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I watch summer league every year, but I really wouldn’t recommend it to others. Summer league is low budget NBA- lesser announcing, lesser players, lesser camerawork. It’s just not that great to watch.

Nonetheless, for a die-hard Warriors fan like myself, it’s a way to get a start on building hope for the next year, seeing what might be, irrelevant as Summer League really is. This year was about checking out Brandan Wright, the Warriors long, athletic, skinny PF, or otherwise the guy that’s not Anthony Randolph.

I still have a lot of optimism for Wright- he came into the league with a lot of talent, he played great in camp last fall and looked like he was ready to bust out, but then he got injured and sat the year out.

Now, he’s in danger of being a journeyman bust, rather than being the young stud we all hoped for.

My notes from the first 3 Warriors Summer League games, including the third game with #1 overall pick John Wall:

• I was a little disappointed with Brandan Wright. Overall, he looked a little bit slow, didn’t work super hard. He didn’t play fierce or super aggressive. I noticed that he cannot finish with his right hand (he’s left handed), which looked really odd when he’s attacking the right side. He didn’t set such good picks, he wasn’t so quick on the pick and roll and he cannot handle the ball. He didn’t box out well, especially in the first game. During the broadcasts, the announcers talk about how the ball comes off his hand in a horizontal spin instead of with normal backspin. So that’s all the negativity. In Brandan’s defense, he looked much better in the second game than in the first, and a lot of this could be attributed to just getting the feel of the game back. On the pick and roll, a lot of times, the passers would overlook him or simply couldn’t get him the ball. He had a good stat line without being a ball hog, and he showed his length with 3 blocks in the first game. It’s obvious that despite his flaws, there weren’t people who could stop him, and that probably shows his talent. Unfortunately, Brandan only played 1.5 games, sitting out the second half of the second game, and not playing the rest of the summer league. If Brandan can regain his confidence and start attacking, he will be ok. I believe, Warriors style!

• Again, Summer League really doesn’t mean anything. It can show if you have some talent, but it doesn’t show how you’d in a real NBA game because Summer League is more like pickup, a bit unorganized in terms of team play. I remember watching Andris Biedrins his first two years, and he was absolutely terrible, there is no way you would have watched him and thought he could play. Summer League isn’t good for big men unless you can go crazy blocking shots or you have a good point feeding you (see John Wall to JeVale McGee this year).

• Anthony Morrow and Anthony Randolph have the two highest all time scoring games in Summer League history, both occurring last summer in back to back games.I saw both games, and Randolph didn’t even look that good, it was just more that the competition wasn’t there. Morrow was just lights out, and this is where you could see the structure of Summer League defenses let him have enough room where he could get the ball and his shot off at will. In the Regular Season, Morrow would get shut down completely for long stretches because he was getting smothered defensively.

• Reggie Williams: A lot of people liked how Reggie played, but I didn’t think it was so hot. It was a bit up and down, and I kind of feel like his stats were just part of the competition, rather than him dominating. Reggie was not so good on the pick and roll, and he definitely took a lot of shots, not necessarily with great shot selection either.

• Of the rest of the Warriors guys, only Andre Brown stood out. Really active, both offensively and defensively, a lot of energy. This is kind of how I wanted Wright to play. Brown didn’t have the skills Wright has, but you could tell he was busting ass.

• John Wall looked solid in his pro debut. You can tell he has some legit things going for him, he can just glide through traffic in both half and full court. Kind of like his back-court mate Gilbert Arenas. JeVale McGee was ridiculous, using his length and athleticism to just dunk on people. I thought McGee would be the next Patrick O’Bryant, but to his credit, he’s not. Whether he can fully capitalize on the talent, well, having John Wall around doesn’t hurt.

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