So the Rockets had their first Summer League outing today, losing to the Pistons despite fighting their way out of an early 18 point deficit. Obviously the highlight was Nick Johnson's insane jam:
But there was plenty of other interesting stuff on show:
- Nick Johnson looked great. He played good defence on Peyton Siva, who is definitely fast enough to have 'NBA speed' (even if he's a little undersized). Did a decent job running the offence when asked into the point guard duties as well. It must be said that Summer League is not a place that will expose his major weakness (height), because everyone else is a bit undersized too. Having said that, he did struggle a bit to contain Caldwell-Pope, who is a prototypical NBA SG, so perhaps it would be wise to keep him guarding PGs for the time being.
- Was very impressed by Tarik Black. Had a lot of hustle plays, looked good on the boards and actually had a pretty sick dunk of his own a minute or two after Johnson's. He's right in the sweet spot for the type of player we know Morey likes (6'9" PF/C), so if he keeps up the good play he might be on the radar for a Vipers assignment.
- Chris Crawford had a really good game, scoring 20. It was hard to tell how much of that was just that his shot was wet though. I'm generally a bit wary to base anything off shooting performance in Summer League because the sample sizes are not big enough to really establish a pattern. It'd be good if he can keep this up though.
- Interesting to see Maarty Leunen in action - one of Morey's second round picks that didn't come good and I had assumed we'd never see in the NBA. Was not convinced by his defence in the pick and roll, but he stepped outside and hit a couple of crucial outside shots, so possible stretch-4 potential. Guess how tall he is
. You're right, he's 6'9". - No Troy Daniels, Isaiah Canaan or Robert Covington today - maybe we'll see them tomorrow.
Was anyone else watching? I felt a little guilty for skipping the first half of the Netherlands-Costa Rica match to watch a Summer League game, but it wasn't a particularly interesting first half anyway.
ST
