The Good:
I’m going to talk about Porzingis briefly. Clearly he was the best player on the team, and has given the Knicks their first exciting prospect since Gallo. He had 18.4 pts/36 on 59.1% ts%, with only 2.2 to/36, toss in 3.1 blk/36. Yes the rebounding is a concern, but everything else is there.
The next guy up on the stat line is Maurice Ndour. He caught my eye early on with his high energy game, and the stats back it up. Maurice tied with Kristaps for the team lead with 3.1 blk/36, and he was very active on defense. Not to sleight our hometown hero, but Ndour is the anti-Melo and would pair well with the Knicks star. A 6-9 forward, he should be able to play both spots and take the tougher defensive assignment. The Senegalese Stuffer averaged 14.8 pts/36 on 53.1% ts%, and only 1.5 to/36, a decent rate for a defender.
Jerian Grant had a solid outing, with 15.5 pts on 53.8% ts%. His assists were healthy (6.3 ast/36) and turnovers were low (2.9 to.36). Although his sizzling three point percentage (50%) was nice and is unlikely to stay so high, his steals (2.1 stl/36) were a nice surprise.
The Not-So-Bad:
Thanasis Antetokounmpo shot well (64.4% ts% and 15.4 pts/36) and was third on the team in blocks with 2.9 blk/36. But he averaged 4.8to/36 and only 4.3 reb/36. Perhaps in another year he would have stood out more, but Ndour outperformed him. His D-League numbers were OK, but needs to improve his three point shooting to make the majors.
If Thanasis is having a tough time getting out of Ndour’s shadow, Cleanthony Early is in the ground with Punxsutawney Phil (16.1 pts/36, 51.1% ts%, 5.9 reb/36, 3.1 ast/36, 1.2 stl/36, 0.3 blk/36) in the summer league stat depth chart.
The Ugly:
Travis Wear rebounded well (8.6 reb/36), but did little else (4.2 pts/36, 26.7% ts%, 0.0 blk/36). Actually those numbers are mind-numbingly awful.
While it wasn’t ugly in-it-of-itself, I expected much more from Langston Galloway (11.2 pts/36, 49.5% ts%), given that he was 4th on the Knicks NBA team in minutes played.
Ricky Ledo make the Knicks roster? Not if he played anything close to what he did in Vegas (5.4! to/36, 13.8 pts, 48.6% ts%.)