The Orlando Summer League has concluded paving the way for the Las Vegas Summer League to commence. The Nets did absolutely dreadful finishing in last place with a 1-4 record. While the Nets as a team may have struggled, some interesting insight was learned about the young players that are the future of the Nets franchise. Here are five takeaways for the Nets’ Summer League action.
Mason Plumlee Still Has Room to Grow
Did Mason Plumlee have a dominant Summer League showing? Yes, he averaged 18 ppg which is pretty good. However, there is still a lot more Plumlee has to do to become a starting caliber player. While Plumlee dominated on offense, he was not dominant in rebounding the ball. Grabbing under five rebounds per contest is simply not acceptable for a guy who is nearly seven feet tall and a possesses a ridiculous standing vertical. What this shows is a lack of effort, which is not acceptable. I know it is only Summer League, but it is concerning that Plumlee isn’t trying. However he will soon learn that minutes will be tough to come by, especially if the Nets sign a replacement for Andray Blatche due to the return of Brook Lopez. Plumlee will need to make what he can with limited minutes this season and try to contribute to the Nets’ bench unit.
Another area that Plumlee has still not improved is his jump shooting. The Duke product shot only 64% from the foul line and scored the majority of his points in the paint. Plumlee did not score one basket outside the paint this past season. Hopefully this will change as Plumlee with a mid-range jumper would be absolutely deadly.
Xavier Thames is Not NBA Ready
Xavier Thames may have been picked before Cory Jefferson in this year’s draft, but Jefferson is much more ready to contribute to an NBA team than Thames is. Thames averaged a putrid 3.6 ppg, 2.4 apg and 2.0 spg on 27% shooting from the field and 17% from behind the arc. Summer League provides a chance for people to prove that they deserve an NBA roster spot but Thames did the exact opposite proving that he is not NBA ready. However, it could be wise for the Nets to put him on their D-League affiliate the Springfield Armor to see if he can improve and possibly make his way to the NBA.
Markel Brown and Cory Jefferson Deserve Roster Spots
While one Nets draftee shrunk in the NBA spotlight, the other two Nets draftees, Markel Brown and Cory Jefferson, shined putting up solid numbers in limited minutes.
Brown averaged 10 ppg, 4.2 rpg and 3.2 apg on 53 FG% and 38 3PT%. Those are pretty impressive numbers. Brown has shown that he does not have to rely on his athleticism to score and is showing a much improved shooting touch. These are positive signs for Brown who will look into the Nets’ stacked backcourt rotation next season.
Of course, we can’t forget about this either.
We cannot forget about Cory Jefferson either. The Baylor product averaged 11.2 ppg, 6.8 rpg, 1.6 bpg and 1.2 spg on 70 FG% and 88 FT%. These numbers are encouraging. There is no way he will shoot 70% from the field in the regular season, but it shows he has a nice finishing ability around the basket. The three stats that stand out to me the most are Jefferson’s blocks, steals and free throw percentage. The only bona fide big man to average over 1.6 steals per game in the NBA this past season was Paul Millsap who averaged 1.74 steals per contest. One key difference here is Millsap played 33.5 minutes per game compared to Jefferson’s 21.4. It is funny it worked like this because I named Millsap as Jefferson’s NBA comparison in my previous article.
Jefferson also blocked a decent amount of shots for a PF standing at only 6’9 which is always a good thing. The main area of his game that was so impressive was Jefferson’s shooting percentage hitting 14-16 (88%) from the line. So many of the league’s big men struggle at the line, Jefferson being able to convert is huge.
Even better is that Jefferson seems like a high character, humble guy who really seems to respect his teammates, as illustrated in the video below.
DaJuan Summers Can Ball
DaJuan Summers has had a tough time carving out a career in the NBA only playing two games with the Clippers in the 2012-13 season and playing in Ukraine last season, but he put on quite a show in Orlando. For those not familiar with Summers, he attended Georgetown and has bounced in and out of the NBA since 2010. He started four out of five games for the Nets in Orlando and delivered averaging 10.4 ppg and 4 rpg. The numbers may not be staggering but they are solid.
Summers has a real chance to make an NBA roster this year, but it likely won’t be the Nets’. With the recent signing of Bojan Bogdanovic the Nets are set at small forward. However, Summers should not worry as it is very possible an NBA team will come knocking.
Keep Marquis Teague Around
Of course Marquis Teague will never be an elite point guard, but he is good to keep around as a third string guard especially with Deron Williams’ injury history. Teague had a decent showing in Orlando averaging 9.8 ppg, 5.8 apg and 1.2 spg. However, he did rack up over three turnovers per game which is a little concerning. Teague is still young and has plenty of room to grow. In a couple years it is very possible he could become the Nets’ backup PG. Although, that seems to be his ceiling.
While the camera angles aren’t great in the video, this was a pretty athletic play by Teague.
New York Sports Hub 