I think it’s safe to say that for Sixers fans, the main storyline of the Cavs-Sixers game at the Las Vegas Summer league Monday night was former presumed #1 overall pick Nerlens Noel versus current actual #1 overall pick Andrew Wiggins. And here’s hoping you kept your eye on the prize because there was nothing else for Sixers fans to see out on the floor at the Cox Pavilion. If you are curious about the Sixers offense in this game, come out to the Palumbo rec center in South Philly any Sunday morning, and my slow, aging friends and I will reenact it for you. You can watch us hoist bricks, dribble into defenders, and fail to finish in traffic, and it won’t even cost you the 5 bucks the NBA is charging to watch Summer League online!
OK, that’s a bit harsh. And totally not true either: I wish I could hoist bricks 10% as well as these guys do. The offense was ugly in the first half, and the Sixers fell behind 62-41 about half way through the 3rd quarter. But then a late push led by Sixers 2nd round picks Jordan McRae and Jerami Grant got the Cavs lead down to 4 with 6 minutes to go in the 4th. However the Sixers ultimately succumbed 86-77. The D looked pretty good, and if the offense hadn’t sputtered so badly early on, the Sixers could have easily won this game.
Lets get back to the main event. One word to describe Nerlens and Wiggins in this game: athletic. Really athletic. Like “OH MY GOD HOW DO HUMANS JUMP LIKE THAT” athletic. Both those guys have pogo sticks for legs. It felt at times like Nerlens was in on every single play, shutting down passing lanes, running out on shooters, rotating over to protect the rim, and flying towards the basket for (unsuccessful) offensive put backs. Actually he is going to have to learn to pick and choose his moments once the regular season begins – you can’t go after that many balls without giving up some wide-open shots once the big boys start playing. But that’s cool, this is Summer League, you should definitely leave your man for a chance to reject the hell out of that giant oafy white guy no one will ever see again! Nerlens finished with 2 steals and 4 blocks, but that comes nowhere near accurately relaying how many passes he deflected and shots he altered. Dude is going to be fun to watch this year.
As for Wiggins…
He probably had two of the most memorable plays of the game; the above dunk, and an absurd block on Noel where he just devoured the ball. Just like Nerlens, Wiggins has off-the-charts athleticism, and it’s evident almost every time he touches the ball. Announcers Grant Hill and Marv Alberts kept point out how high he jumped on his jump shots, and it’s true, not too many people are going to be blocking him on jumpers. Now it’s foolish to read too much into Summer League (check out McDub’s summer league stats for a reminder about how misleading it can be), but I will say that Wiggins did have a quiet game. TrueHoop has been grading notable players every day of the Summer League, and gave Wiggins a C+ for Day 3, saying:
You can see how the narrative about the lack of a “killer instinct” got started. Wiggins seems to have a nasty habit of letting his defender off the hook after a lightning-quick first step or dribble move, opting to shoot his pet step-back jumper instead of really punishing weaker defenders. Even though he had some nice moments, the pedal wasn’t close to the floor.
Whatever, still pretty sure Wiggins is going to be awesome. Go watch that dunk again.
Summer League is a nice tease of the regular season, and I think there’s going to be a lot of fun young guys to watch this year, not the least of who will be Wiggins and Nerlens. And lets not forget other Sixers rookies Jerami Grant and KJ McDaniels, both of who are displaying some serious hops and quicks out in the desert, and will likely get some solid run this year. Hinkie and Brown said they wanted athletic defenders, and it sure looks like they found some. There may be a bunch more losses in our future this year, but I think our team will be more fun to watch with all these high flyers on the squad.
