Well, the Summer League came and went without even a second notice, and I must say it was quite an interesting new approach to the competition. In Orlando, there were a few teams that participated in that tournament, and it didn't even have best-of-whatever format to separate the weak from the strong. Whoever won their games simply put had the best chance at winning the tournament, while the teams with the most losses simply put risk getting the worst record in that competition. After a few games passed, instead of having a tournament to decide who the best Summer League team in Orlando was, the NBA decided to hold a final game for each team deciding which team gets the championship, who gets third place, and so on and so forth. In the end, we had the Oklahoma City Thunder lead over everyone in Orlando as champions, while the Brooklyn Nets under Jason Kidd's new rule as head coach had more of a rough start going forward as the worst team in Orlando. I also forgot to mention that they played all their games for six straight days, which would certainly be tiresome if it were for some breaks involved during the week for all the teams.
Even with that said, anyone that follows the Summer League at all knows that the real meat of the Summer League is in Las Vegas. In the city of glitz and glamor, over two-thirds of the NBA's teams (and even a special team involving the NBA's Development League players) can compete against each other to not only help develop some of their own players they drafted/grabbed over the past few years, but also see if there are any surprises that might make it to an NBA roster of sorts. There have been people that actually benefitted from their performances in the Summer League despite not being on a roster before playing, such as Jeremy Lin from 2010 making to the Golden State Warriors' roster (although we all know he was more known for his (half-)year in New York than anything else) and even P.J. Tucker making it to the Phoenix Suns' current roster in spite of having a pretty poor, if not forgetable performance last year. However, the Summer League can also be a double-edged sword in determining how a player develops since players that perform spectacularly can perform poorly for the rest of their careers (like Anthony Morrow and Marcus Banks), while people that could perform poorly in the Summer League like John Wall and Kevin Durant could later shrug it off and become All-Star/superstar-like players. Of course, you can also have those that perform poorly and stay like that alongside those that performed well and stay awesome, but that's one thing that I have learned about with my experiences in the Summer League.
Anyways, you all know by now that with the mention of Orlando having a championship of sorts, I'll be talking about Las Vegas and it's tournament. Let me tell you that it was one of the most weirdly interesting things I've ever experienced in my life. The NBA decided to schedule how teams play its games by putting down the first few games for each team in numeric order (starting almost after the Orlando Summer League was over with). Then after each team ended up playing three regularly scheduled games, some of the lesser teams end up playing against each other in the first round before playing some of the stronger teams in the Summer League. After the first two rounds are done, the losing teams would play consolation games for losing in the tournament, while every other losing team from here on out end up losing out completely. Yeah, it certainly is a weird little system, but I'm sure it'll be more clearer to someone like me or you the more we have these tournaments. So how did the Las Vegas Tournement turn out?
For the most part, it actually turned out quite nicely. The competition that was presented throughout this time was rather interesting this time around, and it did make me want to try and see all the games that were available. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get to see all of them at the time due to the NBA's channel not airing all the Suns Summer League games. (Not only that, but there was one game that had an entire quarter interrupted from viewing just because of a special announcement involving soon-to-be-retired commissioner David Stern and one of the NBA teams that wasn't the Suns whatsoever.) Still, with what I did see, I ended up (mostly) enjoying it for one reason or another. What do I mean by that, you may ask? Well, I do have some quick recaps on what I mean there.
First Game (Game #9): Phoenix Suns Vs. Portland Trail Blazers at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 13, 2013)
With this game, it was the first time that any Phoenix Suns players got to experience what new coach Jeff Hornacek was going to be like, as well as their system. When it came to what I saw, it was actually really nice to see. Admittedly, the first half didn't really work out for the best for Jeff Hornacek since this left the team with a deficit inside each quarter (although the second quarter ended as a tie for both teams). However, once halftime came to fruition, the team either started to get really serious with themselves now or Jeff Hornacek came up with a new plan to start out the second half. Regardless of what that notion was, the Suns ended up getting a major run within the third quarter and they never really looked back even when Portland tried to comeback from their own deficit themselves.
When looking at what happened with the Suns, it appeared that the Morris twins named Marcus and Markieff were the leaders of the team due to their production in points and rebounds. However, the twins weren't really all that effective with their actual shooting (especially in the case of Markieff since he had 8 fouls) and there was one player that actually did better than them in rebounding combined in less minutes of play. The next effective player in my eyes was Phoenix's first round pick they got by trade in Archie Goodwin, and for a 29th pick, he didn't do a bad job for his first game with scoring 13 points and grabbing 4 rebounds; in fact, he was more closer to his averages at Kentucky University there. P.J. Tucker, Kendall Marshall, and Diante Garrett all were decent when they came in, even though they really didn't influence the game all that much. Finally, when it came to the non-Suns players that impressed me, only Arinze Onuaku (not Alex Oriakhi) did a nice job to my eyes as well since he was a more major rebounding force with the 11 rebounds he got in his game; he also went and had 7 points to go with it.
As for the players with the Portland Trail Blazers, only Lehigh senior rookie C.J. McCollum truly left me with a good impression on him at the end. C.J. was more of a scoring machine for the Trail Blazers (almost like their star point guard Damian Lillard to a degree) by netting up 22 points for the Trail Blazers in his first game with them. You could pretty much say that he was main catalyst for the Trail Blazers as they rose with him in the first half, and faltered in the second half with him being really ineffective once P.J. Tucker ended up defending him. If there's anyone else that felt noteworthy for Portland, only Will Barton was someone who scored into the double digits with 13 points. Beyond that, once C.J. started to falter, the Trail Blazers were pretty much done for.
Final Score: Phoenix wins over Portland 82-69.
Second Game (Game #22): Minnesota Timberwolves Vs. Phoenix Suns at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 15, 2013)
Unlike the first game, this was a game where it looked like the Suns were done for, but they actually ended up pulling a shocker that was kind of like an influence towards why I'm a fan of the Phoenix Suns in the first place. This was one of those games where it looks to be virtually hopeless to get a victory off of a deficit that can be over the 20 point digits, and you want to shut off the TV because you can't watch anymore of a shitty game take place. That was kind of the feeling that I had for a few games throughout last year, starting with that embarassing road loss to the Detroit Pistons in November 2012 that had the Suns lose by 40 points. No my friends, this game was more like that home victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers that coincidentally also took place in that same period, where the Suns were down by as many as 26 points, yet somehow came out of their fight with a victory at hand (although in this case, they were down by as many as 24 points). The best part, however, was that it ended with a buzzer beater shot in Phoenix's favor... but I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here.
