5 BIGGEST Lessons Learned From NBA Summer League So Far…

5 BIGGEST Lessons Learned From NBA Summer League So Far…

The NBA Summer League is a treat for basketball fans in the middle of the summer to hold people over until the new season begins in October. It’s a weird brand of basketball, admittedly, and you really shouldn’t be taking any definitive assertions based on the numbers guys are putting up, but certain flashes, plays, and tendencies can translate to the NBA game. And there are still some notable things to keep in the back of your mind from this event heading into training camp. That’s exactly what we’re going to be going over in today’s video, as we will be discussing five of the biggest lessons we’re learning from NBA Summer League so far this year that could lead to bigger stories down the line. Before we start though, it turns out a good amount of you watching right now aren’t even subscribed to the channel. So, if you enjoy the content, consider hitting the subscribe button as not only does it help out a ton, but it also very much appreciated. Now, with that being said, let’s begin. The first of the big lessons that we’re learning from NBA summer league this year is that Dalton Connect is at risk of losing his spot on the Lakers. Dalton Connect was the 17th pick in the NBA draft last year strictly based on his impressive shotmaking ability and natural feel for scoring the basketball. On a team like the Lakers, who have been in desperate need of more secondary scoring contributors, this should have been an easy fit for him to come in and lock up minutes for himself. But he’s been trending in the wrong direction for a while. And his summer league showing right now is genuinely worrying. Second year, first round picks are expected to come to summer league and dominate because they’re the ones with experience under their belts and they’re the supposed talent expected to take a leap. But connect is being outplayed by most of the second rounders and undrafted guys around him. He’s averaging about 12 points through five summer league games, shooting the ball an abysmal 33% from the field and 25% from three, just not really getting anything going. If the biggest hypothetical appeal in your game as a prospect is your shooting ability and your offball movement helping you generate good looks, yet you rank as one of the worst shooters in a level of competition playing against guys where 90% of them won’t even sniff NBA minutes and can’t beat anyone off the dribble, then it’s definitely a red flag. Bronnie James has been clowned quite a bit by fans claiming that he doesn’t even belong, but he has genuinely been playing some strong two-way basketball in the summer league, defending hard and scoring more reliably than Dalton Connect. And G-League journeyman on the Lakers summer league team. Cole Swider has been the best shooter in all of summer league so far, excelling at all of the things that Dalton Connect is supposed to excel at. So, if push comes to shove, Swider may be earning himself a contract with his play. And who knows, he might be coming for Connect’s job if he keeps it up. The next big lesson that we’ll be discussing from NBA Summer League so far is that secondyear players are mostly dominating the competition. I know this is a funny follow-up to the last one we just discussed. But for the most part, the draft class of 2024 is doing exactly what they should be doing in summer league right now. In an ideal world, you play so well as a rookie that your team doesn’t even have you playing in the summer league for a second season. But if you didn’t impress enough to be held out of the event, then the hope is that as a top pick with a season of experience under your belt, you come out and dominate against the players that will mostly either be in the G-League or playing overseas when it’s all said and done. Second-year players drafted in the first round are expected to look too good to even be in the event as they prepare for their second season breakouts in the upcoming year. And we’re seeing a lot of that right now, which is very promising across the board. When you look at the leading scorers from summer league, you see 2024 second round pick Kyle Filipowski leading the way trying to solidify a spot in the Jazz rotation. Bryce Sensab looked every bit like a professional scorer in the Utah summer league. Reed Shepard, Mas Bazelis, Ron Holland, and Terrence Shannon are also all near the top of the scoring leaderboard so far. Isaiah Kier is leading the summer league in assists. Alex Sar is leading the summer league in blocks. And Eve Mei and Kel Wear are amongst the top in rebounding. There are of course still some players from the class of 2024 lagging behind the rest of the pack, but in general a lot of the biggest performances of the event have come from this group, which is exactly what you would optimistically expect, and the fan bases of the teams these players play on can breathe a bit of a sigh of relief knowing their development is coming along on schedule. The next big lesson from Summer League that we’re learning is that both of the Pelicans first round picks this year are going to need a lot of patience. The Pelicans were one of the most notable teams on draft night for a few reasons. They already owned the number seven pick and then they also traded up to secure the number 13 pick as well. And the players they used those selections on were Jeremiah Fears and Erica Queen. The entire premise of the trade they made to move up to 13 came under heavy scrutiny for good