Boozer Leads Grizzlies to Title Game

Cameron Boozer and the Grizzlies’ Championship Run

Memphis Grizzlies forward Cameron Boozer, the third pick in the draft, distinguished himself throughout the Las Vegas event not just through individual highlights, but through consistent production. Boozer played the most minutes (177) of any player in Vegas, and that was after he had played two games in Salt Lake City. Even with their side trip to Utah, Memphis had four of the top seven players in minutes in Vegas, helped by playing a sixth game in the championship. In total, Boozer played eight games and 229 minutes this July. Although Golden State ultimately won the Vegas title after Yaxel Lendeborg outdueled Boozer, the Grizzlies’ heavy involvement in the tournament schedule provided a significant sample size for the rookie’s development.

AJ Dybantsa and Caleb Wilson: Scoring and Efficiency

Washington Wizards rookie AJ Dybantsa (the No. 1 pick) and Chicago Bulls forward Caleb Wilson (the No. 4 pick) were highlighted as two of Summer League’s hottest starts, with a highly anticipated matchup between the two taking place on July 13. Former North Carolina Tar Heels forward Caleb Wilson has only been in the NBA for just about a month, but he made a strong first impression. With the Chicago Bulls, Wilson had a standout Summer League, playing in four of the five possible games. He opened his Summer League with a 35-point performance and then scored in double digits in each of the remaining three games. He was the best player on the court when he played.

On Tuesday, the NBA named Wilson as one of five players on their All-Summer League First Team, joined by Cameron Boozer, Brayden Burries, Yaxel Lendeborg, and Meleek Thomas. In his four games, Wilson averaged 23.5 points, 7.3 rebounds, 3.8 blocks, and 1.8 assists per game. Wilson shot 50 percent from the field, including 41.9 percent from the three-point line. Following a dazzling Vegas debut, Wilson followed it up with a Dunk of the Summer candidate, further fueling the excitement around his transition to the preseason and regular season.

For more on this story, see De Larrea Leads Mavericks Past Grizzlies.

Meleek Thomas and Emerging Standouts

Cleveland Cavaliers second-round pick Meleek Thomas provided one of the most prolific scoring displays of the summer, finishing with a Vegas-best 28.3 points per game through three outings. During a 90-73 victory over the Miami Heat, Thomas scored 35 points, shooting 45.8% from three-point range and adding 4.3 assists per game. Thomas’s performance was characterized by his “wiggle,” including a slick spinning jumper and five treys in that contest alone.

We went 0-2 the first games, I’m big about winning, so I wanted to solidify the win, said Thomas. And I want to keep solidifying wins.

Evaluating Summer League Performance

While Summer League performance acts as a preview for the coming season, experts caution that it should be viewed with perspective. As noted in league reporting, the first rule of NBA Summer League is to ignore everything you saw at summer league. While some correlation remains between a player’s overall summer-league performance and his regular-season performance, the summer stats that describe what type of player somebody is—such as frequency of 3-point attempts, assists, rebounds, and blocks—are of much more value than the ones that describe how good that player is. These categories are much stickier and more predictive than a player’s raw scoring or shooting percentages. With the NBA preseason having become a hollowed-out charade, the focus for top prospects remains on integrating these habits into the professional environment as the league calendar progresses.