The Cleveland Cavaliers have emerged as the champions of the 2023 NBA Summer League!
Seriously, good for the players and coaches, it is better to win than lose anytime they are keeping score, but the Summer League is a glorified pick up game in our eyes, and we don’t take much of it seriously.
For example, we have seen the Cavs’ media influencers getting excited about the performance of Sam Merrill, who averaged 20.4 points in Las Vegas, knocking down 44.6% of his three-point shots.
We get it, Cleveland is starved for three point shooters, but let’s remind everyone that Merrill played five years in college and is actually older than the wine and gold’s best player, Donovan Mitchell, and since the 2020-21 season, he’s played a grand total of 11 NBA games, making 12 of 41 shots from behind the arc.
You see, the real NBA and the summer league are miles apart in terms of quality of play.
We said after the draft not to get excited about second round pick Emoni Bates because he will likely spend much of the season playing for the Charge in the G-League. Our mind has not changed.
Bates shot 40% from long distance, but we didn’t see someone who can defend on an NBA level right now, and let’s just say he needs to learn how to find teammates when they are open. He averaged 1.2 assists in the six games.
We aren’t writing him off, but he has a lot to learn before he can be a rotational player in the NBA.
That doesn’t mean we didn’t see anything good.
Again, knowing it is summer league, we thought Isaiah Mobley looked like he might be ready to contribute on a nightly basis. The Cavs need some big men who don’t look like they’ve seen better days, and they added veteran Damian Jones (6’11”) in a trade after the draft.
Mobley is 6’10” and averaged 17.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 4.5 assists per contest. We love players who can do a little bit of everything, a complete player if you will. He also approached the games like he was a veteran in our eyes, taking a leadership role with this group of young players.
And the coaching staff put the ball in his hands at times to initiate the offense. We were skeptical when the Cavs drafted him last year in the second round, but we now think he can contribute on the big team, or at least be given the opportunity to get a standard contract.
We also continue to be impressed by Luke Travers, another second round pick from 2022.
He is committed to play in his native Australia this year, but we think he could help the big club if given the opportunity. He’s not a scorer, but he is a basketball player.
He scored 7.5 points, grabbed 6.3 boards, and dished out two assists per game, but when he was on the floor, the young Cavs played better. And he’s listed somewhere between 6’6″ and 6’8″, which is exactly the kind of size the wine and gold need.
We aren’t saying +/- is the best statistic, but he led the Vegas Cavs in that department.
The players on the roster should be proud of their accomplishment, no one else went undefeated in Vegas. But fans shouldn’t read too much into it.
Let’s see how much playing time any of these guys get in Cleveland when the regular season starts.
Cleveland Sports Perspective 