Lottery pick Cody Williams was the Jazz’s most impressive player in the Las Vegas Summer League, according to The Athletic’s Tony Jones. Williams displayed an immense skill level there after struggling in the Salt Lake City Summer League. Jones believes Williams should get immediate playing time in the NBA and go through the natural ups and downs of a rookie, rather than being sent to the G League.
Early second-rounder Kyle Filipowski showed enough skill and athleticism to make people wonder why he slid out of the first round, Jones adds. However, the seven-footer had a tough time when he slid over to the power forward spot.
We have more from the Northwest Division:
- The Portland City Council will consider two ordinances to extend a short-term lease between the city and the Trail Blazers’ ‘Rip City Management’ for the Moda Center, according to Aimee Plante of koin.com. The current lease is scheduled to end next year but the proposed agreement would keep the Blazers at their current arena through 2030 with a possible extension into 2035. That would give Portland officials more time to develop a major renovation plan for the Moda Center, the oldest NBA arena to have never undergone a significant upgrade.
- If the Trail Blazers don’t make any trades before the regular season, 2023 lottery pick Scoot Henderson will likely come off the bench, according to Sean Highkin of Rose Garden Report (Substack link). He’d back up Anfernee Simons and Shaedon Sharpe. Deni Avdija, acquired in a trade with Washington, will likely start at small forward with Toumani Camara backing him up, Highkin writes, adding that the Blazers have an open two-way spot but probably won’t fill it until training camp.
- The Thunder‘s over/under win total for next season is 56.5, according to BetMGM, the highest among Western Conference teams. The Oklahoman’s Joe Mussatto believes they’ll surpass that figure. Oklahoma City won 57 games last season and Mussatto considers Alex Caruso a short-term upgrade over Josh Giddey. He also sees major free agent acquisition Isaiah Hartenstein as a better backup center than Jaylin Williams.
Starting Simons over Scoot is crazy! Simons is not close to being a point guard, he’s an undersized two guard who plays zero defense. The only way he starts is to showcase him for a trade. If they start Simons it shows they don’t care about winning or giving the reins to Scoot. This team could actually win if they play team ball instead of boring ISO ball. Oh that’s right this team will tank for Cooper Flagg! So they are cheating fans out of $$$ just to lose on purpose.
Sheesh. They got like 3/4 of a season of poor play from a 19-year-old top-five pick. Are they really gonna push him to the bench already? They’re a high lottery team. It’s not like they’re looking to win more games and move out of the lottery. If I were Henderson, I wouldn’t be happy. He started to come around in the second half of the year. They really think getting Sharpe in the lineup is going to be better for them?
….I was unaware that he came off the bench for the majority of last year, so… foot in mouth. But still. Same point.
I can see the Thunder having a good year winning less games and finishing 4th in the West..have Minnesota, Dallas and Phoenix ahead of them. Pels 5th, Grizz 6th Nuggets 7th and Lakers/Rockets 8th