Each year following the Summer League - I look deeply at the stats for all players that played over 40 minutes. I call it a "stat audit". Basically I punch in all the numbers to come up with each players per minute efficiency. I then rank the players by their respective positions. I do this so that I can make up my OWN mind about what happened at Vegas (as opposed to being force fed what PR machines and monopolized media tell me.)
Every team is trying to take the positive route with their draft picks and they all will tell you that their picks played well. But of course, everything is relative and there is no shortage of teams and players in Vegas to compare your guys to.
In respect only to the games that were played in Las Vegas, the numbers do not lie. The sample size of minutes played is very small so it is important to never read too much into summer numbers. The data is simply one more piece to the overall puzzle.
What did the audit reveal? The usual. Without fail - efficiency wins ball games. The summer version of the Raptors was the most efficient team and they went 5-0.
DeMarcus Cousins was given a "T-Mobile Rookie of the Month Award" before the games at Vegas had concluded. (John Wall should have won.) Cousins' .410 EFR for the six games he played in - ranked behind rookie Centers Solomon Alabi, and Jerome Jordan. ...You may have also heard that Harvard guard Jeremy Lin was All-World at the LVSL. Actually - he was just very good. He finished as the seventh highest rated Point Guard which is good but not "All-World". Whatever the case - Lin was signed (smartly) by Golden State - which is sure to sell tickets. Asian pride will represent.
Best player on the best team: Bobby Brown – Toronto. …The Raptors went 5-0 and Brown was their most efficient player (.708); posting averages of 12 points (on ridiculously good .676 FG %), and four assists per game. Brown had 20 assists and just seven turnovers while shooting 89%FT for his five games played.
First Team All Las Vegas Summer League
PG: Ty Lawson – Denver. …Lawson had the highest efficiency rating for the LVSL at .746. The Nuggs went 4-1 with Lawson scoring 16 ppg, and dishing five assists per game on 58% FG.
SG: Coby Karl – Denver. …Karl scored 14 ppg, with six rebounds, and three assists per game. He shot 40% from three. His team was 4-1.
SF: DeMar DeRozan (pictured) – Toronto. …DeRozan’s Raptors were unbeaten with DeRozan posting the highest EFR among SF’s. DeRozan scored 21.5 ppg on 58%FG, with 4.5 rebounds per contest.
PF: Joey Dorsey – Toronto. …Dorsey is the KING of Summer League. This year: unbeaten again at 5-0 with averages of seven points and ten boards per game. Dorsey is 11-1 for his LVSL career.
C: JaVale McGee – Washington. …McGee scored 19.5 points per game (on 69% FG) while grabbing 9.5 rebounds per run. The Wizards were 4-1.
Second Team All Las Vegas Summer League:
PG: John Wall (pictured) – Washington. …Wall’s .643 EFR was third to only Lawson and Brown. Wall scored 23.5 points per game and dished 7.8 assists. 38% FG and 5.3 turnovers per game was the only downside. He was the official LVSL MVP.
SG: Landry Fields – New York. …Fields numbers (rounded up) were 16 points (53% FG), five rebounds, and two steals per game.
SF: Curtis Withers – D League Select. …Withers’ .542 EFR was 2nd best among Small Forwards. He averaged 13 points (51% FG), eight boards, and two assists.
PF: Othello Hunter – Denver. …Hunter showed he had the hands to play with Lawson. Hunter shot 62% FG while scoring 13 ppg. He added six boards and a blocked shot per contest.
C: Solomon Alabi – Toronto. The 7’1” BIG MAN averaged eight points, five boards and one blocked shot per game on great shooting numbers: FG .565, FT .938.
Top five players per position by efficiency. …78 minutes played minimum.
Point Guards: Ty Lawson .746, Bobby Brown .708, John Wall .643, John Lucas III .634, Lester Hudson .577
Shooting Guards: Coby Karl .602, Landry Fields .600, Aubrey Coleman .600, Sam Young .594, Reggie Williams (pictured) .541
Small Forwards: DeMar DeRozan .686, Curtis Withers .542, Ronald DuPree .505, Trey Gilder .491, Marqus Blakely .473
Power Forwards: Joey Dorsey .675, Othello Hunter .629, Tyler Wilkerson .598, Ed Davis .587, Alade Aminu .571
Centers: JaVale McGee .716, Solomon Alabi .587, Patrick O’Bryant .575, Hasheem Thabeet .545, Jordan Hill .538.
They didn’t play well: Here is a list of the five lowest efficiency ratings of guys that played at least 78 minutes: Donald Sloan – SAC .013, Josh Carter – N.O. .060, Trey Johnson – LAC .086, Ibrahim Jaaber – LAL .122., Richard Roby – DEN .147
They did well with the minutes they were given... Here are the top seven efficiency ratings of those who played between 40-77 minutes: Ekene Ibekwe (pictured) – POR .690, Jermareo Davidson – ATL .679,
Richard Hendrix – ATL .676 (Second straight year Hendrix has been in this category. Give the man some playing time!), Leo Lyons – NYK .635, Dwayne Mitchell – S.A. .615, Reyshawn Terry – POR .614, Marcus Landry – NYK .608.
See the entire stat audit here.
