The Pelicans, Lakers, and Knicks each had some really encouraging moments in the 2014 NBA Las Vegas Summer League.
New Orleans Pelicans
The Pelicans entered the 2014 NBA Draft without a single pick, but traded Pierre Jackson for Russ Smith, and added the undrafted Patric Young to the summer league squad.
The impressive play from Smith and Young helped them earn contracts with New Orleans. Smith will likely step in immediately and see some minutes in his rookie year, while Young is more likely to spend his rookie season in the D-League playing heavy minutes and continuing to develop his game.
Smith has ridiculous quickness, plays tough defense, and is fearless offensively. He showed off a pretty decent 3-ball in the summer league, but most of his buckets came off of floaters and tough finishes around the rim. He also led the Las Vegas Summer League in assists per game (6.4). His resume at Louisville speaks for itself—he has the heart of a champion, and I was surprised by how far he slipped in the 2014 NBA Draft, but given how far his Cardinals teammate (Gorgui Dieng) fell in 2013, I suppose it isn’t that surprising.
Young on the other hand is an absolute beast at 6-9, 240 lbs., and had also been working out with the New Orleans Saints in the weight room. Had he not earned a deal with the Pelicans (or another team), he’d likely be playing professional football in 2014-15. He was an absolute enforcer during summer league play, rebounding, blocking shots, setting hard screens, and doing all the dirty work you could ever ask of anyone.
Los Angeles Lakers
Julius Randle is one scary dude down low. The fact that he’s just going to keep getting bigger, stronger, and more ferocious on the glass is a terrifying thing to come to terms with, as he’s already a bully on the inside. As he improves his ability to finish around the rim, he’s going to become a force on offense. He was already regularly calling for the ball in summer league play, and the Lakers were running him in a lot of isolation sets.
Jordan Clarkson, the 46th pick of the 2o14 NBA Draft who the team acquired from Washington, was also extremely impressive in one-on-one situations offensively. He also showed versatility on defense, rebounded the ball well, and converted on a game-winning tip-in during the Lakers’ win versus the Warriors.
Kendall Marshall was waived and picked up by the Milwaukee Bucks, but he had obviously been working on shooting the ball, as evidenced by the fact that he never hesitated to let it fly from deep when his man would cheat off of him and leave him open.
Without sugarcoating it, the Lakers’ summer league squad wasn’t very good, but getting a glimpse of Randle must have been enough eye candy to keep the fans tuned in this summer.
New York Knicks
Tim Hardaway, Jr. continued to display improvement in the summer league, and he looks like a guy who, after a quality rookie year could be on the rise in his sophomore season.
Meanwhile, Cleanthony Early is a tough player. He may not see as much time as Hardaway, Jr. did in his rookie year, but he will be seeing some floor time in all likelihood. He’s got great athleticism and he showed the ability to hit difficult shots and block out the presence of the defense.
It was weird to see Shannon Brown suiting up for the Knicks summer squad given how long he’s been in the league and how familiar Phil Jackson is with him. I guess it’s a possibility he’ll be signed to play a mentor-type role to help implement the triangle offense, but if that were the reason they’d sign him they’d probably be smarter to just sign him as an assistant coach.
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