OKC Thunder Summer League Roster

In continuing the series of spending way too much time telling you more than you need to know about players that don't have NBA contracts, I present the Oklahoma City Thunder Summer League roster in excruciating detail.

For a look at the rest of the Orlando Summer League rosters, check this out: New Jersey Nets, Utah Jazz, Philadelphia 76ers, Orlando Magic, Indiana Pacers, Boston Celtics.

For the Vegas Summer League rosters, refer to this post.

For your reference, I won't be talking about D.J. White, Kyle Weaver, Byron Mullens, Eric Maynor, Serge Ibaka or James Harden - they're already guaranteed to play in the NBA next season and you should probably be able to learn everything you need to know about them over at Welcome To Loud City.

I'm going to list the players by position, then how likely it is that they'll appear on any NBA roster next season.  With as many rotation players as the Thunder included, though, I don't know how many of these guys will be given a legitimate chance.

Guards

Mustafa Shakur, PG, Arizona - I really like Shakur, and the Thunder probably do too after calling him up to end the season last year, but he's still fighting for a roster spot this Summer.

Shakur is an NBA player: he has good size for an NBA point guard (6'3" without shoes), NBA explosiveness (he can get up!), excellent scoring ability (19.2 points in the D-League last season), a floor general's attitude (good leadership to go with nearly seven assists per game) and even showed that he can play NBA-type defense (to along with 2.2 steals per game) on a consistent basis this past season.

The best thing about Shakur on offense, however, is his willingness, along with his ability, to get to the rim.  Rather than settling for jump shots this year, Shakur often chose to take it to the rack - something I can respect from the point guard position.  That isn't to say he can't shoot, though, as he hit a respectable 38% from distance - something the former Wildcat guard isn't typically known for.

Defensively, Shakur ranked as "excellent" according to Synergy this past season - I'd concur with this.  I'm terrible at telling somebody why I think a certain player is great at defense (he either is or he isn't, in my eyes), but I can tell you that he's quick enough to stay in front of almost every guard in the league and he plays the passing lanes very well in the halfcourt set.

I like his chances in the NBA for next season.

Also Playing: Portland Trail Blazers, Vegas.

Robert Vaden, SG, Alabama-Birmingham - I didn't realize this, but even though Vaden was drafted just last season, he's now 25 - not saying that makes him old, but that limits the upside.

The good thing about Vaden, though, is that he comes well-equipped with an NBA-skill: he can shoot the freakin' lights out - whether it's as a spot-up shooter, coming off a screen or even with defenders in his face.  Unfortunately, at least as of last year, that was his only real NBA offensive skill because his ball handling didn't really allow him to attack the basket so he'd usually hang out on the perimeter.

This doesn't seem to have changed in Italy this past season, either, where he played with Aget Imola in a lower division.  In 29 games, he shot more three-pointers (225) than shots inside the arc (197).  This isn't such a bad thing, though, as he made 40% of his shots from beyond the arc on his way to averaging 16.9 points per game.

My assumption is the Thunder will probably prefer that Vaden plays another season overseas, but I guess that's just a guess as of now - he could impress this week.

Cliff Hammonds, SG, Clemson - Hammonds is a bit of an unknown as far as how he'll translate to the NBA because he's one of the few third-year pros that have never played in an NBA Summer League or the NBA Development League before - but he's getting a shot this season.

At Clemson, Hammonds scored at least 10 points per game all four seasons - not exactly an easy feat - culminating in a senior season in which the 6-foot-3 guard averaged 11.4 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.9 assists while shooting 47% from the field.  While a 47% field goal percentage isn't bad, his 46% free-throw percentage definitely is.

For the past two seasons, Hammonds has played in Turkey and Greece with a quick summer stop in Puerto Rico in between.  For Peristeri in Greece this past season, Hammonds averaged 12.9 points, 3.7 assists, 3.1 rebounds and shot 42% from beyond the arc.

A hard-worker mostly known for his defense, I think Hammonds could impress in Orlando if given a shot.  But with all of the rotation players on the roster, I'm not sure we'll see much of him next week.

Bigs

Latavious Williams, PF, D-League - If you're a regular reader of Ridiculous Upside, you should already know everything you need to know about the first high school player to enter the D-League and then get drafted into the NBA.

If you're not a regular reader I'll direct you to this, this and this.

I'm pretty certain he'll spend next season in the D-League again, but he could see some NBA time as well.

Marcus Lewis, PF, Oral Roberts - Lewis isn't an NBA prospect by any means, but I like to watch him play.

Lewis, a 6-foot-8, 250 pound "widebody" averaged an overly-underwhelming 4.0 points and 3.3 rebounds in 42 games with the Tulsa 66ers this past season in just over 15 minutes of action.

If you average that out to 36 minutes per action, though, he would averaged a pretty solid 9.2 points and 7.4 rebounds on 54% shooting from the field.  Unfortunately, the conditioning just isn't there to allow Lewis that much time on the court at this point in his career.  Fortunately, the effort is there that he could end up coming into Summer League in better shape than he was two months ago.

Lewis isn't a serious NBA prospect at this time, but the fact that the Thunder have invited him to play on the Summer League team probably indicates that he'll be included on the 66ers roster next season.

Ryan Reid, PF, Florida State - Everything you need to know about Ryan Reid can be found right here.

Note: if you're a Ryan Reid fan, that may not be a positive thing.