Five Lessons from Summer League

Some general themes and takeaways from an action-packed July in NBA circles

You either win or you learn.

No player that performed in Summer League this year is a finished product. Everything is a data point, and the showcases in Salt Lake City, San Francisco and Las Vegas are great stages for comparison of data points and growth. This is another time for evaluation: unbiased, objective feedback on what was shown and how much needs to change to make an NBA impact.

As we’ve watched at least 40-50 games over the last two weeks, a few themes or trends have emerged from the growth factor and lessons that we as an evaluator can take away from the game action. Those lessons apply to both NBA development, our draft analysis, and some philosophical changes we may have to make with our overall big board. We look at five of those lessons today, all with an eye on learning where we can learn to be better in the future and how to contextualize what we’re seeing.