The Four Main Purposes of a Summer League Team

Posted on LakersGround.net on 6/23/06.

1. Be Lakers basketball 101 for new players
Summer league is an opportunity to teach new players the Lakers offense, defense and conditioning drills. In training camp, vets are going to be there who already know all this information, so doing this teaching in training camp isn't as productive.

2. Show the new players what they must work on before training camp
A player will work much harder on improving on a skill if he can see in games that his current skill level isn't sufficient.

3. Pencil in minutes per game for the new players
Based upon how his players play, a GM will pencil in minutes per game to determine holes in his line up. Then, based upon the penciled MPG's, the GM knows what trades/signings he needs to make. For example, the Lakers were a lot less concerned about their PG position last season after watching Smush in the SPL.

4. Find promising free agents to invite to training camp
There are players that weren't drafted or once played on another NBA that could possibly make the opening day roster. Summer camp is a chance to identify such players.

Another way to look at a summer league team is that it is primarily about your first round pick(s), then of secondary importance is your second round picks and bench players from last season, then third in importance is possible training camp invites.

Overall, I think it would be a waste to have Smush play in the SPL. The Lakers should be focusing on players that they need to know more about.