Minnesota had two draft picks of their own this year (although both of them were with a trade by Utah), and while Phoenix had a player already injured missing out, the Timberwolves had two nice rookies from the mid-to-late first round with "freshman" Shabazz Muhammad from UCLA and "junior" Gorgui Dieng from Louisville, both of whom helped out their rosters for different reasons. Anyways, Shabazz barely did much to help out the Timberwolves, and Gorgui was basically non-existant during his time playing. I'm sure by know you're probably asking yourself "if their rookies didn't do shit to help the team out, then who was leading the team throughout the first half?" Well, there were three players that kind of became main factors for the Timberwolves. Forward Robbie Hummel was the prime leader of the group since he ended up getting 18 points for the Timberwolves, but unlike C.J. McCollum, he wasn't really alone with scoring for the Timberwolves since he had major help with guards Demetri McCamey and Kee Kee Clark also lead the charge for Minnesota with 13 and 10 points for them respectively throughout the game. In a way, you could say that their influence almost felt like it was too much for the Suns. For that sense, you could say that you were almost right yourself.
Phoenix, on the other hand, had a more thorough distribution of play and effort for a great portion of their players this time around, especially once the Suns started out the second half of the ball game. While Archie Goodwin and Arinze Onuaku had pretty bad games (and Diante Garrett was also only decent), starters P.J. Tucker, the Morris twins, and even Kendall Marshall ended up showing nice charisma during their trying period beyond the first half. P.J. Tucker had the charisma to put up an almost double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds to help lead the charge, while Markieff Morris put off a much better shot selection notion to lead the team in scoring once again with 22 points. However, it were by the last minute desperation charges of Dionte Christmas and Kendall Marshall that helped the Suns with 3 made three point shots in a row to tie the game up within the last 50+ seconds of the ball game. Still, in spite of Minnesota trying their hardest to stop Phoenix from getting the lead, it was ultimately Marcus Morris who ended up getting the buzzer-beating shot that the NBA called the best play of the Summer League this year period. Without those players' commitments towards keeping the Suns in the game to win it, there would have been a much different story taking over this game.
Final Score: Phoenix edges out a win over Minnesota 91-89.
Third Game (Game #31): Phoenix Suns Vs. Memphis Grizzlies at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 16, 2013)
In this game, this would probably where I noticed a good amount of change coming for the Suns, with some positive results coming out of it. With this game, even though Jeff Hornacek couldn't get a lead after the first quarter (yet), they actually had a game plan that would let them take control of the game going forward and (this is the best part) never lose control once they got it. Yeah, as much as Memphis wanted to try and win against the Suns (and believe me, they were truly willing to get through them), it was Phoenix that lead over everyone else moving forward. While there were still a few faults found with a few of their main players, it was a game that could be considered a turning point that the Suns could say they built on.
By looking at what you saw in the first paragraph, you would be assuming that the Suns were more in tune with themselves as a team than Memphis was. In a way, that kind of was the case; but when looking at how points ended up being distributed, it was actually Memphis that had more of a plan on distributing the ball towards each others' starters than Phoenix did. In addition of bench player Vander Blue being close to the 10 point mark in their game, it was the starting line-up of Willie Reed, Jack Cooley, Donté Greene, Gerald Robinson, and star-like player Tony Wroten Jr. that truly laid out the game plan for the Grizzlies. For Memphis, it was really clear to see that the method to succeed is to let the starters score as many points as they possibly can. So in that case, how could the Grizzlies fail with their plan in that area? Well, I do know that one part of the reason is making sure your players score in the proper basket!
While it was Memphis that was more widely spread in point distribution, it was Phoenix that ended up being the winners in overall distribution period. In addition, while the Morris twins were more of a disappointment this game due to their serious lack of production, everyone else involved with the game produced throughout it quite nicely. Kendall Marshall put up some good leadership duties to help the Suns along the way, while Diante Garrett became the true distributor of the Suns throughout his playing time in that game. In addition to Marshall, two other players in second round rookie Alex Oriakhi and Dionte Christmas wound up really close to getting into the double digit numbers of points scored like these four players did. Chris Babb ended up rising alongside Christmas and Onuaku in having a breakout performance in separating himself from other people, while Arinze Onuaku himself was a true double-double monster with the 13 points and 12 rebounds he had throughout the game. Even P.J. Tucker ended up being more of a scorer for the Suns during this game than he had beforehand; however, the true breakout player for the Suns in that game was first round rookie Archie Goodwin, as he lead the team with 22 points throughout the game to become a player that some people could very well see as a future All-Star (and draft steal) with a valuable goal on improving his weaknesses and increasing his strengths in the process. Overall, this was truly a game where everyone lead the way to come out of the first part of the Las Vegas Summer League as one of the teams up on top.
Final Score: Phoenix put the wallop on Memphis 100-88.
Fourth Game (Game #44): Phoenix Suns Vs. Portland Trail Blazers at the COX Pavilion (July 18, 2013)
This match-up is a bit more of a funnier one to me for a few reasons. First, it was one of the few, if not only times where two teams that had competed against each other in Las Vegas beforehand ended up competing against each other once again later on. Second, it had the Portland Trail Blazers playing under a quick game against the Atlanta Hawks (who had picked up good international born rookies with Dennis Schröder from Germany and Lucas Nogueira from Brazil) in what was technically the real first round in the Summer League Tournament, which they won under a close 70-69 overtime victory. That kind of left the Trail Blazers with the disadvantage of being tired from their last game while Phoenix was properly rested up with a first round bye in their bracket. Third, it leaves both teams seeing what their star players can do a second time around knowing their strengths and weaknesses in battle truly are and exploit them as best they can. Finally, and most strangely of them all, the NBA ended up interrupting more or less an entire quarter of broadcast on the NBA Channel in this game... just to announce a name change for the Charlotte Bobcats. Yeah, because when I want to watch a Summer League game, the first thing that I want to see is David Stern announcing the Charlotte Bobcats returning their old Hornets moniker they lost in 2001... especially when practically everyone that shows a relevant interest in the NBA would know this name change was going to happen!
Anyways, when it came to looking at what went on for the rematch between these two teams, I noticed that almost everyone that played in that game ended up scoring at least the equivalent of one made two-point shot. However, it's only by looking at how Portland distributed their point production that shows how they ended up playing game two against the Suns. Instead of having the main focus be on C.J. McCollum as the main scorer for the team, he ended up sharing his duties with fellow guard Will Barton. Not only that, but their sophomoric players in forward Thomas Robinson and center Meyers Leonard helped make the team more active in how they controlled things this time around. While C.J. McCollum was still the leading scorer for the Trail Blazers, they did have a more thought out design in how to control the game. Unfortunately for Portland, they didn't fully think it through until the end, especially since their high scorers had pretty bad shooting percentages this time around.
