Just a friendly reminder that Summer League performance is not predictive of even a player's rookie season. It's good for rookies to get a taste of the speed, length, and physicality of the NBA, but for fans it should just be for fun. The highest leading scorer for last year's summer league was Orlando Robinson, who coincidentally was just cut by Miami. Brandon Miller shot 35% from the field and 26% from 3. I remember one of the guys who struggled the most was Lively. I was really high on him pre-draft, but he looked awful in summer league. Cason Wallace, GG Jackson, and Podz all averaged less than 10pts/game on horrible shooting splits.
2023 Summer League | Vegas | Player Stats
www.nba.com
In General the Rookies:
- Have not played competitive basketball in months
- Are practicing AND playing on same days AND on back to back days
- Are playing with players and in systems they are unfamiliar with
- Are playing against players who are fighting for their NBA careers and that have 10 fouls to give.
The Summer League is good to see how a rookie moves, what skills look like they will translate in the NBA, and what general weaknesses they need to work on. In particular, if a rookie doesn't shoot well, I don't think it means much.