NBA Summer League 2023

[Muzzy66]

Wemby gonna need to add 30 pounds or more if he wants to play in the NBA. If he's getting bullied by summer league players what's gonna happen against real NBA centers?

I never got the over the top hype "he's the next lebron!" Every year we hear that. So was Wiggins.

Maybe he will maybe he won't. But most of the time all the draft hype is to get people to be interested. Then years down the line we look at the results and say "omg how did we miss this guy!" Or "so and so is a bum!"

Wiggins was not hyped like Lebron or wemby, and it wasn’t even particularly close. Wiggins was a top level prospect and I believe even on sports illustrated in college or high school but that is a much more common hype level than Lebron and wemby which is like every 20 years.

Wiggins and Parker were fairly heavily hyped as the next LeBron & Carmelo, respectively. So it's true that Wiggins was literally positioned as 'the next LeBron'.

It's also true that the level of hype was relatively subdued compared to James (which was just absurd) and Wemby.

Wiggins was never compared to Lebron. McGrady maybe, but not Lebron. Not to my memory.

I saw him compared to lebron all over the place due to his size, length, athleticism, defensive upside, ball handling, etc.  I'm not sure anybody expected him to be Lebron level good, but definitely a lot of people suggesting he could be a lebron-like player. 

[obnoxiousmime]

Wemby gonna need to add 30 pounds or more if he wants to play in the NBA. If he's getting bullied by summer league players what's gonna happen against real NBA centers?

I never got the over the top hype "he's the next lebron!" Every year we hear that. So was Wiggins.

Maybe he will maybe he won't. But most of the time all the draft hype is to get people to be interested. Then years down the line we look at the results and say "omg how did we miss this guy!" Or "so and so is a bum!"

Wiggins was not hyped like Lebron or wemby, and it wasn’t even particularly close. Wiggins was a top level prospect and I believe even on sports illustrated in college or high school but that is a much more common hype level than Lebron and wemby which is like every 20 years.

Wiggins and Parker were fairly heavily hyped as the next LeBron & Carmelo, respectively. So it's true that Wiggins was literally positioned as 'the next LeBron'.

It's also true that the level of hype was relatively subdued compared to James (which was just absurd) and Wemby.

The hype for Cade Cunningham was pretty absurd as well. Many were comparing him to Lebron and Luka. A transcendent player… 

LeBron and Wemby were hyped on a level of their own. Between their two drafts, I would rank Zion as being the clear third most-hyped draftee, or at least tied with Oden/Durant. Durant would have been more hyped but he was in the same year as Oden. Oden was supposed to be the next great big man. Before he got injured, I would say Joel Embiid also had that level of hype. After that tier I would say the next group is guys like Ben Simmons, Andrew Wiggins, and Blake Griffin. Once you get down to this level, though, there isn't a lot of separation between levels of hype, unless you're talking about the clear bottom of the barrel 1st overall picks like Bargnani and Bennett.

Simmons, Wiggins and Fultz I would say as well.  People were talking about Fultz as if he had all time great potential, and that him being drafted at #1 was an absolute foregone concluson.  Same with Wiggins - Simmons not as much, because I do recall Simmons having his share of critics.  All three of those guys were hyped at pretty crazy levels. 

I still remember the shock when Boston traded the #1 pick to Philly and took Tatum.  People were in absolute disbelief.

I don't remember the hype on Fultz ever being close to Simmons and Wiggins. Simmons and Wiggins (and Blake who I considered on the same "level") had the benefit of longer hype periods from a young age. Simmons and Wiggins were already phenoms before they went to college. Blake already had dunking highlight reels on youtube blowing his popularity up. By comparison, Fultz was not heavily lauded going into his one year at Washington. What we know now was his great year shooting the 3 at a 41% rate was a huge fluke. He just kind came out of nowhere and became the consensus top pick because he had a projectable NBA body, was athletic, and appeared to be a knockdown shooter. All he really had to do was pass Ball, and that wasn't hard since everybody just kind of accepted he should be on the Lakers.

[LilRip]

Wemby gonna need to add 30 pounds or more if he wants to play in the NBA. If he's getting bullied by summer league players what's gonna happen against real NBA centers?

I never got the over the top hype "he's the next lebron!" Every year we hear that. So was Wiggins.

Maybe he will maybe he won't. But most of the time all the draft hype is to get people to be interested. Then years down the line we look at the results and say "omg how did we miss this guy!" Or "so and so is a bum!"

Wiggins was not hyped like Lebron or wemby, and it wasn’t even particularly close. Wiggins was a top level prospect and I believe even on sports illustrated in college or high school but that is a much more common hype level than Lebron and wemby which is like every 20 years.

Wiggins and Parker were fairly heavily hyped as the next LeBron & Carmelo, respectively. So it's true that Wiggins was literally positioned as 'the next LeBron'.

It's also true that the level of hype was relatively subdued compared to James (which was just absurd) and Wemby.