While I did say before that the Suns' game against Memphis was a turning point for Jeff Hornacek and his team, I kind of thought that their performance here showed why their last game ended up carrying over through this one. While Alex Oriakhi was the only player to not really score anything for the Suns, every other player that went out for the team ended up holding at least some kind of contribution at hand. Some players like Kendall Marshall, Marcus Morris, and even Arinze Onuaku wound up underachieving during their rematch against Portland, while players like Diante Garrett, Dionte Christmas, Chris Babb, and especially Markieff Morris ended up almost overachieving in the process. Primarily, I would say it was Diante Garrett that ended up helping out the most since he was a main catalyst of sorts for Phoenix to get a large 25-0 run during the second quarter, despite Markieff Morris being the main leader in both points and rebounds in the process. Nevertheless, as much as Portland tried to catch up to the Suns (and believe me when I say they really tried), they couldn't really muster up the stamina needed to get a comeback win for themselves. As a result, they were now eliminated from the tournament and had to play a consolation game because of their loss.
Final Score: Phoenix beat on Portland (again) 92-84.
Fifth Game (Game #56): Toronto Raptors Vs. Phoenix Suns at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 20, 2013)
Unfortunately, for this match, it wasn't fought under truly fair conditions. A good part as to why I say that is that Toronto's biggest player that was in the Summer League (Jonas Valančiūnas) wasn't playing on that day due to an injury on one of his fingers. (While I don't necessarily remember the specifics of why Jonas was injured, I do know for a fact that he was injured.) In addition, there was also another important aspect that the Raptors don't really have any other strong, worthwhile youngsters that could make an impact on the game beyond Jonas (who also apparently ended up being an MVP of the Summer League with his performances before this game). Admittedly, I more like my games when my opponent is fully healthy so that I know that the true victor happened with no misfortune on either side happening. In fact, a part of me would have really liked to see how Phoenix's recently drafted center Olexiy Len would have fared up against Jonas Valančiūnas, who is a person that people are saying that is one of the better, younger international born players in the NBA right now. With that said, this was really one of those games for Phoenix when it was there's for the taking with only Toronto themselves fully stopping them from winning this ball game.
In this game, Archie Goodwin truly showed off what he could be capable of by scoring 20 points off of baskets where it almost looked like he couldn't miss at all. In fact, the only times that he did miss were on two free-throws; beyond that, he almost looked like a player that could be ready to go for the regular season to start. Beyond that, the Morris twins were some players that truly played their games effectively, with both brothers scoring 8-11 from the field (although Marcus did do a little bit more to make him be close to the best player in that game tonight with a few baskets coming from three-pointers and free-throws). Even Diante Christmas showed why he should be considered to have a roster spot on some sort of team this season (whether it's with the Suns or someone else) with his 15 points and five rebounds to help the team out. Beyond that, everyone else on the Suns' roster (other than Tom Ambercrombie) ended up doing what they did to help the team compete to the best of their abilities. Hell, even Jake Cohen ended up scoring six free-throws in the minute that he ended up playing for the Suns, which certainly helped. However, I think the best part of the game was that the team finally lead in not only the first quarter, but to lead throughout the entire game for once. Still, you do have to wonder how Toronto ended up performing without their star player in Jonas Valančiūnas leading the team.
Surprisingly enough, the Raptors actually performed quite well for themselves. What especially surprised me was who ended up performing unbelievably well for the Raptors in that game. It wasn't their first round player from 2012 (Terrence Ross) nor Alade Aminu, Al-Farouq Aminu's brother. Instead, it was the combined efforts of second round pick from 2012 Quincy Acy and undrafted player (that coincidentally also was a part of Phoenix's Summer League roster from last year) Dwight Buycks that helped keep the competition close for the Raptors. Both players ended up scoring a ridiculously-high 28 points for the team, with Quincy Acy getting a double-double out of it in the process with 10 rebounds in that game. Beyond those two, only Terrence Ross with his 9 points and Chris Wright with his 10 points were the only guys that truly stood out from them. Admittedly, the Raptors put up a much better fight than I had initially expected out of them without their top player helping out (and he likely could have made a difference as well), but their drive to get on top of Phoenix near the end of the game just wasn't good enough to topple them.
Final Score: Phoenix edge out Toronto 103-98.
Sixth Game (Game #59): Miami Heat Vs. Phoenix Suns at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 21, 2013)
With this match-up, it was a big one considering who the opponent was. Seriously, they were a team known with big star players, with some of the players that were in the Summer League also taking part in at least their 2012 champion team over the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat is a team that could seriously tease you in a hurry with the possibility of probably getting your team the upset victory over them, only for the Heat to screw you over in some utmost ridiculous fashions sometimes. In fact, they really felt like a roster that could push the Suns to their limits since even though the Suns scored 100 points two times now, the Heat was the team that had the highest score in a Summer League game with 113 points in a brutal beatdown on the New York Knicks (113-66). Still, if the Suns wanted to win this game, they had to watch their backs when necessary and not let the Heat try and deceive them. Unfortunately, the second part of the story still kind of happened, but it did not end in unfortunate disaster.
Throughout this game, you could tell that P.J. Tucker was the guy in charge to help lead the Suns through their fight. His 19 points helped lead the team alongside his effort involved with the game to make sure the team never truly let go in their fight on the two-time defending NBA champions, especially when looking at their efforts in the first half. In addition, both Morris twins were very important in helping the team out as well, with Marcus taking control in scoring and Markieff being a rebounding king today; Markieff also helped score a very important shot near the end of the game, but I'm getting ahead of myself there. In addition, the trio of non-Suns players of relevant interest in Arinze Onuaku, Dionte Christmas, and Chris Babb all helped the Suns out in a worthwhile fashion in points scored, primarily so with Onuaku and Christmas. Beyond that, there aren't too many other players from the Suns that did anything too worthwhile for the team. Even Archie Goodwin was a bit lackluster in that game, although did give us this great non-basket that should have really counted as a basket.
Admittedly, the Heat would be a more fitting opponent in a playoff competition in the final round of the match then in the semi-final rounds. Even with that out in the open now, they actually did earn their right to fight in the semi-final round of this competition, unlike how they went into their last three NBA Finals match-ups by taking LeBron James from Cleveland and Chris Bosh from Toronto to team up with their own star player in Dwayne Wade and having them compete against their rivals together instead of apart from one another. What probably was the worst part about all this is that aside from their first year together as a trio, that system actually works out for them (albeit in an unbelievably simplistic cock-teasing way for the media to truly doubt them year after year). However, the Summer League does kind of bring their system down to Earth for at least a little bit of time since no one from the trio really plays from there, and that type of system does show them for what the team really is like without the trio around: an average group of players that can't really win a championship without large amounts of help, as shown through their time in Orlando. Still, Las Vegas is a different beast, and despite being a team that had to compete in the first round just to survive, they still showcased a skillset that had both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls (who were a seed ahead of Phoenix). Unfortunately for Phoenix, they did show why they still had the fire run through them once there was only four minutes left in the third quarter.
