Q-is-here wrote: ↑Thu Jul 10, 2025 5:11 pm
First impressions:
Dillingham - Not much change from what we saw last year. He was pesky and effective defensively and very inconsistent offensively. Knowing that his ceiling as a defender is OK at best, he absolutely has to show improvement on offense to be a plus rotation player. Besides missing a lot of shots, the bigger concern was the turnovers.
Beringer - Holy crap, this guy could be REALLY good. In the first minute of the game he showed why he could be special on defense. Reaction time is lightning fast and blocks anything in his area. The fact he's 18 and still has a ton of time to refine his offensive game means his ceiling could be crazy high. 11 points on 6 shots, 8 rebounds, 1 assist, 2 steals, and 7 blocks with only 1 TO and 2 PFs in 23 minutes. He easily exceeded expectations.
Shannon - Really encouraging game from Shannon in that he showed an ability to make plays for others off the dribble, dealing out 9 assists on some really nice passes. His 3-point shot was a bit off, but they were good looks and he needs to take those shots.
Clark - No one should be surprised that he led the team in +/- at a +13. Just a game changer defensively. His only blemish was that his shot wasn't falling....at all.
Miller - He's like the opposite of Clark....puts together a pretty nice box score line (20 pts and 9 rebounds) but was the only starter with a negative +/- at -5. He was at his best on broken plays and in transition.
Jesse Edwards and
Rocco Zikarsky - Putting these two guys in the same category....both are just soooooo slow. Neither look like NBA talents tbh, although Zikarsky obviously is still super young.
As for the "other guys", I thought both Cain and Bailey had sneaky good games. I'd like to see more from them. Newton was unimpressive.
Let me start by saying that Rocco played the best 4 minutes of summer league basketball I’ve ever seen! OK. Got that out of my system.
. I agree with your take almost entirely, Q. Two minor exceptions to your points.
First, I wouldn’t put Rocco in the same category as Jesse. Rocco is far more of a physical presence than Jesse even at only 18 years old. I also think Rocco’s a bit faster and more fluid. He showed nice hands and I like the way he’s fast off his feet for dunks once he catches it. As he gets stronger with age and an NBA strength-building program, he’ll be a beast but a beast with skill. I can picture Rocco eventually coming off the bench in the NBA but I can’t even fathom Jesse playing in an NBA game.
Second, I’m not worried about Dilly’s shooting or turnovers. His shots weren’t fall and that happens. Normally, I’d be concerned about the turnovers but the box score looks worse than what I saw in the game. I was impressed by his pesky defense and he made some terrific passes among his 6 assists. I saw the box score before watching the game on replay and I was troubled by both Clark’s and Dilly’s stats. But watching the game, I thought both played much better than their box scores suggest. Miller, on the other hand, looked much worse than his box score.
Obviously, TSJ was terrific and I agree it was really encouraging to see him make plays for others with 9 assists. He also rebounded well and I thought he also defended well. I know it was only one game and it was Summer League but I’ll go out on a limb and predict that Beringer is going to be special. Clark and Dilly had poor box scores but the eye test indicates they played significantly better than their stats suggest. TSJ had a great box score and his play by the eye test matched his box score stats. Beringer had terrific stats and I thought based on the eye test his play actually exceeded his stats. His instinctive reactions are special and he plays with an amazing level of control for an 18 years old. His basketball IQ is elite when you consider he’s only played for 4 years.
I had the exact same impression as you of Cain and Bailey. I thought Newton looked terrible.
My overall takeaways are that, among those who played today: (1) we have four NBA-caliber players who are also clearly NBA ready on our summer league roster - TSJ, Jalen Clark, Rob Dillingham, and Joan Beringer; (2) we have three potential NBA-caliber players on the SL roster - Rocco, Bailey and Cain; and (3) we have three players who just don’t have what it takes to be NBA players - Jesse Edwards, Newton and Miller. Obviously, Miller is very talented and far more talented that’s Newton or Edwards but I’ve seen enough of him to conclude that he just not an NBA player and will never be more than a very good G-league guy.
Regarding what I consider to be our four NBA ready guys, with one exception, what we saw from them about where we would expect given their respective age and experience. TSJ is the oldest and most experienced and his was clear the best of the four. Clark is the next oldest and his play was a mixed bag - great defensively, questionable offensively. Dilly is still very young and inexperienced and it showed but his talent also shined thought. Before Summer League is over, he’s going to have a at least one huge game. Now to my one exception - Joan Beringer. He’s the youngest of my for NBA caliber players at age 18 yet I’d rank him second behind TSJ and ahead of Clark in caliber play today. Yes, he’ll have his struggles. Heck, Gobert, Randle, Ant and other have their struggles from time to time. But wow, what a talent!
