Our journey through the world of training camp invitations takes us to the Atlantic Division. Which of course means it's time once again to talk about Sun Yue! and the rest of the Knicks. I've talked about all of these signings recently, but in the interest of making this a full and complete series I'll do it once more.
Sun Yue! - A lot of Sun Yue! jokes get made around here, mostly about how much he's hyped up as a 6'9" point guard who can do it all. Most of the time those jokes or references to him not being very good come in generalities, so let's talk real numbers now. He played a total of 28 minutes over 23 games for the Lakers last season, so of course we'll have to turn to the D-League stats for a better picture of what kind of player he is. Of course, he only played six games there so...put 'em together? I guess? He averaged four assists per 36 minutes for the D-Fenders and just under three per-36 in the NBA, so his passing skills aren't really as advertised. He was clearly more comfortable (and successful) shooting against weaker competition, as he shot .397 in the D-League, including .381 on three-pointers. His NBA shooting numbers were a lot grimmer. A .273 shooting percentage, in fact, and he missed all of his threes. He averaged about three and a half rebounds per 36 minutes in the D-League, which is fine for a point guard I suppose, except that a.) he's 6'9", b.) it came in only six games, so not a very large sample, and c.) he didn't get any rebounds in the NBA. He averaged about a steal and a half per 36 minutes when you combine the two "seasons," and he's used his height to block shots, but at this point he's just not ready to play in the NBA on a regular basis.
Warren Carter - Carter was a backup at the University of Illinois and has spent the last few years playing around Europe, but he's a very good rebounder. He led the Knicks' Summer League team in that category on a per-minnute basis, and the fact that he's back here makes me think the team might be giving him an honest shot at making the team. Rebounding is pretty much all he does, but perhaps the team sees him as a budget David Lee (or the new Jared Jeffries?) for their bench.
Gabe Pruitt - Gabe Pruitt had an up-and-down Summer League while playing for Boston's team this year, doing a decent job of running the offense but not always shooting the ball well himself. He made his three-pointers at a decent clip in the D-League, about 36 percent, though he struggled with that shot in the NBA. He didn't pick up that many assists, maxing out at about five per 36 minutes, but he also almost never turns the ball over.
Ron Howard - Howard is an excellent defender who spent most of last season covering opposing small forwards while playing for Fort Wayne, though given his size he's more of a shooting guard in the NBA. That's probably fine since he doesn't rebound at a consistent rate, and while he's not much of a shooter he picked up his scoring towards the end of last year.
Marcus Landry - Landry made almost 42 percent of his three-pointers whilst playing for Sacramento's Summer League team (yeah I used the world "whilst," what of it?), which I'm sure Mike D'Antoni likes. His scoring output increased steadily in college, though some of that was likely due to his increased minutes, and it also looks like he did a good job of both hanging onto the ball and staying out of foul trouble.
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