First round picks play in summer leagues

I wrote this on 7/20 (Link)
I thought I would pull together from DraftExpress.com summer league play summaries of the top draft picks. My impression is that the writers that covered the Las Vegas league were very complimentary of players and would say something bad only if the player stank. The writer for the Rocky Mountain league seems to be a little on the critical side. The SPL comments are a summary of the first half of the league's games. Adjust your takes accordingly

Note: This is summer league play. Great play doesn't guarantee All-Star play in the NBA. Poor play doesn't mean a pick will be a bust. "The race does not always go to the swift or the battle to the strong, but it is a darn good way to bet."

Mods - am I quoting too much from DraftExpress.com? If so, I will just summarize their reviews. I am just going to post a little bit until I get a ruling on this from a moderator.

#1 Andrew Bogut, Milwaukee Bucks
Seems to be having problems in the Minnesota summer league adjusting to playing against centers the size of NBA centers. Did very well against smaller centers.

David Harrison vs Andrew Bogut – I had been waiting to see this matchup all week, as it was obvious that the one player Bogut would have the most trouble with was Harrison. Bogut isn’t a physical marvel, and the massive Harrison gave him fits. Bogut scored just three points in the first half (0-4 from the floor, 3-4 on free throws), while Harrison went for 14 points on 5-7 shooting. Bogut got frustrated, and clearly began to lose it when John Edwards straight up rejected his dunk attempt midway through the third quarter.

#2 Marvin Williams, Atlanta Hawks
Has been lethargic and unimpressive in the Rocky Mountain league.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Williams is struggling finding a role for himself on the court and seemed to have problems having the offense run through him. Later when he found himself without the ball, he seemed to just stand around, trying to think of what to do instead of acting, not being able to get himself or a teammate into scoring position. A big part of the problem seemed to be his durability, he looked as though he was getting very tired after just a couple minutes of play, and by the time he was pulled he looked as though he was going to break down. Unlike most prospects from this year’s draft, Williams hasn’t been on a basketball court much in competitive situations since the season ended in early April. He hasn’t had the luxury of staying in game shape through private workouts with NBA teams, and therefore is having problems shaking off the rust in such a foreign situation as far as he’s concerned.

In the second half Williams looked a little more athletic and aggressive, diving for loose balls and moving very well to compliment to the offense without the ball. Marvin consistently was one of the first to get to the ball off the boards, pulling down all of his rebounds in the second half.

His shooting touch wasn't at all apparent in the first half, though, as he went 0-3 from the field and missed his only shot attempt from the free throw line. His only shots seemed to be in the 18-20 foot range and not contested very well, yet he still struggled with them. The second half still showed nothing but poor shooting for Marvin as he went 2-8, but at least he put the ball in the bucket finally, also going 3-5 from the line in this span.

As for the defensive side of the ball, Williams struggled badly, not having any steals or blocks, but the key stat to look at is that of the man he was guarding, Britton Johnson, who led all first half scorers with 16 points on 6-10 shooting from the field. Marvin left him wide open much of the time and got punished for that in the process. He didn't do much better in the second half either, with players scoring wildly on him, but he worked to contest more shots.

#3 Deron Williams, Utah Jazz
He is having lots of problems in the Rocky Mountain league:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Another lackluster performance for Williams, with the most positive thing from this game being his first made three pointer in three games so far. So far in Utah he has shot the ball poorly, nearly fouled out of every game (if you could foul out), and struggled to get his team’s offense to click. He has shown that he can play good defense and he certainly has great court vision, but he’s had a trouble bringing it all together to really impact the game. Williams has shown some gaping holes in his game that need to be filled quickly for the Jazz to have success with this young point guard as their starter, mainly his perimeter shooting, ability to get into the lane and letting his teammates know where he wants them to be on the floor. At times he tries to get too fancy with the ball and his teammates end up standing around watching him over-handle. He finished with another average stat-line of 8 points, 3 assists, 2 rebounds, and 3 turnovers in 23 minutes of play. It’s too early to make any final conclusions, but Deron will clearly have to make some adjustments in his game to translate his style of play over from college to the NBA.

