NBA Summer League Teams to Watch Out For
The NBA Summer League is almost here! Whether you care about tuning into your favorite team’s summer league games or not, plenty of newly-drafted players and young prospects will certainly produce must-watch basketball content for any NBA fans. This article includes three of the most promising Summer League teams to watch while the NBA off-season persists.
Indiana Pacers
The Indiana Pacers have a healthy mix of recent draft picks and bright first and second-year players that will make the Pacers very fun to watch this Summer League. Their roster is headlined by Bennedict Mathurin, Andrew Nembhard, Isaiah Jackson, and Jarace Walker, but filled with many familiar faces with great talent. It’s head-scratching to see Mathurin, Jackson, and Nembhard playing in this tournament, but they’ve included all three of these shortly-tenured Pacers to their roster. Expect Mathurin, Jackson, and Nembhard to play sparingly this Summer League, as the Pacers will look to give minutes to younger guys who are new to their system to see which players could potentially fit into their program. Walker, on the other hand, should get more opportunities in the Summer League to prove his worth as a feasible rotational player for the Pacers. Walker is a nightmare for opposing offenses due to his defensive versatility in having the lateral quickness to stay in front of guards and a strong 6’7 240LB frame to be physical with forwards. He is pretty quick for his size and uses that speed in transition opportunities, where he often displayed his ability to grab the ball off the defensive glass and push the pace offensively. Look to see Walker experiment more with his offensive isolation game this Summer League, as that is the most unrefined dimension of his game. He already has talent as a slasher from the perimeter but would be a more well-rounded player with some playmaking skill and a better jumper from beyond the arc. Walker brings a bit of everything to the table as a player, so it will be interesting to see which qualities of his game shine the brightest from day one.
The rest of their roster is filled with former college basketball standouts and Two-Way/G-League guys that were productive in Fort Wayne. Recent draft picks Ben Sheppard and Isaiah Wong are both coming off of very productive senior seasons and will look to be involved heavily this Summer League to secure a roster spot. Sheppard is a prototypical three-and-D player that will provide good length at 6’6 for the Pacers on the perimeter. He shot 41.5 percent from three last year at Belmont and showcased impressive defensive capabilities at the NBA Draft Combine in May by getting his long 6’8 wingspan in the passing lanes and diving for loose balls to come up with extra possessions. Whether it’s making hustle plays on the defensive end or lighting it up from the three-point line, Sheppard will make an impact no matter what. Combo-guard Isaiah Wong out of Miami is a dangerous three-level scoring threat that was an instrumental part of Miami’s Final Four run this past spring. Wong shot 38 percent from three last year but proved his value on the defensive end as an on-ball defender, as he racked up 1.4 steals per game. He comes from a Miami team that has made back-to-back deep runs in March Madness and will look to bring the virtue of winning culture he developed at Miami to the Pacers. Another Pacer to watch out for this Summer League is big man Oscar Tshiebwe from Kentucky, as he was signed to a Two-Way deal after he went undrafted a week ago. The 2022 Naismith Player of the Year will be looking to carve out a role on the Pacers roster and will need to show flashes of improvement on the red flags of his game. Anyone who watched college basketball for the past two years knows that Tshiebwe is a double-double threat every night with his tenacity on both sides of the glass and his strong low-post scoring. But where his game lacks is on the defensive end as a perimeter defender. His lateral quickness isn’t the best and was easy to dribble around last year, so he will need to improve that before getting a legit shot in the rotation. Despite his flaws, Tshiebwe plays like an old-school bruiser down low in the paint and is a massive threat on the boards and as a lob threat, and will make an impact with his hustle.
Utah Jazz
Similar to the Pacers, the Utah Jazz Summer League team will be rolling out a steady mix of new rookie talent and NBA-tenured players. The Jazz had three first-round picks in the draft this year, picking forward Taylor Hendricks from Central Florida ninth overall, Baylor’s Keyonte George at 16th overall, and Ohio State’s Brice Sensabaugh at 28th overall. In terms of NBA-tenured players on their roster, Ochai Agbaji is the most noteworthy, but most likely will not be playing big minutes since he’s proven his worth in the NBA at the moment. Hendricks is a great addition to the frontcourt in Utah, where his mobility and shooting ability at 6’10 will stretch opposing defenses out. He is a lengthy, athletic forward that shot 39 percent from deep last year while scoring just over 15 points per contest and blocking 1.7 shots per game. He’s shown flashes of strong lateral quickness to stay in front of guards and also serves well as a rim protector despite not being a true center. Here’s a clip of Hendricks’ utility as a shot blocker.
