Ace Bailey helps Jazz defeat Grizzlies, Thunder take down Sixers | NBA Summer League Recap

Ace Bailey helps Jazz defeat Grizzlies, Thunder take down Sixers | NBA Summer League Recap

It was a big bounceback performance for Ace Bailey on Monday who dropped 18 points in his second summer league game with the Jazz. Utah rallied from down 17 to beat the Grizzlies 112 1111, their most points scored ever in a summer league game. 2023 first round pick Bryce Sens dropped a career-high 37 points in the win. Now GI Jackson had a team high 27 points for the Grizzlies, but needed one more to force overtime as his buzzer beating bucket was ruled a two instead of a three. Now both teams back in action on Tuesday. Now in the earlier game, Philly’s VJ Edgecomb was a late scratch against the Thunder with a thumb contusion. Judah Mintz stepped up in his absence, leading all scorers with 21 points. teammate Jaylen Hood Shafino dropped 17 of his own, but it wasn’t enough as the Thunder rolled to the 8978 win. Now, secondyear player AJ Mitchell led the team with 16 points. The Sixers are hopeful Edgecomb will be good to go for Tuesday’s game against Memphis. For more, welcoming in Adam Finkelstein, 247 sports director of scouting. Adam, what a finish between the Jazz and the Grizzlies. It appeared as if Gigi Jackson had sent the game to overtime with the buzzer beating three, but it was ruled a two after review that stood. So, what did you make of how this one ended? Well, first of all, it was a thrilling summer league game, but the conspiracy theory in me in me, the game’s being played in Utah, so yeah, they couldn’t find that extra camera angle. But in all seriousness, uh what a great game. Uh NBA players, multiple NBA players on the floor for both teams. Uh really just as entertaining of a summer league game as you’re going to find. Uh Ace Bailey played great. You had Bryce Sensab playing great. Numerous guys putting up 20 plus points for for Memphis. So terrific game with a a fitting ending. Now you mentioned Ace Bailey. We’ll dive into that in a second, but how about the performance from 2023 first round pick Bryce Sensib out of Ohio State. He scores a game high 37 points including the game sealing steel on defense. He’s a guy who averaged a shade of 10 points a game last season. So, what were your takeaways from his performance on Monday night? Well, you just said it right there. This guy was a first round draft pick, not last year, but two years ago. He played 70 games this year, and he was a double figure scorer. Now, no one is doubting his offense, although having a Utah summer league record in the books now will certainly be something that’ll be fun for him. but he shot over 50% on corner threes last year. So, he’s got supreme gravity as a floor spacer. And what he’s showing in this summer league is that he can be a tough shot maker as well. I’ll give you some secondary creation. But ultimately for Bryce Sens, it’s going to come down to defense being able to establish exactly what position he can guard and how switchable he is. That is going to be the crux of his future NBA career. Now, as for Ace Bailey, he had a modest summer league debut, scoring just eight points on three of 13 shooting on Saturday. Much more efficient on Monday night. 18 points on seven of 14 from the field, including some highlight plays. So, how would you evaluate the difference from Bailey in the last game against Monday night? He looked much more comfortable tonight. And I think there’s a couple reasons for that. Number one, he got on the offensive glass and between that and a lob from Isaiah Collier, he got himself some easy points. So when you’re an athlete like he is and you can rattle that rim a few times, all of a sudden it feels a lot bigger when you’re pulling up from three. And once he got going, you saw that special shot making that he’s known for. He made tough step backs off one foot. He made contested threes. And the other thing I think that is is really starting to be obvious is just how much of a weapon he’s going to be in the playbook. You can already see Utah, their coaching staff running him off at different types of actions, not just for threes, but for mid-range pull-ups, even tight curls all the way to the rim to weaponize that athleticism. So, I think what you’re seeing is is a little bit of the vision about how special this guy can be long term. Now, Jazz Grizzlies was a great game, but it wasn’t the only summer league action Monday night. We also saw the Thunder uh in action right there. We’re getting to see the first true game action for OKC’s 2024 first round pick, Nicola Topic. Now, he missed all of last season with a torn ACL. Topage scored 11 points, had five assists on Monday. Adam, you were high on this pick back in 2024 at the time. What have you seen from him so far in Utah summer league? Well, this was a reminder about the highs and lows of summer league because in the first half, Topic looked tremendous and in this second half, it was a vastly different story and that’s somewhat to be expected because he hasn’t played basketball in a year. Let’s remember this guy was being build as a potential top five pick. At one point in last year’s draft cycle, he tore his ACL and suddenly that stock dipped a little bit because we knew he wasn’t going to get on the floor. Now, OKC is a team who even though they were in the late lottery, knew they didn’t need an immediate return on that investment for what ended up being obvious reasons when they won the championship. Popic is a jumbo creator with a terrific feel for the game and we saw that tonight. But in the second half you saw some of the concerns, the shooting, the defensive foot speed. So those are going to be the highs and lows that he’s going to have to negotiate and obviously an OKC where they have just so many weapons going to be able to run his own race. I think that that template, if you will, is also going to be important because they took somebody this year, Thomas Sorber, who’s also got to get healthy. He’s not in the uh in the summer league roster yet. So because of their depth, they can make long-term investments that very few NBA teams, especially ones picking in the top half of the draft, can afford to make. Well, hey, summer league a great time to work through all those highs and lows. Adam Finkelstein, thanks so much for the insight. Now, here’s a look at the odds to win rookie of the year. Cooper Flag, the heavy favorite, the number one overall pick at minus 180. He’s followed by Trey Johnson at plus 950. Ace Bailey coming in at 10 to one.

Adam Finkelstein joins CBS Sports HQ to recap the NBA Summer League games and talk about the biggest stories in the NBA.

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