2022 Summer League Thread

[JayP146]

Maybe Eason purposefully botched his workout so he wouldn't be drafted by the Cavs?

 

[CavsKermit]

So?

How does a player who's better at everything who also has much better size gets drafted 17th in a weaker draft and Okoro who had no tangible skills or size gets drafted 5th in a perceived stronger draft?

Both are considered to be close as far as archetype go..it just happens that one is much better at what he's supposed to bring -- one was liked by the GM and the other was clearly not. How does that happen? It shouldn't.


i cant figure out how Koby operates.

At the risk of stating the obvious, you can only draft the players that are available in that draft. The Cavs weren't making a choice between Okoro and Eason, or even Okoro and P. Williams. You can say the Cavs should've taken Vassel instead, but that was the only other wing option and he lasted until late in the lottery.

How about the other 15 teams that passed on Eason? Also, incompetent?

In the same year when all of Dipo, Gobert, CJ McCollumn, and Giannis were drafted, Kelly Olynyk appeared to be the best player at summer league. Maybe drawing sweeping conclusions against G League opponents in small sample sizes is unwise.

 

[inliner311]

Maybe Eason purposefully botched his workout so he wouldn't be drafted by the Cavs?

I think the reports are that Eason had bad workouts with alot of teams. He also didn't interview well at the combine.

 

[JayP146]

I think the reports are that Eason had bad workouts with alot of teams. He also didn't interview well at the combine.

Ah, okay.

So much for that theory.

 

[Alec]

Watching the Rockets games is not helping.

Eason comfortably taking and making 3’s in summer league is vomit inducing. He looks like a potentially average 3 point shooter out of the gate. He also is just an extremely strong, physical guy. He was rag dolling that poor dude trying to guard him.

REB / AST / STL / BLK combined in summer league:

13, 16, 17, 13, 14

Guys. Mentally prepared yourself for him to be a lot better than you’d like him to be.

Edit: I also just noticed the stats finally updated. He led Summer League in rebounding, as a 3. Yikes.

You owned Koby, again.

 

[inliner311]

Ah, okay.

So much for that theory.

He is from the Seattle area, just like KPJ, so maybe he tanked his way to play for Houston to play with KPJ.

Edit: after some digging it's might be the case.

"That would be really dope," Eason said when speaking to the media about joining the Rockets via Zoom Monday afternoon. "I've known Kevin [Porter Jr.] since high school, and I think it would be really cool if we all got to play together. Having an opportunity to go to a team where you have some familiar faces would be special."

Rockets Draft Elite LSU Wing With No. 17 Pick

The Rockets have added a dynamic defender to their young core in Tari Eason

www.si.com

 

[NMCav]

He is from the Seattle area, just like KPJ, so maybe he tanked his way to play for Houston to play with KPJ.

I doubt that. I'm not even sure KPJ ends up back with the Rockets after this year. Maybe he had a bad workout for Rockets too. But they had 3 swings in the first round and took the chance based on his college tape.

 

[cliffdawg]

So?

How does a player who's better at everything who also has much better size gets drafted 17th in a weaker draft and Okoro who had no tangible skills or size gets drafted 5th in a perceived stronger draft?

Both are considered to be close as far as archetype go..it just happens that one is much better at what he's supposed to bring -- one was liked by the GM and the other was clearly not. How does that happen? It shouldn't.


i cant figure out how Koby operates.

Are you kidding on paper that was a weak ass draft after the first 3 picks,….Even worse now we have seen it after 3 years,….We should see how this draft pans out, but Eason could have easily went top 10 in that draft.

 

[Rich]

Wait, 120 games is basically all of the games up to that point lol. I was thinking 2 full seasons.


Let's say 70%, which would be 86.1 games (of a possible 123). So round down to 86 games played.

 

[Alabuckeye]

Y’all can obsess about this one player while ignoring the important stuff….like the give out rings for winning Summer League? What is this whole participation trophy nonsense?

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

So 25 mpg, positive VORP and BPM by the 41st game of his 2nd season. We'll only be looking at the stats from his 2nd season, not his career stats, and he has to have played in 120 games.

