As I have for the last several years, I went to the Vegas Summer League this year and checked out several of the games. When I watch these games I care a lot more about how a player plays as opposed to what his final box score looks like, and I ask myself questions to help me evaluate each performance. Was there any part of his game (positive or negative) that stood out? Would the things that he did in Vegas translate to the NBA? How does his Vegas performance match what I already knew about him? This year I got to see several potential fantasy draftees up close, including John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, Wesley Johnson, Greg Monroe, Al-Farouq Aminu, DeAndre Jordan, JeVale McGee, Rodrigue Beabouis, and Eric Bledsoe. Here are some of my thoughts.
John Wall: Wall looks to be the real deal. Even if I had come in with no idea who Wall was, after watching the games I would have chosen him as the best player. He ended up leading the league in both scoring and assists. Wall is very quick and crafty off the dribble, and in the game I saw no one (including former teammate Eric Bledsoe) could stay in front of him. He did not look like a natural point guard, as he still seemed somewhat uncomfortable at times running the basic half-court set, but he has the tools to be a good fantasy point guard. He has great cross-court court-vision and knows where his shooters are spotted up, which led to a lot of drive-and-kick or cross-court pass assists. He also needs to work on his jumper, though recent young PGs like Derrick Rose, Rajon Rondo and Russell Westbrook have shown that you can be a big-time contributor even without one. Wall is going to get a lot of steals this season, as he has long arms and quick hands and can be disruptive to both the dribbler and in pass lanes. Finally, Wall seemed very relaxed and comfortable on the court, joking and laughing with coach Sam Cassell during dead balls and knocking down free throws despite loud chants from a crazily dressed Clipper fan who heckled him all game (including a hilarious "U-G-L-Y you ain't got no alibi you ugly!" chant). Should be good right away.
DeMarcus Cousins: Cousins has a higher upside than I realized, as his game is much more diverse than advertised. He is huge but athletically built, was very comfortable operating out of the post, and was a better passer than I expected both out of the post and off the face-up. He also had a very nice shooting touch and seemed comfortable shooting off the face-up out to about 19 feet. He swished every FT that I saw him take. In the first game that I saw him in he was ok on the boards, but in the second he vacuumed the glass. On the downside, he didn't really dominate much defensively and I don't expect much in the way of blocks or steals from him as a rookie. Also, one of the knocks on Cousins has been that his attitude is shaky, so I did notice that his body language wasn't always positive. On one play in particular, he threw a beautiful over-the-shoulder pass from the extended post to a cutting teammate who caught it under the rim and missed the layup, and Cousins responded to the miss by clapping his hands in disgust and yelling when running back up the court. I have read other accounts that suggest this wasn't an isolated incident, so that is worth keeping an eye on. But if Cousins gets starters minutes early and keeps his head on straight he definitely has 15 point/10-rebound potential.
Wesley Johnson: Incomplete. I watched Johnson against the Spurs, and was extremely concerned that my previous touting of him as a dark horse ROY candidate was way off the mark. Johnson was invisible at both ends, consistently posting at the baseline 3-point line away from the ball on offense and not doing much to hinder his man on defense. In the first quarter that I watched, Johnson had 0 points on 0-for-1 FG, 1 turnover, 0 assists, and 0 rebounds in more than 7 minutes of play. Later that day, though, I found out that he was playing through a sore hamstring and he didn't play at all in the second Timberwolves game I watched later in the week. So for now I'll give Johnson an injury mulligan, though he's going to have to look pretty impressive in the preseason to move any earlier than the late rounds on my fantasy draft board.
Greg Monroe: Monroe looked fundamentally sound and was productive in both games that I saw him in, but he didn't especially stand out. Neither his size nor his athletic ability seemed to separate him much from his opponents, and I'm just not sure how his game will translate to the NBA. Kind of like James Harden last year I'm not quite convinced that Monroe will be an impact fantasy player as a rookie, so I am unlikely to draft him unless he is available late.
