2023 Draft Picks Shine in SLC Summer League Closer
The Salt Lake City Summer League Showcase has been as much fun on the floor as it is to pronounce.
Game One was full of suspense and excitement for the host Utah Jazz, accumulating in a narrow victory over Memphis in overtime.
Game two was largely forgettable.
The final, game three, was the pinnacle of them all.
No overtime required, this game much like game 1, was gritty and tough to pull out, but the Jazz did it.
Sure, both games were exciting wins, but the one crucial difference in last nights 93-85 win over Philadelphia compared to the win over Memphis, is that it was much cleaner basketball.
Lets look at the “optimism” surrounding the Grizzlies victory on Monday:
The win over Memphis saw Keyonte George score 30 points!
Sure, On 24 % shooting with 21 field goals attempted and 19 free throw tries.
But Taylor Hendricks had a clutch three and a sweet jam in crunch time to help beat the Grizzlies!
Yes, he was also practically non noticeable the 3 and a half quarters before that moment.
Brice Sensabaugh had 15 points and nailed 3 triples as one of the best perimeter shooters of the game! That was crucial in such a tight ball game right?
I guess, he also turned it over 7 times and had 7 fouls.
For every positive, it seemed as if one could find double the negative despite a Utah win.
Jazz fans really had to talk themselves into why it was a good showing, at least I know I did.
Follow that up with the bare bones effort the next day in a 98-75 drubbing at the hands of the Thunder, fans were still searching for that true summer league performance that fills a rebuilding teams fan base with hope.
Last nights beating of the 76ers provided that hope.
You may ask why I only picked on Keyonte George, Brice Sensabaugh and Taylor Hendricks a few sentences ago, and in all reality its because those three are crucial to not only any Summer League Success, but to Utah’s success as a team moving forward.
Outside of Walker Kessler, fans look at these three to produce more than anyone else on the team.
All finished the regular season in the rotation last year, all three were first round picks a year ago, and all three should play at an above average level in a summer league setting.
As intriguing and debatable as Cody Williams, Isaiah Collier and Kyle Filipowski are to fans as the new kids on the block, we have no clue what to expect from them at an NBA pace.
Hendricks, George and Sensabaugh have had enough time to give us a solid idea of what we should see from them.
Fans aren't expecting 30 point games every night or even a field goal average above 45 % but clear and apparent evidence that they can play within themselves and stand out above others on the floor.
We got just that from both Keyonte George and Taylor Hendricks last night.
Taylor Hendricks, the 9th pick in the 2023 NBA draft shook off the game 1 rust and the game 2 rest and impacted the game from multiple levels.
No one is asking Hendricks to be a 20 point per game type of scorer every night, but to contribute on the defensive end, the glass and then to take advantage of the looks he does get.
Hendricks did just that with 18 points on 6/10 shooting, 6 rebounds, 1 assists and 3 blocks.
His 3 blocks rivaled his 3 fouls and were one more than his turnover count at 2.
Taylor squashed any unfortunate plays by making double the impact elsewhere.
After going 1/5 from deep in game 1, Hendricks shot a confident 6 attempts, nailing 4 of them.
Hendricks ended the night with the 2nd most rebounds, 2nd most points, 2nd most field goals made, most three pointers made and a team high +15 when he was on the floor, which was more than any other Jazz man with 32 minutes.
His impact was felt on both sides of the ball, and those in a panic after game one can relax a bit.
As any young player will experience, the only consistent thing will be inconsistency.
As the Jazz wait out his full development, ups and downs will occur, but its nights like last night that remind you what they saw at #9 a year ago.
Keyonte George, the 16th overall pick last year took little time to leave an impression in the Summer League last year as rookie.
It didn’t stop there as Keyonte George appeared in 75 games, starting 44 of them for the Jazz with big time moments here and there and clear examples of the type of impact player he could grow to be.
To no ones surprise, expectations were very high for the former Baylor guard going into his second summer league, which is why his first appearance was met with such mixed results.
The 30 points was excellent, the ability to get to the stripe was impressive, the clutch free throws and the win helped as well.
But the turnovers, inability to create space with Grizzlies guards, and poor shooting threw fans for a loop.
A 30 point game is a 30 point game, it doesn't happen by accident but that doesn’t mean it was pretty.
After sitting Game 2, George, like Hendricks, flipped any narrative of game 1 on its head by absolutely balling out.
The 30 piece returned, with 31 points off the hands of Keyonte, but this time it was to the satisfying tune of 60 percent shooting on 15 tries.
The effectiveness was ever present in George’s game VS Philadelphia.
For example, he tuned down his three point attempts from 10 VS Memphis to 6 VS Philadelphia when he realized what the Sixers were allowing.
The forced shots from game 1 seemed to vanish into clean solid looks as he read the defense.
Working within the flow of the game allowed George to find his teammates more often with a team high 5 assists to help balance out the 5 turnovers.
A comforting sign for fans of the fighting J-notes is that the ability to get to the charity stripe still persisted even when his shot was falling.
12 free throw attempts and 11 makes, were the highest mark in the game as Keyonte attempted only 7 less free throws than the entirety of the Sixers.
On game, off game, doesn’t seem to matter in terms of George impacting the game as a scorer, but its so much more impactful when its an on game.
The dribble package, the vision all has so much potential and last night is a perfect example of how George can go above and beyond the “scorer” label.
Keyonte clocked out with the second most minutes played (31), hitting the most field goals and free throws and dishing out the most dimes.
George finished as a +10 on the floor.
Lastly, Brice Sensabaugh, the player saddled with the least expectation’s of the three 2023 selections as the 28th overall pick last year.
Brice has been the only one to appear in all three games up to this point and its apparent he has been putting in work this offseason.
The slimmed down Sensabaugh has yet to score less than 15 points, totaling 50 points in Salt Lake.
Nearly 17 points per game is pretty stout for the Ohio State product and the 48 percent from the field is legitimately solid for putting up 33 shots in three games.
The scoring has been impactful for Sensabaugh and seems as improved as it can from a summer league standpoint as Brice appeared in 32 regular season games last year, averaging 7.5 points on 39 percent shooting.
In the Thunder game, Brice was really the only bright spot putting up 18 points in only 15 minutes of game time.
He had one turnover that game and demonstrated the impact he can have when taking care of the ball.
But that’s just it, taking care of the ball.
In Utah’s two wins, Brice has had 12 total turnovers as he’s worked on creating space and getting inside.
Nitpick aside, that’s why you work on the wrinkles in the summer so you can produce in the winter.
If Brice can do more of what he did against the Thunder and keep the scoring totals rolling, Utah may have another very intriguing piece worth more regular season minutes there.