2013 NBA Summer League: Day 2 – Lamb, Lamb and Tony Mitchell

We covered a lot of ground on the first day of the 2013 NBA Summer League. Day Two of the Orlando League proved to be just as eventful. Here’s a quick guide to the rosters.

Oklahoma City Thunder defeats the Orlando Magic, 79-78.

For Day One, we mentioned the depth of prospects the Thunder had. Lost among the big names was 2013, second round selection and 40th pick overall, Grant Jerrett. Jerrett actually had a great game on Sunday scoring 17 points on 6 of 9 shooting, including 4-for-5 from 3-point range. Jerrett had another good shooting game, but suffered a -6 in the plus/minus category. Having three turnovers isn’t going to help matters. Here are some other notable players and their stat lines:

• Daniel Orton and Reggie Jackson were part of a nasty collision that limited both players’ minutes in this game. However, even before Jackson had to be taken out of the game, he was having a bad shooting game and committed seven turnovers in 17 minutes of play. Orton finished the game at -16. So maybe the collision was a good thing for both players.
  
• Victor Oladipo was once again running some point guard in this game. He did a better job in protecting the ball, but his counting stats in this game were not very impressive. His shooting was atrocious, but to his credit, he looked good driving the ball towards the basket and drawing fouls as evident by his ten trips to the foul line. NBATV’s Sam Mitchell and I share the same thought as we both agree that Oladipo should not be playing point guard, but he added that he has the skills to be a Dwyane Wade-type of offensive player. I can definitely see that happening.
• Andrew Nicholson did a great job bouncing back from a terrible first game. Nicholson did a good job scoring down low as one will see from his 54% field goal percentage and his six foul shot attempts.
• Jeremy Lamb hit the game-winning shot in this game, but he had an overall, awful performance. We know that Lamb, but who is Doron Lamb? He was a second round pick in the 2012 NBA Draft, 42nd overall. He spent most of last season in the D-League.

Philadelphia 76ers get blown out by the Indiana Pacers, 96-75.

In what has become one of the more puzzling moves in the NBA, especially among fans, the Sixers traded away point guard Jrue Holiday and flipped him for Michael Carter-Williams. MCW’s performance in this summer league has been mixed so far based on his numbers. In his first game, he scored 26 points, but shot very poorly and comitted nine turnovers. In his second game, he continued to take a lot of shots, but the results were the same, shooting a terrible 20% from the field. Nevertheless, just like the first game, he continued to aggressively drive towards the basket and looked to draw fouls and make play for others with relatively ease. Nonetheless, he still had four of his shots blocked despite having great size for his position. He didn’t score as much in this game, but despite being a plus/minus -21, he committed zero turnovers. A small victory for Philadelphia.

Other notable players in this game:

• Khalif Wyatt went undrafted in this year’s draft even though he was the Atlantic 10 Conference Player of the Year playing for Temple. He picked up the slack for MCW in the scoring department–and in the turnover category as well, but everybody for the Sixers had a bad game if one were to see the plus/minus stats.
• Arnett Moultrie was a 2012 first rounder. He possesses adequate height to be a big man in the NBA, although he did not record a blocked shot.
• Solomon Hill, after an unassuming first game, rebounded well in his second game. The 2013 first round pick was being praised for his work ethic, conditioning, and for losing weight as he anticipates playing small forward in the NBA this season. Larry Bird echoed those sentiments during halftime for the telecast of this game on NBATV. Always a good sign when your boss speaks in a positive manner about you.
• Miles Plumlee can just fly to the basket! His first game was good, especially with six blocks, but he was an absolute monster in the second game, adding four more blocked shots. He’s been impressive so far and now I’m excited to see him play this NBA season. I can’t believe I just typed that.

The Boston Celtics run away from the Detroit Pistons, 93-63.

Kelly Olynyk had another great game as he showed off all facets of his offensive game: jump shot, range, scoring in the paint, and intangibles (was seen hustling for a ball that was going out of bounds). The one thing that Olynyk and fans were cheated from was seeing how he would stack up against a guy like Andre Drummond. Drummond did not play in this game–coach’s decision–and it remains to be seen if Olynyk is tough enough to hold his own against other big men. This would have been a wonderful test for KO.

• Darius Johnson-Odom (DJO) was the 55th pick overall in the 2012 NBA Draft. He played most of last season in Russia. DJO played a good game, but based on his lack of assists, it doesn’t look like DJO is much of a point guard, but rather an undersized shooting guard.
  
• Tony Mitchell should not be confused for Tony Mitchell. Boston’s version went undrafted last year and played his college ball at Alabama. Detroit’s model was the 37th pick overall in this year’s draft and played his college ball at North Texas. Both players didn’t wow with their overall, individual performances in this game so the it is safe to say that the first “Tony Mitchell vs Tony Mitchell” matchup ended in a wash.
• The Pistons might want to return Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. For the second game in a row, he shot poorly, his 3-point shot was absent and only grabbed one board. His defense showed some signs of life with four steals so at least that part of his game came through, but he needs to start finding his shot because he’s been one of the most disappointing players so far in this Summer League.

The Brooklyn Nets fall to the Miami Heat, 93-86.

At first, I was skeptical about the Nets selecting Mason Plumlee with their first round pick. But this Summer League has not only endeared me to one Plumlee, but now I’m liking both Plumlees. Mason was absolutely fun to watch in this game. He looked very comfortable in the paint, finishing well around the basket, running the floor, playing above-the-rim basketball, moving very well without the ball in half-court sets, and even his jump shot was on full display. I’m not a fan of Duke, but I couldn’t help but think, “Wow, not only can you tell this guy was a senior in college last season, but he also went to Duke.” As sappy as it sounds, it’s true. Plumlee’s surprising athleticism along with his high basketball IQ has out-classed a lot of the raw, younger, and undeveloped players in this league so far. He still looks awkward in terms of mobility on the floor, but it has been fun watching him play.

• Much better job shooting the ball for Tyshawn Taylor and you got to give him props for making 11 trips to the foul line, but he added five more turnovers in this game and now has a combined plus/minus of -25 after two games. The 25 points are nice, but I’m sure the Nets would prefer him playing a better point guard.
• I’ve become a fan of James Ennis and he had himself another solid game, better than his debut on Sunday.
• Ian Clark went undrafted in this year’s draft. He played at Belmont.
• Scotty Hopson played in Israel and played for Tennessee in college.
• Cedric Jackson is 27 years-old and played in New Zealand last year.

Felipe Melecio

Felipe Melecio was the managing editor for the blog Pathological Hate. He believes that math is your friend and numbers can be fun, especially when it comes to baseball. Keep tabs on all his knee-jerk reactions on Twitter: Follow @pathological_h8 !function(d,s,id){var js,fjs=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],p=/^http:/.test(d.location)?'http':'https';if(!d.getElementById(id)){js=d.createElement(s);js.id=id;js.src=p+'://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js';fjs.parentNode.insertBefore(js,fjs);}}(document, 'script', 'twitter-wjs');

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