#4 Chris Paul, New Orleans Hornets
In 34.5 mpg in Las Vegas, averaged 11.8 ppg on 37.0% shooting, 33.3% on 3 pointers, 60% on free threes, 5.3 rpg, 5.5 apg, 1.8 spg, 2.3 TO's. Suffered a wrist injury during the summer league. Played poorly right after he returned, but here is the write up for his last game:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Chris Paul has come to play with his passing game today. Paul’s wrist has limited his offensive aggressiveness, but has done nothing but accentuate his defensive abilities. Paul had at least 3 steals in the first half and showed an array of different passes that culminated in a sweet 35 foot ally-oop to JR Smith, who finished with a one-handed jam. Paul even blocked a shot in this game, but landed on his wrist for the effort. Maybe the landing fixed what was wrong with the wrist because Paul rocked his defender off him with a smooth step-back jumper that nestled into the hoop. He followed up his jumper with a couple more smooth hoops to round out a very solid first half, finishing close to double-digits in assists.

#5 Raymond Felton, Charlotte Bobcats
Had a rotten first game in the Rocky Mountain league, but a good second game.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
24mins, 5-9, 3 rebounds, 5 assist, 2 steals, 2 TO, 15 points. Felton looked like the complete opposite of the player he was on opening night here in Salt Lake City. He was confident, even with his main man Sean May out, and was pushing the ball and controlling the tempo beautifully. He was extremely intense during the game, showing the same passion we all remember from this confident and energetic PG at North Carolina. Felton was creating his own shot effortlessly today, with his explosive speed there wasn’t a single player on the court who had a chance to stay in front of him. He would get to the rim at will and either finish the play himself or dump it off for a teammate, looking deadly doing both.

#6 Martell Webster, Portland Trailblazers
In 32.8 mpg in Las Vegas, averaged 12.7 ppg on 38.8% shooting, 37.5% on 3 pointers, 75.0% on free throws, 4.3 rpg, 0.5 apg, 0.5 spg and 2.3 turnovers. He started hot and then teams figured out that all he can do is catch and shoot. Here is the write up for his last game:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Webster has been trying to put the ball on the floor a lot more and create offense for himself, with limited success. As mentioned already, his percentages from the field plummet when he’s not catching and shooting. Defensively he had a very hard time with Luke Jackson. Webster was 1-8 to finish with 3 points in 32 minutes.

#7 Charlie Villanueva, Toronto Raptors
Suffered a strained right groin muscle in the SPL, so missed the Minnesota summer league. My impression from LG.net veteran posters is that Charlie has a good all-around game.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Villanueva put up some good numbers at the first game to start the SPL, but then tapered off in the next two. The rumors about him getting lost or disinterested occasionally on the floor appear to be true. Often times entire possessions go by where he fails to get involved. Unfortunately we might not get a chance to see him make a turnaround as he sat out Monday's game against the Lakers. I spoke with him briefly during halftime and apparently he tweaked an ankle. We'll likely have to wait until the season to see if he can capitalize on his potential and find a position that suits him on the team.

#8 Channing Frye, New York Knicks
My impression is a solid offensive player, but poor defender, rebounder and shot blocker. Lee outrebounded him in Vegas and tied him in Minnesota. In 23.0 mpg in Las Vegas, he averaged 13.0 ppg on 43.2% shooting, 0.0% on 3 pointers, 96.4% on free throws, 5.8 rpg, 0.6 apg, 0.2 spg, 0.6 bpg, 2.4 turnovers and 6.0 fouls. Here's the write up for Minnesota:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
(23.0 mpg, 13.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.6 bpg, 60% shooting) – Frye looked good most of the camp. He’s not ever going to be that guy you can give the ball to repeatedly, but he makes the most out of every situation. His jumper is sweet, he’s got nice shot blocking instincts, and will be a factor around the basket.

#9 Ike Diogu, Golden State Warriors
In 28.0 mpg in Las Vegas, he averaged 18.4 ppg on 59.3% shooting, 84.6% free throws, 8.4 rpg, 0.2 apg, 0.0 spg, 0.6 bpg and 2.4 turnovers. Here is his last write up:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
A quiet first half for Diogu today, but he still made his presence felt on the glass pretty well and by scoring a little bit around the basket. He picked his spots pretty well and did a better job of staying out of foul trouble this time.

Another nice half for Diogu, without drawing too much attention to himself. He did his job on both ends of the floor and finished with 15 points and 7 rebounds.