Deal @The Human Q-Tip

Just to be clear here -- I'm not in on any deal. I was just responding to you debating someone else, and asking for standards for success. I tossed out some I thought were reasonable.

I personally have no idea on whether or not this guy succeeds. I've literally never watched him play a second of basketball in my life. For all I know, he's a white dude.

 

[CavsKermit]

If you are looking for a reason to keep watching... #14 is the first cute ref I've ever seen in a basketball game at any level.

Way too cute for this line of work. @RonG we need you to confirm.

Pics or it didn't happen.

 

[CavsKermit]

You can find shooting attached to bad players if you need it so desperately. There are always guys like Malik Monk or Tony Snell out there in FA or you could trade Cedi and a 2nd for Duncan Robinson. The lack of shooting in the Cavs lineup is an issue but I would put at least part of that on coaching. We have guys like Cedi and theoretically Windler glued to the bench because JBB doesn't want to play them and even when he does they just go stand in the corner instead of running curls or DHOs. Having shooters only matters if your offensive scheme doesn't reduce them to Amon Ones and Donyell Marshall in 2007.

I also expect to see improved shooting from our young guys. They are not sitting idle this summer and posting tons of open gym workout vids (looking at you ben simmons). Okoro and Mobley I expect to show more range and provide more spacing next year. Getting Collin back helps too.

Average to below average vets should never be a reason to not take a high upside player. If your young guy looks like he is the real deal, you send those guys packing and open up time to develop your young gun. If your vets are above average, you spend development time on your young guy and bring up to full speed in year 2 or 3. Portland has been doing the later for years and consistently churn out solid guys (Simons, CJ, even Nas Little). There are options, but Cedi Osman and Caris LeVert should not prevent you from taking a guy you think has even a 10% chance of becoming a difference maker or ceiling raiser.

I would have gone a different direction than Och at 14, but its not a terrible pick or anything. I have said this before, and I stand by it. The larger trend of recent moves is what worries me more than any specific trade. Between the way the other draft picks were used and the LeVert deal and honestly the JBB extension, I am worried we are losing sight of the big picture while chasing tiny goals. When you are optimizing your objective function, you don't want to get stuck in a local minima and I think we are focusing too much on that instead of the global trend.

Finding guys who can shoot and play defense well enough to stay on the floor is the key. The Heat are paying Duncan $20M per, for four more seasons, and he got zero run in the playoffs because teams targeted him on defense and Spo yanked him right out of the game. Yeah, we could trade Cedi and filler for him, but no that would not be a good idea. Monk is a turnstile on defense as well and I wasn't aware that Snell was still in the NBA.

It is not easy to come by true 3&D guys. It's difficult and usually very expensive.

 

[I'mWithDan]

You owned Koby, again.

Honestly, who knows. I've always said being right about one specific player isn't really the intent of anything I do for the draft. It is more trying to drive home what, generally speaking, is a winning draft process (from what I see).

Ochai could prove to be the better player than Eason, who knows.......it is more about the collection of guys that went after OA and how he generally stacks up (especially those that went immediately after him). It is also about how specific archetypes should be valued more than others.

With Eason specifically.......it is a potentially good test case in why any one specific thing, like a workout, should not be an overriding factor in draft evaluation. You have to be willing to trust how a prospect stacks up physically / analytically as well and decide wether those things matter more......or could mitigate any concerns.

I think my one true criticism of Koby is he seems to value individual workouts in an outsized way........and that already led to one bad mistake with Okoro and him repeating that process with Ochai (from what I have seen relayed), is just mildly concerning. A little more so after seeing how big, physical and impactful Eason was in summer league. We'll see how it all shakes out 2-3 years down the road.

 

[The Human Q-Tip]

[

"That would be really dope," Eason said when speaking to the media about joining the Rockets via Zoom Monday afternoon. "I've known Kevin [Porter Jr.] since high school, and I think it would be really cool if we all got to play together. Having an opportunity to go to a team where you have some familiar faces would be special."

Well there might be part of the explanation for why we passed on the guy. They may have just thought he'd be a poor fit culture-wise, and wasn't so special that they were willing to overlook that.

Add that to leaks that he interviewed poorly, and it starts to make more sense.