LAS VEGAS — Summer league can be a tease, but never let them tell you it doesn’t matter at all. Hidden in all this noise, there is indeed some signal.
Take last year, for instance. Sam Merrill showed up barely hanging onto a non-guaranteed roster spot in Cleveland and emerged as one of the best players in Vegas while leading the Cavaliers to the title game. That helped him cement a spot on the Cavs, which eventually became a back-end rotation spot, which turned into him playing 27 minutes in a second-round elimination game against the Boston Celtics. Suffice to say he didn’t need to play summer league this year.
Two potentially similar stories came out of this summer, as Memphis two-way Scotty Pippen Jr. and Clippers two-way Jordan Miller were arguably the two best players in Vegas. Each was signed to two-year, two-way deals by their respective teams that carried into the 2024-25 season, but both seem likely to be upgraded to full roster spots if they perform anywhere near their summer levels.
The other angle everyone cares about in summer league is the rookies. While I wrote already about a few who disappointed, including the three Frenchmen selected in the top six of the draft, this class wasn’t universally disappointing.
In particular, it was the Summer of Shep. The third pick in the draft, Houston guard Reed Sheppard was a revelation in the four games he played before the Rockets shut him down. While the noted sharpshooter actually struggled from 3, making just 5 of 18 from downtown, he was so good in the other elements of the game that he still made first-team All-Vegas.
Playing on the ball much more than he was allowed to at Kentucky, Sheppard showed he had the juice to get to his spots in pick-and-rolls and convert pull-ups and floaters in the trees. He made 28 of his 48 2-point attempts, averaging 20 points a game and adding five dimes. His most social-media friendly move of the summer, a hesitation past Lakers rookie Dalton Knecht, was upon further review a double-dribble, but Sheppard’s clip library included several other difficult runners and floaters that found their target. He may have Trae Young-level skill in this range.
Defensively, Sheppard showed he might be more impactful than scouts presumed. While Sheppard still yielded his share of blow-bys, much as his tape at Kentucky showed, he made up for it with disruptive plays. He finished with 11 steals and five blocks in four games, a Matisse Thybulle-esque “stocks” performance not too far off what Sheppard did in a much larger sample in the SEC last season.
At 6-foot-2, he’ll always be vulnerable as a small guard with only average lateral quickness, but a team like Houston — with so many long, versatile defenders — is in a great situation to provide cover for him. That should allow him to gamble more often than if he were in a weak defensive context.
The third pick’s play immediately had some fans questioning why he didn’t go first. While there were some good reasons — Sheppard’s fit with Young in Atlanta was a dicey proposition, and the Washington Wizards were destroyed in the paint last year and hope to build around Alex Sarr’s elite defense — those questions will linger into the season after Sheppard’s summer performance.
Sheppard didn’t win MVP, but in a showcase for the league’s rookies, he was the most notable and obvious star. A few other guys showed up but were clearly too good to be there — Jaime Jaquez Jr. of Miami, Cam Whitmore of Houston and Brandon Miller of Charlotte, for instance.
I’m not going to spend much time on them, and for those who inevitably will ask, “What about so-and-so?” in the comments, I’m also trying not to publish the phone book. However, let’s look at some other lesser-known players who shined in Las Vegas:
Scotty Pippen Jr., Grizzlies
We barely saw Memphis lottery pick Zach Edey, thanks to two different ankle sprains, but it was still a successful summer league for the Grizzlies, who made the championship before losing in overtime to Miami.
Let’s start with Pippen, who was my pick for Vegas MVP. He quietly played well at the tail end of Memphis’ lost 2023-24 season. In Las Vegas, nobody could get the ball up court against his ball pressure; Pippen had 20 steals in six games.
However, the more notable development might be at the offensive end, where the game has really slowed down for him. Pippen has always been an iffy outside shooter, and as a collegian at Vanderbilt, his response was to go flying into the paint and create an event. He wasn’t always under control or picking his spots well, but that part has changed. He still draws heaps of fouls (46 free throws in six Vegas games) but finished summer league with 52 assists against just 14 turnovers.
At age 23 and presenting a data set that now includes an impressive 2023-24 G League campaign with South Bay, 21 solid NBA games with the Grizzlies and a dominant summer league, Pippen has a great case to take over Memphis’ backup point guard job. The Grizzlies would have to make an actual roster spot for him at some point, but they have 50 games of G League service they can burn through first.
That wasn’t the Grizzlies’ only positive from Vegas. Second-year pro GG Jackson pumped in 22 points a game and, encouragingly, showed a bit more awareness of the other four players in the same uniform. And after two years of looking like a bust, Jake LaRavia scored 28 points in the championship game and filled his Vegas stat sheet with over three assists and nearly three steals per game.