Article about Olynyk's great Summer League. Great offense. Defense needs work.

[chambers]

http://basketball.realgm.com/blog/228855/Summer-League-Player-Evaluation-Kelly-Olynyk

It's a nice article by RealGM.
Personally I enjoy RealGM's writers because they are usually pretty knowledgeable.
Says his offense is great. Great post game and mid range collection of shots is nice.
Pick n Roll Defense is poor, overplays and overhelps and gets burned.
Rebounding is great too. Is smart player so should develop quickly as defender with Celtics coaching staff.
I personally had no idea about his stuff like the step back jumper and how good of a passer he was.

Also if people haven't seen it, the top NCAA win shares players last season. Olynyk is number 1 for Power forwards. A few other new C's signings on the list too.

http://wagesofwins.com/2013/05/28/ranking-the-top-11-ncaa-prospects-at-each-position/

When one talks about a pure scorer, we tend to think of well-known superstars like Kevin Durant and Carmelo Anthony, players that have proven their ability to get the ball in the basket to be second-nature to them, scoring in many different manners.

Younger, less experienced players with the ability to score in the same fashion are often overlooked simply because we want proof that they can truly take their scoring games to the next level against the elite.

So far, so good for the Boston Celtics’ new rookie, Kelly Olynyk.

Four games into Summer League, the 7’0, 234 lbs center from Gonzaga is averaging 19.5 points on a super-efficient 57.4 percent shooting for a rookie, to go along with eight rebounds and 2.2 steals.

In his last game against the Houston Rockets, he delivered the first double-double of Summer League, posting 19 points and 10 rebounds. Four great showings by the B.C native has earned him the number one rank atop the first NBA.com Rookie Ladder of the upcoming season.

Three games in, Olynyk shot 3-for-7 from long-range, but following his showing against Houston  where he went 0-for-5 from beyond the arc, he is now shooting 25 percent from the three-point line.

Let’s take a closer look at his showing against the Rockets.

There were two blemishes on his final stat-line: his poor three-point shooting and his five turnovers.

As he has shown in college and in the first three games, he is excellent at running the floor and scoring in transition, going 2-for-2 on shots taken on fastbreak opportunities. He is also a good finisher at the rim, able to finish with both hands quite expertly. Dating back to Gonzaga, he is a very smart offensive player who loves to create contact to get to the free-throw line, where he shot 77.6 percent last season for the Bulldogs. Unfortunately, he was only 3-for-6 for the game, contributing to his off-shooting night.

As a refined offensive threat, Olynyk has a wide variety of shots in his arsenal, able to make step-back jumpers, turnaround jumpers and scoop shots just to name a few. He was 1-for-1 from mid-range for the game, his one make coming on a step-back jumper from 17 feet. It is also to his advantage to be able to make shots in traffic or off the dribble.

Olynyk is a very legitimate post threat, having demonstrated polished skills from the block the first three games, whether he’s scoring in the various ways he knows how or threading the needle on passes to shooters on the perimeter, he can do it all from the post. He has also shown the ability to catch the ball far out and work his way under the rim with good footwork and a variety of fakes and spins.

In the game in question, he finished 8-for-14 from the field. This can be broken down into three categories: 7-for-8 shooting in the paint, 1-for-1 from mid-range and 0-for-5 from long-range. Many of his points in the paint came off of tip-shots. Olynyk crashed the glass very effectively against Houston, six of his 10 total rebounds coming on the offensive board, two of which were tip-shots. He is averaging 3.3 offensive rebounds so far in this Summer League, a great number that should certainly help a Celtics team that was 29th in rebounding last season.

He should be alarmed as to his foul totals, averaging 4.8 fouls-per-game in 26.5 minutes of play. If he wants more minutes, he needs to discipline himself on the defensive end and be very careful in regards to his positioning. It would also serve him well to avoid being too aggressive and being called for offensive fouls, as he will probably find himself on the block often.

In terms of his defense, the Canadian is quite frankly a mediocre defender. He is not athletic, something that hurts his cause on that end, and is not very quick on his feet when defending his man. Look for teams to exploit him on pick-and-rolls as he does a very poor job of containing it, being too slow to recover to his man or to stop the pick-and-roll ball handlers from blowing by him and getting to the rim. Finally, he gets caught over-helping at times, allowing his man to wander and get enough space to control the pass and fire a great look.

