Three thoughts on the Utah Jazz’s 111-105 summer league loss to the Charlotte Hornets from Salt Lake Tribune Jazz beat writer Andy Larsen. |
1. Kyle Filipowski dominant |
Kyle Filipowski was absolutely terrific on Friday afternoon at the Thomas and Mack Center in Las Vegas. He scored 32 points, went 12-17 from the field. Four of those five misses came from behind the 3-point arc, where he shot 3-7, which means Filipowski was nearly perfect from inside. |
I suppose one potential red flag is the eight fouls he accumulated — obviously, you don’t get that many in normal play. But he felt, and I tend to agree with, that he was hurt by some pretty iffy touch fouls that may not have been called by a different refereeing crew. But goodness, everything else was pretty terrific. He might be the most versatile offensive player on the Jazz: no other player on the team (yes, the big league team) can shoot from deep, score inside, and pass the ball like Filipowski can. Jazz summer league coach Chris Jones called him a “matchup nightmare,” and he’s right. Some questioned whether Filipowski should be seated for the rest of summer league, that he’s graduated from this level. He may well have — but I hope the Jazz keep playing him. Filipowski establishing consistency in dominance here would be really good for him, and perhaps a sign of things to come as well. “For what I’m trying to do once the season comes around, and the role I’m trying to establish on the team — it starts right now," Filipowski said. If he’s reliably this good, he’ll get plenty of minutes this upcoming season. |
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2. Walter Clayton excels before injury |
We’ll start with the news: with three minutes left, Walter Clayton, Jr. left the game with a hamstring injury, that was bad enough for him to go back to the team’s locker room. He never returned. But when we asked Clayton about the injury, he said that his hamstring was “just a little tight,” and he felt he would play in the upcoming games. I’m a little more pessimistic than Clayton is about that — the Jazz tend to be really conservative about hamstring injuries, and may sit him as a precaution. We’ll see. In the previous 37 minutes, though, Clayton really excelled. He put up 21 points on 8-17 shooting, adding six rebounds and three assists. Again, the versatility in scoring was impressive — Clayton’s not a three-level scorer, but a two-level one where he’s adept from deep and the midrange. (Down in the trees, he’s probably going to get blocked at the NBA level fairly often. Most small guards have to undergo this adjustment, and I expect Clayton will have to as well.) |
It’s been interesting to watch him next to Isaiah Collier, last year’s starting point guard. Collier is a stronger and certainly flashier passer. Collier’s able to get going directionally downhill more easily. But I think I’m taking Clayton in every other aspect of the game — shooting, certainly, but also other types of scoring, rebounding, defense, and leadership. Clayton’s probably just better than Collier right now, which makes sense: he’s a higher draft pick and older than Collier. Two strong games in a row is really bright for Clayton. I hope he gets the chance to show more. |
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3. What translates in summer league |
Everyone knows that there’s a big difference between summer league play and regular season play. So what translates from this level to the league? Owen Phillips did the research a few years ago on his excellent Substack, The F5. Here’s the results: |
So the number of threes you take in a game translates really well — but your actual 3-point percentage is nearly random. That makes sense, as its just a small sample size. Brice Sensabaugh had an excellent shooting summer league, but we probably shouldn’t expect him to make 57% in the NBA. But on the other hand, it’s really a good sign to see Cody Williams and Clayton, Jr. taking so many threes in summer league play, as their confidence will likely translate to the league. Assists, blocks, and offensive rebounding translate really well. But the number of points, free throws, and steals tend to be much more context dependent. That makes some sense to me too, as the tools needed to score at a high level in summer league may just be different than in the NBA. (It’s obviously much easier to get steals against bad players, too.) Anyway, just something to consider as you interpret last week’s summer league play and the four (or more) games moving forward. |
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