LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 16: Kobi Simmons #2 of the Memphis Grizzlies handles the ball against the Portland Trail Blazers during the 2017 Summer League Semifinals on July 16, 2017 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) The Memphis Grizzlies begin their Summer League run this afternoon against the Atlanta Hawks at 6:00 C.T. on NBATV. This will probably be hands-down the best game of the day in terms of matchups. This game will feature one of the best offensive forces in this year’s Summer League in Atlanta’s Trae Young, going against arguably the best guard defender in Jevon Carter of the Memphis Grizzlies. Check out a small preview of this matchup below: Several other big names will be in both team’s lineups, but more familiar names for Memphis, as far as veterans go. Wayne Selden Jr., Deyonta Davis, and Kobi Simmons will headline as guys who played significant NBA minutes last season for Memphis. Memphis: Jevon Carter Wayne Selden Jr. Myke Henry Deyonta Davis Jarren Jackson Jr Predictions: I think that both teams will match up very well, and we will get a rematch of West Virginia and Oklahoma. I think after tomorrow afternoon, Jackson Jr. and Carter will get their first love from Memphis’ fans in their first action. I like the matchup of Jackson Jr and Atlanta Hawks forward John Collins. I look forward to seeing “Summer League Selden,” and hopefully seeing him healthy. Wayne Selden sure was fun to watch last season, and if healthy, will be a treat with a better team surrounding him this year. For guys like Davis, their careers are on the line. No roster spots are guaranteed, and this will be Deyonta Davis’ third year running in the Summer League. All of the action tips off at 6:00 P.M. C.T. on NBATV in Salt Lake City, Utah. If you are at work, follow Beale Street Bears for live updates throughout all of the action.<doc-sep>The Atlanta Hawks kicked off their summer activities in Utah by catching a loss against the Memphis Grizzlies on Monday night, 103-88. In a game the Hawks never led, Tyler Dorsey led the scoring effort with 18 points while rookie Trae Young added 16 points. For the Grizzlies, Jaren Jackson Jr. starred with 29 points — including eight three-pointers — while Kobi Simmons added 21 points. Trae Young’s struggles The big talking point from Monday night (besides DeMarcus Cousins) was that Trae Young struggled in his first game as an Atlanta Hawk — 16 points on 4-of-20 shooting and 1-of-11 from three. With a performance like that, there’s always going to be an overreaction — such as ‘Did the Hawks screw up by passing on Jackson?’ and ‘Oh God, what have we done?’ — and Jaren Jackson Jr. simultaneously lighting it up in the same game doesn’t help in that regard. But it’s always important to stress — and this would’ve been the same case if Young had exploded — that it’s just one game, so it’s probably unwise to overreact or worry. Hawks head coach Lloyd Pierce certainly isn’t. “...Excited for Trae, he got 20 shots up,” said Pierce via Michael Cunningham of the AJC. “He can get his shot off. He’s going to make a lot of shots. We’re going to be fine.” “Last thing I want him doing is second-guessing. I want him to shoot with confidence.” Tyler Dorsey is equally unworried about Young’s slow start. “He’s a big name. He’s a top guy,” said Dorsey of Young. “They are going to come at him. He just needs to play his game. No need to panic.” Young tried as he could to shoot his way out of his slump but nothing was doing from behind the arc last night. Shooters shoot, and sometimes they just don’t go down. Generally speaking, Young had some good looks but left a lot of them short. Whether it was just a bad game, adjusting to the altitude... it was just a struggle. Young did see a decent bit of defensive pressure which didn’t help: The majority of Young’s scoring came from the free throw line and at the rim, this layup was easily the most eye-catching play from Young last night: It wasn’t the start Young wanted but hopes to carry the good momentum from the second half into today’s game against San Antonio. “I didn’t want a game like this but overall this is all a process,” said Young postgame via Michael Cunningham of the AJC. “This is the first one, it’s Summer League. I felt a lot more comfortable in the second half. Hopefully I can carry that over to tomorrow and just keep going, keep getting better each and every day — that’s my main thing...” Young revealed postgame that coach Pierce expected a tough shooting night. “He expected this — a bad shooting game for me ... he knows my shots going to fall eventually, I’m not too worried about it. It’s just one game...” Young was able to get to the rim a few times but his best impact on last night’s game came from passing the ball — he only had three assists on the game but he set up some very nice looks. Here, Young drives and does a great job to set up Omari Spellman for the dunk: Get used to this, folks. pic.twitter.com/aPtTesEqAl — Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) July 2, 2018 In the second half, Young drives from the wing, floats inside and finds a beautiful pass to the corner to find Jaylen Adams for a three-pointer: “That’s the main thing, said Young postgame. “When my shot’s not falling I got to do other things...” Young and Collins teased a potentially fun combination as Young finds Collins for a three-point attempt as the trailer, but Collins can’t convert on this occasion: “That’s his strength,” said Pierce of Young’s playmaking. “That’s going to be his blueprint. We just couldn’t get him in enough pick-and-rolls early on.” Young, at least I thought so, had some good moments defensively. In the corner, Young plays nice, tight defense and forces the turnover in the corner: On the next defensive possession, Young moves his feet well to stick his man — even if he’s bodied a tad at the end — and John Collins completes the defensive play by coming up with the steal: A defensive specialist coming over from Philadelphia, Lloyd Pierce definitely noticed Young’s effort on defense last night. “...He was happy how I played on the defensive end,” said Young to the AJC. “I