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Three thoughts on the two Salt Lake City Summer League Day 1 games of Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Trent Forrest impresses
It’s so funny, isn’t it? Trent Forrest played in 30 real NBA games against real NBA competitions last season. I’ve watched all of these games, attended most of them, so I should probably base my opinion on whether or not he will be an effective NBA player based on these games. Certainly I should prioritize those games over a summer league performance against a poor San Antonio Spurs team whose top players got injured and weren’t playing, right?
But when six weeks have passed between Jazz matches and Forrest appears in that game, my natural inclination – although I know it’s wrong! – is to weigh it on everything else. “Forrest is going to be a good NBA player!” I think.
It did pop, however; he was the best player in the game. Certainly it seemed like he was playing at a different speed than the others. He raced pick and roll to perfection, finding Udoka Azubuike for four dunks. He assisted two 3-pointers and a few more misses, as well as a converted layup assist to Juwan Morgan. He also had an impact on the defense.
Forrest was a little reluctant to shoot, but when he did, he made two of his three balls deep. This is, more than anything else, his swing skill: If he finds a way to shoot, he will be a rotating NBA player and earn tens of millions of dollars throughout his career. Otherwise, he could be out of the NBA before he makes more than six figures.
The good news is, he knows it. “The main focus for me was my shot,” Forrest said after the game. “And I feel like it’s improved a lot since the season so far, and I feel like it will always be a priority even after the summer league.”
He cited Royce O’Neale’s 3 point shot improvement as a confidence booster for him. “I know one of the coaches I work with worked with Royce. I know Royce, when he got there I heard he wasn’t the best shooter but every day they were just doing little things to help him get better. And now I mean you look at Royce, I don’t know what year he is, but he’s like a forty percent shooter.
Here’s the disappointment: O’Neale was actually a really good shooter in college – he shot 39.9% in his 4 year college career. Forrest shot 24.8% in four years at Florida State.
But Forrest went 2-3 in this game, so it’s pretty promising! I think it’s a question of consistency of form for Forrest, and he talks about it in interesting terms. “Basically, being ready before the catch was a big thing for me, just getting into the rhythm. Just like I play with a pick and roll rhythm, (I want to have) a rhythm for my jumpshot.
He had six weeks to work on it, so it is possible that he is improving; he will have another six weeks before the start of training camp.
2. Udoka Azubuike – tall, good, not in shape
Until Jared Butler is able to play, Azubuike will be the most interesting piece of the Summer Jazz League situation.
First off, know this: Dok said, “I haven’t played organized 5-on-5 basketball since, like, two years now – since my last year of college.” That’s not technically true – he played 57 minutes for the Jazz last season in garbage time, and 28 minutes for the Stars before seriously injuring his ankle, but hey, that’s pretty close.
So what did we see? Well, kinda what you might expect from a guy like this: he turned out to have an impact with his height above all else. Because he’s so big, especially against a small Spurs summer league team, he’s scared off a lot of rim attempts just like Rudy Gobert tends to do. Good!
He was also a hard-hitting screen, though a bit awkward – he never failed to point over his shoulder when he set up the screen, asking his teammates to use it. They probably know it. And when it comes to rebounds, he’s certainly done his part, collecting 14 in just 23 minutes on the pitch.
He struggled to make a consistent impact offensively or when the game picked up. His four buckets were from Lob Forrest like this, for example:
At one point, the Jazz coaching staff requested a time out, this mostly seemed to give ‘Dok a break, as he was not able to keep up with the pace of play on the pitch. At the moment he won’t have an impact in the transition on both sides, he needs to get in much better shape by the preseason.
In the third quarter, the news broke: Jazz signed Hassan Whiteside, who will likely take most of Azubuike’s minutes next season. On the one hand, it relieves some of Azubuike’s pressure, on the other hand, it costs him a chance to claim a rotating future with the Jazz in real NBA action.
There is a glimpse of a useful player there, and I would have liked the pick in last year’s draft much more if he had come in midway through the second round (where he was scheduled to be selected) rather than at # 27, where Desmond Bane and Jalen McDaniels were available. But he will have to fill in the rough edges, and we’ll see how he plays in a back-to-back situation tomorrow.
3. Busts of the first round
As good as Jazz White looked in a 29-point win over the Spurs, Jazz Blue looked just as bad in a 39-point loss to the Grizzlies.
In their defense, it was sort of an unfair confrontation. This Grizzlies Summer League team is very good, with two indisputable NBA players in Bane and Xavier Tillman, and then probably three fringe NBA guys in Killian Tillie, John Konchar and Yves Pons.
Jazz Blue has two former first-round draft picks: Justin Patton and Jarell Martin. The team’s best player was actually Joe Chealey, who was Jarrell Brantley’s point guard at the College of Charleston; Chealey has played a total of five NBA games with the Hornets in the past two years.
Patton did some flashy things – at one point he blocked a shot, then took it coast to coast for a layup. But I wasn’t impressed with its overall rim protection despite having three blocks. Martin was a disaster: six points on eight shots, a -28, and looked like the slowest player on the pitch. It’s unimaginable that the Grizzlies played it in real NBA minutes to the little forward, but they did. (It got them Ja Morant as well, so who can complain?)
Either way, it’s a good reminder: We’re talking about the value of first-round picks, and there’s no doubt they’re valuable assets. When they hit, a team can have cheap control of a good player for four years, then control that player’s market value for the next four years. (See Donovan Mitchell. That he made $ 5 million last season is a steal.)
But sometimes they don’t hit. When they don’t, players may be out of the league fast.
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