Starting With Yaxel Lendeborg, Summer League Was Smashing Success For Warriors

Starting with Yaxel Lendeborg, summer league was smashing success for Warriors originally appeared on NBC Sports Bay Area

Any chance to compete is an opportunity the Warriors don’t want to waste, including during the NBA’s summer league. 

Development is the top priority every year during summer league. Teams aren’t dictating their future based on the production of their top picks. But good play jumps off the page just as much as bad. Seeing the growth of second-year players as roster competitions come together is as big of a win as any numbers on the scoreboard. 

Just don’t tell that to the players and coaches. 

Warriors assistant Khalid Robinson, who served as the team’s summer league head coach, made it clear before any games were played what his top goals were for these few weeks.

“We want to develop our guys and help them get ready for preseason and next season, but we want to win,” Robinson told NBC Sports Bay Area before the start of summer league. “We want to establish this culture. We’re about winning here, and when these guys come in, we want them to know what we’re about. We’re going into this thing like we want to win. We want to develop and get these guys better on individual skills and team concepts. 

“But we want to win games. Building these habits of consistent competition and playing to our identity is part of it.”

On Sunday night, the mission was accomplished in the Warriors’ 94-90 comeback win against the Memphis Grizzlies in the Las Vegas NBA Summer League championship game. The win was the Warriors’ first summer league championship since 2013.

Yaxel Lendeborg, the Warriors’ top draft pick at No. 11 overall, was everything they could have hoped for this summer. His cherry on top was again outplaying Cameron Boozer, the No. 3 overall pick, in the championship game. Lendeborg in 32 minutes put together a 21-point, 10-rebound double-double on 9-of-18 shooting with two assists and two steals. He was a plus-7. 

Boozer played 35 minutes and was a minus-1 with 19 points and eight rebounds on 7-of-17 shooting. 

The kind of culture and identity Robinson wanted established out of his team for the biggest moments came to light in the fourth quarter when the Warriors faced a 12-point deficit against the Grizzlies after the first possession of the final frame. Their first lead in the fourth quarter didn’t come until there were two minutes left and Lendeborg hit a step-back three. He made a driving floater to give them a one-point lead, a three to give them a two-point lead, and then a pull-up jumper to give them a four-point lead before two huge rebounds in the final minute. 

For Lendeborg, the fourth quarter truly was winning time three and a half months after winning the national championship at Michigan. He and Will Richard were the only two Warriors to play the entire fourth quarter. Richard scored eight points and was a plus-14. Ledeborg scored nine points and also was a plus-14, also adding seven rebounds – three offensive and four defensive – two assists and one steal. 

Lendeborg following the win was named the Las Vegas NBA Summer League MVP. He played all six games in Las Vegas and averaged 14.8 points, 6.8 rebounds and 4.0 assists with 45.9/35.7/80.0 shooting splits. This came after Lendeborg in two California Classic games averaged 15.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.0 assists while going 7 of 9 from 3-point range. 

Off the court, Lendeborg was non-stop fun as a walking quote machine. On the court, he made his case as a seamless fit in Steve Kerr’s system who should make an immediate impact on the Warriors. But the Warriors’ summer league success wasn’t about only their biggest star. 

Down the stretch, it was Lendeborg and Richard who the Warriors leaned on to lead them to a championship. Richard in the fourth quarter of the championship game made three shots, drained two threes and blocked a shot. He was the Warriors’ unquestioned leader of the summer. He also was noticeably stronger and has a quicker shot, resulting in going 9 of 19 from 3-point range (47.4 percent) in Las Vegas. 

It was LJ Cryer, not Lendeborg, who was the Warriors’ top scorer this summer. Lendeborg totaled 89 points in Las Vegas and Cryer put up 90. Cryer in six Vegas games took 51 threes. The next most on the Warriors was Lendeborg’s 28 attempts. Cryer wasn’t chucking threes, he was making them to the tune of a 41.2 3-point percentage (21 of 51). 

In the very least, Cryer will be back on a two-way contract with the chance to compete for a spot on the 15-man roster. Malevy Leons should also occupy another one of the Warriors’ three two-way contracts and continued to show why. As Leons still needs to improve as a shooter, at 6-foot-9 and 210 pounds, he had a non-stop motor all season and displayed the small details that can go a long way to earn minutes on a veteran team. 

The Warriors haven’t decided where second-round pick LaJae Jones will fall on the roster. Jones didn’t show a lot of scoring ability in the summer and is best served to spend a lot of time in Santa Cruz. That could leave forward/center Graham Ike as a prime candidate for the third two-way contract after averaging 10.5 points per game in Las Vegas with a team-high 8.0 rebounds per game and five blocked shots. 

Bay Area native Chance McMillian showcased his scoring ability and shot 54.5 percent from three (12 of 22) in Las Vegas. Lance Olbrich is an interesting name to follow as well after playing professionally in Australia, being taken in the second round of last year’s NBA draft by the Chicago Bulls and showing flashes as a clear Warriors fit this summer. 

Intrigue was obvious throughout the Warriors’ summer league roster, and it all started with Lendeborg. 

“I live for this moment right here,” Lendeborg said after the Warriors’ summer league championship. “Do whatever we gotta do to win this. We’re the Warriors, we win. We’re gonna get another one next season. Go Dubs.” 

The back of Lendeborg’s statement still is in wait-and-see mode, like the rest of the Warriors’ offseason. 

Starting with their top pick, though, summer league was nothing short of a smashing success for the Warriors.

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