reason though because they gave away a pretty valuable future first round pick in next year’s draft to do it. And then to use that pick to take someone like Derek Queen comes with its own set of risks. Queen is expected to be a player with a pretty high floor because his skill set on the offensive end should at minimum result in him being a reliable scorer around the basket and in the mid-range. His upside though is a different story. At the combine, Queen tested historically poorly in the athleticism measurements, and his slow-footed nature has very much been on display in summer league, where he struggled getting past quicker, bigger players, and has been taken advantage of on defense on quite a few occasions, and his transition to the NBA game is definitely going to need some time for adjusting. As for Jeremiah Fears, he came from Oklahoma, oozing in playmaking and shotmaking potential, but his lack of consistency has been his biggest drawback, and his tendency to play a bit out of control needs to be reigned in. That is still very much the story of Jeremiah Fierce. He’s shooting the ball just 34% from the field and 16% from three so far in summer league. And while he has definitely flashed some brilliant moments of court vision and creation, he’s also still way too up and down. The craziest part of his all is that Derek Queen and Jeremiah Fears currently ranked number one and number two in all of Vegas summer league in turnovers per game, demonstrating how much they are struggling with this level of play. And while they both have the potential to become fantastic NBA players, they definitely are going to need a lot of patience in their development. The next lesson we are learning from NBA summer league so far is that the Brooklyn Nets are in for a long season. The Nets entered the draft with five first round selections at their disposal and they left the draft with five highly questionable picks made. in summer league were getting the first look at most of their picks and unfortunately they’re not doing a whole lot to dispel these narratives. The prevailing critique was that they failed to draft a single player that can shoot the basketball. Well, so far in summer league, Jaor Demen has been shooting 33% from the field. Nolan Triayor and Ben Saraf are shooting 30% from the field. Danny Wolf is shooting 27% from the field. and Drake Powell has not been able to suit up in summer league action yet. They’ve somehow managed to draft four pass first guys who all provide similar levels of versatility and playmaking, but there’s just zero balance throughout the group whatsoever and there’s a severe lack of shot creation and floor spacing. Drew Timmy is a G-League level talent and he’s far and away leading this group in scoring because he’s really the only one out there even capable of scoring on a regular basis. And he went undrafted two years ago. The presence of all of these types of rookies should be a gift for scorers like Michael Porter Jr. and Cam Thomas who are the exact opposite types of players shooting the ball every chance they get. But in general, they’re setting themselves up for a pretty long and arduous campaign. And finally, the last big lesson we’re learning from summer league so far is that the Rockets are going to need a lot more from Reed Shepard. When the Houston Rockets traded for Kevin Durant earlier this summer, that shot them right up to the top tier of championship contenders, which means everything within the margins becomes instantly more important, and there’s a much smaller margin for error. The Rockets are very deep as a team at most positions with a pretty crowded front court filled with capable contributors. But their back court is surprisingly shallow, which means that Reed Shepard should finally get a real opportunity at minutes after being selected number three overall in last year’s draft, but struggling to break into the rotation as a rookie. Fred Vanvali and Aean Thompson will be the team’s starting guards, but off the bench, Shepard and Aaron Holiday are really the only playable options behind them. I know I briefly mentioned Reed Shepard in the earlier segment about the secondyear player breakouts and he is averaging an impressive 23 points per game in summer league so far, but he’s also shooting just 36% from the field and 31% from three. So, when he’s playing in a reduced role as the team’s backup point guard, he’s going to need to mature quickly and get back to playing smart, efficient basketball. The whole reason that he was drafted number three overall was because in college at Kentucky, he was exactly that and was lauded for his undercontrol demeanor and his brilliant decision-making skills. But he’s seemingly a bit lost at the NBA level and is still trying to find his footing. He has of course flashed highlevel shotmaking and playmaking talent on occasion, hence why he is still scoring 23 points per game, but he’s committing twice as many turnovers as he is dishing out assists. and his efficiency is a bit worrying as he enters a season expected to play a big role on a championship contending team. And with that being said, that’s all I have for you today. Make sure to like the video, subscribe to the channel, and comment down below what has stood out the most to you in Summer League so far. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you all next

In this video we discuss the five things that stood out most from the 2025 NBA Summer League! Dalton Knecht, Brooklyn Nets and more discussed

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