Summer League! We're about a third of the way through now. Some teams haven't started playing yet, and others are winding down. There are shifting waves of players, scouts and media members, which is good because it's pretty hard to cover everything at this point - NBA TV even has to show some games on tape delay. Regardless, I'm going to try my hardest to see those games that are most important - by those, of course, I mean teams full of D-Leaguers and free agents.
Since most people visiting Ridiculous Upside are probably doing so as a way to see who's looking good and bad at Summer League in lieu of a recap of each game, Scott has saddled me made the brilliant decision to bring back the lovely Monstars and Nonstars that we employed during the D-League playoffs. These are the three(-ish) best and non-best players of the day, again sticking with players you may not be familiar with. Hit the jump to see who they were.
Monstars
- Curtis Withers, PF, D-League Select - Withers didn't have the best shooting night, 4-10, but he was perfect from the free-throw line and finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and two blocks. Gani Lawal had a decent game overall, but also committed 10 fouls and turned the ball over seven times, and Withers was partly responsible for that. His D-League coach Rory White once compared Withers to Ben Wallace, and while I wouldn't quite go that far, if he worked a little more and focused a bit he could become a reasonable NBA bench option as someone who comes in to cause a bit of havoc.
- Mike Gansey, SG, D-League Select - Gansey was on fire all night, shooting 3-3 from outside and 5-6 overall for 15 points in a little under 18 minutes. He also had three boards, maybe a few fewer than I expected but still very respectable for that amount of time. Gansey undoubtedly got some teams' attention with his shooting prowess.
- Russell Robinson, PG, D-League Select - Like Withers, Robinson struggled a bit from the field (3-7), but otherwise had an excellent game. 17 points, four steals, two assists and no turnovers, to be exact. I'd normally chide the relative lack of assists, but beyond Robinson and Gansey the D-League team shot 1-9 on three-pointers and 19-55 overall, so I'm guessing his teammates blew some of those assist opportunities (this game wasn't on TV so I didn't get to see it, unfortunately).
- Bonus Non- D-League Select Monstar: Scottie Reynolds, PG, Phoenix Suns - Reynolds finally was able to play after recently injuring his achilles. Reynolds showed why he was an All-American, and probably should've been drafted, by scoring 16 points on six shots with three assists and two rebounds (and two turnovers and four fouls) in a little under 19 minutes. Seth Pollack has more on Reynolds' night over at Bright Side of the Sun.
- Second Bonus Non- D-League Monstar: J.R. Giddens, SF, Dallas Mavericks - Giddens was all over the place in a good way in this game, hitting outside shots (2-3) and using his athleticism to get steals and easy dunks. Giddens looked pretty comfortable throughout the game, which he should as a relative veteran, but given that he's playing for a contract at this point it was nice to see him put everything together. He had a pretty amazing fall-away tip-in with 0.3 seconds left in the fourth quarter to force overtime.
Nonstars
- Jared Newson, SG, D-League Select - See, I can be tough on D-Leaguers, too. Newson is listed here mostly because of his five turnovers in 15 minutes, which is far, far too many for a non-point guard. The rest of his offense wasn't great either, with 1-4 shooting both from the field and from the free-throw line.
- Ibrahim Jaaber, PG, Los Angeles Lakers - Of course, the day I suggest watching Jaaber, he shoots 1-8 with three turnovers to one assist in over 20 minutes. In fairness to me, I did note he'd been shooting poorly, and he's really going to have to pick it up in the Lakers' last two games to make a case for himself as a potential backup.
- Sofoklis Schortsanitis, C, Los Angeles Clippers - I'm going to write about Schortsanitis this week without making any weight references, because everyone knows he's big. Unfortunately, he didn't play particularly big against the Wizards (sorry, even I just groaned at that). He could've had a few more rebounds if he had done more that just stand there in the paint, and he didn't seem particularly interested in guarding his man out in the midrange. Schortsanitis missed all three of his shots to finish with zero points, four rebounds and three turnovers in 14 minutes.