Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 86-82 summer league win over the Oklahoma City Thunder from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen.
1. Walter Clayton, Jr. has his best NBA night so far
I don’t think it’s been an ideal three-game slate of games at Salt Lake City Summer League for Walter Clayton, Jr., but it hasn’t been awful, either.
He has struggled with the defense on the ball at summer league, where the average defensive guard is much longer and more physical than even those Clayton faced in one of college basketball’s toughest schedules. His college tape shows a lot of shifty hesitation moves to open up space that simply haven’t been as effective so far here.
But his open 3-point shooting has translated and will continue to translate. His ability to attack the point of indecision on a switch to just fire over the top of it has translated and will continue to translate. And his general offensive know-how has translated to the Jazz’s play being smoother when he’s out there, and I suspect that translates as well.
On Tuesday, he put up 20 points on 5-for-14 shooting, including 4 for 10 from deep. He added four assists but three turnovers, mostly playing at the shooting guard position.
On its own, the skillset he’s shown is probably enough to be an NBA player, so long as the 3-point percentages are high enough. But if Clayton is going to be worth the No. 18 pick and the assets it took for the Jazz to move up, then Clayton has to be a playoff rotational player. That’s where defensive consistency and effort have to improve, and offensive decision making has to improve. Jazz summer league coach Scott Morrison has been somewhat critical about both so far.
The Jazz overall are huge believers in Clayton’s work ethic and attitude; he did improve year over year every single season during his collegiate career. If that trend continues, it should be really interesting to see his game grow over the course of his NBA rookie season.
2. Kyle Filipowski’s tremendous skill and issues with physicality
The Kyle Filipowski experience was in full view within the first minute of the Jazz’s game against the Thunder. On the game’s first offensive possession, Thunder big man Mady Sissoko bossed him on a rebound and putback.
Then, coming back on the other end of the floor, Filipowski nailed this pull-up and-one three in Sissoko’s grill.
The rebounding got much better throughout the game — Filipowski said his coaches told him to raise his level, and he did, getting 15 boards on Tuesday.
But his overall statline reflects the general truth: 18 points on 5-of-12 shooting, three assists, two blocks … but also seven turnovers and six fouls as he struggled to deal with the Thunder’s league-leading physicality.
There are two ways to attack that weakness, and Filipowski’s doing both. The first is by getting stronger. While maybe not on the 4,800 calories per day plan that teammate Cody Williams is on, Filipowski’s weight training is maybe just as important.
“I’ve been working a lot in the weight room,” Filipowski said. “I think it helps with my stamina and my longevity, but it also helps with completing each play and finishing each play.” I think Filipowski’s gotten visibly bigger, but certainly isn’t all the way to where he should be ideally.
The second solution? Simply play more power forward, where the physical demands aren’t anywhere close to what they are at the five. Filipowski said that his coaches have told him to expect to play more there this season.
“It definitely is learning a different playbook, but also learning a different style of defense too,” Filipowski said. “Like, this summer, I was learning how to guard more off the ball, coming off of screens, and switching, things like that.”
I’m curious how the Jazz use Filipowski this season. Lauri Markkanen’s the starting power forward and Walker Kessler’s the starting center. Will Filipowski play over Taylor Hendricks or Jusuf Nurkic? Will Kyle Anderson or Kevin Love ever play? Will the Jazz go pick to accommodate Filipowski at the four? We just don’t know yet.
3. The All-Salt Lake City Summer League team
On the final night of every annual Salt Lake City’s Summer League, I like putting together a team of the top five players who participated. It’s a nice way of mentally reviewing the six games of basketball I just saw.
Here’s this year’s All-Salt Lake City Summer League team:
I have a pretty solid rule: You can’t play just one game in order to qualify for the all-summer league team. That means apologies to V.J. Edgecombe, who put together a top-five game I saw this week, but sat out the other two with a bruised thumb. (A bruised thumb? Boo. Let him play through it, Sixers medical staff. Same goes for Ace Bailey’s “groin soreness” and Brice Sensabaugh’s “knee soreness” that sat them out of this one.)
Mitchell had the best summer league pretty clearly, I thought. He was the Thunder’s primary offensive engine, racking up big numbers of points (over 20 points per game) and assists (seven per game) on good efficiency. He also was a defensive pest. The Thunder picked him No. 38 overall last year and just extended him for three more years at less than $3 million per season. Their front office remains undefeated.
Sensabaugh was maybe the league’s most electric scorer, and shot the absolute lights out of the ball on both nights he played. While he can expand his game, his efficiency and output alone gave him a definite place on this list.
Jackson put up 23 points per game in both games he played, shooting/dunking his way to 57% from the field. I wouldn’t say he’s the most consistent defender, but his length does scare people on drives and rotations. Just clearly an NBA guy.
Filipowski was the league’s best stretch big — shooting, playmaking, and finishing well. He averaged 18 per night on reasonable efficiency, and was also the only summer league player to average more than ten boards per game.
Finally, Mintz’ third game was pretty special, and concluded a strong summer league when he averaged over 20 points per game on 60% shooting from the floor. He showed strong self-creation plus strong defense, a terrific combination for an undrafted point guard. If the Sixers don’t give him a two-way contract, some other team will.
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