Summer League Standouts

Author: Jack Gordon

Editor: Fran Attie

After a 2020 NBA season without a Summer League, all 30 teams came back to Las Vegas in 2021 so we could watch lottery picks, developing sophomores and NBA hopefuls duke it out to display their abilities before the season begins. It’s always interesting to see how young players perform in Summer League and see how teams did in the draft, so here are just a couple non-lottery standouts:

The Brooklyn Nets got a potential steal in Cam Thomas at the end of the first round. Thomas fell a little later in the draft than some expected, but the Nets got him at good value, considering that something we knew he could do is score. He led the SEC in scoring last season at LSU, and lit up Las Vegas, leading all scorers with 27 points per game, including an impressive 36 point outburst against the San Antonio Spurs. He does boast a fairly unattractive 2 assists and 3.8 turnovers per game, but not only is that not particularly worrisome in Summer League (almost every player is extremely young and inexperienced, meaning that lots of players have underdeveloped decision-making abilities resulting in poor assist-to-turnover ratios), but it’s not particularly worrisome for the Nets either, because all they would need from him is scoring off the bench. This is not to say that Thomas is guaranteed any playing time behind the immense guard talent in front of him in Brooklyn, but considering that he has shown good shot-making ability, the Nets continue to dominate the offseason with their draft picks and signings, most notably with the Patty Mills acquisition.

After a terrible season without James Harden, the Houston Rockets also have a couple rookies to be excited about with Jalen Green and Alperen Sengun. Green, along with many other lottery picks this year, has shown his potential to be an elite scorer in this league and a potential All-Star. But for the Rockets to be able to pick up Sengun at the 16th spot in the draft was also a win, considering how skilled he is and the fact he was dominating grown men in the Turkish League at just 18 years old. His free-throw routine will make him a crowd favorite right away, and it's just clear that mobile big guys with the skill to put the ball on the floor and who are adored by analytics people are probably a decent bet.

It will be interesting to see how Sengun works out compared to the many talented guards taken in this draft. Year after year, we are seeing rim-running big men become less and less valuable compared to skilled guards and ball handlers. Usually there is space for one of these players per team, and there are many of these players available. Thus, maybe it is a loss of value to draft a player like Jaxson Hayes in the lottery unless a team thinks they have the chance to be a franchise cornerstone, like Evan Mobley this year. Someone like Sengun has a more useful skill set, and even someone like Luka Garza was able to earn a two-way contract with the Pistons, despite being taken so late in the draft, because of the tenacity and shooting he displayed.

Finally, the Atlanta Hawks also have to be pretty pleased with what they’ve seen from Jalen Johnson, the 20th pick, and Shariffe Cooper, the 48th. Both players were taken with decent value in the draft given that they had significant talent but reasonable question marks. Nonetheless, both players have shown solid NBA potential with the athleticism of Johnson and the playmaking of Cooper, and they will be nice additions to the young Atlanta roster that just made it to the Eastern Conference Finals.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE

Who Will Win the NBA Finals?

Author: Jack Gordon

The 2021 NBA playoffs have been about the weirdest thing we have seen in a long, long time.

There has never been a postseason in NBA history with as many injuries to major stars and key players, and it all culminated perfectly in Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals with a matchup between the Milwaukee Bucks, led by Jrue Holiday and Khris Middleton, and the Atlanta Hawks, led by… John Collins and Kevin Huerter? With the injuries to Trae Young and Giannis, that was quite literally the worst Eastern Conference Finals game anybody could have envisioned.

And yet, through everything, we finally have a finals matchup: the Phoenix Suns and the Milwaukee Bucks.

The weirdest thing about these finals is that they probably aren’t the best two teams, and it isn’t really that close. Watching Brooklyn, it became almost too obvious that they were absolutely the best team in the league, and if they didn’t suffer injuries to two of their top three players, the Nets would have crushed the Bucks and gone on to win the championship with their eyes closed.

The Bucks are such a frustrating team, and a lot of that has to do with the Mike Budenholzer situation. Over the last few seasons, it has become painfully clear that while Coach Bud is a great regular season coach, he is not good in the playoffs, largely due to his stubbornness and at times unwillingness to make key adjustments not only over the span of a game, but over the span of a series and over the span of the playoffs. He is just not helpful to this roster, and for anyone who knows or watches a lot of basketball, the Bucks are such a frustrating team because they so clearly are not playing at their potential. You hear Charles Barkley say it at every halftime show: I believe the Bucks are good enough to, and will, win the NBA championship. But they have to be the dumbest team I’ve seen. And now, the Giannis injury looms over the series and over Game 1. And despite all of this, they still made the NBA finals and have a real shot at winning the championship, because when they’re on, they’re on. When they’re hitting shots, dominating the paint, and playing the best team and individual defense in the league, they are unstoppable. The problem is that they aren’t consistent, and when it gets to a tight fourth quarter, the offense can be hard to watch.

