Summer League Reflections: A Rollercoaster of Performances
Biggest Surprises, Letdowns, and Poor Shooting Performances
Every year, the NBA Summer League arrives with a tidal wave of overreactions. It's the basketball junkie's first chance to see how college standouts, G League stars, and international phenoms fare on the big stage. Despite the small, statistically insignificant sample size, strong feelings inevitably form after just one or two games.
We eagerly analyze each performance, even though deep down we know better. One game, or even five, doesn't provide enough data to draw concrete conclusions.
Yet, amidst all the emotional reactions, there are glimpses that can shape our understanding of a player's potential, even if the history of summer league as a predictor of long-term success is far from reliable.
While Summer League performances can sometimes hint at future potential, they often represent noisy data influenced by numerous variables: teammates, roles, skillsets and conditioning. Many players haven’t played full-court 5-on-5 since their season finale, leading to rust and lack of synchronization.
Translation: take Summer League performances with a hefty grain of salt.
It’s early, and as always, there will be surprises, disappointments, and overreactions.
In short, I don’t place much weight on a player's Summer League struggles. Plenty of players overcome rough starts; for instance, Trae Young averaged 15 points and five assists over seven Summer League games in 2018 but shot just 30% from the floor and 27% from three. His subsequent success gives Timberwolves fans hope that Rob Dillingham's 13.6 points on 36% shooting from the field and 30% from deep over five games are more about rust than readiness.
With that said, here are my observations from the 2024 NBA Summer League.
Reed Sheppard: Proving He's More Than Just a Shooter
Sheppard, widely regarded as the best long-range sniper in the 2024 draft class, shot only 28% from deep on 4.5 attempts per game but demonstrated he can still be effective and impact games on both ends of the floor when his threes aren’t falling.