Instead of talking about the usual Heat trio shit that's going on these days, the Heat would be lead by their own draft pick in 2013 with James Ennis from Long Beach State and by someone named James Nunnally. James Ennis showed why he was someone that the Heat wanted to have on their roster with scoring 25 points on the entire game and almost getting a double-double with 9 rebounds. James Nunnally, on the other hand, was yet another surprise player found in the Summer League with him scoring 24 points for the team to help come back in the game when they were down by as many as 19 points at one point. Other players like D.J. Kennedy and Eric Griffin also helped the Heat try to take control with 18 points and 12 points for them respectively. All of these players were truly involved with helping the Heat try and catch up to Phoenix during this game. However, Markieff Morris ended up taking the shot that was considered the game-winner with a few seconds left in the game and the Suns helped influence the Heat to take a low percentage shot out in the half-court area... which D.J. Kennedy took and missed because of it.
Final Score: Phoenix barely survive over Miami 91-89.
Seventh & Final (Championship) Game (Game #61): Phoenix Suns Vs. Golden State Warriors at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 22, 2013)
To be honest with you, this championship bout's opponent was kind of anticlimatic when compared to the semi-final opponent the Suns faced off against. With the Miami Heat, they were an opponent that you wanted to face off against, a team to knock off of its high horse and say to the world "HEY, WE BEAT THE TEAM THAT BROUGHT MANY SORROW DURING THESE LAST FEW YEARS!!! YOU ARE NOW FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Almost kind of similar to how the Arizona Diamondbacks ended up defeating the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series. Instead, we get a Golden State Warriors team that hasn't necessarily brought me much to really excited about (at least in my personal tastes). Don't get me wrong, they certainly did earn their position in the final round since besides the Suns, it was Golden State that was the only team that ended up being undefeated to get to the Summer League championship. In addition, they also were the only team to not lose in the Summer League at all ever since 2010, which is quite an impressive feat to have. Still, winning streaks do have to find a way to fall. Could the Phoenix Suns find a way to get the Warriors to stumble onto a loss and net themselves the inaugural championship in the process? Let's find out right now...
Even though it wasn't really a climatic kind of match-up to end a Las Vegas Summer League tournament (especially when Orlando ended their tournament with the Oklahoma City Thunder playing against the Houston Rockets), it still brought up some excitement involving both teams. Phoenix had Archie Goodwin get back to his good self again with leading the team in 18 points during the final game of the Summer League. In addition, P.J. Tucker ended up showing how he truly was grateful for the time he had with the Summer League by being a leader for the team, despite having only 12 points and 5 rebounds overall. Due to his performance last year, he ended up being a (major) part of Phoenix's roster last year, and P.J. did want to shows his appreciation for the Suns and help them out overall for the best of his abilities. The Morris twins still did a fine job, but Marcus was more effective than Markieff even though they both shot the ball poorly. Speaking of which, besides Archie Goodwin, everyone on the Suns ended up shooting poorly for their final game, and that wasn't a great thing to see during this tournament.
The Golden State Warriors, on the other hand, had an unbelievable performance by current Utah Jazz player Ian Clark. Ian ended up being the main catalyst for the team throughout his time with the Warriors, and it really showed in this grand finale of his. When almost everyone else was tired on both teams since they both had to compete for three straight days in a row, Ian Clark ended up having a scoring night that many people would not easily forget where he ended up scoring 33 points throughout the competition. It almost felt like it was his time to truly shine and show those that were watching what he could really do on an NBA roster. Anyways, beyond him, there was also the likes of Kent Bazemore that ended up shining up just as nicely as Ian Clark with 18 points (although it wasn't really much better than that). In addition, the joint efforts of both Draymond Green and Cameron Jones ended up scoring 12 points each, along with someone named Lance Goulbourne gaining 8 points, to help the Warriors gain complete control of the ball game. While the Suns did try their hardest to get back in the game throughout each of the first three quarters, in the end, it wasn't really enough as the Warriors ended up gaining a 13-0 run during the 4th quarter and the Suns never really recovered from the deficit because of it.
Final Score: Phoenix sadly loses to Golden State 91-77.
So while the ending of the Las Vegas Summer League wasn't something that I really liked seeing, it did help me give out more insight on some of the players the Suns had in the draft, as well as those that weren't on the official team at all last year. It helped me show that even though Archie Goodwin may be inconsistent sometimes with his overall performances, he does have a greater chance of being a successful player for the Suns for years to come. The Morris twins, on the other hand, did show some success, but still have trouble with making it happen without fouling too much. P.J. Tucker was probably the most consistent player that was on the Suns' roster last year (which showed in his performances), while second year player Kendall Marshall has showed very little success beyond his game against the Timberwolves. Diante Garrett was alright, but I don't really see him staying with the Suns this year unless the Suns decide to trade Kendall Marshall since they've already got plenty of point guards with Goran Dragić and new players Eric Bledsoe and even Archie Goodwin looking to take over the point guard position for the Suns. Also, while the second round picks in Dwayne Collins (from 2010) and Alex Oriakhi (from 2013) were pretty much forgettable, undrafted people like Arinze Onuaku, Dionte Christmas, and even Chris Babb gave out some impressive looks to have hope in playing for an NBA team in the first, although they all likely won't be playing for Phoenix for real anytime soon since their real roster's already stacked as it is. Finally, there was a little preview of what the Suns' newest head coach in Jeff Hornacek was going to run for the team for this year, and I liked what I ended up seeing since it was a system that I think many people could thrive under.
It does kind of suck to not see any Phoenix Suns players gain any special awards for their performance(s) in the Summer League, such as having Archie Goodwin being on an All-Rookie Team of some sorts or even one of the Morris twins being on an All-Summer League team (although the Suns would spiritually have someone take that notion with Miles Plumlee being on the NBA's All-Summer League second team). Beyond that, everyone else on the Suns' Summer League team were pretty much not worthwhile for mentioning at all. In fact, aside from the Suns ending their Summer League season as they did, the only real regret I would have for this Summer League was that their real star pick (Olexiy "Alex" Len) didn't play at all due to his ankle injuries. Would Len have made a difference to the Suns if he had played for them in this competition? If so, what would his performance be like? Will it have reflected why he was considered an option as a #1 pick or would he have looked like a bust during this type of play? We'll never know for sure, but I do anticipate Len's return when his ankles are fully healed up. However, as long as he performs like a good player that could grow to be great during the regular season, he should be just fine as a #5 pick. For now, I'm likely going to take some of these performances for granted and see how much of what was seen in the Summer League would translate into the regular season. I won't really be recording much of that on YouChew though since there are 82 games in the regular season, but I could give out a quick recap in April next year if I feel like it's good enough to warrant descriptions. Beyond that, I must say that I had a good time with the Las Vegas Summer League and I wouldn't mind watching again next year. Hopefully there won't be any more interruptions by the NBA itself during some of their games next year...