Notes from Tuesday’s NBA Las Vegas Summer League games. ...Ty Lawson (pictured at left) was schooling. He put on a Point Guard clinic - getting anywhere he wanted to go. If left open - he made shots. Lawson's 18 points, three rebounds, and four assists came in just 20 minutes as Denver waxed Chicago 99-71. Lawson's Nuggets have yet to lose, bettering their mark to 4-0.
One player I didn’t know much about at all that has impressed me is Shane Edwards of the summer Nuggets. He runs the floor and finishes very well.
D.J. Strawberry impressed me Tuesday in the Las Vegas Summer League with his ability to apply pressure as a defender. He is a menace. ...Likewise the Kings’ Hassan Whiteside is having an impact by either blocking or changing opponents shots. ...I loved Wayne Chism stepping up to take a charge, just as he routinely did at Tennessee. ...Pooh Jeter looked like a certified NBA Point Guard Tuesday. His shot has improved and he already has the ability to run a team.
It’s too bad I never hear anything good about Joey Dorsey’s work ethic because the guy is a highly efficient BIG. I can’t remember the last time a summer team with Dorsey in the middle lost a game.
…We have watched 35 summer league contests from Orlando or Vegas in the last nine days.
Our Player of the Day for day five of the Las Vegas Summer League was DeMar DeRozan. The Raptors sophomore tore it up with 23 points (10-15 FG), and five rebounds in just 20 minutes - helping his team beat the summer Rockets 100-91. DeRozan is among the best athletes participating in Las Vegas but there is no shortage of high flying cats.
Rookie Terrico White - who is balling with the Pistons - sports a 40” vertical jump (and a sickening 3.7% body fat). Were we fielding a track team out of the athletes in Vegas - our club would have to include Ronald Dupree, DeRon Washington, Eric Bledsoe, Sonny Weems, and J.R. Giddens. Sprinters might be Roddy Beaubois, Ish Smith, John Wall, and Darren Collison.
Our “All Day Five Las Vegas Summer League Team” (their game efficiency rating). PG: Ty Lawson - DEN 1.000, SG: Mark Tyndale - DLS .739, SF: DeRozan - TOR 1.15, PF: Larry Sanders - MIL .764, C: Dorsey - TOR 1.142. Bench: Guards: Bobby Brown - TOR .814, John Lucas III - CHI .727, Aubrey Coleman - NO .678, Forwards: Tasmin Mitchell - CLE .789, Othella Hunter - DEN .700. Centers: DeMarcus Cousins - SAC .677, Courtney Sims - LAL .677.
We are hearing that Portland offered Wes Matthews (pictured at right) a five-year contract at close to 34 million dollars. We were ahead of the game on Matthews when we listed him as a draft pick on our 2009 Big Board. He went un-selected but made the Utah Jazz team as a free-agent.
The second day of the Las Vegas Summer League was forgettable with three of the four games being blowouts. It also was a bummer for Brian Butch. The former Wisconsin BIG suffered a graphically ugly knee injury that was initially diagnosed as a dislocated patella tendon. Butch was taken off the court on a stretcher.
Our Player of the Day for Saturday was NBA veteran guard Bobby Brown. His summer Raptors dismantled Phoenix 103-69. Brown had eleven points (5-6 FG), six assists, and three boards in 21 minutes. He looked totally at ease with ball in his hands and he did whatever he wanted to do against the hapless Suns. It says here that as long as the summer Suns keep featuring Earl Clark - they will not win a LV Summer League contest. In hindsight, Steve Kerr’s draft that yielded Clark, and Taylor Griffin was pretty much a waste of two picks.
Our “All Day Two Las Vegas Summer League Team” (their game efficiency rating). PG: Ty Lawson - DEN .741, SG: Brown - TOR .857, SF: DaJuan Summers - DET .640, PF: Othella Hunter - DEN .750, C: Ed Davis - TOR .800. Bench: Guards: Roddy Beaubois - DAL .676, Devin Ebanks - LAL .428, Forwards: Kim Tillie - GSW .700, Ronald Dupree - TOR .600, Andre Brown - GSW .523, Centers: Joey Dorsey - TOR .684, Omar Samhan - DAL .666.
Trade deadline day in the NBA brought a significant move for the Kings. Kevin Martin is out - along with Sergio Rodriguez, Hilton Armstrong, and Kenny Thomas. In are Carl Landry, Joey Dorsey, Larry Hughes, and Dominic McGuire. ...While I do think Martin is a quality player at his position - the same can be said for Landry. The intangibles however show a larger benefit for the Kings. As good as Martin is - he has never been the kind of player to consistently impose his will on a game. He has his moments and he scores efficiently but Landry does too. It is my belief that Landry is a tougher player. By pure efficiency by position - Martin ranks 12th in the NBA at SG. Landry, similarly, is rated 14th at his position, PF.
Joey
Dorsey was our MVP of the Las Vegas Summer League. He blocks shots and rebounds like a demon, and like Ben Wallace, he struggles at the free throw line. If you combine Dorsey’s 500+ minutes of D-League play this season with his limited career NBA numbers, his efficiency rating is .696. That number would rank fourth in the NBA at Center. If he can come anywhere close to that, and if Paul Westphal plays him - Dorsey can be the piece that tips the trade in favor of Sacramento.