This is where the Phoenix Suns have a chance to win in this series - through a higher level of consistency, reliability and ability to make more adjustments.

There’s a lot of different storylines for the Suns that have already been talked to death, including but not limited to: Chris Paul chasing his first ever ring; Devin Booker becoming a star; Monty Williams and the appreciation he has been receiving; Deandre Ayton’s somewhat shocking elevation to one of the best big men in the league; Cameron Payne’s even more shocking elevation to a crucial rotation piece on a finals team, and more.

But the biggest storyline is the Chris Paul piece of all this, and the 24/7 media and twitter love that is awaiting him if he puts up a Finals-MVP-type performance and wins a title. He was magnificent to close out the Clippers, and displayed to everyone that he still has that gear inside of him, even at the age he is. That gear is the ability to take a look around, analyze the situation and the danger of losing that game 6, and ultimately make the decision to put the team on his back and make sure that his team wins. He was running the offense, hitting shots, making plays, flopping around, goating Clippers into technicals… it was the full package, and just another example in years of examples that Chris Paul is a winning player, that just hasn’t won. Sometimes that happens. He has flaws, and some would argue that those characteristics and teammate interaction flaws have been what holds him back from being a winner. But this season with Phoenix has been a combination of him finding the perfect fit with the right pieces, and also a maturity and growth that Paul now has in his sixteenth season.

But as great as they have been, it’s hard to ignore that the Suns have played an injured Lakers team, an injured Denver team, and an injured Clippers team. Their version of the Nets in Milwaukee was the first round Lakers series, because in all likelihood, had they stayed healthy, the Lakers would have beaten Phoenix and may possibly have been back in the Finals. Maybe the Suns would have even lost to the Clippers had Kawhi been healthy.

None of this is to say, however, that these teams don’t deserve to be where they are. Everyone will love throwing out the word “asterisk” into every discussion of the champion even before they win. And yes, while we most definitely will look back on these playoffs as absolutely ridiculous and as a playoffs where every team got injured leading up to the Finals, it ended up with not that ridiculous of a result. Coming into the playoffs, both Phoenix and Milwaukee were heavy title contenders. They weren’t the favorites, but that is why front offices are always willing to build a team that may even give them a chance at contending, because anything can and sometimes does happen. Both of these teams are really good, and even though they beat some injured teams, not only were both of these teams injured at times as well, but that’s part of the playoffs. One of the most important things in such a long season, in any sport, is staying healthy and preparing to continue playing all the way to the end. Sometimes the teams that come out on top are the ones that can stay healthy the longest, and that’s exactly what happened this year.

It’s going to be pretty cool to see who wins, no matter who it is. If it’s Phoenix, we get to see Chris Paul finally capture that elusive title and cement himself as one of the all-time greats (and we will likely be subjected to the First Take discussions the next morning: “Stephen A. says Chris Paul is the greatest point guard of all time?!”). And if it’s Milwaukee, we get to see Giannis win his first title and continue to ascend as a two-time MVP who has now also won a championship and Finals MVP, which is rare company.

Essentially, the point is this. As weird as these playoffs have been, and as much complaining as people have done about all the injuries to major stars and the fact that we have two somewhat surprising teams from small markets in the finals (all of which is valid), it’s also okay to appreciate the fact that this will actually be a good matchup. Either team can easily win this series, and some all-time legacies are at stake.

The End of the Bucks Playoff Run!?

Author: Raul Martinez

Editor: Brian Symons

Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo helped charge the way to victory over the Brooklyn Nets in the Eastern Conference Semifinals. With this win, the Bucks will have a chance to appear in the NBA Final since 1974. Without the leadership of Antetokounmpo, the question remains if the Milwaukee Bucks can overcome their history of playoff trouble.

It's doubtful that the two-time MVP will return for the rest of the series, let alone the whole playoffs. Without Antetokounmpo's leadership, the Bucks must look to a new leader. Khris Middleton seems to be the next man up as he carried the team to the win with his 38 points. It's a task Middleton has never been asked to do in his career but must. Jrue Holiday is another option, though he's been mostly on and off during this playoff run. Holiday may be asked to conduct the offense and get the defense together.

Roll players must also step up during this competitive series. Brook Lopez must be a danger not only as a shooter and on the offensive glass, but also as a roller and in the post. Forbes must be made available for 3-pointers after dribble-handoffs, pin downs, and pick-and-pops. Bobby Portis must also make his defensive presence in the paint without Antetokounmpo.

The Bucks are significant for the city of Milwaukee as they haven't been relevant in the NBA since the '70s. This team has been heartbroken too many times in the last decade of the NBA playoffs and this could be their best chance to win the NBA Finals. With leadership and role players doing their job, this Milwaukee Bucks could be the team to lift up the Larry O'Brien Trophy.

SPORTS ARE OUR UNIVERSE