Even with that said, anyone that follows the Summer League at all knows that the real meat of the Summer League is in Las Vegas. In the city of glitz and glamor, over two-thirds of the NBA's teams (and even a special team involving the NBA's Development League players) can compete against each other to not only help develop some of their own players they drafted/grabbed over the past few years, but also see if there are any surprises that might make it to an NBA roster of sorts. There have been people that actually benefitted from their performances in the Summer League despite not being on a roster before playing, such as Jeremy Lin from 2010 making to the Golden State Warriors' roster (although we all know he was more known for his (half-)year in New York than anything else) and even P.J. Tucker making it to the Phoenix Suns' current roster in spite of having a pretty poor, if not forgetable performance last year. However, the Summer League can also be a double-edged sword in determining how a player develops since players that perform spectacularly can perform poorly for the rest of their careers (like Anthony Morrow and Marcus Banks), while people that could perform poorly in the Summer League like John Wall and Kevin Durant could later shrug it off and become All-Star/superstar-like players. Of course, you can also have those that perform poorly and stay like that alongside those that performed well and stay awesome, but that's one thing that I have learned about with my experiences in the Summer League.
Anyways, you all know by now that with the mention of Orlando having a championship of sorts, I'll be talking about Las Vegas and it's tournament. Let me tell you that it was one of the most weirdly interesting things I've ever experienced in my life. The NBA decided to schedule how teams play its games by putting down the first few games for each team in numeric order (starting almost after the Orlando Summer League was over with). Then after each team ended up playing three regularly scheduled games, some of the lesser teams end up playing against each other in the first round before playing some of the stronger teams in the Summer League. After the first two rounds are done, the losing teams would play consolation games for losing in the tournament, while every other losing team from here on out end up losing out completely. Yeah, it certainly is a weird little system, but I'm sure it'll be more clearer to someone like me or you the more we have these tournaments. So how did the Las Vegas Tournement turn out?
For the most part, it actually turned out quite nicely. The competition that was presented throughout this time was rather interesting this time around, and it did make me want to try and see all the games that were available. Unfortunately, I couldn't really get to see all of them at the time due to the NBA's channel not airing all the Suns Summer League games. (Not only that, but there was one game that had an entire quarter interrupted from viewing just because of a special announcement involving soon-to-be-retired commissioner David Stern and one of the NBA teams that wasn't the Suns whatsoever.) Still, with what I did see, I ended up (mostly) enjoying it for one reason or another. What do I mean by that, you may ask? Well, I do have some quick recaps on what I mean there.
First Game (Game #9): Phoenix Suns Vs. Portland Trail Blazers at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 13, 2013)
With this game, it was the first time that any Phoenix Suns players got to experience what new coach Jeff Hornacek was going to be like, as well as their system. When it came to what I saw, it was actually really nice to see. Admittedly, the first half didn't really work out for the best for Jeff Hornacek since this left the team with a deficit inside each quarter (although the second quarter ended as a tie for both teams). However, once halftime came to fruition, the team either started to get really serious with themselves now or Jeff Hornacek came up with a new plan to start out the second half. Regardless of what that notion was, the Suns ended up getting a major run within the third quarter and they never really looked back even when Portland tried to comeback from their own deficit themselves.
When looking at what happened with the Suns, it appeared that the Morris twins named Marcus and Markieff were the leaders of the team due to their production in points and rebounds. However, the twins weren't really all that effective with their actual shooting (especially in the case of Markieff since he had 8 fouls) and there was one player that actually did better than them in rebounding combined in less minutes of play. The next effective player in my eyes was Phoenix's first round pick they got by trade in Archie Goodwin, and for a 29th pick, he didn't do a bad job for his first game with scoring 13 points and grabbing 4 rebounds; in fact, he was more closer to his averages at Kentucky University there. P.J. Tucker, Kendall Marshall, and Diante Garrett all were decent when they came in, even though they really didn't influence the game all that much. Finally, when it came to the non-Suns players that impressed me, only Arinze Onuaku (not Alex Oriakhi) did a nice job to my eyes as well since he was a more major rebounding force with the 11 rebounds he got in his game; he also went and had 7 points to go with it.
As for the players with the Portland Trail Blazers, only Lehigh senior rookie C.J. McCollum truly left me with a good impression on him at the end. C.J. was more of a scoring machine for the Trail Blazers (almost like their star point guard Damian Lillard to a degree) by netting up 22 points for the Trail Blazers in his first game with them. You could pretty much say that he was main catalyst for the Trail Blazers as they rose with him in the first half, and faltered in the second half with him being really ineffective once P.J. Tucker ended up defending him. If there's anyone else that felt noteworthy for Portland, only Will Barton was someone who scored into the double digits with 13 points. Beyond that, once C.J. started to falter, the Trail Blazers were pretty much done for.
I couldn't find the actual recap on YouTube, but this video about C.J. McCollum should suffice instead.
Final Score: Phoenix wins over Portland 82-69.
Second Game (Game #22): Minnesota Timberwolves Vs. Phoenix Suns at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 15, 2013)
Unlike the first game, this was a game where it looked like the Suns were done for, but they actually ended up pulling a shocker that was kind of like an influence towards why I'm a fan of the Phoenix Suns in the first place. This was one of those games where it looks to be virtually hopeless to get a victory off of a deficit that can be over the 20 point digits, and you want to shut off the TV because you can't watch anymore of a shitty game take place. That was kind of the feeling that I had for a few games throughout last year, starting with that embarassing road loss to the Detroit Pistons in November 2012 that had the Suns lose by 40 points. No my friends, this game was more like that home victory against the Cleveland Cavaliers that coincidentally also took place in that same period, where the Suns were down by as many as 26 points, yet somehow came out of their fight with a victory at hand (although in this case, they were down by as many as 24 points). The best part, however, was that it ended with a buzzer beater shot in Phoenix's favor... but I'm getting a little bit ahead of myself here.
Minnesota had two draft picks of their own this year (although both of them were with a trade by Utah), and while Phoenix had a player already injured missing out, the Timberwolves had two nice rookies from the mid-to-late first round with "freshman" Shabazz Muhammad from UCLA and "junior" Gorgui Dieng from Louisville, both of whom helped out their rosters for different reasons. Anyways, Shabazz barely did much to help out the Timberwolves, and Gorgui was basically non-existant during his time playing. I'm sure by know you're probably asking yourself "if their rookies didn't do shit to help the team out, then who was leading the team throughout the first half?" Well, there were three players that kind of became main factors for the Timberwolves. Forward Robbie Hummel was the prime leader of the group since he ended up getting 18 points for the Timberwolves, but unlike C.J. McCollum, he wasn't really alone with scoring for the Timberwolves since he had major help with guards Demetri McCamey and Kee Kee Clark also lead the charge for Minnesota with 13 and 10 points for them respectively throughout the game. In a way, you could say that their influence almost felt like it was too much for the Suns. For that sense, you could say that you were almost right yourself.
