Earlier this morning, the Laker roster for summer league play was released.
Here are tidbits with short highlight videos about each player:
Joel Ayayi - 6’5” combo guard, off-ball player, 39% 3pt shooting, 75% at the rim, some pick-and-roll ability, team defender.
Austin Reaves - 6’5” combo guard, initiator for Oklahoma, pull up shooter, .541 free throw rate, point of attack/chase defender.
Chaundee Brown - 6’4.5” w/o shoes, 6’8.25” wingspan (from NBA G-League Elite Measurements), versatile defender, corner shooter, great defensive motor, plays with enthusiasm and spirit.
Devontae Cacok - Entering his third year at the professional level, high motor, finisher in the paint, tremendous rebounder.
Trevelin Queen - 6’6” wing, force turnovers cutting into passing lanes, corner 3-point shooting.
Yoeli Childs - 6’6” with a power forward standing reach of 8’10.5”, 6’11.5” wingspan from the NBA combine of 2020, mobile big with touch.
Mac McClung - 6’2” guard, 3-point range, tremendous vertical and finishing ability
Justin Robinson - 6’2” point guard, ball-handler, passes off the dribble, can make skip passes, 3-point range.
Vic Law - 6’7” wing with a 6’11” wingspan from this Northwestern article; prototype 3-and-D. Showed more offensive versatility at the NBL level with post play.
Zavier Simpson - 6’ point guard, 6’4” wingspan from the Oklahoma City Blue. Hook shot. Aggressive. Stellar 43.5% assist rate during the ‘19-’20 season at Michigan.
Alan Griffin - 6’5” guard from Syracuse. 37% 3-point career NCAA shooter. Unusual 2.2% steal rate and 6.6% block rate out of zone coverage last season. Higher block rate than Day’Ron Sharpe and Jericho Sims.
Jordan Floyd - 6’2” guard, quick, three-level scorer, averaged 31.9 ppg at King in ‘19-’20. Mr. Bucket.
Romaro Gill - 7’2” center out of Seton Hall with a 13.3% block rate, which leads to 5.2 blocks per-40 at the NCAA level.
Tres Tinkle - 6’7” wing, shooter, passing ability, awareness; the player the Lakers signed to an Exhibit-10 contract in 2020.
There’s a lot of talent on the Laker summer league roster. There are up to 8 (!) guards, and at least four of them have experience with initiating an offense. Several players, including wings like Tres Tinkle, Chaundee Brown Jr., Trevelin Queen, and Vic Law have demonstrated solid 3-point range. I anticipate a lot of small lineups. Hopefully that gets players a lot of transition opportunities.
Considering the depth of the summer league roster, each player should get a moderate amount of playing time, with players that can show out and make the team.
Loved the way Reaves is aware of the defense, reminded me of Chris Paul hesitating to draw the defender on his back before pulling up for the And 1 jumper, heady play. And Ayayi reminding me of Cedric Ceballos, the garbage man, always in the right place at the right time, way more than he should be.