Dunc’d On is doing their Summer League prospect reviews.
Ausar: Thought he was “floaty” (ie, not max effort) offensively. Really loved his defense both in terms of making plays and just possession to possession defense. Liked his “mentality” offensively, etc. Thought he looked good in terms of finishing. Jumpers bad (4/18, lots of bad misses). Made the comment “he’d be a really good fit on teams with good shooting, but unfortuantely two of the three guys on this team that can shoot play his position”. They noted that given Ivey’s play, the priority of getting the ball to Duren and Wiseman, he got “lost” offensively. They note he has “a ton of good skills”, and said they should prioritize getting him the ball on the break, and would like to see him learn to play in the post.
Didn’t have much to say on Ivey, said he was basically the guy they had seen, just being more aggressive as “the guy” in SL.
They thought Duren’s shot “looked smooth” but had a hard time saying much else because he spent most of his time at the 4, where he wasn’t the primary rim protector, etc, too much. He switched ok, gave nothing as a help defender. Their main complaint was, and is, that his physical tools don’t appear defensively.
Joked that “there’s something about James Wiseman that just enhances everyone’s finishing ability, if you make contact with him in the paint, you score.” Liked his hands and finishing (noted this was his 4th SL), still can’t shoot. Poor awareness, composure. Joked about the moment where he got T’d for mean-mugging a guy, then stood on the lane line for the T (which you obviously can’t do).
Joked Sasser is older than all the guys above. Noted that his “big game” was the final one, where comp level drops appreciably. Said he’s a catch and shoot 3-point shooter, not an off the dribble one. Not a great handle. Said he’s “a rotation player in waiting”.
I’m glad to hear about Wiseman’s ability to raise opponent shooting %. Validates some feelings about myself. I think when I played guys shot about 80% on balls I tipped but didn’t fully block. It drove me crazy.
The criticisms re: “floating” they had of Ausar, I thought he was pretty much just willing to fill in where needed. He had plenty of hustle plays on offense trying to crash the boards and cutting, but they didn’t always turn into plays where he actually got the ball. IMO he was more being unselfish than anything, especially early on when Ivey was REALLY trying to get up shots.
Was a good reminder tho that his jumper really might be pretty dang wonky. And that Wiseman + Duren was such a dumb idea when your priority obviously should be enabling Ivey and Ausar.
Also a good reminder that the Sasser pick was…whatever. I guess at least if you’re gonna go with an old pick, it wasn’t in the lottery.
I wish they would have played Duren at the 5 in summer league just to get him more reps. I still don’t see Wiseman as any type of long term option and Duren should be prioritized.
Per James Edwards at The Athletic, Duren was chosen to be on Team USA’s select team. So that will be a good experience for him.
Summer League is the perfect time to try weird crap (esp after they found out Livers wasn’t going to play.) Duren and Wiseman shooting threes? Sure. Duren taking pull-up middies? Why not. Duren/Wiseman trying to guard Jabari Smith on the perimeter? Let’s see what you can do, young man.
Yep. And at that price, I don’t think it would have been a good value. I like Brown a lot but I don’t think he’s currently a top-15 player. He’s probably in that 16-20 range.
Now I have a reason to walk down the street to check out a Cruise game. When they had Walton and Livers I went down a few times, paid $5 for 2nd row seats and got to see just how athletic these pros are.