The Portland Trail Blazers ended their 2015 Las Vegas Summer League schedule with a 72-64 victory versus the Toronto Raptors, moving their overall record to 3-3 at the NBA’s yearly offseason exhibition. But while it’s always nice to win, the goal of summer league is giving young players a chance to improve hone their crafts and build confidence in a low-intensity environment. So rather than going back and recapping the specifics of Portland’s six games in Las Vegas, let look at some of the takeaways as they pertain to the players who are likely to be on Portland’s roster come training camp. Noah Vonleh Can Play Before his first game at summer league, most Trail Blazers fans had probably seen very little of what Noah Vonleh, acquired as a part of the trade that sent Nicolas Batum to the Charlotte Hornets, could do on the court. After all, there hadn’t been much opportunity to watch the 6-10 forward considering he played just one season at Indiana and appeared in only 24 games during his rookie season in Charlotte. But after missing Portland’s first game in Las Vegas with a sprained ankle, Vonleh turned in quality performances in the next four contests, averaging 17.3 points on 56 percent shooting from the field and 8.5 rebounds in 29.0 minutes per game. The 19-year old showed an ability to put the ball on the floor and looked comfortable shooting from range, a skill he was rumored to have, going 50 percent from three on 2.5 attempts per game. “I think it was a pretty good summer league,” said Vonleh. “I think I definitely could have played a lot better. There were some plays on the offensive end where I should have finished at the rim better, that was very frustrating for me. But I’m going to keep working on that and get ready for the regular season.” Summer league tends to heavily favor guard play — it’s somewhat difficult to preach unselfishness to players who are trying to impress teams in a short period of time — but Noah managed to impress nonetheless, finishing 7th in rebounding and 10th in scoring among players who played at least four games. “(Vonleh) is still a young player, he’s got a lot of growth in him in a lot of areas,” said Trail Blazers head coach Terry Stotts. “I liked his defensive mentality. He gets in the stance, he guards the pick and roll pretty well, he’s vocal. Offensively, he showed he has a nice touch. Three-point shooting, he shot it well in his one year in college and last year, but not very many attempts. I thought all-around, he played a solid summer league, whether scoring, rebounding, shooting, defending. That being said, it’s summer league with a lot of young players and there’s always a lot of room to grow.” Allen Crabbe Is Ready For A Larger Role Before suffering a severe left ankle sprain in Portland’s fourth summer league game, 6-6 wing Allen Crabbe looked like the best player on Portland’s roster. Relegated to a strictly complementary role during his first two seasons with the Trail Blazers, Crabbe had a much more prominent role at this year’s summer league as the team’s resident under contract veteran. “I thought Allen was on a really good path before he got hurt,” said Stotts. “He was playing with a lot of confidence, he defended the way we know he can defend multiple positions. He’s getting confidence in his stroke, moved well without the ball and it was just really an unfortunate thing that he got the sprained ankle.” With near free reign, the Cal product, playing in his third summer league, responded by averaging 15.5 points on 53 percent shooting from the field and 44 percent shooting from three while also grabbing 2.0 rebound and 1.5 steals in 23.8 minutes. “This summer league was going to give me an opportunity to showcase my offensive stuff, for me to gain some confidence going into training camp,” said Crabbe. “I feel like it really paid off. Staying up there in Portland for the summer, working out at the facility, just being around the coaches and stuff, feel like all that hard work paid off. It’s unfortunate that I got hurt because I wanted to keep playing and all that stuff, but I feel like I had a good summer league overall, especially compared to my first two years. I definitely feel like I made a lot of progress.” With most of the veterans from the 2014-15 now gone, Crabbe has a chance to earn a more prominent role in his third season. And while the fight for minutes will still be fierce with a bevy of young, up-and-coming players on the roster, Crabbe has positioned himself well at summer league to figure into that competition. “I just didn’t want to let this opportunity go to waste,” said Crabbe. “With all the roster changes I just feel like this is a good opportunity for me to really focus on this offseason, really work hard and make sure that when an opportunity comes that I really solidify that spot. Feel like this is just the first step so I’m going to training camp with confidence, take it into the preseason and season, see how things go from there.” Pat Connaughton Made The Right Decision Much has been made about Pat Connaughton’s decision to take his shot at the NBA despite being selected by the Baltimore Orioles in the fourth round of the 2014 MLB Draft. A two-sport athlete at Notre Dame, the 6-4 guard, drafted by the Nets with the 41st overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft before being traded to Portland with Mason Plumlee in exchange for Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, has decided to try his hand at basketball despite some not-so-subtle suggestions that he’d be better off pitching in the MLB than shooting in the NBA. “I was very honest in the baseball draft the year before, telling people I was going back to school to work on basketball and to play my senior year of basketball and see how it finished out,” said Connaughton. “I was going to be very honest with (NBA teams) that I’m not here for any other reason besides to hopefully play in the NBA.” Though he didn’t have many spectacular moments in Las Vegas, the 6-4 guard was steady throughout summer league, starting fives games and averaging 7.2 points on 41 percent shooting from the field and 43 percent shooting from three, 4.8 rebounds and 1.6 steals in 22.8 minutes while earning praise for his effort and approach to the game. “I really like Pat, he really competes,” said Stotts. “There’s going to