Game Day (Summer League): Mavs (0-0) @ Suns (0-0), Fri 7/6/18

[Xylus]

I love that we’ve gotten to the point where highlight videos are being made for multiple players on a Summer League roster.

[Hermen]

I love that we’ve gotten to the point where highlight videos are being made for multiple players on a Summer League roster.

Probably because it's almost the same as the regular season roster

[ShelC]

Haven't had a chance to watch the game yet but saw the highlights and love what I'm reading. Okobo could be a very nice surprise, Bridges' shot looks pure, Ayton stands out around the basket (not concerned about his touches in SL). Want to see Jackson's 2nd half and see how effective Bender was with the ball. I also love Reed and wish we could find a spot for him. Even going back to last summer, he's just a guy who knows how to play. The knee injury set him back his rookie year and now we have Bridges so it's really a numbers game at this point.

[UglyTruth]

I love that we’ve gotten to the point where highlight videos are being made for multiple players on a Summer League roster.

It’s not complete till Jack Cooley gets a highlight video.

[Mori Chu]

I was really impressed with Bridges and Okobo. Encouraged by how smooth Bridges's shooting stroke looks. And Okobo did a great job running the offense. He seemed to understand how to leverage the presence of Ayton almost immediately. I hope they'll be a fearsome combo for us.

I seriously still don't understand why we signed Trevor Ariza. Why shouldn't we give all of those minutes to guys like Bridges, Jackson, Reed, Bender, etc.? Why do we need this guy? I really don't get it.

[carey]

I was really impressed with Bridges and Okobo. Encouraged by how smooth Bridges's shooting stroke looks. And Okobo did a great job running the offense. He seemed to understand how to leverage the presence of Ayton almost immediately. I hope they'll be a fearsome combo for us.

I seriously still don't understand why we signed Trevor Ariza. Why shouldn't we give all of those minutes to guys like Bridges, Jackson, Reed, Bender, etc.? Why do we need this guy? I really don't get it.

I would caution making any kind of assumptions based on the Summer League or rather, just 1 game of the summer league. Ariza is still good. He will hit shots, defend, and show the guys how to be a pro. It's one year so I don't think there's much to worry about. If you want to be upset about the opportunity cost I maybe could get behind that. Who else is out there you'd rather have signed? The Gordon deal is a bit too rich for my blood. LaVine wasn't a great fit here and was matched anyway. This was the year of the rental and we got the guy we thought would help us the most.

[carey]

Also, I'm sure you guys know this but a replay of the whole game is up on watchespn.com. Just select friday > replay > NBA.

[Superbone]

for me the majority of the shots from both of them were good looks. in the NBA you hardly get wide open jumpers, once a shooter is balanced and has clear sight of the rim for me I don't think those defenders closing out really affected either of them. if they were fading back on the shots I would more take issue with the shot selection, just my take

Yup, that thought never occurred to me while watching the game.

[Superbone]

I love that we’ve gotten to the point where highlight videos are being made for multiple players on a Summer League roster.

It’s not complete till Jack Cooley gets a highlight video.

[JCSunsfan]

I was really impressed with Bridges and Okobo. Encouraged by how smooth Bridges's shooting stroke looks. And Okobo did a great job running the offense. He seemed to understand how to leverage the presence of Ayton almost immediately. I hope they'll be a fearsome combo for us.

I seriously still don't understand why we signed Trevor Ariza. Why shouldn't we give all of those minutes to guys like Bridges, Jackson, Reed, Bender, etc.? Why do we need this guy? I really don't get it.

Ariza will play mostly at PF. Also, Ariza is here only a year.

[Split T]

Watching the replay now... Initial thoughts:

1. Bender's ball handling looks a bit improved
2. Jackson struggling early, but his shot looks cleaner
3. Reed's shot looks great. Looks more like we were hoping

[carey]

Oh myyyy. Anyone see the George King block at 3:57 left in the 3rd? Need a gif of that. That dude is much bigger than King and he went up and denied him at the rim.

[O_Gardino]

Reed looked good today but did you guys notice his shot selection? He took and made so many contested jumpers.

He seems like the kind of guy (like an Archie Goodwin or Josh Selby) who is an SL breakout star and that’s about it.

Okobo on the other hand was scoring by creating separation. Same with Shaq.

Yeah. Reed is becoming a summer league legend at this point. I'm still not sure he can be an nba player.

[O_Gardino]

https://mobile.twitter.com/BBallSociety_/status/1015419452580560896

Awesome. It's like the Mavs plan was to make sure they weren't in any headlines about Deandre Ayton being the next generational big man.

[iLLmatic]

Obviously can't leave out an Okobo reel
I said it during the game and happy to actually watch it over properly....
we ran a nice inbound play and that is still one of my favourite highlights of the game from a Igor perspective

[youtube][/youtube]

That bounce pass to Harrison running the baseline was fire.

[Xylus]

That mid-range floater...

[Mori Chu]

I was really impressed with Bridges and Okobo. Encouraged by how smooth Bridges's shooting stroke looks. And Okobo did a great job running the offense. He seemed to understand how to leverage the presence of Ayton almost immediately. I hope they'll be a fearsome combo for us.

I seriously still don't understand why we signed Trevor Ariza. Why shouldn't we give all of those minutes to guys like Bridges, Jackson, Reed, Bender, etc.? Why do we need this guy? I really don't get it.

Ariza will play mostly at PF. Also, Ariza is here only a year.

"Ariza will play mostly at PF." - I understand that. But I don't want him to play PF. He is not a power forward. He is a small forward. He will get banged around and won't get enough rebounds or stops at that position. I would much rather have Bender, Chriss, or even Warren playing PF minutes than Ariza.

"Also, Ariza is here only a year." - I understand that. I want him to be here for zero years. "This bad contract for a guy we shouldn't have signed is not bad because it is only one year" makes no sense to me. If he's a bad signing, he's a bad signing. Yes, one year of a bad signing is less bad than multiple years. But it seems like the best thing people can say about Ariza is, "Well at least it's only one year." That isn't exactly a ringing endorsement.

I also see people saying he'll mentor our young guys. How? By stealing their minutes? I just don't see why we need him or what he brings us that 3-4 other guys don't already do better. He's a decent shooter and defender, but Bridges looks just as capable of hitting shots and defending for us. Give Bridges those minutes!

[Superbone]

Oh myyyy. Anyone see the George King block at 3:57 left in the 3rd? Need a gif of that. That dude is much bigger than King and he went up and denied him at the rim.

Yes, I mentioned it earlier. Really awesome that he challenged him like that. I was really impressed. I thought he looked good in his limited minutes. He was 1 for 1 from 3 point range (his only shot).

[EDC]

Ayton only had one block, but he altered a ton of shots out there. Also, him looking winded at times may have been due to the back soreness that he’s been dealing with.

I believe he didn't have any soreness. What happened was our trainers felt his back was tight due to an unbalance so they made him sit out and work on fixing this issue causing that tightness. From the interview he gave it sounded like it wasn't even bothering him but the training staff was just doing some preventative work.

[Split T]

Ariza is not a good rebounders, but neither are Warren and Bender. What pf's are people scared of him defending? There aren't very many bully pf's left in the league