Quote:
Originally Posted by fleury
Summerleague/D-league is just practice time. There are players every year that stand out where you think they're a diamond in the rough waiting to be discovered, but then they're signed and can't play an iota in a team environment. I wouldn't read anything into what's going on over the summer aside from injuries, as it's a completely different game - more based on showcasing your own talent than anything else. Certain guys stand out because of the ####ty competition. Happens every year.
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There's a quote from somewhere about how summer league won't show you who can play in the NBA, but it will show you who can't. I think there's truth to that. If you can't cut it in summer league, you're really going to struggle in the NBA. And there are exceptions, but not many.
That said, there's still a lot to be learned. Looking at Valanciunas, you can see his improved physique and that it fits well with the skills he already has, but also that conditioning may be a problem and that he needs to spend some time the rest of the summer working on cardio, so that he can continue to play at a high tempo without getting winded.
In the case of Ross, it's a much different situation because his role here - as a primary scoring option - is very different from his role with the NBA team as a spot-up shooter. I haven't seen anything from Ross through these two games that really say much at all about him.
With Acy, summer-league has shown that Casey's idea of trying to convert him to a 'power 3' may be a bad idea. He just doesn't look comfortable that far out from the basket, nor is he able to guard even the summer-league-speed SFs that he's been assigned.