Written by James O’Dwyer (@ODwyer1010)
Summer League games give us an essentially meaningless, small-sample size glimpse of what a player could be. But every year, we overreact and claim that the rookie of the year has been crowned off a random yet clutch 30 point performance. Why? Because its fun. So let’s do it again.
The Thomas and Mack Center was full with basketball fanatics on Friday night, eager to see the Summer League debut of Zion Williamson and R.J Barrett. LeBron James, DeMar Derozan, P.J Tucker, Anthony Davis, Trae Young, Julius Randle, Jaren Jackson, Lonzo Ball and Memphis’ #2 pick Ja Morant were just some of the big names that showed out to see the battle in Las Vegas. And it didn’t disappoint.Â
Earthquake Brings Battle in Vegas to a Halt
Right out of the gate, the Pelicans ran a lob play for the dynamite rookie sensation Zion Williamson, who was promptly fouled mid-air by Knicks forward Kevin Knox. His next scoring attempt was a three pointer that was flat and short, highlighting the ironic lack of lift he has in his jumpshot. In fact, it's probably the only part of his basketball profile so far that isn’t explosive. Zion continued to settle for jumpers that didn’t fall, while the Knicks, with the help of a pair of triples from Knox and an Allonzo Trier trey, took an early seven point lead.Â
Barret’s first field goal attempt was also an underwhelming brick, but New York’s second year trio of Knox/Trier/Robinson continued to carry the offensive load. The Pelicans, clearly disgruntled and flustered, called a timeout. And then it happened.
Zion got an easy dunk off a post up straight out of the timeout, but he wasn’t done yet. Next play down, he set a hard pick and rolled down the center of the lane for another powerful slam, and R.J fired back with a triple down the other end. The crowd was really into it now, and loving every second. A few plays later, Knox secured a strong rebound off a Pelicans miss - or so he thought. Zion snuck up behind him and tore the ball from his arms, and threw down a thunderous jam, accompanied by an extremely justified roar. He finished the quarter in style with another rim-rocking jam, totalling 10 points. Ladies and gentleman, Zion had arrived.Â
As great as Zion’s highlights were, they weren’t worth any extra points, and the Knicks continued to grow the lead. Allonzo Trier continued to dance on the Pelicans defence, leading to some easy isolation points, and Mitchell Robinson was a menace on defence and an unstoppable force in the air on offence, and halfway through the second quarter, the Knicks were up double digits. However, New Orleans fought back, with buckets from Frank Jackson and Kavell Bigby-Williams, and closed the half on a 20-7 run, leaving the scores at 56-49.
The second-half scoring opened up with another Trier three and a tough drive and finish from Barrett, but the Pelicans stole the lead 61-62 with a 9-0 run lead by a ferocious Frank Jackson and Zylan Cheatham’s persistent effort on the glass to out-rebound Robinson. Basketball fans were then made aware by ESPN’s Cassidy Hubbarth that Zion wouldn’t check back into the game after suffering a ‘knee to knee’ hit. The injury isn’t expected to be serious, but the Pelicans medical staff are taking every precaution possible to ensure their #1 pick stays healthy. Jackson didn’t let up and drained two more triples, pushing the lead out to 63-74. The Knicks had a couple of nice plays, like a lob from R.J to Kevin Knox, but it was a quarter to forget, symbolised by Zylan Cheatham swatting Barrett’s buzzer beater attempt to close the third period with the Knicks trailing by 11, 69-80.
The fourth quarter started out relatively slow, from a basketball perspective anyway. With 7:53 left in the game, a 7.1 magnitude earthquake (yes, this is not a joke and it wasn’t an aftershock from a Zion dunk) struck the west-coast and it was felt at the arena, causing play to stop just after Trier dropped a hammer to bring the scores to 74-80. The jumbo-tron and speakers above were swaying back and forth, and players and fans were told play would not resume until all the objects overhead stopped moving, so they retreated to the locker rooms to wait it out. It was then announced that play would not resume, and the remaining games at the Thomas and Mack Center were then postponed.Â
So what can we take away from this game?
Zion brought the excitement with 11 points and 3 rebounds on 4/9 shooting in 9 minutes. He showcased his explosiveness and insane strength after a sluggish first few minutes, and fans should be very excited for the upcoming season. It is clear though, even from this miniscule sample size, that Zion’s jumper needs work. His form is unorthodox and flat, and is going to get exploited by teams who sag off him until he is able to consistently knock down open looks. The Pelicans have also ruled Zion out for the rest of the Summer League, so unfortunately fans will have to wait until pre-season to see some more powerful jams.Â
R.J was fairly underwhelming. 10 points, 5 rebounds and 1 assist in 32 minutes, shooting just 22% on 4/18 shooting. He looked lost at times, ran blindly into traffic and was clearly nervous about playing for an NBA team for the first time, which is completely fair enough. His game doesn’t look as polished as Zion’s, and he seemed to lack explosiveness or spring when taking it to the basket.
Again, it is the first game of Summer League, so we shouldn’t be reading into it too much, but we will anyway, and it seems that R.J might not be as good as people think. Only time will tell, but it certainly will be an interesting race for Rookie of the Year.
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