#10 Andrew Bynum, Los Angeles Lakers
His play in the SPL has exceeded my expectations. He seems very coachable and the reports indicate steady progress in the fundamentals. He is a project and has a long way to go.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
The Lakers selecting Bynum with their highest draft pick in years has put a lot of pressure on the high school kid's shoulders. At only 17 years of age, the 7' 270lbs Bynum and his rumored 36" vertical leap (off one foot) is a physical marvel for sure, but we may be years away from seeing how it all pans out. As it stands right now he has soft hands for a guy his size and doesn't look awkward running the floor which is a problem for young big men. His footwork is good, but it seems to be due to natural ability more than any learned skill. His timing is off in both rebounding and blocking shots, however, that's more of an adjustment to the speed of the game than any lack of talent. Despite his size he still needs to bulk up. He has a large lower base which allows him to plant himself firmly on the offensive end, but he does a poor job of boxing out on the defensive side of the floor. Interestingly, his defensive rotation and ability to defend the pick-and-roll are very good so far. He's caught a few alley-oop dunks in transition that have gotten the crowd going, but the majority of his scoring seems to be coming off the block or from offensive boards. His free throws are flat, but they go in consistently. Adding some more arc will improve them even more. The buzz on him amongst the NBA personnel and scouts I've spoken with has all been good with some registering surprise. I expect him to only play sparingly this year. It should be interesting to see where he is developmentally come next year's Summer Pro League.

#11 Fran Vazquez, Orlando Magic
He is beset by contractual issues with his Spanish team, didn't make summer league and it isn't clear if he will make training camp.

#12 Yaroslav Korolev, Los Angeles Clippers
He is playing in the Under-18 European Championships instead of summer league.

#13 Sean May, Charlotte Bobcats
Injured his ankle in the last game in the Rocky Mountain league. Prior to that, he was too slow to be effective against PF's and not big enough to be effective against NBA-sized C's.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Started at PF but didn’t seem to have the quickness to guard Kris Humphries one on one. With Humphries pushing him to sprint up and down the court he tired very quickly and didn’t really get too much going in the first half because of it. In the 2nd half, when a slower bigger man such as Whaley or Ingram was on him was when May really went to work, destroying both of them in the post. He showed great post moves, doing fantastic work underneath the basket and using his size and bulk to his advantage. Watching him use his post moves after he gets an offensive rebound reminds a bit of Charles Barkley. The problem with May is that with his lack of foot-speed right now he would probably struggle going up against NBA power forwards, while certainly not having the height or the leaping ability to match up with centers. May needs to work on getting into better shape, improve on his perimeter skills and learn the little tricks that 6-8 power forwards usually have down pat to really be able to use his awesome skill set on the offensive end. Today he was dominant at times and finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds.

#14 Rashad McCants, Minnesota Timberwolves
Missed summer league because of a groin injury.

#15 Antoine Wright, New Jersey Nets
He was the only talent on an abysml summer league team. His first three games were awful, but he played well in his last two. In 35.0 mpg in Las Vegas, he averaged 16.4 ppg on 36.0% shooting, 28.6% on 3 pointers and 64.9% on free throws, 2.8 rpg, 1.8 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.2 bpg and 3.2 turnovers. Here is the write up on his last game:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Wright is playing well for the second consecutive game. Wright has hit a couple of nice outside shots, one from 16ft and another from 3 point range. Wright has made some smooth forays to the basket, showing good lateral cutting ability. Antoine has also shown a keen eye for finding teammates off the drive, though this is the first game its really shown. Wright’s shot is still very flat from outside when he doesn’t have his feet set and he must work on this if he wants to set up those quick moves to the hoop.

In the second half Antoine made smart decisions with good results. Wright really displayed some acute court awareness on both ends of the floor. Defensively, Antoine got into his defender well and made a few solid help decisions. On the offensive side of the ball Wright continues to have success with his outside shot and used it very well to setup his defender for more smooth trips to the basket. Wright’s passing touch and court vision were his best attributes in this game, mostly because he had been primarily a shooter in the other games. Wright is not super explosive, but he has very solid body control and looks very relaxed and natural when attacking the basket, even switching hands for a soft lay-in around the help defender on one occasion.

#16 Joey Graham, Toronto Raptors
Suffered a strained right calf in the SPL summer league, so missed the Minnesota summer league.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Graham looks to have the most polished game of the Raptors players and has the NBA body to back it up. He's not particularly quick off the dribble and doesn't have the handles that many of the other players have, but he plays with a smoothness and confidence that many summer league players tend to lack. His numbers might not be overwhelming, but he looks like he might turn into a very solid role player.

#17 Danny Granger, Indiana Pacers
Lingering soreness from an old knee injury kept him out of summer league games.

