Alrighty, up against a deadline for a translating gig so forgive me if this is shorter than usual. I think I'll just grade the likely roster guys today, if that's alright.
So there goes the summer league championship. Despite a valiant effort from Justin Jackson, Papa, Jakarr, and a bunch of random roster filler, the summer league Kings fell against the Dallas Mavericks summer squad, led by Dennis Smith Jr. and reigning Orlando Summer League Champions. While DSJ may have garnered most of the attention, J-Jacks proved himself worthy of Summer League praise, essentially playing point guard for most of the game.
But still we lost, and tomorrow marks the end of our Summer League season. October can't come soon enough.
Justin Jackson (A):
Is it possible for a 15th overall pick to be a steal because that's increasingly what it feels like Justin Jackson is. While he's still an inconsistent shooter, Jackson has shown a complete offensive game: slick drives to the hoop, three-point range, and the ridiculous midrange floater game that only a guy who reportedly admires George Gervin could develop. With all of our guards injured and/or held out of summer league play, the Kings coaching staff decided to heap more responsibility on Justin's shoulders and he's largely responded in kind, finding guys with passes, defending the other team's best players, and generally being the leader of our young squad. While defensively, Jackson still has room to grow and he's still too weak to guard some of the stronger forwards in the league, it's no longer crazy to think that Jackson may have a large role in the rotation in the coming season.
Skal Labissiere (D):
And bad passive Skal reared his ugly head. After a better performance against the Bucks, Skal was back to his bad passive ways against the Mavericks, largely failing to make any positive impact on the game. Since he's still too weak to really get into the paint, the Haitian Hammer had to rely on his fall away jumper, a strategy that failed to really work at all. Another troubling trend in the big man's play has been his complete inability to make a free throw. While I know that a big man not being able to hit a free throw isn't exactly a new problem, it's still troubling to see from your power forward in the modern NBA.
Georgios Papagiannis (C):
Following up his good performance last night, Papa had an okay night, which is better than bad but not the great follow up night I was hoping for. Papa can really read the caroms of the ball off the rim and really positions himself for the rebound but is, once again, too clumsy to corral a lot of the balls, which is probably the most important part of the whole shebang. On offense, the Greek Peak showcased a couple of solid post moves and on defense, he continued to serve as a shot alterer around the rim, which should be the case seeing as he's one of the biggest dudes in the league. Not great but there's a lot to build upon and, unlike Skal, he exerts himself on the floor.
JaKarr Sampson (B):
Someone compared JaKarr to Quincy Acy in the game thread and, while that's not a bad comparison, I think JaKarr can be a better NBA player than Angry Acy. He's much quicker than the Baylor Bear and is probably a better defender as well. Tonight showcased his shotblocking skill as he tallied four blocks and he once again had a highlight dunk that got called back because one of our crappy depth guards got called for a charge. At this point, it's probably a given that our front office is looking at JaKarr for a two-way contract on our roster and I wholeheartedly endorse that endeavor.
So there goes the summer league championship. Despite a valiant effort from Justin Jackson, Papa, Jakarr, and a bunch of random roster filler, the summer league Kings fell against the Dallas Mavericks summer squad, led by Dennis Smith Jr. and reigning Orlando Summer League Champions. While DSJ may have garnered most of the attention, J-Jacks proved himself worthy of Summer League praise, essentially playing point guard for most of the game.
But still we lost, and tomorrow marks the end of our Summer League season. October can't come soon enough.
Justin Jackson (A):
Is it possible for a 15th overall pick to be a steal because that's increasingly what it feels like Justin Jackson is. While he's still an inconsistent shooter, Jackson has shown a complete offensive game: slick drives to the hoop, three-point range, and the ridiculous midrange floater game that only a guy who reportedly admires George Gervin could develop. With all of our guards injured and/or held out of summer league play, the Kings coaching staff decided to heap more responsibility on Justin's shoulders and he's largely responded in kind, finding guys with passes, defending the other team's best players, and generally being the leader of our young squad. While defensively, Jackson still has room to grow and he's still too weak to guard some of the stronger forwards in the league, it's no longer crazy to think that Jackson may have a large role in the rotation in the coming season.
Skal Labissiere (D):
And bad passive Skal reared his ugly head. After a better performance against the Bucks, Skal was back to his bad passive ways against the Mavericks, largely failing to make any positive impact on the game. Since he's still too weak to really get into the paint, the Haitian Hammer had to rely on his fall away jumper, a strategy that failed to really work at all. Another troubling trend in the big man's play has been his complete inability to make a free throw. While I know that a big man not being able to hit a free throw isn't exactly a new problem, it's still troubling to see from your power forward in the modern NBA.
Georgios Papagiannis (C):
Following up his good performance last night, Papa had an okay night, which is better than bad but not the great follow up night I was hoping for. Papa can really read the caroms of the ball off the rim and really positions himself for the rebound but is, once again, too clumsy to corral a lot of the balls, which is probably the most important part of the whole shebang. On offense, the Greek Peak showcased a couple of solid post moves and on defense, he continued to serve as a shot alterer around the rim, which should be the case seeing as he's one of the biggest dudes in the league. Not great but there's a lot to build upon and, unlike Skal, he exerts himself on the floor.
JaKarr Sampson (B):
Someone compared JaKarr to Quincy Acy in the game thread and, while that's not a bad comparison, I think JaKarr can be a better NBA player than Angry Acy. He's much quicker than the Baylor Bear and is probably a better defender as well. Tonight showcased his shotblocking skill as he tallied four blocks and he once again had a highlight dunk that got called back because one of our crappy depth guards got called for a charge. At this point, it's probably a given that our front office is looking at JaKarr for a two-way contract on our roster and I wholeheartedly endorse that endeavor.
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