First game impressions:
I get people hating on D Jackson's offense... His defense however is pretty solid. I can see him filling a Phil Pressey role where he's just out there to setup the half-court offense and play D.
Semi physically looks like a power forward (if you haven't seen him on the court you'll get what this means when you do) he's just built a lot bigger than everyone else around him. Some very nice things from him including one made 3 pointer from WAY back. I hope they don't send him to Maine.
It looks like Nader spent an entire season working on all the wrong things in the D-League. He looked like a potential 3-D NBA wing last year in summer league. Now he's looking for his offense every time he touches the ball but doesn't have the skill to score reliably in isolation against bigger faster more determined athletes... He looks like he's going to go down swinging however... He DOES play the same speed all game and had some solid takes and timely rebounds.
Kadeem Allen looks like an NBA player to me. Actually... he looks like 1 player specifically. Marcus Smart.
Tatum - Wow... patient, deliberate, fearless a lot better on D than advertised. Also, if you haven't heard, he took over the game in the 4th quarter and capped it off by hitting a shot to take the lead over 2 players with 5 seconds left. If he were white I bet he'd have drawn a lot more comparisons to a young Dirk before the draft...
Fultz was absolutely electric. I can't take anything away from him except his atrocious free throw shooting.
Jaylen Brown... Great progress, if his offense doesn't click this year in the NBA it will next year I think. I wouldn't be surprised to see him dominate Summer league. I also wouldn't be surprised to see him plagued by silly young player mistakes (he made a couple over-ambitious drives that turned into turnovers already).
Zizic... Ran out of steam after the first half (about ten minutes of playing) and staggered around the court for the second half. I think people imagining the next Jokic or Nurkic are going to be sorely disappointed. Those hoping for a Zaza Pachulia with less motor might be getting exactly what they're looking for.
Nice write up. Couple comments -
Jackson and Nader should have been better. Both have had a full year in D-league so their performances, while ok, was disappointing given where they are at. I thought Nader especially should have been MUCH better. He has length, can go with his left hand and is a decent shooter, but he also still makes mistakes that will be unacceptable at the NBA level, like turnovers.
Zizic was a man among boys in the 1st 10 minutes, as you said. However, he clearly is slow, deliberate and lacks conditioning. That said, he should be able to make the roster, but certainly won't be a starter on this team as some have projected.
Ainge needs to go get a starting center and I sincerely hope he makes a move now.
Like Vox_Populi said, we didn't see enough of Semi to form an opinion, but he has range.
Brown - Did what he needed to do, which was simply to be the best player on the floor.
Tatum - Seems a bit 'tight' at times, maybe 1st game jitters, but clearly settled down. Has some decent defensive plays. I am so glad he played better than Fultz in the 4th quarter. That will do wonder for his confidence.
Fultz - A truly dynamic scorer with a great feel for the game. Not bad on defense either. Poor FT shooting, as advertised. Questionable shot selection at times, seemed to be trying too hard. I predict he will be ROY, but it's not clear what his long-term upside his. Let's say, much better than Jamal Crawford.