#18 Gerald Green, Boston Celtics
Raw, raw rookie who can do little but dunk. In 18.8 mpg in Las Vegas, averaged 8.0 ppg on 40.4% shooting, 57.1% on 3 pointers, 50.0% on free throws, 1.3 rpg, 0.3 apg, 0.5 spg, 2.0 turnovers. Because the Celtics stocked their roster with 1 and 2 year NBA veterans, Green didn't get the time that a #1 pick normally gets in a summer league. Here are the last two write ups for him:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Green’s only getting in here because of his status as a figure of interest for Celtic fans. Green’s jumper looks very good, even when he misses it, but his shot selection is shaky at best. Gerald just can’t beat his defender off the dribble and most of his shots are on lateral moves. Still, he can elevate quickly and it’s hard to block so the shot is his to miss or make. If Green got more help with screens he’d be able to get to the rack easily and when he’s squared to the basket he is very confident. Gerald has shown a desire to post on occasion, which is nice, and he had a smooth steal/assist to Al Jefferson that highlighted his first half.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Gerald Green is still a babe lost in the woods. Green was affected twice by Darko Milicic on drives to the hoop as he lost the handle on an easy dunk and got stuffed by Milicic on a second attempt. Green needs a lot of seasoning before he can contribute anything but the spectacular play. He finished with 3 points on 1-8 shooting in 20 minutes.

#19 Hakim Warrick, Memphis Grizzlies
He put up good numbers in his three games against the Lakers.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Warrick is just as athletic as advertised and unfortunately just as skinny. He's got explosive hops and has put up a few monster dunks this summer, but his outside shot is poor and can be pushed around a bit defensively. Some people have compared him to Stromile Swift at the SPL, but that seems a poor comparison based on him replacing Swift in the lineup more than their actual skill sets. Swift is a significantly better defender and showed great timing on his boards and blocks while playing summer league ball. Warrick definitely has the physical ability to do what Swift does, but hasn't shown it yet. With a good amount of working out and training he could end up being a very good player in a few years time.

#20 Julius Hodge, Denver Nuggets
In 33.0 mpg in Las Vegas, he averaged 13.3 ppg on 43.8% shooting, 18.2% on 3 pointers, 62.9% on free throws, 5.8 rpg, 3.8 apg, 0.8 spg, 0.5 bpg, 2.5 turnovers. Here is his last write up:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Hodge continues to get the job done once again , slashing hard to the basket time after time and either finishing or getting to the line. He’s also playing tough defense and moving the ball around well.

#21 Nate Robinson, New York Knicks
Nate has been probably the most exciting player in the summer leagues, playing in both Las Vegas and Minnesota. Can dunk like crazy and blows past the guards defending him. He's a scoring machine, but can he play point guard? In Vegas, he took 61 shots which was 19.5% of the team's total shots. The next highest shot total was Channing Frye with 44 shots. The Vegas scorekeepers weren't generous with assists. Still, Robinson's only 10 assists in 5 games compared to 16 turnovers doesn't look good. In Minnesota, he averaged 5.8 assists to 2.6 turnovers, but took 22.7% of the team's shots while shooting .391.

#22 Jarrett Jack, Portland Trailblazers
He signed his contract after summer league play ended.

#23 Francisco Garcia, Sacramento Kings
In 36.0 mpg in Las Vegas, he averaged 12.4 ppg on 35.0% shooting, 23.5% on 3 pointers, 88.9% free throws, 4.2 rpg, 2.6 apg, 1.6 spg, 1.4 bpg and 2.0 turnovers. His last write up:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Garcia showed off his entire game in the 1st half, finally looking comfortable enough in his skin out there to make things happen on both ends of the floor. He made some superb passes to all of his teammates for easy baskets and was not forcing things even one bit on the offensive end. Defensively he was fantastic once again, bringing the crowd to its feet with a superb block, getting in the passing lanes to come up with steals, and moving his feet extremely well to stay in front of his man. It’s this type of versatility that made Garcia a first round pick in the first round pick in the first place. It’s also his ticket to playing time this year behind Kevin Martin and probably Maurice Evans if he’s resigned. Just as I was about to sign off praising Garcia for the way he played in the first half, he comes back and jacks up off-balance three pointers on three straight possessions out of the context of the offense. He missed all three of them.

Garcia continued to have a solid game in the 2nd half when he was taking good shots. He really did a good job filling up the stat sheet. Garcis finished with 15 points 5 rebounds 3 assists 4 blocks and 2 steals.

#24 Luther Head, Houston Rockets
Head had only had one good game in the Minnesota summer league and that was against a pathetic Milwaukee team.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
(21.4 mpg, 8.2 ppg, 3.4 rpg, 2.8 apg, 2.0 t/o, 33% shooting) – Head had a few bright moments, but it wasn’t a standout week for the combo guard. He struggled to hit his midrange jumpers, and wasn’t a factor on the offensive end in the final two games. He did show a willingness and ability to distribute the ball, however, which is promising for someone who is now considered a combo guard. I really like his defensive potential.

