Summer Thoughts: Pacers 94, Thunder 71
The Thunder got their top players back on Wednesday, and also got back to their losing summer league ways, getting smacked by the Pacers 94-71. Some thoughts about a game I really hope you didn’t waste your afternoon watching:
- Jeremy Lamb hasn’t played very well — except for one game — but I wouldn’t judge him based on three summer league games. His total shooting numbers are ugly, just made worse by today’s 4-of-17 effort. And even grosser, he went 1-of-9 from 3. The very astute Mrs. DT made a good point about Lamb while we were watching today’s game: He looks like the kind of player that basketball has always come easy to him. Probably the best player in middle school and high school, at every pickup game he’s every played in, and for the most part, in college too. But the NBA isn’t so easy for him. And I think that frustrates him. Basketball is supposed to be simpler than this for Lamb.
- Again, though: He hasn’t shot very well in summer league. Even though he lost his spot last season, he proved himself pretty well last year, especially in the first couple months.
- The Thunder worked on posting Adams a lot in the first half. He had one very nice baseline drop-step move with a subtle elbow hook, but didn’t do the kinds of things in the post you’d like to see, namely, bully. With his size, he should be backing defenders down and shooting through them. Instead, he tried to face up a few times and even went for a couple long-ish baby hooks. Not bad to try, but Adams needs to take advantage of his physicality.
- One thing that continues to be disappointing is Adams’ free throw shooting. He works it hard every day in practice, but it’s not translating all that well. He went 4-of-10 from the stripe today, and seemed to lose confidence in it.
- Mitch McGary was once again pretty impressive (15 points on 5-of-7, two rebounds and two blocks). He appears to have some belief in his midrange game, knocking down a couple without hesitation from more than 15 feet. Also, he defended well today, especially guards on switches.
- It’s not that Josh Huestis is simply a bad offensive player. It’s more that he doesn’t know how to be one. He’s almost invisible on that end of the floor. He doesn’t move well without the ball, isn’t finding space to take shots and is way hesitant to attack off a catch. He did get to the line six times, and got one bucket to drop, but it’s pretty clear that he needs some help.
- Andre Roberson made another 3!
- Roberson really has looked improved on the offensive end. He’s attacked the paint a number of times this summer, just missing another quality dunk today. His defensive ability and rebounding activity is what makes him most valuable, but there’s definitely been some development on the offensive end. He’s still a long way off from being an effective player on that side, but he’s better.
- Perry Jones had looked pretty good the first few games. He looked the opposite of that today. Just 2-9 shooting, but he didn’t have much aggressiveness, especially as the game went on and more of his shots didn’t fall.
- Sam Presti’s halftime interview was super insightful. And by super insightful, I mean that Presti talked for like six minutes and I honestly don’t remember a single thing he said. At one point he said something about checking all their options, I think.
Next up: Friday against TBD at TBD
