NBA Summer League 2013

  

  Some of my thoughts from the NBA Summer League for 2013.  First of all we didn't get to see a lot of the lottery picks due to injury.  The #1 pick (Anthony Bennett), #5 (Alex Lin) & #6 (Nerlens Noel) were all out with different injures. Picks #2(Oladipo) #8(Caldwell-Pope) #9(Burke) #11(Carter-Williams) #12(Adams) & #13(Olynyk) were all in the Orlando Summer League. So that only left picks #3(Porter) #4(Zeller) #7(McLemore) #10(McCollum) &#14(Muhammad) left to play in Vegas. Standouts in Orlando to me were Reggie Jackson (19.5ppg) & Jeremy Lamb (18.8ppg) for OKC.  They alternated games played, won every game and ultimately won the Orlando Summer league championship.  R.Jackson dominated pick & roll play scoring 23 of his league high 35 in the 4th qtr of one game.  J.Lamb not to be outdone dropped 32 the next night and proved he is ready to step in and make up for the loss of Kelvin Martin this upcoming season for OKC. Other standouts there were V.Oladipo (19ppg) who proved he can shoot from the outside and run the point. Kelly Olynyk (18ppg) who proved he can score from the inside and out, and Andre Drummond who avg a lead leading 14.8 rbs.  My sleeper from this league was Dwight Buycks whose play earned his a partial guaranteed contract with Toronto.
    Standouts from the Vegas Summer league were Reggie Bullock (18ppg) from UNC. I'm not sure how many mins Bullock will get behind Reddick & J.Crawford, but he proved he is ready for the NBA game with the way he shot the ball and defended.  CJ McCollum (21ppg) Jeffery Taylor (20.3ppg) and John Henson (14.7ppg & 13.7rbs) proved they are ready to contribute next season.  Cody Zeller (16.3ppg & 9.3rbs) was a pick I didn't agree with for the Bobcats at #4, but he has impressed in Vegas. Ben McLemore (15.8ppg) the player I thought the Bobcats should've taken at 4 struggled with his shot in Vegas but showed what he is ultimately capable of last night scoring 19 of his game high 27 pts in the 3rd qter on 7-8 shooting from the field.  He proved he needs to work on shot selection but showed he could be one of the few stars of the 2013 draft.  Another sleeper I think has the potential to become a star is 18 yr old Archie Goodwin from Kentucky.  To me this kid has Russell Westbrook potential, and it appears he is still growing. They list him at 6'4 but when standing next to other players he looks to be approaching 6'6 already.  He fell to 29 in the draft but could definitely prove to be a top ten talent.  He just needs to work on his jump-shot and cutting down on turnovers.