Unc Basketball: California Summer League

Summer League basketball is a great time for young players to get a chance to play live basketball against real competition in an effort to show NBA teams why they deserve a chance. Everyone’s playing for an invite to try and make a team or at a minimum a chance to make a G League team — which in turn gives them a chance to play for the big club if an injury happens during the season.

There are three main Summer Leagues: California, Utah, and the big one Las Vegas. With the California Summer League wrapping up Monday night, lets look at how former Tar Heels did with their teams.

RJ Davis, San Antonio Spurs

Davis, playing in his second round of Summer League (last season for the Lakers), had two really good games sandwiched around a stinker for the Spurs, who went winless in the California Summer League. In Davis’s first game, he scored 15 points in 18 minutes coming off the bench for the Spurs. He shot well from behind the arc, hitting three out of five, and also had three assists and no turnovers to lead the team in +/- with a +16.

In his second game, Davis came off the bench again but only had two points in 21 minutes. He also had three turnovers, though he did have four assists, and missed all five of his three-point attempts. In the third game, Davis started for the Spurs and scored 18 points in 29 minutes. He only hit two of his seven three-point attempts, but was the Spurs best player per +/- with a +11. Davis’s strong start should bode well as he heads to Vegas.

Drake Powell, Brooklyn Nets

Like Davis, Powell is playing in his second straight Summer League. Unlike Davis, Powell isn’t fighting for a roster spot, as he was one of the Nets first round picks last year. Powell’s stats in his two games (for some reason he didn’t play in the team’s second game) don’t look really good. In two games, Powell had one field goal on 17 attempts including going 0 for 9 from three. Powell did do some other stuff though, as he finished with 12 rebounds, but also had five turnovers. Hopefully he will play better in Las Vegas.

Cormac Ryan, Milwaukee Bucks

Ryan is playing in his third straight summer league and his second with the Bucks. However, he only played in one of the team’s three games, starting in the opening game before sitting out the next two for undisclosed reasons. Ryan played well in his lone start, scoring 13 points in 19 minutes. Hopefully, Ryan will get more playing time in Las Vegas and that will lead to more opportunities with a Bucks team in transition after trading away their franchise star.