Las Vegas – Zachary Lisacher is one of those players who makes the game look graceful. He is truly a fluid athlete.
While that hasn't necessarily translated into success in some Summer League games, it's easy to see why the Hawks selected him with the No. 1 pick and many scouts thought it was the right choice.
Sunday's game against the Spurs is a good example. On his first shift of the game, the Hawks didn't run anything for him, and he mostly just stood in the corner and drifted through the first few minutes. Atlanta gave him the ball in the second quarter, and he showed off a smooth stroke from 3-point range, better handling than many would have thought pre-draft (he beat a man on a crossover then missed a shot), and his passing and game feel were impressive for a 19-year-old.
He couldn't make a shot on Sunday, as Lisacher finished with 11 points on 4-of-12 shooting, including 1-of-7 from the 3-point line.
What Hawks summer league coach Ronald Norred noticed even more was Lisacher's defense.
“One is ball awareness and ball pressure,” Noredo said, “Those are two things we've been working on all camp. We were solid the first few games and the first match, but we were even better tonight.”
Quin Snyder and the Hawks have a lot of growth to work on with Rezacker. He needs to get stronger, get through screens and defenses in general and start making shots.
But watching him, it's easy to see how that could be achieved.
Here are some other thoughts on Day 3 of NBA Summer League:
• One thing to note about the Hawks is that they ran a 2-3 zone defense for long stretches against San Antonio. We didn't see a zone defense during Summer League.
• Spurs first-round draft pick Stephen Castle; Standing out in Las Vegas debut The team announced that Castle (and the California Classic prior to that) will miss the remainder of Summer League with a sprained wrist. The Spurs are wisely being overly cautious with Castle here; he's already proven himself in Summer League and learned the lessons he should have learned.
• Rockets, it's time to send Cam Whitmore home. He's too good to be here. He won Summer League MVP a year ago. I wish he'd played more last season, but he's past this level (25 points and eight rebounds on Sunday). Let's shut him up.
• The only reason Whitmore was brought here in the first place was to develop an on-court connection with No. 3 pick Reed Sheppard, and it looks like that happened.
Shepard impressed again, but what stood out in his second appearance was how his nasty defensive skills — his reach to knock the ball away, his ability to anticipate passes — carried over to the Summer League. It remains to be seen how well that will hold up against NBA veterans, but there's enough here to think he could make an impact on that front.
Shepard piled on the points, finishing with 22 points and seven assists, but only made 1 of 5 3-pointers (the only time the Wizards targeted him off a screen). His shooting was no cause for concern, and he answered all the other questions.
After all, Shepard is in the spotlight.
• Dunk of the day… The dunk of the summer league might be this poster from the Cavaliers’ Zaire Smith.
• Rob Dillingham played better and more aggressively in his second Summer League game. After struggling in his first game (he was tentative and a bit sluggish), he was more aggressive in his second game and created more space, but made just 5 of 14 shots and finished with 14 points.
• Jordan Miller is playing like a player the Clippers should actually consider giving him playing time this season.
Miller scored 36 points in the season opener and had a totally different game on Sunday with 21. Miller made six 3-pointers in the season opener, many of them from the corners, but was on a good offensive note Sunday, scoring points and drawing fouls.
“G [League] “Last year, like I said, I was just trying to figure it out, expand my game and I started experimenting with it,” Miller said about finding ways to draw fouls. “I have to give a lot of credit to Norman Powell. I've talked to him a lot because he's on the line a lot. So I just took the information and ran with it.”
Miller, a 2023 second-round draft pick out of Miami, signed a two-year, two-way contract with the Clippers a year ago and spent most of the season in the G League before being promoted to the big team for eight games. With Paul George and Kawhi Leonard starting on the wing (plus James Harden on the team), there wasn't a lot of extra playing time available to wings. That might not be all that different this season with the additions of Leonard, Derrick Jones Jr., Nicolas Batum, Amir Coffey and Norman Powell.
But Miller is calling for a longer-term view.
• Summer league is a benchmark for measuring the development of young players. A year ago, Nets' Noah Clowney just looked lost in Las Vegas. This year, his defense was impressive, including a block on Clippers' Jordan Miller at the basket. And he held his own, scoring 27 points on 11-of-18 shooting in two games. That's real progress, and it's clear he's put in the work this past year.
• Milwaukee's Marjon Beauchamp is one of the few players returning to Summer League after two seasons in the NBA. Through two games, Beauchamp has 41 points and is shooting 13-of-34 (38.2 percent) from the field and 5-of-15 (33.3 percent) from the 3-point range. Draw your own conclusions.
• No. 18 pick Tristan De Silva scored 23 points on 8-of-13 shooting on Sunday at Orlando.