be a learning curve for him, I think particularly defensively — it seemed like he was a little anxious. But he knows how to play, he’s tough. I like the fact that we put him in some pick and roll situations so he could kind of get used to handling the ball a little bit. He’s a competitor, he’s tough, he’s got a lot of the attributes that it takes to succeed in this league.” Connaughton has been nothing but forthright about intending to keep his options open in both sports, but between signing a tw0-year contract with the Trail Blazers and his performance in Las Vegas, one assumes that as of now, the NBA has the inside track. Tim Frazier Still Has Something To Prove As of right now, there is only one bono fide point guard, this guy you may have heard of named Damian Lillard, guaranteed to be on Portland’s roster come the start of the 2015-16 season. CJ McCollum will see some time at the one — Trail Blazers president of basketball operations Neil Olshey has already said as much — and Stotts envisions a team in which the likes of Al-Farouq Aminu and Moe Harkless act as ballhandlers and playmakers, but it’s unlikely that Portland enters the regular season without another certified, according to Hoyle point guard. Tim Frazier could be that point guard. After being signed to the roster late last season, the 6-1 guard out of Penn State who was named both MVP and Rookie of the Year in the D-League last season is under contract with Portland through training camp, which starts at the end of September. But while he turned in a steady performance in Las Vegas, starting all six games and averaging 9.8 points, 7.5 assists and 4.2 rebounds in 30.7 minutes, he struggled at times with turnovers, averaging 3.8 per game, and has been unable to find any real consistency with his shot, going 38 percent from the field and a paltry 17 percent from three. Those averages would be suspect for a guard on any team, let alone on one coached by Terry Stotts, whose offensive is predicated on perimeter players being able to take and make shots. “He really pushes the ball, we knew he could do that,” said Stotts. “I think sometimes he tried to do a little bit too much with the dribble, turnovers were a little high. I think that comes with a little bit of the territory of trying to make things happen. It was a good learning experience for him. Him, like everybody else, needs to get better and we’ll have him in camp in October.” Luis Montero Still Has A Ways To Go It was a minor surprise this week when the Trail Blazers announced they had signed undrafted free agent Luis Montero a few hours before the start of the summer league schedule. The native of the Dominican Republic, who was supposed to play last season at Westchester Community College before an issue pertaining to student athlete transcripts (not necessarily Montero’s) resulted in both the men’s and women’s programs being suspended last season, has all the measurables you look for in an NBA wing, but is still incredibly raw, as you would expect from a 22-year old with little organized basketball experience. The 6-7 guard who played high school basketball at Wilbraham & Monson Academy in Massachusetts didn’t look completely out of his depth in six summer league games, averaging 5.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 14.7 minutes, but also did little to distinguish himself either. His most prolific performance in Las Vegas came in Portland’s final game, as sitting Vonleh and Connaughton allowed Montero to play a larger role than he had in the first five contests. He responded with a stat line 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, nine rebounds, two blocks and an assist in 35 minutes, though he also turned the ball over six times. But the Trail Blazers took Montero on as a project with the hope that, with some intensive work this summer, he’ll come to Portland ready to compete for a roster spot. “Luis, not a lot of people have seen him play,” said Stotts. “He’s very athletic, very talented. This is going to be a good summer for him. We’re going to have our coaches working with him, he’ll come to camp and hopefully between now and October 1st or whenever, you’ll see improvement in him.” Casey Holdahl Beat Writer Portland Trail Blazers http://forwardcenter.net/takeaways-from-portlands-2015-las-vegas-summer-league/
Here I was, about to say something nice about Sly's writing, only to find out that it's "by Casey Holdahl". Bait and switch. Casey, you know we love ya...keep these coming!
Good to get Stotts take on these guys. Great article. Casey is the go to guy when it comes to Blazers info.
Let's face it, we ALL know why Pat signed with the Blazers. Seen that hipster beard he's growing out...... he wants to be in a Portlandia sketch. Next step, MODA CENTER SEX IDOL!
Could have had Mighty Joe Young....be he was so far away, it was probably tough for the scouts to see him.
Connaughton is another guy that will look better in a structured system, where he won't have any ball handling responsibilities and can just be a catch and shoot guy. The question I have with him is defensively. He's got the heart but he got beat way too easily laterally. Shows that combine numbers don't mean anything.
Give Connaughton some time. He's never going to be a world beater but he's a good athlete and needs to focus on basketball full time.
I think our current group is capable/has the talent of getting 43 this 1st season but I think they'll actually get 37 because of their learning curves, mistakes, etc. I c us surprising ppl near the beginning of the season (winning more games v. what ppl expect) & then again late in the season (I c quite a few losses in the middle ESPECIALLY before & after the All-Star break ). Even IF we pick up a good player/starter (this would change my prediction & get us a lot closer to ur 43) later on, it won't change our fortunes enough to sneak into the playoffs this yr. BUT... next yr... I think we CAN/WILL b back in the playoffs or @ least ultra close to it! I'm ok w/ all this; it's all about setting us up for a SUSTAINABLE long-term!
When you look at Frazier's turnovers, it seems like the other teams were the ones with the take aways. Maybe this thread should read Give aways
I used the title Casey posted with the article. http://forwardcenter.net/takeaways-from-portlands-2015-las-vegas-summer-league/
