How did the top picks in this year's NBA draft perform in summer league?
The NBA Summer League in Las Vegas wraps up tonight with the championship game between the L.A. Lakers and the Portland Trail Blazers. Teams that played only in the Orlando Pro Summer League have already been home for a week.
Let's take a look at what happened in Vegas (as well as Salt Lake City and Orlando), looking at what that portends for the rookies' future in the NBA as well as what isn't likely to translate.
1. Markelle Fultz, Philadelphia 76ers
Unfortunately, Fultz's appearance at the NBA summer league in Las Vegas lasted less than a game before he left with an ankle sprain. During two games at the Utah Jazz Summer League, Fultz showed the ability to hit the NBA 3-pointer (he was 6-of-16, 37.5 percent overall) and took over a comeback against the host Jazz with 13 fourth-quarter points. He'll have plenty of time to get healthy before the start of training camp in September.
2. Lonzo Ball, Los Angeles Lakers
Alas, a mild calf strain will hold Ball out of Monday's NBA Summer League championship game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Ball was coming off perhaps his best performance in Las Vegas, a 16-point, 10-assist double-double in just 21 minutes of action in Sunday's semifinal against the Dallas Mavericks and fellow top-10 pick Dennis Smith Jr.
Ball's summer ends with the highest assist average (9.3 per game) of any player in NBA Summer League history, according to RealGM.com's database. No player had topped eight assists per game since 2009, when Brandon Jennings and Marcus Williams both did so. Ball's rebound average also ranked among the top 20 players in Vegas, which helped him put together the first two triple-doubles ever in the NBA Summer League.
Yet Ball also shot a poor 23.8 percent (10-of-42) on 3-pointers and averaged 3.8 turnovers per game, tanking his efficiency.
The good news for Lakers fans is the best parts of Ball's game tend to translate better from summer league to NBA action. When I studied summer league's predictive power in 2013, I found no relationship at all between a player's 3-point percentage in summer league and during the regular season.
3. Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
During six games split between Salt Lake City and Las Vegas, Tatum showed the scoring and rebounding skill that made the Celtics willing to trade down to take him, averaging 20.0 points and 9.0 rebounds per 36 minutes. However, Tatum's penchant for taking difficult shots meant his efficiency (.525 true shooting percentage) was below average. Whether Tatum will be able to make enough contested attempts to score with reasonable efficiency against NBA defenses early in his career remains to be seen.
I like everything about Jackson's game except his outside shooting. Jackson went 3-of-16 (18.8 percent) on 3s in Las Vegas, a big reason he shot 42.5 percent from the field overall. But Jackson found ways to become more efficient, making better than half his shot attempts the past two games.
As advertised, Jackson has embraced the challenge of defending, including a fun matchup with Smith. And he was terrific on the glass, averaging 9.5 rebounds per 36 minutes.
5. De'Aaron Fox, Sacramento Kings
A minor ankle injury limited Fox's minutes after he played 57 in Sacramento's first two games, totaling 35 points and eight steals. The injury held Fox to seven minutes of action Thursday head-to-head against Smith.
Fox's speed continues to impress. He went end to end in less than six seconds for a basket to beat the third-quarter buzzer last Friday. Fox was also been disruptive defensively. However, his shot remains an issue. Fox went 1-of-8 from 3-point range and also struggled from the free throw line (63.6 percent).
6. Jonathan Isaac, Orlando Magic
The highest-drafted player to play in the Orlando Pro Summer League, Isaac had a big performance against the Miami Heat, scoring 15 points and grabbing 13 rebounds in 22 minutes of action. Isaac was particularly impressive on the glass, pulling down 15.4 boards per 36 minutes, but shot just 44.4 percent from the field.
7. Lauri Markkanen, Chicago Bulls
Markkanen's 8.3 3-point attempts per game ranked second among players in Las Vegas, just behind Ball, but he made them at a 24.0 percent clip. Markkanen was a 42.3 percent shooter from the college line in his lone season at Arizona, so that inaccuracy is particularly unlikely to persist.
I'm encouraged by the fact that Markkanen more than held his own as a rebounder, averaging 9.9 per 36 minutes, and came up with five blocks in three games.
8. Frank Ntilikina, New York Knicks
Having completed his French LNB season the day after the NBA draft with a loss in the deciding game of the finals series, Ntilikina got no break before the start of practice for the Orlando Pro Summer League and ended up sitting out with a sore knee. Knicks fans won't get their first look at him in action until preseason this fall.
9. Dennis Smith Jr., Dallas Mavericks
Despite his team losing to the Lakers in the semifinals, Smith was the most impressive rookie in summer-league action. Take that for what it's worth, which is something, but probably not as much as it might seem right now. The most exciting aspect of Smith's performance was how well it lined up with the scouting report on him, particularly as a highly touted prep star.
Perhaps the most explosive athlete among the standout point guards in this year's draft, Smith was able to get to the paint repeatedly against base defenses and finish at the rim or find teammates. Bigger defenders (like Jackson) gave Smith difficulty at times, but when he got by them he did a great job using his body to shield them off and create space.
Most impressively, Smith was active and engaged at the defensive end, something that wasn't always true at North Carolina State. Had Smith played like this in college, he would have surely gone much higher than the ninth pick.
10. Zach Collins, Portland Trail Blazers
A quadriceps contusion ended Collins' summer-league stint shortly into his third game, preventing him from overcoming a dreadful 4-of-20 shooting start in his first two games. Collins may want to cut back on the 3-point attempts, having shot 1-of-6 from beyond the arc, and focus more for now on scoring around the basket. He was far more effective at the defensive end of the court, averaging 3.1 steals and blocks per 36 minutes.