![]() ![]() Scoot’s and Amen’s early departures poked a sizable hole in our vibe, but the arena remained chipper. Cam Whitmore looked undeniable with a head of steam. Shaedon Sharpe was coolly hopping into pull-up 3s and looked at times like he might literally take flight and leave the arena, provided Eason wasn’t there to absolutely eradicate him at the rim. Tjarks would’ve beamed with joy as John Butler Jr., one of his favorite bona fide weirdo prospects, was knocking down shots, gliding to the rim, dropping hammers, and whipping dimes to cutters. There were seven other first-round picks in Scoot’s opening game-maybe as much athleticism as I’ve seen in a summer league game-and lots of eye-bugging moments spread out among them. I maintain my reservations about where Scoot’s offense comes from and how sustainable it is, but I think his game management and pace were inarguably great. ![]() Even on this play, Amen proves no match for Scoot in terms of strength, but he is exceptionally quick, yet he still can’t position fast enough to take away Scoot’s driving angle: He turned the corner and held off Amen Thompson to go baseline and finish with a nifty reverse layup. He lanced Houston’s transition defense and then soft-served a corner kick to Kris Murray for a 3. He hit Tari Eason with a slick lefty in-and-out dribble and then a stepback 18-footer. Henderson’s ability to play through contact and claim space was on another level. He looked like a seasoned vet because, having spent two seasons in the G League, he is a seasoned vet at this point. His performance resonated with an unmistakable poise, comfort, and confidence. Before leaving with a shoulder injury that would truncate his summer league action, he did a little bit of everything: 15 points, six assists, five rebounds, a steal, and four fouls in just over 21 minutes of play. It would be hard to hit the ground running faster than Scoot did. Will Portland finally give in and trade Dame Lillard? We’re keeping a close watch on all of the biggest free agents, trade targets, retirement bluffers, and more in our new offseason tracker. That and the molten-lava coffee from the concourse that burned my fingerprints off. Whatever the case, you could see why rolling up to Thomas & Mack with thousand-pound eyelids and a constant impulse to yawn might have had me on my heels a bit.Īs it turns out, Scoot Henderson was the perfect caffeine. Maybe it’s the visual stimulation, the heat, the staying up late-maybe it’s an amalgam of those things. It’s the Bermuda Triangle of self-control. All of this was compounded by the fact that I was going into this trip with a sleep deficit-Julian, my spark plug of a 3-year-old son, decided that he’d wake up an hour earlier than normal as a nice parting gift.Īny trip to Vegas that stretches beyond 36 hours will have you hallucinating or wandering in a bit of an exhausted fog. It led to a scramble from the plane to the hotel and then straight to the arena, where Houston and Portland were tipping off in what was probably the best game of the weekend. My weekend started with a delayed flight, which had a crappy ripple effect. A lot of basketball happened while I was there, and I couldn’t be in both gyms at the same time. Cam Whitmore and Ausar Thompson, in particular, were both terrific throughout the entire event and I didn’t end up getting to them. Like last year, I’ll stick to the things that I saw in person. ![]() I won’t get to everyone and everything, so just save the, “Wow, you omitted such and such player/team” tweets. This is my second-annual NBA summer league notebook. ![]() And we saw hoop luminaries of every variety. We saw second-year players do some struggling and some strutting with a season under their belts. We saw rookies raise eyebrows and raze doubters. Las Vegas, the blatant and thorough desecration of the natural world, was yet again the scene for some meaningless basketball games and, most importantly, some epic hangs these past two weeks. Quitting summer league now may greatly reduce serious changes in your expectations. SURGEON GENERAL’S WARNING: Summer league can cause both premature elation and frustration and may complicate fandom. ![]()
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