The hype for Cade Cunningham was pretty absurd as well. Many were comparing him to Lebron and Luka. A transcendent player… 

LeBron and Wemby were hyped on a level of their own. Between their two drafts, I would rank Zion as being the clear third most-hyped draftee, or at least tied with Oden/Durant. Durant would have been more hyped but he was in the same year as Oden. Oden was supposed to be the next great big man. Before he got injured, I would say Joel Embiid also had that level of hype. After that tier I would say the next group is guys like Ben Simmons, Andrew Wiggins, and Blake Griffin. Once you get down to this level, though, there isn't a lot of separation between levels of hype, unless you're talking about the clear bottom of the barrel 1st overall picks like Bargnani and Bennett.

Yeah I agree with this take. In my memory of the hype machine, it goes:
1. Lebron/Wemby
2. Oden-Durant/Zion
3. Wiggins-Parker-Embiid

Those 5 draft classes stood out to me as like, wow, the face of the league could change with these people coming in. Like they were projected to be dominant game-changers.

[greg683x]

I think a lot of the clarity back and forth about Wiggins’ hype is that his hype died down a bit during his time at Kansas.  He had a lot of media attention coming out of high school and people were expecting him to dominate in his year of college.  He definitely played well in college but he didn’t take the league by storm like someone like Zion did, so I think by draft time the hype had settled on him a bit

[radiohead]

Speaking of Jabari, he was supposed to play for the Bucks’ summer league team but a family matter came up.

https://www.si.com/nba/bucks/news/report-jabari-parker-will-not-play-for-the-milwaukee-bucks-in-summer-league

[Celtics4ever]

Fultz and Simmons college records in terms of wins and losses were indicative that they were not going to be winning pros.   Guys like Kemba and Carmelo took teams on their backs and won titles.    Fultz and Simmons could not even get their teams above .500 in wins or losses.   That spoke volumes to me.

[Moranis]

James Wiseman is still playing summer league. Lol.

GS made a huuuggeee mistake not trading that pick.

No they made a huge mistake not taking Lamelo. 

[Goldstar88]

James Wiseman is still playing summer league. Lol.

GS made a huuuggeee mistake not trading that pick.

No they made a huge mistake not taking Lamelo.

I mean, they had PG pretty well covered with Steph Curry. Teams would have likely paid a boat load for the pick.

[Moranis]

James Wiseman is still playing summer league. Lol.

GS made a huuuggeee mistake not trading that pick.

No they made a huge mistake not taking Lamelo.

I mean, they had PG pretty well covered with Steph Curry. Teams would have likely paid a boat load for the pick.

Lamelo is 6'7".  He'd be fine.

[Goldstar88]

James Wiseman is still playing summer league. Lol.

GS made a huuuggeee mistake not trading that pick.

No they made a huge mistake not taking Lamelo.

I mean, they had PG pretty well covered with Steph Curry. Teams would have likely paid a boat load for the pick.

Lamelo is 6'7".  He'd be fine.

Needs the ball in his hand. He’s not an off-guard.

[liam]

James Wiseman is still playing summer league. Lol.

GS made a huuuggeee mistake not trading that pick.

No they made a huge mistake not taking Lamelo.

I mean, they had PG pretty well covered with Steph Curry. Teams would have likely paid a boat load for the pick.

Lamelo is 6'7".  He'd be fine.

Needs the ball in his hand. He’s not an off-guard.

Curry can play on or off the ball.

[Goldstar88]

James Wiseman is still playing summer league. Lol.

GS made a huuuggeee mistake not trading that pick.

No they made a huge mistake not taking Lamelo.

I mean, they had PG pretty well covered with Steph Curry. Teams would have likely paid a boat load for the pick.

Lamelo is 6'7".  He'd be fine.

Needs the ball in his hand. He’s not an off-guard.

Curry can play on or off the ball.

You think they’d let a rookie PG run the offense for that team? I don’t. That’s Steph’s team.

[ozgod]

Wemby playing better tonight, 4-5 so far with a couple of dunks and a sweet 16 foot fadeaway after a crossover. Spurs getting hammered but hasn't stopped Doris from hyperventilating over him though 

[Goldstar88]

Webanyama is looking better, but the Spurs are losing.

[Moranis]

James Wiseman is still playing summer league. Lol.

GS made a huuuggeee mistake not trading that pick.

No they made a huge mistake not taking Lamelo.

I mean, they had PG pretty well covered with Steph Curry. Teams would have likely paid a boat load for the pick.

Lamelo is 6'7".  He'd be fine.

Needs the ball in his hand. He’s not an off-guard.

Curry can play on or off the ball.

You think they’d let a rookie PG run the offense for that team? I don’t. That’s Steph’s team.

Lamelo only started 31 of the 51 games he played in Charlotte as a rookie.  I see no reason why he couldn't have done that for 39-33 Golden State that didn't have Klay Thompson at all that season.