Phoenix, on the other hand, had a more thorough distribution of play and effort for a great portion of their players this time around, especially once the Suns started out the second half of the ball game. While Archie Goodwin and Arinze Onuaku had pretty bad games (and Diante Garrett was also only decent), starters P.J. Tucker, the Morris twins, and even Kendall Marshall ended up showing nice charisma during their trying period beyond the first half. P.J. Tucker had the charisma to put up an almost double-double with 10 points and 9 rebounds to help lead the charge, while Markieff Morris put off a much better shot selection notion to lead the team in scoring once again with 22 points. However, it were by the last minute desperation charges of Dionte Christmas and Kendall Marshall that helped the Suns with 3 made three point shots in a row to tie the game up within the last 50+ seconds of the ball game. Still, in spite of Minnesota trying their hardest to stop Phoenix from getting the lead, it was ultimately Marcus Morris who ended up getting the buzzer-beating shot that the NBA called the best play of the Summer League this year period. Without those players' commitments towards keeping the Suns in the game to win it, there would have been a much different story taking over this game.
Final Score: Phoenix edges out a win over Minnesota 91-89.
Third Game (Game #31): Phoenix Suns Vs. Memphis Grizzlies at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 16, 2013)
In this game, this would probably where I noticed a good amount of change coming for the Suns, with some positive results coming out of it. With this game, even though Jeff Hornacek couldn't get a lead after the first quarter (yet), they actually had a game plan that would let them take control of the game going forward and (this is the best part) never lose control once they got it. Yeah, as much as Memphis wanted to try and win against the Suns (and believe me, they were truly willing to get through them), it was Phoenix that lead over everyone else moving forward. While there were still a few faults found with a few of their main players, it was a game that could be considered a turning point that the Suns could say they built on.
By looking at what you saw in the first paragraph, you would be assuming that the Suns were more in tune with themselves as a team than Memphis was. In a way, that kind of was the case; but when looking at how points ended up being distributed, it was actually Memphis that had more of a plan on distributing the ball towards each others' starters than Phoenix did. In addition of bench player Vander Blue being close to the 10 point mark in their game, it was the starting line-up of Willie Reed, Jack Cooley, Donté Greene, Gerald Robinson, and star-like player Tony Wroten Jr. that truly laid out the game plan for the Grizzlies. For Memphis, it was really clear to see that the method to succeed is to let the starters score as many points as they possibly can. So in that case, how could the Grizzlies fail with their plan in that area? Well, I do know that one part of the reason is making sure your players score in the proper basket!
While it was Memphis that was more widely spread in point distribution, it was Phoenix that ended up being the winners in overall distribution period. In addition, while the Morris twins were more of a disappointment this game due to their serious lack of production, everyone else involved with the game produced throughout it quite nicely. Kendall Marshall put up some good leadership duties to help the Suns along the way, while Diante Garrett became the true distributor of the Suns throughout his playing time in that game. In addition to Marshall, two other players in second round rookie Alex Oriakhi and Dionte Christmas wound up really close to getting into the double digit numbers of points scored like these four players did. Chris Babb ended up rising alongside Christmas and Onuaku in having a breakout performance in separating himself from other people, while Arinze Onuaku himself was a true double-double monster with the 13 points and 12 rebounds he had throughout the game. Even P.J. Tucker ended up being more of a scorer for the Suns during this game than he had beforehand; however, the true breakout player for the Suns in that game was first round rookie Archie Goodwin, as he lead the team with 22 points throughout the game to become a player that some people could very well see as a future All-Star (and draft steal) with a valuable goal on improving his weaknesses and increasing his strengths in the process. Overall, this was truly a game where everyone lead the way to come out of the first part of the Las Vegas Summer League as one of the teams up on top.
Final Score: Phoenix put the wallop on Memphis 100-88.
Fourth Game (Game #44): Phoenix Suns Vs. Portland Trail Blazers at the COX Pavilion (July 18, 2013)
This match-up is a bit more of a funnier one to me for a few reasons. First, it was one of the few, if not only times where two teams that had competed against each other in Las Vegas beforehand ended up competing against each other once again later on. Second, it had the Portland Trail Blazers playing under a quick game against the Atlanta Hawks (who had picked up good international born rookies with Dennis Schröder from Germany and Lucas Nogueira from Brazil) in what was technically the real first round in the Summer League Tournament, which they won under a close 70-69 overtime victory. That kind of left the Trail Blazers with the disadvantage of being tired from their last game while Phoenix was properly rested up with a first round bye in their bracket. Third, it leaves both teams seeing what their star players can do a second time around knowing their strengths and weaknesses in battle truly are and exploit them as best they can. Finally, and most strangely of them all, the NBA ended up interrupting more or less an entire quarter of broadcast on the NBA Channel in this game... just to announce a name change for the Charlotte Bobcats. Yeah, because when I want to watch a Summer League game, the first thing that I want to see is David Stern announcing the Charlotte Bobcats returning their old Hornets moniker they lost in 2001... especially when practically everyone that shows a relevant interest in the NBA would know this name change was going to happen!
Anyways, when it came to looking at what went on for the rematch between these two teams, I noticed that almost everyone that played in that game ended up scoring at least the equivalent of one made two-point shot. However, it's only by looking at how Portland distributed their point production that shows how they ended up playing game two against the Suns. Instead of having the main focus be on C.J. McCollum as the main scorer for the team, he ended up sharing his duties with fellow guard Will Barton. Not only that, but their sophomoric players in forward Thomas Robinson and center Meyers Leonard helped make the team more active in how they controlled things this time around. While C.J. McCollum was still the leading scorer for the Trail Blazers, they did have a more thought out design in how to control the game. Unfortunately for Portland, they didn't fully think it through until the end, especially since their high scorers had pretty bad shooting percentages this time around.
While I did say before that the Suns' game against Memphis was a turning point for Jeff Hornacek and his team, I kind of thought that their performance here showed why their last game ended up carrying over through this one. While Alex Oriakhi was the only player to not really score anything for the Suns, every other player that went out for the team ended up holding at least some kind of contribution at hand. Some players like Kendall Marshall, Marcus Morris, and even Arinze Onuaku wound up underachieving during their rematch against Portland, while players like Diante Garrett, Dionte Christmas, Chris Babb, and especially Markieff Morris ended up almost overachieving in the process. Primarily, I would say it was Diante Garrett that ended up helping out the most since he was a main catalyst of sorts for Phoenix to get a large 25-0 run during the second quarter, despite Markieff Morris being the main leader in both points and rebounds in the process. Nevertheless, as much as Portland tried to catch up to the Suns (and believe me when I say they really tried), they couldn't really muster up the stamina needed to get a comeback win for themselves. As a result, they were now eliminated from the tournament and had to play a consolation game because of their loss.
