The Kings' summer league season kicks off tonight against Yi Jianlian and Team China. The game will be webcast live at 7:30 pm Pacific for your viewing enjoyment.
Summer league is a taste, and very few overarching, important decision will be made based on it. As such, we shouldn't put pots full of stock into the happenings, either. For instance:
- Greg Oden got 10 fouls last night.
- Kevin Durant missed his first five shots.
- A dude who didn't touch the ball got credit for a bucket.
Spencer Hawes' passing. How long will it take for Shawes to translate his rumored Divacesque skills to the NBA? Vlade didn't have a positive assist-to-turnover margin until age 24 -- his fourth season. Brad Miller's also came at age 24, his third season. Sam Perkins (another oft-mentioned Shawes comparison) came into the league with a positive assist-to-turnover margin... but he was 23 his rookie year. Shawes is 19. The next few weeks, we might get a sense of how developed Shawes' ball-handling is at the higher level of competition.
Francisco Garcia's jumper. El Flaco is a notoriously slow starter. But he's the star of this here team, and I imagine he'll want to come out blazin'. The only thing separating Garcia from John Salmons right now is Francisco's potential to be a great shooter. At age 25, he needs to start delivering on that potential. Hopefully the opportunity for more minutes will be a boost.
Justin Williams' free throws. He shot over 55% in college. So why did he only hit one of three last year in the bigs? He can hit at 50%, there's no reason to strap him to the bench considering his rebounding and shotblocking.
If you watch the game tonight, please use this thread to comment on what you see. And if someone finds a way to rip the telecast, I'd be happy to help break it into YouTubeable pieces and/or host it for everyone.