Official Summer League Games Thread

[Pelicanidae]

Of course, tomorrow marks the first game of the New Orleans Pelicans Summer League team. That coincides, as a result, with Zion Williamson's first game as a New Orleans Pelican, and also the debut of some other talent like 2 way contract man, Zylan Cheatham, and second year Pelicans player Frank Jackson.

There was already a thread posted specifically for the Summer League Roster, so I won't repeat that here, but I figure this is a good place for all discussion of the games to go. Normally, I would do a game thread for each individual game (that's what I did all last season, of course) but since it's just Summer League I figure we can talk about all the games in this single master-thread.

And in case anyone was wondering whether the Summer League Pelicans were going to be adhering to Gentry's ''run, run, and run faster'' style of play:

Zion Williamson on fast-paced style of play #SummerPelicans will expect to generate: "I'm very excited, because whoever gets the ball, push it. It just creates open space for everybody to go to work. I think everybody loves it, and we're ready to just start playing (in games)."

— Jim Eichenhofer (@Jim_Eichenhofer) July 4, 2019

Consider this confirmation.

[Pelicanidae]

Was just reading Will Guillory's new article on The Athletic, about the Pels summer league, and he brought up a few questions to think about as we watch the Pelicans take to the Summer League stage for the first time. No revelations, mostly the kind of questions we've already discussed among ourselves, but just a reminder before game 1 starts:

- Watch out for Point Zion. One of the coolest things Zion did in college was initiate offense from the perimeter. The problem is, Duke's offense didn't let him do it often despite how great he was at it. Look for more of this in a free flowing, Gentry style offense.

- Frank Jackson in the pick and roll. Frank only totalled 80 possessions as PnR ball handler last season. By comparison, even Ian Clark managed 89 such possessions: watch out to see if Frank has added more PnR control into his game.

- Kenrich Williams as a shooter. We saw him have some blistering hot streaks last season, followed by baltic freezes. He says he's been working a lot on his jumper this summer, so pay attention to that and see if the hard work has paid off.

- Zylan Cheatham, Zylan Cheatham, Zylan Cheatham. He's a 2 way contract guy this upcoming season, and he's a lot of fun to watch. Runs hard, rebounds extremely well, finishes nicely around the basket, and although he didn't shoot in college his stroke looks good and when he did take them, they did tend to go in. Should be fun to watch.

I like how Zylan just casually does an in game windmill right in front of the defender LMAO pic.twitter.com/SKF4oR8rLN

— Will (@WillHayes_24) July 5, 2019

[HartOfaPelican]

I woke up at 6:30am, gleaming with excitement over tonight’s game! I can’t wait for tonight!

I also can’t wait for all of the signed memorabilia to start coming out!!

[pelafanatic]

Is this the most talented Summer League roster ever assembled once the trade goes through tomorrow? A serious question, as I can't remember another team bringing this much talent to Vegas.

[Pelicanidae]

Is this the most talented Summer League roster ever assembled once the trade goes through tomorrow? A serious question, as I can't remember another team bringing this much talent to Vegas.

My gut says yes. Not entirely certain, I'd have to trawl through summer league rosters to be definitive, but Zion/Jackson/Wood/Hayes/NAW/Zylan/Kenny is already a pretty incredible SL team.

[msusousaphone]

Excited.

[6warddude]

im looking forward to watching cheatham and dawkins play in the summer league.....now tonight im looking to see how zion,,jackson,,wood and williams do in this game because i think 3 of the guys playing will be starting for the knicks.....it should be a good and hard game tonight....

[NMThreeMVP]

Anybody know if ESPN app will have replays of Summer League games? Or best way to watch if you miss it live?

Sling doesn't allow you to DVR live TV, and I may get divorced if I try to spend a Friday AND Saturday night watching Summer League!

[6warddude]

Anybody know if ESPN app will have replays of Summer League games? Or best way to watch if you miss it live?

Sling doesn't allow you to DVR live TV, and I may get divorced if I try to spend a Friday AND Saturday night watching Summer League!

put your foot down and be the man of the house and tell her tonight is your night.......you say you the MVP then prove it lol...

[Pelicanidae]

The Pelicans plan for Zion Williamson to play 24-28 minutes in their summer league opener against the New York Knicks on Friday, coach Alvin Gentry said.

— Malika Andrews (@malika_andrews) July 5, 2019

Makes sense. You wanna get him run, show him off, see what he's moving like, but you don't wanna risk any injury or anything on a meaningless game.

[Pelicans78]

Zion needs to play just to get himself in shape. Watching this week’s video, he looks heavy and Cris Carter said this morning, he’s up 300 lbs currently.


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[Pelicanidae]

Zion needs to play just to get himself in shape. Watching this week’s video, he looks heavy and Cris Carter said this morning, he’s up 300 lbs currently.

I honestly don't believe a word of that, and even if it were true, how would Cris Carter know? Is he like Stephen A Smith, where he's known every NBA player on a first name basis for the last 25 years and gets status updates from them personally each morning? Nah.

This isn't a reply to you personally, but I've seen like 10 different media figures on twitter and stuff talking about how Zion looks like he's ''well over 300lbs'' and it's just absurd. Does he look a little heavier than he did over two months ago when he was playing regular high level sports? Yeah. Does he look 25+lbs heavier? No, not at all.

