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NBA Summer League Wild Overreaction Thread

Really think it was a mistake to consider Harper the 2nd overall pick without challenge. Think the Spurs might ultimately regret passing on Ace/VJ given their roster construction
I challenged it but not very hard because I wasn’t confident enough in the face of overwhelming consensus. More troubling than the weak perimeter shooting is his weirdly-low assist numbers (I know the raw numbers don’t tell the whole story, but at certain point in extremity, it frames the general reality). He’s a big combo that will not be very good off the ball and whose teams’ offense will be susceptible to defenses sagging off of him.
 
What does this apply to in the regular season?: teams that are trying to reach the playoffs with their players healthy enough to do well and teams that want to get to the bottom of the league standings for draft positioning. There are very easily seen reasons behind this.

I have no reason to believe that the guys teams hold out in summer league are being held out for anything other than very easily understood reasons: either they've shown too much already or they have actual injury issues. In either case, I have absolutely no problem with my favorite team hoping to increase its odds that it can start the real season with a healthy lineup and that the players can use the rest of the offseason to train rather than rehabilitate.
Very reasonably stated. It's entirely possible that I've overstated the problem, perhaps motivated by my generalized loathing of load management.
 
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Really think it was a mistake to consider Harper the 2nd overall pick without challenge. Think the Spurs might ultimately regret passing on Ace/VJ given their roster construction

I didn't really challenge it much because Harper was not an option for the Jazz, but I saw some of the arguments and they made a lot of sense to me. At the very least, they should have been open to trading down for someone else. Probably could have gotten a big haul for him.
 
I've received a good amount of pushback on my position regarding load management in summer league, most of it quite reasonable. I've done some side research on the issue, and it seems I'm perhaps on a bit of a limb regarding my stronger criticisms on this issue. I understand that summer league serves several purposes that don't necessarily align with my priorities, and I understand the risk calculations teams inevitably go through when deciding whether and how much to play top rookies or prospects. This is not a hill I'm prepared to die on.

This is not to say, however, that I'm necessarily alone in my concerns related to summer league. For example, clearly stated in Sarah Todd's recent piece in the Deseret News is that there is concern within the league FO and decision-makers about the practice of holding out top draft picks in what is supposed to be and is marketed as a major NBA showcase event. So, while the limb I've climbed out on may be shaky, it is a real limb, not a phantom one. The solution under consideration is to eliminate the California and SLC summer leagues in the hope that this will reduce the number of games, focus attention on Vegas, and incrementally disincentivize holding top rookies out. We'll see how this develops.
 
Really think it was a mistake to consider Harper the 2nd overall pick without challenge. Think the Spurs might ultimately regret passing on Ace/VJ given their roster construction
I didn't really understand the hype on Harper.
 
I didn't really challenge it much because Harper was not an option for the Jazz, but I saw some of the arguments and they made a lot of sense to me. At the very least, they should have been open to trading down for someone else. Probably could have gotten a big haul for him.
The big question I have is, once the Jazz orchestrated the board to get Bailey, did they have any interest in moving up for Harper? Evidence points to "no," but it could be that Harper just wasn't available at a sane price.
 
I didn't really challenge it much because Harper was not an option for the Jazz, but I saw some of the arguments and they made a lot of sense to me. At the very least, they should have been open to trading down for someone else. Probably could have gotten a big haul for him.
This was always the best play for them imo. Unless they were going to give him the keys and move away from Fox. I just don't see how they can max the development and value of all three of Fox, Harper, and Castle... I also think they are playing a little bit too long of a game potentially.
 
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