Final Score: Phoenix beat on Portland (again) 92-84.
Fifth Game (Game #56): Toronto Raptors Vs. Phoenix Suns at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 20, 2013)
Unfortunately, for this match, it wasn't fought under truly fair conditions. A good part as to why I say that is that Toronto's biggest player that was in the Summer League (Jonas Valančiūnas) wasn't playing on that day due to an injury on one of his fingers. (While I don't necessarily remember the specifics of why Jonas was injured, I do know for a fact that he was injured.) In addition, there was also another important aspect that the Raptors don't really have any other strong, worthwhile youngsters that could make an impact on the game beyond Jonas (who also apparently ended up being an MVP of the Summer League with his performances before this game). Admittedly, I more like my games when my opponent is fully healthy so that I know that the true victor happened with no misfortune on either side happening. In fact, a part of me would have really liked to see how Phoenix's recently drafted center Olexiy Len would have fared up against Jonas Valančiūnas, who is a person that people are saying that is one of the better, younger international born players in the NBA right now. With that said, this was really one of those games for Phoenix when it was there's for the taking with only Toronto themselves fully stopping them from winning this ball game.
In this game, Archie Goodwin truly showed off what he could be capable of by scoring 20 points off of baskets where it almost looked like he couldn't miss at all. In fact, the only times that he did miss were on two free-throws; beyond that, he almost looked like a player that could be ready to go for the regular season to start. Beyond that, the Morris twins were some players that truly played their games effectively, with both brothers scoring 8-11 from the field (although Marcus did do a little bit more to make him be close to the best player in that game tonight with a few baskets coming from three-pointers and free-throws). Even Diante Christmas showed why he should be considered to have a roster spot on some sort of team this season (whether it's with the Suns or someone else) with his 15 points and five rebounds to help the team out. Beyond that, everyone else on the Suns' roster (other than Tom Ambercrombie) ended up doing what they did to help the team compete to the best of their abilities. Hell, even Jake Cohen ended up scoring six free-throws in the minute that he ended up playing for the Suns, which certainly helped. However, I think the best part of the game was that the team finally lead in not only the first quarter, but to lead throughout the entire game for once. Still, you do have to wonder how Toronto ended up performing without their star player in Jonas Valančiūnas leading the team.
Surprisingly enough, the Raptors actually performed quite well for themselves. What especially surprised me was who ended up performing unbelievably well for the Raptors in that game. It wasn't their first round player from 2012 (Terrence Ross) nor Alade Aminu, Al-Farouq Aminu's brother. Instead, it was the combined efforts of second round pick from 2012 Quincy Acy and undrafted player (that coincidentally also was a part of Phoenix's Summer League roster from last year) Dwight Buycks that helped keep the competition close for the Raptors. Both players ended up scoring a ridiculously-high 28 points for the team, with Quincy Acy getting a double-double out of it in the process with 10 rebounds in that game. Beyond those two, only Terrence Ross with his 9 points and Chris Wright with his 10 points were the only guys that truly stood out from them. Admittedly, the Raptors put up a much better fight than I had initially expected out of them without their top player helping out (and he likely could have made a difference as well), but their drive to get on top of Phoenix near the end of the game just wasn't good enough to topple them.
Final Score: Phoenix edge out Toronto 103-98.
Sixth Game (Game #59): Miami Heat Vs. Phoenix Suns at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 21, 2013)
With this match-up, it was a big one considering who the opponent was. Seriously, they were a team known with big star players, with some of the players that were in the Summer League also taking part in at least their 2012 champion team over the San Antonio Spurs. The Heat is a team that could seriously tease you in a hurry with the possibility of probably getting your team the upset victory over them, only for the Heat to screw you over in some utmost ridiculous fashions sometimes. In fact, they really felt like a roster that could push the Suns to their limits since even though the Suns scored 100 points two times now, the Heat was the team that had the highest score in a Summer League game with 113 points in a brutal beatdown on the New York Knicks (113-66). Still, if the Suns wanted to win this game, they had to watch their backs when necessary and not let the Heat try and deceive them. Unfortunately, the second part of the story still kind of happened, but it did not end in unfortunate disaster.
Throughout this game, you could tell that P.J. Tucker was the guy in charge to help lead the Suns through their fight. His 19 points helped lead the team alongside his effort involved with the game to make sure the team never truly let go in their fight on the two-time defending NBA champions, especially when looking at their efforts in the first half. In addition, both Morris twins were very important in helping the team out as well, with Marcus taking control in scoring and Markieff being a rebounding king today; Markieff also helped score a very important shot near the end of the game, but I'm getting ahead of myself there. In addition, the trio of non-Suns players of relevant interest in Arinze Onuaku, Dionte Christmas, and Chris Babb all helped the Suns out in a worthwhile fashion in points scored, primarily so with Onuaku and Christmas. Beyond that, there aren't too many other players from the Suns that did anything too worthwhile for the team. Even Archie Goodwin was a bit lackluster in that game, although did give us this great non-basket that should have really counted as a basket.
How there was a foul in that play, I'll never really know...
Admittedly, the Heat would be a more fitting opponent in a playoff competition in the final round of the match then in the semi-final rounds. Even with that out in the open now, they actually did earn their right to fight in the semi-final round of this competition, unlike how they went into their last three NBA Finals match-ups by taking LeBron James from Cleveland and Chris Bosh from Toronto to team up with their own star player in Dwayne Wade and having them compete against their rivals together instead of apart from one another. What probably was the worst part about all this is that aside from their first year together as a trio, that system actually works out for them (albeit in an unbelievably simplistic cock-teasing way for the media to truly doubt them year after year). However, the Summer League does kind of bring their system down to Earth for at least a little bit of time since no one from the trio really plays from there, and that type of system does show them for what the team really is like without the trio around: an average group of players that can't really win a championship without large amounts of help, as shown through their time in Orlando. Still, Las Vegas is a different beast, and despite being a team that had to compete in the first round just to survive, they still showcased a skillset that had both the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Chicago Bulls (who were a seed ahead of Phoenix). Unfortunately for Phoenix, they did show why they still had the fire run through them once there was only four minutes left in the third quarter.
