to see.
kingjatt
Starter
He is right there with Fox (Fox may be a bit better) but having them both would be off the charts.
Suicide King
Starter
I agree with you on Chriss. He has a different attitude issue than Boogie, but the post you quoted from 206Fan was talking about DSJ.
( I believe)
kingsfan1984
Starter
Hits the nail on the head. I was trying to write up a similar point but in 10x more words to get around to it. Guys need to showcase their "togetherness" and chemistry and direct their anxious desire to prove themseves into showing how well theywork in a unit versus trying to one up each other
Kingster
Hall of Famer
Ball's passes have nothing to do with showmanship. It's not razmattaz, it's not passing behind the back and between the legs, it's putting the ball on the money with 9 other players on the floor moving at top speed. It's interesting how we've gone from the Jimmer comparison to J-Will in the span of a few weeks. We'll see what the comparisons are in a couple of years.
Although I wasn't unhappy with Fox selection, I liked them both. I thought of Fox as the defensive player, with Smith Jr the offense. Many on the boards more or less dismissed Smith, but his highlights were there. He's like gang-busters in summer league. We'll see how consistent that is. He'll start for Dallas I think.. As I've mentioned a few times, I was really hoping on Juwan Evans instead of Mason - that's what irked me in the draft. The Giles pick was a complete gamble. They targeted Justin Jackson, and was able to take a swing on Giles. From the press comments sounds like Giles will not be playing much.
The Effort Police
Starter
Some observations.
-Dennis Smith Jr. looked great. I flip-flopped on whether I wanted him or Fox; would've been thrilled with either. Just one game though.
-Some second year guys struggling. Chriss, Bender, Maker, Zubac, Murray. Most of these guys are bigs, but they're struggling in different ways. Chriss is out of control, Zubac seems invisible. Murray has just been flat out terrible.
-Jaylen Brown hasn't dominated Summer League like I thought he would after the first game. I've heard they're experimenting with him at point-forward or something, though.
-Ante Zizic is nothing special.
-Dennis Smith Jr. looked great. I flip-flopped on whether I wanted him or Fox; would've been thrilled with either. Just one game though.
-Some second year guys struggling. Chriss, Bender, Maker, Zubac, Murray. Most of these guys are bigs, but they're struggling in different ways. Chriss is out of control, Zubac seems invisible. Murray has just been flat out terrible.
-Jaylen Brown hasn't dominated Summer League like I thought he would after the first game. I've heard they're experimenting with him at point-forward or something, though.
-Ante Zizic is nothing special.
Dennis Smith Jr is the real deal. Mavs let him thrive by letting him play pick n roll with great spacing. Kings have Fox running an outdated system where he cant drive to the basket because there are two non shooting bigs clogging the lane so he has to do all his work on fast breaks and mid range jumpers.
Kingsfan23
All-Star
Aside from the injury concerns about his knee, one of the issues with DSJ was motor/leadership. When he plays to his capabilities he's beast, and the first few games of his NBA career means he will be giving everything he has. Mid December? We will see
