No stranger to the spotlight, Josh Jackson thrived with all eyes watching how he would fare in his first summer league. In his first five games in Las Vegas, the No. 4 overall pick flourished for the Suns, Andrew Vailliencourt of The Republic writes.
Suns summer league coach Marion Garnett sees Jackson’s desire to lead the team and recognizes that it will likely be a factor when he joins the rest of his team in Phoenix.
“He has it in him,” Garnett said. “It’s kind of what he’s wired with, to be the lead dog. I don’t know how that dynamic is going to play out with our regular [Suns] group, but he does have it in him.”
In five games with the Suns’ summer league squad, Jackson posted 17.4 points and 9.2 rebounds per game.
There’s more out of the Pacific Division:
- The Warriors have had a successful offseason, at least in the eyes of head coach Steve Kerr. Anthony Slater of the Mercury News recently caught up with the bench boss. “Happy for Steph that he got paid,” Kerr said. “Happy for Andre that he was rewarded for what he’s done here and I think he’s got gas left in the tank. KD facilitated a lot of that.“
- The Clippers‘ move to add Danilo Gallinari could be indicative of the strategy Doc Rivers plans to take in 2017/18. “Losing Chris Paul is tough because he is a great player,” Rivers told Marc Spears of The Undefeated. “But we have a lot of great players on our team that play so many different ways. That is why ‘Gallo’ is so important to us, because our thought was that if you’re not going to run a point guard-dominated offense, then you’ve got to run a movement offense with versatility.“
- After an injury plagued few seasons, Doc Rivers believes the Clippers‘ success was too dependent on the health of Chris Paul, Mark Medina of the Orange County Register writes.
The funny thing is, idk how they would’ve make the money work but I think last years Clippers squad when healthy plus “Gallo” would be a better opponent for the Warriors than the Rockets with or without Melo. Idk I guess I’m just not very convinced about a CP3 and Harden backcourt. 2 undeniably great / superstar players but both players seem to be at their optimum with the ball in their hands. Same for Russell and PG13 in OKC but at least George is used to being a guy coming off screens and working off a point guard.
It will be a very interesting race for 2nd best team in the West. Spurs Jazz and Clippers have regressed. Rockets and Thunder added stars (doubt it changes their wins much). Pelicans with a full offseason to integrate Boogie and AD with 2 good guards. Look for Lakers and Sacramento to impress early.
Top 4 in East also compelling. Cavs on some buy low possible high payoff moves (if you believe Jeff Green is worth anything). Celtics gain Tatum and Hayward but lose Bradley and other role players. Wizards and Bucks ready to make the leap?
All that said Warriors in 5 against whomever. Roster probably better than last season
Forgot about the Wolves. If Wiggins can be more consistent on BOTH ends and their bench can meld together… watch out
Yeah I still think they need another guard, a defensive minded wing, and a shooter. Realistically just 2 players because the guard could be the defender or the shooter, and maybe go for a little more length with the 2nd guy. They could be really good this year.
Wiggins & Butler need to shoot the 3 ball better. Also, Jeff Teague will turn a lot of heads. He was a sneaky steal for MIN tbh.
Like the Clippers team very deep and better 3 pt shooting across the board
Blake Griffin was the one who was injured more and also injured during the times they needed him most which cost them big time. I think they’ll quickly learn once Griffin gets hurt like he always does how much they really need Paul.
Excellent move J Jackson D Book Chriss and TJ Warren maybe Ulis the Suns have an Bright future
Yes you remind us every post. They would be even better if they traded chandler and Bledsoe for Lebron
LeBron is boring!