Posts
By: Slam
The biggest NBA Summer League happens in Las Vegas every year with 22 teams competing. The Summer League is a great place to watch current Euroleague players such as Pooh Jeter, Alan Anderson, and Charles Gaines try and make the jump to the NBA. The main purpose for the Summer League though is to see which prospects are ready to play in the NBA regular season. At the midway point (3 games) of the week Slam checks in to see which European prospects are playing well and which ones might be headed back to Europe. Let’s call this game 2 Up and 2 Down.
Rodrigue Beaubois has been one of the most exciting players in Las Vegas
2 Up
Rodrigue Beaubois- Dallas Mavericks PPG – 19.3 RPG- 3.7 APG- 4.3
Beaubois has surprised a lot of people with his performance at the Summer League. He is too fast and athletic for almost any guard in Vegas and this has led to a dominating performance. In his second game he broke out with 34 points (a Summer League high) and 8 assists while making 7 three pointers. He is really showing off his offense scoring game while still chipping in some assists here and there. If he can keep this up he may be able to take over Jose Juan Barea’s spot on the Dallas bench as an offensive sparkplug. Whether he plays for Dallas next season or not, Beaubois has shown that he is in a different class of athleticism than any of the other players here.
Jonas Jerebko- Detroit Pistons PPG- 10.0 RPG- 4.7 APG- 0.7
While Jerebko’s numbers don’t jump out at you, his play does. He is playing tough physical defense and the only reason his points per a game number is down is because he was held to just 13 minutes in his last game scoring 2 points. Jerebko’s shooting has been up in down but it hasn’t affected the rest of his game as he has been able to rebound and defend as well as most players in Vegas. It doesnt help him that the two small forwards drafted ahead of him on the Pistons (Austin Daye and Dajuan Summers) are having two of the best summer league’s of anyone. While his performance hasn’t been as eye-opening as Beaubois, he has shown the skills that can get him on the floor right away in the NBA.
2 Down
It looks like Omri Casspi will be the first Israeli to play in the NBA
Omri Casspi- Sacramento Kings PPG- 6.3 RPG- 3.0 APG- 2.0
This pains me to write as I am a big Casspi fan, but he just hasn’t been getting it done against the rest of the competition so far this week. He is shooting 33% from the field and on top of that he is not attacking the glass very well either. Casspi has looked lost at times playing against more athletic players and even though he is averaging a solid 22 minutes per a game he has only broken 10 points once. Casspi though has already signed his rookie contract so the Kinds are invested in him for next year.
Joe Ingles- Golden State Warriors PPG- 2.0 RPG- 3.0 APG- 1.0
This is another player I want to like because of his smooth shooting stroke and lanky frame but Joe can’t find his shot. I know it was a long flight from Australia but there’s no reason he should be shooting 2-13 from the field and 2-9 behind the arc. Ingles only chance to make the Warriors is to do what Marco Belineli did in the Summer League and just go bonkers from deep, but he has yet to do so. Looks like Ingles will be heading back down under but let’s hope he puts on at least one shooting display before the week is out.
Christian Eyenga could be playing for the Cavs sooner than you think
Wildcard
Christian Eyenga- Cleveland Cavaliers PPG- 5.5 RPG- 3.0 APG- 1.0
In 21 minutes a game Christian Eyenga is getting pretty similar stats to fellow first round pick Omri Casspi and I don’t think many people predicted that. He just turned 20 last month and Eyenga has played fairly well for Cleveland showing that he is an athletic 3 who has a very raw offensive game but you can see the potential. Yes he missed all four of shots in one game to finish with one point, but those performances can be expected from him somtimes. Eyenga will most definitely be in Europe next year but he has showed all his doubters that he can play and has the potential to be an NBA player.
Check back later this Monday to see how the rest of the week in Vegas played out.