#25 John Petro, Seattle Supersonics
A PROJECT playing in the Rocky Mountain league.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Petro surely has a great body, looking a little bit like a young KG with his frame but without any of the phenomenal skills of course. He is extremely athletic for his size and has great jumping ability. Petro didn’t seem like he had any idea of what should be going on, while his team understood what he is doing even less. He shied away from contact on both ends and wasn't physical enough to say the least. He has great speed, though, and even when he steps out on guards on a switch he even can stay with them. Seems to have tons of potential, but definitely a ways off. Needs to work on his overall game, bulk up a little, and learn how to play the NBA game.

#26 Jason Maxiell, Detroit Pistons
Jeremy Snow is amazed on how good this guy is. In 26.8 mpg in Las Vegas, he averaged 15.0 ppg on 51.9% shooting, 100% on 3 pointers, 60.0% on free throws, 3.6 rpg, 0.6 apg, 1.0 spg, 1.8 bpg and 0.8 turnovers. Here is his last write up:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Maxiell came out to prove today that his performance in the Summer League so far against undrafted European prospects mostly was not a fluke. He came out right away by sending back a weak hook shot by Al Jefferson, before going back and being rejected by Jefferson on the other end. After settling for mid-range jumpers a little initially he went back to his bread and butter taking the ball strong to the basket relentlessly with mostly successful results in the first half. He had one thunderous dunk over Al Jefferson before coming back on the other end and rejecting Gerald Green emphatically as he skied for a highlight reel dunk attempt. The Celtics rotated three men on Maxiell in the first half; with Jefferson, Perkins and Gomes all having mixed results trying to slow Mad Max in the paint. He had four blocks in the first half, although one of them was clearly goaltending as he sent a Jefferson hook shot that was definitely on it’s way down to the fifth row. It was sweet to watch regardless. Maxiell finished with 9 points and 4 blocks in the first half.

Maxiell was just as exciting to watch in the 2nd half as well, coming up with one awesome block on Gerald Green, a couple of very strong rebounds and a few huge putbacks on the offensive glass. If Max would have finished off his free throws and maybe hit some of those open mid-range jumpers in the 2nd half his line would have ended up looking much better, but he still had an outstanding game here regardless for what he needed to show. He finished with 17 points, 5 blocks, 4 steals and 3 rebounds.

#27 Linas Kleiza, Denver Nuggets
In 27.3 mpg in Las Vegas, he averaged 15.2 ppg on 54.1% shooting, 0.0% on 3 pointers, 86.2% on free throws, 6.2 rpg, 1.2 apg, 1.0 spg, 0.2 bpg and 2.3 turnovers. Here is his last write up:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Yet another solid outing from the extremely consistent Kleiza. He continues to amaze everyone in attendance with his outstanding motor and polished perimeter skills considering that he was played out of position at Missouri for two years before he wisely decided to bail on them. Kleiza also rebounded well and did his best on defense. He finished the game with 14 points and 10 rebounds.

#28 Ian Mahinmi, San Antonio Spurs
Not playing in summer league.

#29 Wayne Simien, Miami Hear
My impression from LG.net veteran posters is that Simien looked very good out there and looks like a steal for Miami. One of the big issues with Simien is whether he is injury prone. He was underwhelming in the last game, shooting 6/15 and getting only 4 rebounds in almost 36 minutes.

DraftExpress.com wrote:
Simien has looked very solid to start out, posting two 20 point games so far and excellent rebounding numbers throughout. He hasn't been as explosive as advertised, but he's been a workhorse on the court and has been particularly aggressive on the offensive glass. He has a good chance of contributing some strong minutes this upcoming season.

#30 David Lee, New York Knicks
He's an undersized PF on a team overstocked with undersized PF's. The Knicks played him at small forward quite a bit. Overall, he put up good numbers. In 21.8 mpg in Las Vegas, he averaged 12.0 ppg on 56.7% shooting, 70.3% on free throws, 6.2 rpg, 1.0 apg, 0.2 spg, 0.0 bpg and 1.6 turnovers. Here's the write up for the Minnesota summer league:

DraftExpress.com wrote:
(26.8 mpg, 11.0 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.8 apg, 58% shooting) – Lee isn’t your prototypical undersized PF. He doesn’t have the greatest back to the basket game, but is a true beast attacking the basket when facing up. He’s got quick feet, can be a terror on the offensive glass, and reacts well in scoring situations. He’s a little bit stuck between positions, but Lee was certainly fun to watch here.