Keyonte George will certainly produce some highlight-worthy plays this summer league, but he is a project for the Jazz in the long run. He’s an athletic slashing wing that put up great numbers for Baylor in one season. He averaged 15.3 PPG, and 4.2 RPG while adding just over one steal per game. He put those numbers up playing next to two 15 PPG guards in LJ Cryer and Adam Flagler, so it is encouraging to see George be productive offensively alongside two other ball-dominant players. He’s a dynamic athlete that gets downhill well and has shown the ability to make tough pull-up shots off the dribble. He shot 33.8 percent from three, which will need to increase for him to see minutes early as a rotational player. The clip below shows his capabilities as a three-level scoring guard that can blow past anyone. As for Brice Sensabaugh, he projects to be a three-and-D wing that can score in isolation situations from the perimeter. He has a dense frame at 6’6 and 235LBS that bodes well for him on the defensive end, allowing him to wall up defenders driving at him, and has the lateral quickness to stay in front of smaller and faster guards. He also shot 40.5 percent from deep last year, so he provides floor spacing as an off-ball wing.
Memphis Grizzlies
The Grizzlies make an appearance on this list despite not having a first-round pick in the draft this year. They have a great roster of second and third-year players on their Summer League roster this summer, alongside two interesting second-round draft picks this year. The roster is spearheaded by the trio of Kenneth Lofton Jr. Jake LaRavia, and David Roddy, all entering their sophomore NBA season. Lofton Jr. is a highlight factory as a strong 6’6 forward with elite post footwork and touch around the rim, plus sneaky ball-handling ability and quickness. He has an improving three-point jumper, as well as signs of playmaking from the post. He is very fun to watch, and will most likely have the ability to explore his deep bag of offensive skill this Summer League. LaRavia is a three-and-D lengthy wing that can have utility as an off-ball cutter. He averaged 18.8 PPG for the Grizzlies’ G-League team last year, and he’ll look to improve on the defensive end of the ball and as a playmaker offensively. David Roddy is another big forward that is a great slasher and defender. At 6’6 with a thick 255LBS, he is surprisingly very athletic for his large size and runs the floor very well. He also is very bouncy for his size, which yields highlight-level poster dunks. He averaged 6.7 PPG in 18 minutes a game with the Grizzlies last year and is in a position to carve out a larger role next year. He will see more minutes with the improvement of his perimeter shooting, as he only shot 30.7 percent from three last year. The clip below shows the crazy bounce on David Roddy, as he posterizes Clipper’s center Ivica Zubac.
The Grizzlies’ draft picks this year are South Carolina’s G.G. Jackson II and Fenerbahce’s Tarik Biberovic. Jackson is similar to Lofton Jr. in the sense that both of them are so gifted offensively, and can torch a defense in a myriad of ways. The 6’9 forward averaged 15.4 PPG and just under six rebounds per game last year at South Carolina and will look to prove his worth in the NBA as a big wing/forward that is capable of scoring on all three levels. He’s showcased a diverse package of complex dribble moves that help create shots for him. He’s also shown promise as a spot-up shooter from three (32.4 percent) but didn’t shoot as efficiently as NBA teams would like, as he had a tendency to take contested shots instead of passing to an open teammate. His prowess in making tough contested jumpers on the move is promising for the development of his three-point jumper. He is a great athlete that runs the floor well for his size to capitalize off of transition opportunities. Jackson is also a versatile defender with his mobility, which makes him switchable on the perimeter in pick-and-roll defense. Biberovic is a 6’7 wing that will look to mold into a 3-and-D player while he plays for the Turkish powerhouse Fenerbahce, which competes in arguably the second-best league in the world, the Euroleague. He may not play in the Summer League if he does not get a waiver from FIBA to come to the United States, as his country prepares for the FIBA World Cup tournament in the fall. He, like many other young players in the Euroleague, did not see a ton of minutes for Fenerbahce but showed promise as a shooter in the domestic Turkish basketball league. He’s a draft-and-stash prospect but will be interesting to see if he can develop enough to someday make it to Memphis.
