By Flint Wheeler
We spend a lot time in the NBA world wondering whether or not draft picks are going to pan out. We won’t know how the 2015 class measures up for a few years, but now that the summer league season has come and gone, we’ve finally gotten a glimpse into how these prospects look in pseudo-NBA game action. Bear in mind, every bit of summer league success or failure comes with a gigantic grain of salt, but there are indicators, and what better time to start picking apart what we like, and don’t like, about these guys’ games?
So here we go. A Top 5, tier-by-tier ranking of the summer league rookies — from the Top 5 picks to the rest of the lottery, the remaining first-rounders, second rounders and undrafted surprises.
Top 5 Picks
1. Karl-Anthony Towns, Minnesota Timberwolves (No. 1 overall): The No. 1 pick in the draft is also the top rookie of this section. His 12 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 1.8 blocks per game were good. His 39.6 shooting percentage wasn’t. However, he was one of the few players facing constant double teams and it allowed him to show off his passing ability. Defensively, he was a little foul happy as he admittedly learned what he could and couldn’t get away with when it comes to officiating. He communicated well on defense and did a solid job of protecting the rim.
2. D’Angelo Russell, Los Angeles Lakers (No. 2 overall): Russell had a nice debut, followed by some real struggles out there. However, he capped off the week with a strong finish when he scored 21 points on 10 of 20 from the field.
Overall, he made just 37.7 percent of his shots while having 10 more turnovers than assists in five games. You even started to hear people wonder if he was showing us similar issues we saw from Evan Turner — another No. 2 pick out of Ohio State. Had one of them gone to a different college than Ohio State, I don’t think that comparison would even be made. Russell will have to work to find his rhythm in both getting his points and creating points for others. I still think we saw enough good out of him this week to be excited about his career moving forward.
3. Kristaps Porzingis, New York Knicks (No. 4 overall): Aside from missing a few open shots in his final summer league game, Porzingis was incredibly consistent with his play during the summer stint. That’s tough to do for rookie big men trying to get their feet wet because guards hold so much control over the game. What we found out about him is he really does have some skill. He can shoot the ball, he’s good at drawing fouls, he seemed to play within the construct of the offense nicely, and he was able to use his length and timing to block shots, even though he got pushed around. He wasn’t a good rebounder and he needs to get stronger, but this was a nice showcase in limited minutes.
4. Jahlil Okafor, Philadelphia 76ers (No. 3 overall): I wouldn’t freak out about me having Okafor behind Porzingis. The big man was good throughout moments of summer league (both Las Vegas and Salt Lake), but I just thought Porzingis had a better experience in his games. Part of that could be that defensive attention was much more concentrated on Okafor. He showed off some good rebounding and skill in the post. We saw a good touch on the jumpers. But other than that, the defense was bad, he turned the ball over a ton, he missed a lot of shots inside, free throw shooting was worse than advertised (which already wasn’t good), and it just didn’t feel like he left his mark. I still love how he projects long-term.
5. Mario Hezonja, Orlando Magic (No. 5 overall): We only got two games out of Mario Hezonja, but he had some really fun moments in both games. He hit a big shot to help his Magic split squad win their first game, and then he unleashed some impressive dunks in his next game. He didn’t shoot the ball well and went just 4 of 14 from 3-point range, but he didn’t get a lot of opportunity to find a rhythm. He’s one of the rookies I’m most excited to watch develop as this first season goes along. Once he develops a little more comfort on the court, he’ll have a big presence.