Instead of talking about the usual Heat trio shit that's going on these days, the Heat would be lead by their own draft pick in 2013 with James Ennis from Long Beach State and by someone named James Nunnally. James Ennis showed why he was someone that the Heat wanted to have on their roster with scoring 25 points on the entire game and almost getting a double-double with 9 rebounds. James Nunnally, on the other hand, was yet another surprise player found in the Summer League with him scoring 24 points for the team to help come back in the game when they were down by as many as 19 points at one point. Other players like D.J. Kennedy and Eric Griffin also helped the Heat try to take control with 18 points and 12 points for them respectively. All of these players were truly involved with helping the Heat try and catch up to Phoenix during this game. However, Markieff Morris ended up taking the shot that was considered the game-winner with a few seconds left in the game and the Suns helped influence the Heat to take a low percentage shot out in the half-court area... which D.J. Kennedy took and missed because of it.
Final Score: Phoenix barely survive over Miami 91-89.
Seventh & Final (Championship) Game (Game #61): Phoenix Suns Vs. Golden State Warriors at the Thomas & Mack Center (July 22, 2013)
To be honest with you, this championship bout's opponent was kind of anticlimatic when compared to the semi-final opponent the Suns faced off against. With the Miami Heat, they were an opponent that you wanted to face off against, a team to knock off of its high horse and say to the world "HEY, WE BEAT THE TEAM THAT BROUGHT MANY SORROW DURING THESE LAST FEW YEARS!!! YOU ARE NOW FREE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" Almost kind of similar to how the Arizona Diamondbacks ended up defeating the New York Yankees in the 2001 World Series. Instead, we get a Golden State Warriors team that hasn't necessarily brought me much to really excited about (at least in my personal tastes). Don't get me wrong, they certainly did earn their position in the final round since besides the Suns, it was Golden State that was the only team that ended up being undefeated to get to the Summer League championship. In addition, they also were the only team to not lose in the Summer League at all ever since 2010, which is quite an impressive feat to have. Still, winning streaks do have to find a way to fall. Could the Phoenix Suns find a way to get the Warriors to stumble onto a loss and net themselves the inaugural championship in the process? Let's find out right now...
Even though it wasn't really a climatic kind of match-up to end a Las Vegas Summer League tournament (especially when Orlando ended their tournament with the Oklahoma City Thunder playing against the Houston Rockets), it still brought up some excitement involving both teams. Phoenix had Archie Goodwin get back to his good self again with leading the team in 18 points during the final game of the Summer League. In addition, P.J. Tucker ended up showing how he truly was grateful for the time he had with the Summer League by being a leader for the team, despite having only 12 points and 5 rebounds overall. Due to his performance last year, he ended up being a (major) part of Phoenix's roster last year, and P.J. did want to shows his appreciation for the Suns and help them out overall for the best of his abilities. The Morris twins still did a fine job, but Marcus was more effective than Markieff even though they both shot the ball poorly. Speaking of which, besides Archie Goodwin, everyone on the Suns ended up shooting poorly for their final game, and that wasn't a great thing to see during this tournament.
The Golden State Warriors, on the other hand, had an unbelievable performance by current Utah Jazz player Ian Clark. Ian ended up being the main catalyst for the team throughout his time with the Warriors, and it really showed in this grand finale of his. When almost everyone else was tired on both teams since they both had to compete for three straight days in a row, Ian Clark ended up having a scoring night that many people would not easily forget where he ended up scoring 33 points throughout the competition. It almost felt like it was his time to truly shine and show those that were watching what he could really do on an NBA roster. Anyways, beyond him, there was also the likes of Kent Bazemore that ended up shining up just as nicely as Ian Clark with 18 points (although it wasn't really much better than that). In addition, the joint efforts of both Draymond Green and Cameron Jones ended up scoring 12 points each, along with someone named Lance Goulbourne gaining 8 points, to help the Warriors gain complete control of the ball game. While the Suns did try their hardest to get back in the game throughout each of the first three quarters, in the end, it wasn't really enough as the Warriors ended up gaining a 13-0 run during the 4th quarter and the Suns never really recovered from the deficit because of it.
Yeah... I got nothing here.
Final Score: Phoenix sadly loses to Golden State 91-77.
So while the ending of the Las Vegas Summer League wasn't something that I really liked seeing, it did help me give out more insight on some of the players the Suns had in the draft, as well as those that weren't on the official team at all last year. It helped me show that even though Archie Goodwin may be inconsistent sometimes with his overall performances, he does have a greater chance of being a successful player for the Suns for years to come. The Morris twins, on the other hand, did show some success, but still have trouble with making it happen without fouling too much. P.J. Tucker was probably the most consistent player that was on the Suns' roster last year (which showed in his performances), while second year player Kendall Marshall has showed very little success beyond his game against the Timberwolves. Diante Garrett was alright, but I don't really see him staying with the Suns this year unless the Suns decide to trade Kendall Marshall since they've already got plenty of point guards with Goran Dragić and new players Eric Bledsoe and even Archie Goodwin looking to take over the point guard position for the Suns. Also, while the second round picks in Dwayne Collins (from 2010) and Alex Oriakhi (from 2013) were pretty much forgettable, undrafted people like Arinze Onuaku, Dionte Christmas, and even Chris Babb gave out some impressive looks to have hope in playing for an NBA team in the first, although they all likely won't be playing for Phoenix for real anytime soon since their real roster's already stacked as it is. Finally, there was a little preview of what the Suns' newest head coach in Jeff Hornacek was going to run for the team for this year, and I liked what I ended up seeing since it was a system that I think many people could thrive under.
It does kind of suck to not see any Phoenix Suns players gain any special awards for their performance(s) in the Summer League, such as having Archie Goodwin being on an All-Rookie Team of some sorts or even one of the Morris twins being on an All-Summer League team (although the Suns would spiritually have someone take that notion with Miles Plumlee being on the NBA's All-Summer League second team). Beyond that, everyone else on the Suns' Summer League team were pretty much not worthwhile for mentioning at all. In fact, aside from the Suns ending their Summer League season as they did, the only real regret I would have for this Summer League was that their real star pick (Olexiy "Alex" Len) didn't play at all due to his ankle injuries. Would Len have made a difference to the Suns if he had played for them in this competition? If so, what would his performance be like? Will it have reflected why he was considered an option as a #1 pick or would he have looked like a bust during this type of play? We'll never know for sure, but I do anticipate Len's return when his ankles are fully healed up. However, as long as he performs like a good player that could grow to be great during the regular season, he should be just fine as a #5 pick. For now, I'm likely going to take some of these performances for granted and see how much of what was seen in the Summer League would translate into the regular season. I won't really be recording much of that on YouChew though since there are 82 games in the regular season, but I could give out a quick recap in April next year if I feel like it's good enough to warrant descriptions. Beyond that, I must say that I had a good time with the Las Vegas Summer League and I wouldn't mind watching again next year. Hopefully there won't be any more interruptions by the NBA itself during some of their games next year...