THREE TAKEAWAYS FROM SUMMER LEAGUE

NBA / Basketball

Written by Eddie Huband

The age-old rule in the basketball world is to not overreact to the summer league. The level of play isn’t close to that of an NBA game, and often times players either stink the joint up and go on to have amazing careers or light it up and never go on to play so much as an NBA minute.

Having said that, it's mid-July, so what else is there to talk about?

This year’s summer league certainly wasn’t short of storylines, so let’s look at some of the big takeaways from the 11 days in Vegas.

Source (Background Photo): AP

Sacramento might have actually gotten it right

I’ll admit, I was the first person to make fun of Sacramento for passing on Jaden Ivey to take Keegan Murray with the fourth pick in the draft a month ago.

Murray seemed destined to be a solid role player rather than a franchise-changing star, and even though Ivey showed no interest in going to play in Sac-town, the general consensus was that they should have been more proactive in trading down to pick up more assets if they knew Murray was the guy.

I, along with virtually everyone else, might have been wrong on this one.

Murray was hands down the most impressive player in Vegas, averaging 23.3 points, 7.3 boards and 2.0 assists while showing great poise. He played under control the whole time, hit some clutch shots, displayed his shooting touch, and was a lockdown defender.

Again, it’s just summer league, but Murray may be the real deal for a Kings team looking to end a 16-year playoff drought

Banchero and Holmgren are going to be great

Shocker that the top two picks in the draft looked awesome. Banchero and Holmgren both looked like men among boys out there. Orlando’s new cornerstone showed off his complete offensive game in a major way.

His size, athleticism, shooting ability and on-ball creation were all as advertised heading into the draft, and he looks like the kind of player that can become a number one on offence. Magic fans certainly have a lot to be excited about.

Holmgren meanwhile took the Utah summer league (which happened right before Vegas) by storm with an amazing first performance where he racked up a record-setting 7 blocks, was hitting step-back threes, and looked like a mix of Rudy Gobert and prime Dirk.

His Vegas performances were nearly as impressive as well. He needs to put on some muscle, as he got pushed around a few times down low, but this kid is a dog. Plain and simple.

His defensive ability alone is enough to get your attention, couple that with a polished offensive game (that was held back in Gonzaga’s system in college) that now will get a chance to have more freedom and you have a potential superstar in the making.

Is Josh Giddy the NBA’s next great point guard?

Speaking of Holmgren, his teammate - second-year man Josh Giddy, was already a favourite among NBA nerds after a promising rookie season, but he came into summer league looking bigger, stronger, more confident, and seemingly ready to take a massive step this year.

It was a small sample size as he only played in two games, but that was all OKC needed to see to realize he was clearly a level above everyone else, so they decided it wouldn’t be worth the injury risk to keep playing him.

Giddy, who’s still just 19 years of age, has great size and athleticism at the point guard spot mixed with elite court vision and passing ability; a game reminiscent of prime Rajon Rondo.

He already displayed nice chemistry in the pick and roll with Holmgren, and with those two ready to grow together, the Thunder’s future certainly looks bright.