Al-Farouq Aminu: Aminu has good size for a small forward and moves reasonably well for that size, though he wasn't quite the athletic freak that I thought he would be. He seemed comfortable facing up with the ball in his hand, but he wasn't very explosive off the dribble and couldn't hit a jumper in the game I saw. He looked like a decent hustle player, but he didn't really stand out and I don't know that he'll even win major minutes for the Clippers right away.
DeAndre Jordan: For the second year in a row, Jordan looked like a legit NBA center in Vegas. I saw him in a nice match-up with JeVale McGee from the Wizards, and Jordan was just too much for him. He put 4 fouls on McGee by the start of the second quarter. He was obviously using his time in Vegas to work on his post offense, which still isn't very refined and is based more on physically overpowering his opponent than on any finesse. He also didn't make many of his jumpers or hook shots, but if he was anywhere near the rim it was either a dunk or a foul on a dunk attempt. Jordan won't likely be a great scorer, but with minutes he could definitely be a double-double, possible 15-10 type player. He is stuck behind Chris Kaman on the Clipper depth chart, but in case of injury and/or trade he is one to keep an eye on.
JeVale McGee: McGee showed reasonable skills on offense, but he was overpowered by both Jordan and Sofoklis Schortsanitis (a huge 6-9 center listed as 345 pounds, but that is likely an underestimate). There was one hilarious sequence when McGee tried to take Schortsanitis off the dribble and ran into him, only to bounce off and stumble backward several feet while the stationary big man calmly picked up the ball and went the other way. McGee also repeatedly drew the ire of coach Sam Cassell for his defensive difficulties and presumably not playing the way the coaches wanted, with Cassell turning in one memorable tirade where he kept yelling "He's 7 (blanking) feet tall, why is he going for the steal?" while looking incredulously at his assistant coaches. On the whole it wasn't a very impressive game for McGee, and I would not be surprised if size and instincts continue to be things that could potentially limit his effectiveness and thus his playing time this season.
Rodrigue Beaubois: Beaubois looked as though he could score whenever he wanted in Vegas, though he seemed to be working on fitting into the offense in the game that I saw. He was in single-digit scoring for most of the game, but down the stretch he took and made several big shots in a game that went to overtime. I believe he also threw the inbound alley-oop with .4 seconds left that led to a bucket and sent the game to OT, and in the extra frame he hit the game-winner with time running down. There is talk that Beaubois might get some run as the starting SG for the Mavs, and he seems like he could produce peak Leandro Barbosa-type numbers this season.
Eric Bledsoe: Bledsoe looked very solid running the PG for the Clippers. Like Ty Lawson last year, Bledsoe looks to be NBA ready and is worth keeping an eye on as a backup to an established vet who could produce in case of injury. I saw the Clippers play against the Wizards, and Bledsoe looked more comfortable as a floor general than Wall did. Wall also couldn't stop Bledsoe's dribble penetration any more than Bledsoe could stop Wall. Bledsoe looked poised on the court, like he knew where everyone was and could deliver the ball to them.
Other quick hits:
Blake Griffin was in attendance for the Clippers, but didn't play in the game I saw. He was wearing basketball gear, though, and dribbled around a bit in warm ups. He seemed to be moving well, but he wasn't pushing hard enough to really tell. If he's healthy he's still my prediction for ROY, but health is still a question mark.
Jonny Flynn also didn't play in either Timberwolves game that I saw, though he was on the bench for both. But he got so much playing time last year as a rookie that he probably really didn't need to play in Vegas. Wayne Ellington did play, but his shot was off and he still didn't look ready to make a fantasy contribution as a sophomore.
Finally, a funny story, when I was walking into the arena the first day the ticket-taker stopped the guy in front of me because he was trying to enter without paying. After a moment I glanced over, and realized that the guy being prevented from entering was reigning ROY Tyreke Evans. I and another guy tried to tell the ticket taker who Evans was, but he was adamant and made Evans stand to the side. Evans eventually got in, but the really funny part was that when I took two steps inside I realized that Evans' picture was all over the place inside the vestibule as advertisements for the league, but that still wasn't good enough to get him in without a ticket!