competed, I made a lot of steals, really worked hard on the defensive end when my shot wasn’t falling — that’s a great sign. He was telling me how proud he was of that...” Despite missing 16 shots, there were good things that Young did last night as you saw and he did play a much better second half. Of course there’s going to be a knee-jerk reaction when a guy who you passed on, like Jackson, goes off and your player struggles but let’s not get carried away when it comes to Young — just one game. Three-pointers for days The NBA has obviously shifted more so to the perimeter in the last few seasons and almost every team has tried to go along with it. The Hawks embraced it a bit more last season than in the past with Mike Budenholzer and it seems to be a similar focus under Lloyd Pierce, who was very happy the Hawks took 40 three-point attempts last night. “Excited that we shot 40 threes because that’s what we want to do, get them up,” said Pierce postgame, via the AJC. We didn’t really hear a lot of Pierce’s offensive ideals at his introductory presser but it seems that shooting the long-ball is high on that list. However, Pierce will hope the Hawks make more than nine/shoot better than 22% from three in the future as was the case last night... The Hawks (1-0 in Utah Summer League) are back in action on Tuesday against the San Antonio Spurs as the Summer League grind continues. Should be fun... Until then...<doc-sep>The Atlanta Hawks participate in a sanctioned NBA basketball game this evening and, even if it feels too early for that to be the case, the Utah Summer League obliges with some on-court action to monitor on Tuesday. In the opener, the Hawks take on Jaren Jackson Jr., Jevon Carter and the Memphis Grizzlies in what should be a fun contest and, for good measure, it doubles as the first NBA Summer League anywhere in 2018. Our full Summer League coverage can be found here, featuring a breakdown of a few perimeter options to keep a close eye on and even some pre-summer scouting of Hawks rookie Trae Young. In this match-up, though, Young will have a tough battle on the horizon with a defense-first guard in Carter and Atlanta will also get a close, personal look at a player they passed on in Jackson Jr. Before leaving for Salt Lake City, the Hawks deployed a “starting lineup” (in a scrimmage) that included Young, Tyler Dorsey, Antonius Cleveland, Omari Spellman and John Collins and it wouldn’t be a surprise to see that unit see extensive time. Beyond that, Atlanta will want to closely evaluate Jaylen Adams and Jaylen Morris, as well as a collection of non-roster invitees that could see action in this spot. Unfortunately, Hawks fans won’t get their first look at No. 19 pick Kevin Huerter until training camp, as the Maryland wing will miss Summer League with injury. In addition, DeAndre’ Bembry will also be absent, as he recovers from a fractured wrist suffered in mid-April. Fortunately, this will be the “debut” of new head coach Lloyd Pierce on the sideline and, of course, it is always fun to enjoy the work of youngsters like Spellman, Young and Collins. Stay tuned throughout the afternoon/evening and join us in discussing the action, while (of course) being cordial to one another. Game Info Game Date/Time: Monday, July 2, 7:00 p.m. ET Location: Vivint Smart Home Arena TV: NBA TV Streaming: ESPN3<doc-sep>
While the rest of the league marveled at the sheer absurdity of Boogie Cousins in Oakland, the Atlanta Hawks opened their 2018 NBA Summer League journey on Monday evening, with the first of (at least) eight games over the next two weeks. The opener provided positives and negatives up and down the roster but, in the end, the final result on the scoreboard was lopsided in favor of the Memphis Grizzlies, 103-88. In the early going, Jaren Jackson Jr. set the tone for the Grizzlies, as the No. 4 overall pick knocked down two threes in the opening minutes (before exploding for 29 points on 15 shots for the full game) and produced some defensive highlights. For the Hawks, there were struggles from Trae Young (more to come on that) but John Collins was tremendous, scoring six points in the first five minutes and producing a few highlight-worthy plays. In addition, Omari Spellman played well, including an early dunk after a delivery from Young. Get used to this, folks. pic.twitter.com/aPtTesEqAl — Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) July 2, 2018 Then, Collins and Spellman hooked up with some sensual big man passing for a dunk. Much of the first half was marred by inconsistency from Atlanta’s offense but non-roster invitee Brandon Sampson even produced a flourish in the second quarter. Back-to-back buckets for Brandon Sampson pic.twitter.com/cSF5y9W7lN — Atlanta Hawks (@ATLHawks) July 2, 2018 The biggest story, for better or worse, was the struggles of Young, who missed his first ten shots and did not record a field goal until the second half. Mercifully, his shooting drought came to an end in the third quarter with an off-the-dribble three. There were still highlights, however, with Spellman producing a big-time block. Despite his shooting issues, Young’s passing garnered a great deal of attention and rightly so. In the end, the Hawks simply weren’t efficient enough offensively to get a win, with the team connecting on only 37 percent of its shots and 9 of 40 (!) from three. Young’s final stat line (16 points on 4 of 20 shooting) will draw a ton of attention and there was no question that he scuffled. There were positives in the form of his passing and general competitiveness on defense, though, and they should be noted. Beyond that, one Summer League game shouldn’t be enough to make sweeping conclusions, even if some will choose to do so. Elsewhere, it was clear that Collins was the best player on the floor for Atlanta, which could inspire questions on just how long he’ll remain in the Summer League lineup. Spellman (11 points, six rebounds, two blocks) and Tyler Dorsey (18 points, seven rebounds, four assists) also produced strong performances. Stay tuned as the Hawks continue their travels with another game (against the Spurs at 7:00 pm ET) on Tuesday evening in Salt Lake City.