Some scouts have compared him to the likes of Spencer Hawes and Fabricio Oberto. The way he’s been playing, it is without a doubt that he is the tools to be much better then those two, no disrespect to any of them. It isn’t by chance that he is so refined offensively. As a kid, he was taught the game of basketball by having the game broken down for him completely, making him a very fundamentally-sound player. In the same way, he must break the game down on the defensive end of the floor in order to elevate his IQ and develop his skills as a defender.

[esel1000]

Didn't realize he was #1 on the rookie ladder. That's nice to see even though there's still plenty of Vegas Summer League to potentially uproot him.

I'm impressed with how he's played. Despite the level of competition he's showing he has the tools to be an amazing offensive player in the NBA. Post moves, mid range, 3 pt shot, has it all. Add in a high bball iq and between him and Sully we may have one of the youngest, highest iq front-courts in the league.

We should also remember that this was his first time playing at the NBA pace 24 sec shot clock. Not bad.

People hated the pic cause he isn't athletic. Time to remember that being athletic doesn't necessarily make a great player. KO will prove to be a terrific choice at 13.

If you told me we were going to get a player with this much offensive skill that needed a little defensive work at 13 id be ecstatic. And I am.

[chambers]

Didn't realize he was #1 on the rookie ladder. That's nice to see even though there's still plenty of Vegas Summer League to potentially uproot him.

I'm impressed with how he's played. Despite the level of competition he's showing he has the tools to be an amazing offensive player in the NBA. Post moves, mid range, 3 pt shot, has it all. Add in a high bball iq and between him and Sully we may have one of the youngest, highest iq front-courts in the league.

We should also remember that this was his first time playing at the NBA pace 24 sec shot clock. Not bad.

People hated the pic cause he isn't athletic. Time to remember that being athletic doesn't necessarily make a great player. KO will prove to be a terrific choice at 13.

If you told me we were going to get a player with this much offensive skill that needed a little defensive work at 13 id be ecstatic. And I am.

His offensive toolset is great.
I'm still gonna give him a season because plenty of chumps have had great summer leagues. His chances of success are greater to me because of his transformation from a freshman to a junior after redshirting. I mean he was 6 feet tall playing PG then went through a massive growth spurt, whilst maintaining his footwork and ball handling skills.
Defense takes time but his IQ is obviously decent.

Time will tell. Decent shot at becoming an NBA starter at this point. Maybe a Ryan Anderson or Scola type?
Fingers crossed he picks up the defense side of things.

[bfrombleacher]

Lottery picks all struggling. Looking like huge projects it seems? Anyone watching other teams' summer leagues?

[Mazingerz]

Aside from Olynyk, the only pick impressing me as of the moment is Oladipo.

[guava_wrench]

Even if his defense is horrid, he could be a contender for rookie of the year if we are really bad. He would have a long leash if we aren't competitive.

[danglertx]

Kinda hard to knock a guy for shooting on the 4th game of a back to back to back to back.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say he never plays 4 games in 4 days in the NBA.

[Celtics4ever]

I think it is a pretty fair assessment but temper with the fact that it is summer league.   If he pans out better than Spencer Hawes I will be very pleased.

[celticslove]

Lottery picks all struggling. Looking like huge projects it seems? Anyone watching other teams' summer leagues?

i've seen dennis schröder play, he seems to be playing good for the junior rondo tag.

[hwangjini_1]

Even if his defense is horrid, he could be a contender for rookie of the year if we are really bad. He would have a long leash if we aren't competitive.

good point. no one is saying olly's defense is "horrid" .... thank goodness. rather, he is just slow, especially with his lateral movement. that means the better pf in the nba will be able to get past him.

but his interior defense seems to be fine, are at least good enough for right now.

but stevens and adams are why i am cautiously optimistic that olly might be an adequate/credible defender as well as a great offensive player.

both coaches are known for having good team defense. within a good team-defensive plan i believe the celtics can cover up olly's weaknesses. stevens' defenses are supposedly complex, but olly had the brain power to learn them....though it might take a season or two.

ainge did well in picking olly.

[SHAQATTACK]

Aside from Olynyk, the only pick impressing me as of the moment is Oladipo.

this is where I'm at too,    these two look ready for NBA ,   the rest not so much, especially the bigs that were picked ahead of KO.......they all looked like busts or third string backups ,  barely better than Melo.