Grades: Kings Summer League GAME 5, 7/13/17

Who would have helped the most tonight


  • Total voters
    32

Tetsujin

The Game Thread Dude
#1
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.
 
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#2
Justin has earned my respect with his summer league play, despite inconsistent shooting. I'd say, going into training camp, that he's looking more and more like our starting SF. His game is different, but he reminds me a lot of Lionel Simmons in that he's a rookie who doesn't make a lot of rookie mistakes and so won't hurt you (or cost you points). He's definitely playing better than his end-of-lottery pick suggests.
 
#3
My only thing with Jackson is that while we need a sf he seems like more of a sg currently. We have a lot of guys who can play the 2 or the 3. No real small ball 4 types who are natural 3's.
 
#4
JJ needs to get stronger before he can start imo. He's such a soft player and doesn't like getting physical. I mean there's no surprise he guarded DSJ last night.. over players like Dorian Finney Smith and Brandon Ashley. Jackson is also a terrible rebounder. We're going to be net-negative on the boards if he's on our starting lineup. Just look at this game.

He played 35 minutes and grabbed only 4 rebounds. That's horrible for a SF. Needs to get stronger and play more physical. I don't think he can guard SFs
 
#5
JJ needs to get stronger before he can start imo. He's such a soft player and doesn't like getting physical. I mean there's no surprise he guarded DSJ last night.. over players like Dorian Finney Smith and Brandon Ashley. Jackson is also a terrible rebounder. We're going to be net-negative on the boards if he's on our starting lineup. Just look at this game.

He played 35 minutes and grabbed only 4 rebounds. That's horrible for a SF. Needs to get stronger and play more physical. I don't think he can guard SFs
Interesting. Your read is that we were hiding Jackson on Smith? I took it as we were looking for length which would bother smith.
 
#6
Interesting. Your read is that we were hiding Jackson on Smith? I took it as we were looking for length which would bother smith.
Not that we were hiding Jackson on Smith, but Smith was a better matchup defensively for Jackson. Guys like DFS and Ashley have a back-to-basket game. DSJ was a really tough cover for Jackson, but he was a better matchup.
 
#7
Let me back off from where some of you guys have gone, last night Jackson had a very good game and shows promise as a player for this coming season. He payed minutes in every game, he played well, and he showed smarts about the game of basketball. So far, good pick.
 
#8
Observations from the Summer League games..... both Skal and Papa are way too inconsistent to be depended on for big minutes this season.

I think Randolph will have to start at Power Forward to begin the season. Skal should be getting 20-25 minutes per night.

Kosta Koufos should not be traded. Papa G will need at least another year of developing, before he can be a reliable rotation player. He needs to bring his intensity every night and catch up to the speed of the game. He has to learn that he is bigger than almost everyone on the court, just take the ball straight up and dunk it!

Justin Jackson will be starting at Small Forward by Christmas.

Fox was a blur when healthy and Mason is going to be a solid backup PG.

Sign Sampson to a 2 way deal and see if he can become a solid 3 and D small forward.

Buddy and Bogdan will be battling it out for the starting Shooting Guard spot.
 
#9
JJ needs to get stronger before he can start imo. He's such a soft player and doesn't like getting physical. I mean there's no surprise he guarded DSJ last night.. over players like Dorian Finney Smith and Brandon Ashley. Jackson is also a terrible rebounder. We're going to be net-negative on the boards if he's on our starting lineup. Just look at this game.

He played 35 minutes and grabbed only 4 rebounds. That's horrible for a SF. Needs to get stronger and play more physical. I don't think he can guard SFs
Give me a break. Yeah, he can stand to get stronger. That goes for almost all rookies. He plays surprisingly tough for his size. And he is a SF, not a SG. Last night he was the main ball handler and distributor. Factor that in when you declare him a poor rebounder based on last night's game.
 
#11
Give me a break. Yeah, he can stand to get stronger. That goes for almost all rookies. He plays surprisingly tough for his size. And he is a SF, not a SG. Last night he was the main ball handler and distributor. Factor that in when you declare him a poor rebounder based on last night's game.
He showed decent handles one time taking the full length of the court for an and-one. I was having a tough time coming up with a comp for Jackson, then it hit me! Otto Porter. :)

Sure enough Otto and Jackson have almost the same vitals (height, wingspan, weight) both are smooth players with an easy three ball release and come off the curl on the down screen.

One difference is Otto came into the league two years younger than Jackson. It took him until his third season to turn into player in route to his 100M contract. In year three Otto put up 12 and 5 on 46% FGs and 37% on 3s. These kind of numbers would be nice to get from Jackson.

He seems to have the instincts and repertoire to be a 10 PPG scorer off the bench fairly soon.
 
#12
Give me a break. Yeah, he can stand to get stronger. That goes for almost all rookies. He plays surprisingly tough for his size. And he is a SF, not a SG. Last night he was the main ball handler and distributor. Factor that in when you declare him a poor rebounder based on last night's game.
And concur 100% he is a SF not a SG. He is not a physical defender but played fairly well as a positional defender sliding his feet to deny penetration and play the angles better than your typical rookie.
 
#13
I liked what I saw of JaKarr Sampson against Dallas. It looks like he has the physical tools to go against the stronger SF's. I'm not sure what a 2 way deal is but wouldn't mind seeing Sampson stick with the team in some capacity.
 
#15
Calling it:

Justin Jackson is our starting three on opening night and for every night for next several years. He's our solution at the three.

I dunno about that...I'd rather they start Vince at SF and make Jackson earn that roll over time. It'll bring the best out of him.
His offensive game is pretty advanced for a rookie though.. He always seems to be in the right spot.. His passing has impressed me the most.
 
#16
In general I'd like 2 out of 4 of WCS/Skal/Giles/Papa to turn out as good long term pieces. While Skal/Papa have a lot of natural ability, and are seemingly hard working kids, there might be a little bit more emphasis on WCS/Giles for me than before SL

I can see Jackson starting shortly
 
#17
In general I'd like 2 out of 4 of WCS/Skal/Giles/Papa to turn out as good long term pieces. While Skal/Papa have a lot of natural ability, and are seemingly hard working kids, there might be a little bit more emphasis on WCS/Giles for me than before SL

I can see Jackson starting shortly
If Giles is healthy Papa with be playing. I love that he didn't play SL even though I wanted him too bring him slow and in 2 years can play 20-28mpg.
 
#18
I dunno about that...I'd rather they start Vince at SF and make Jackson earn that roll over time. It'll bring the best out of him.
His offensive game is pretty advanced for a rookie though.. He always seems to be in the right spot.. His passing has impressed me the most.
If he earns it in camp he earns it in camp.

As someone said earlier, if you have guys start for reasons other than they deserve it, it creates major problems in the locker room.

These are pros and they have legitimate workplace grievances if they are deserving of a starting spot but don't get one. That "motivational" stuff is either for players who lack their own motivation (we don't want those anyway) or high school kids.