I've even seen people saying that he looks like he's going to be a bust because he looked less explosive in a clip of him dunking, casually coming off one leg, from a jog, in practice for Summer League.And what's worse, is if he has a meh game tonight, people will start cranking that up to the max, as if Lebron James and D Wade didn't have mediocre Summer League performances too. As if Summer League matters in the long run.

[JJackisangry]

They’re already biased against him because New York and LA missed out. It’s crazy how the narrative changed about him in many’s eyes simply because we won the draft lottery.

[Pelicanidae]

They’re already biased against him because New York and LA missed out. It’s crazy how the narrative changed about him in many’s eyes simply because we won the draft lottery.

He can't win at this point. If he comes out tonight and drops an efficient 30/12/5 with a couple of blocks and steals, the media will largely brush over it because it's just Summer League and it means nothing.

Meanwhile, if he comes out and drops like, 15/5/2, then it will be reported as an ''underwhelming'' performance by the #1 overall pick. And if he does that and RJ puts up a gaudier statline? Wow, there will be some media frenzy.

[HartOfaPelican]

put your foot down and be the man of the house and tell her tonight is your night.......you say you the MVP then prove it lol...

I might fly out to Vegas tonight at stay for tomorrow nights game as well.

My wife's response... have fun! Ill watch movies with the dogs and eat everything in the house lol.

[JJackisangry]

He can't win at this point. If he comes out tonight and drops an efficient 30/12/5 with a couple of blocks and steals, the media will largely brush over it because it's just Summer League and it means nothing.

Meanwhile, if he comes out and drops like, 15/5/2, then it will be reported as an ''underwhelming'' performance by the #1 overall pick. And if he does that and RJ puts up a gaudier statline? Wow, there will be some media frenzy.

Exactly. It’s sad. Anthony dealt with this a little in his first year as well because Lillard was lighting it up. Fortunately for Anthony, ESPN was still milking the whole “Katrina” angle at the time so they went easier on him. Unfortunately for Zion, they will peddle the “New Orleans failed to build a team around AD and now Zion’s years will be wasted” angle. He will be hounded out of here on day 1 unless we win something significant.

[SunshinePumper]

I've even seen people saying that he looks like he's going to be a bust because he looked less explosive in a clip of him dunking, casually coming off one leg, from a jog, in practice for Summer League.And what's worse, is if he has a meh game tonight, people will start cranking that up to the max, as if Lebron James and D Wade didn't have mediocre Summer League performances too. As if Summer League matters in the long run.

[Pelicanidae]

Riding Zion Williamson excitement, Las Vegas Summer League has sold out 17,500 seats for Friday's Pelicans vs. Knicks.
- General admission day passes are being scalped for $80.
- Lower bowl tickets re-selling for $400+.
- 1,000 media credentials have been issued, a new record. pic.twitter.com/DdGHxTgI02

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 5, 2019

[new city champ]

The more I consider Zion's game, the more I see Charles Barkley 2.0. Sir Chuck played at around 300 pounds in college as a 6'4" center. In the pros he morphed into a 260 pd bowling ball power forward who was one of the first big men to consistently rebound the ball and then initiate the offense, driving the length of the court to score. Never became a knock down outside shooter but was enough of threat to command respect. But no one could ever really deal with his combo of strength, mass and skill, which landed him in the HOF.

Tonight I'm most interested to see if Frank can play lead guard consistently well enough to be a viable back up to Lonzo and if Zylan Cheatham has the makings of a playable NBA wing. I'm intrigued.

[HartOfaPelican]

Riding Zion Williamson excitement, Las Vegas Summer League has sold out 17,500 seats for Friday's Pelicans vs. Knicks.
- General admission day passes are being scalped for $80.
- Lower bowl tickets re-selling for $400+.
- 1,000 media credentials have been issued, a new record. pic.twitter.com/DdGHxTgI02

— Ben Golliver (@BenGolliver) July 5, 2019

IS IT GAME TIME YET!!!!!???????!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!!??????????! !!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!

[Pelicanidae]

IS IT GAME TIME YET!!!!!???????!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!!??????????! !!!!!!!!!????????!!!!!!!

Lot of people in the replies to that tweet saying ''Uhhh, isn't some of it due to RJ?''

...no. It is not RJ.

[SunshinePumper]

Tonight I'm most interested to see if Frank can play lead guard consistently well enough to be a viable back up to Lonzo and if Zylan Cheatham has the makings of a playable NBA wing. I'm intrigued.

I really hope Zylan does. I'm pulling for him, love his story.

[PELICANSFAN]

Like Cris Carter would have any idea how much Zion weighs. He is trying so hard to be relevant now after people have forgotten who he even is.

[Pelicanidae]

Like Cris Carter would have any idea how much Zion weighs. He is trying so hard to be relevant now after people have forgotten who he even is.

It's kind of crazy. People are just watching the 2 minute clip the Pels put out from a Summer League practice, in which Zion is wearing a full long sleeves shirt under his jersey, and are concluding that Zion's put on like 25lbs in the last 6 weeks.

Why? Cause he's not sprinting around at full speed, loading up for dunks in a Summer League practice session? Come on now.

[Shrimpnose]

Are the three potential starters for the Knicks on the Summer League roster :
-RJ Barrett G/F
-Mitchell Robinson C
-Kevin Knox F

Or, is Trier in there too ?