Day 3 of the Orlando Summer League means we're officially halfway (more than halfway, technically) through the week. Pictures are becoming clearer; some players are solidifying themselves and becoming viable training camp invitees; others, well, need to start doing a better job of that.
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.
Truth be told, I didn't see very many poor performances over today's slate of games. Sure, there were a few players who maybe didn't make much of an impression, but rarely did I see someone look completely out of it. As such, today's review will be a little more skewed towards the Monstars (sigh) I did see.
Hit the jump to find out who they were.
Monstars
- Matt Janning, G, Boston Celtics - The biggest surprise of the week may end up being Janning's performance today; after getting a DNP in game two, Janning exploded for 20 points, eight rebounds and three assists in 25 minutes, most of that output coming in the first half. Janning played the point for most of his time in the game, although ballhandling duties were usually shared, and he did a solid job. He has pretty good size (he's 6'4") and a quick first step that helped him get by his defender and into the lane. He could use some work on his defensive positioning, but overall he acquitted himself well.
- Joe Crawford, SG, Orlando Magic - Crawford scored 29 points on an excellent 8-13 shooting, including hitting 4-5 threes. Impressively, he did most of his work while matched up against Terrence Williams, who's a decent defender (good enough to theoretically handle a guy like Crawford), while also helping hold Williams to an 8-26 shooting night. Crawford didn't really do much beyond scoring (he had one rebound, three turnovers and three fouls), but a team in need of bench scoring would do well to bring Crawford in to training camp.
- DeShawn Sims, F, Boston Celtics - DeShawn Sims was another semi-surprise for the Celtics, as he's transitioning to a wing player after playing out of position as a center at Michigan for the last two years. Sims showed off a nice jumpshot and had some nice moves both in the post and when driving to the basket, and he scored 18 points on 8-11 shooting in 16 minutes of playing time.
- Paul Davis, PF/C, Orlando Magic - Davis has been playing pretty solidly this week, and while he likely won't (-slash-didn't) keep getting to the free-throw line with this sort of regularity (22 combined free throws over the last two games) in training camp or the NBA's regular season, he's still worth a deeper look. 16 points on five shots, nine rebounds and a block off the bench against the Nets, along with some solid defense.
- Bonus LATAVIOUS WILLIAMS Coverage: Latavious Williams, PF, Oklahoma City Thunder - This was the Williams who emerged for the Tulsa 66ers towards the end of last season, being everywhere at once, crashing the boards and helping his team out with dunks and putbacks. All of the caveats about Williams' game still apply, but by succeeding alongside bona fide NBA players, he showed that his game's development is right where it needs to be.
- Bonus Second Round Pick Coverage: Magnum Rolle, PF/C, Indiana Pacers - I was a little skeptical of Rolle coming into Summer League given that he's a 24-year old rookie, but he got the start against the Jazz team and had his best game of the week so far. Rolle showed a nice midrange jumper, rebounded well in traffic, handled the ball pretty well for a guy his size and generally showed off his athleticism. He finished with eight fouls, so there still is some work to do with him, but Rolle's 10 points on 4-5 shooting, eight boards and five blocks were well-earned.
Non-Stars
- Pape Sow, C, Charlotte Bobcats - Sow really, really hasn't done anything this week, continuing that trend by scoring zero points, picking up one rebound and two assists, committing two fouls and turning the ball over once in eight minutes. Have I mentioned that he's been starting for some reason? Charlotte has enough frontcourt prospects on its Summer League roster (Alexis Ajinca, Alade Aminu, Nathan Jawai) that the decision to start Sow is all the more puzzling (and yes, I just advocated for Nathan Jawai).
- Robert Vaden, SG, Oklahoma City Thunder - And speaking of guys who started who probably shouldn't have started, Vaden had two points on 1-5 shooting, a performance that has been right in line with his other Summer League games this year. Making it worse is that shooting's pretty much the one skill Vaden is supposed to have right now. Considering his only other contributions in this game were three steals (good) and five fouls (bad), Vaden probably should be giving way to guys like Mustafa Shakur or Kyle Weaver from now on.
- Darian Townes, C, Utah Jazz - Townes isn't unskilled, he's just never been able to that corral that skill into any kind of performance; consider the fact that he's been a backup even in the D-League. Utah has kind of a crowded frontcourt on their Summer League roster (Townes, Rod Benson, Kosta Koufos, James Augustine, Jermareo Davidson), and unfortunately Townes hasn't distinguished himself from the crowd; 1-5 shooting and one rebound in four minutes.
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