LAS VEGAS — I have a lot of notes.After spending nine days watching Summer League basketball in Salt Lake City and then Las Vegas, talking to people around the league and players, I had a lot of notes that didn’t neatly fit into the other stories I wrote or videos I was a part of. Observations, thoughts on players, quotes from coaches and players, and a lot more.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSo here are my notes on some of the things I saw and heard. One bit of caution: I didn’t see everyone and certainly not every game, and I am no scout. As with everything in Summer League, take it with a grain of salt.• Top four picks all looked very good. It’s just Summer League, but you can see why the Wizards, Jazz, Grizzlies and Bulls did not want to trade out of the top four spots in this draft. AJ Dybantsa is an incredibly fluid athlete who just glides past defenders and makes it look effortless, and he also showed some defensive chops. He’s got to work on his outside shot (1-of-11 from 3), but he lived up to the billing.After watching Peterson in Utah, where he masterfully handled the Grizzlies’ blitzing defense, he seemed to press in his Vegas debut against Dybantsa. That said, Jazz fans should be excited. Peterson showed exactly why Utah was not worried about what Washington did with the No. 1 pick, they were going to get an elite player.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementCarlos Boozer was exactly as advertised — just so polished and smooth, versatile, and his passing has dramatically improved in the past year. He is going to play a big role for Memphis starting this season. Caleb Wilson might have the highest ceiling of any of the top four, there is a lot to like, but don’t read too much into his hot-shooting opener when he hit as many 3-pointers in one game as he did during an entire season at North Carolina (seven). He is more of a project than the other three, but Tiago Splitter is a great fit for him as a coach.• Peterson is feeling better with the ball in his hands. After watching every one of his Summer League games in person, I was baffled that Bill Self didn’t put the ball in Darryn Peterson’s hands as a creator more often at Kansas. I know there were the cramping and injuries, but sometimes basketball is as simple as “give your best player the ball.” Peterson was open about feeling better on ball with the Jazz this summer.”I’m back having fun,” Peterson said in Las Vegas. “I wasn’t really experiencing it that much at Kansas. I was off [the ball] a ton. So just, I feel like myself again.”• Early Rookie of the Year thoughts? Usually, I leave Las Vegas with a sense of who is going to be in the running for Rookie of the Year. After this summer, all I know is that we might have the deepest ROY field we’ve seen in years.AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement• What was everyone talking about? What were the biggest topics of conversation among media and teams? The Jaylen Brown trade still has everyone shaking their heads ea
Content Source: Yahoo News
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