LAS VEGAS — The 2018 NBA Summer League is officially, and mercifully, in the books after the Blazers blew out the Lakers in Tuesday night’s title game. Earlier Tuesday, the NBA announced the annual Summer League MVP and All-Summer League First and Second Teams. They were as follows: Summer League MVP: Josh Hart (Lakers) All-Summer League First Team: Hart, Collin Sexton (Cavaliers), Kevin Knox (Knicks), Wendell Carter Jr. (Bulls), Christian Wood (Bucks) Alll-Summer League Second Team: Trae Young (Hawks), Wade Baldwin IV (Blazers), Deandre Ayton (Suns), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Grizzlies), Svi Mykhailiuk (Lakers) Here’s how The Crossover cast its official ballot for this year’s Summer League awards. Criteria for selection included individual stats, team success and age (rookies earned bonus points). Note: each team was comprised of two backcourt players and three frontcourt players, and players had to appear in at least three games to be considered by this voter. Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images Summer League MVP: Josh Hart (Lakers) Hart’s week ended with a whimper and some frustration: he shot just 3-12 in the title game and was ejected midway through the fourth quarter for arguing calls. That forgettable conclusion hardly marred an exceptional tournament. The 2017 first-round pick averaged 22.4 PPG, the most among players with at least three appearances, as he led LA to a 6-1 record. While LA’s veteran additions—Rajon Rondo, Lance Stephenson and JaVale McGee—all arrive with questions about their fits with LeBron James, Hart looks like an excellent plug-and-play option. In Vegas, the second-year guard moved his feet well defensively, regularly broke down defenders off the dribble and kept playing hard even after it became clear he was far superior than the competition. Hart’s biggest asset to James will be his outside shooting: he shot with confidence in both off-the-dribble and catch-and-shoot situations, and he didn’t need to dominate the ball to find significant success beyond the arc. Hart shot nearly 40% on threes as a rookie, and his volume of three-point attempts should sharply increase thanks to James’s well-honed ability to create clean looks for his shooters. All-Summer League First Team Backcourt: Hart and Trae Young (Hawks) The top of the 2018 Draft class was short on impact guards and wings, and Luka Doncic’s absence in Vegas further thinned the pool. After a slow start to his summer in Utah, Young (17 PPG, 6.8 APG) got back on track in Vegas. Fixating on his proclivity for launching ultra-deep threes misses a more important point: The Oklahoma product was easily Summer League’s best backcourt playmaker thanks to his spatial understanding, his quality timing, and his willingness to feed cutters and shooters alike. Although Young was a bit streaky as a shooter, he had his share of scoring explosions and had no problem pulling up from multiple steps behind the arc. Importantly, defenses already pay him serious respect, extending out to crowd him and picking him up early in transition. Young handled that attention well overall, using the threat of his shot to get to the rim and set up drive-and-kick shots for his teammates. Atlanta will almost certainly be terrible this season, but Young’s multi-dimensional offensive game should bring real entertainment value from day one. Trail Blazers Exact Summer League Revenge over Lakers in Las Vegas Championship Frontcourt: Wendell Carter Jr. (Bulls), Jaren Jackson Jr. (Grizzlies) & Kevin Knox (Knicks) Carter doesn’t have the most impressive physique among 2018 lottery pick big men: Deandre Ayton is stronger, and Mo Bamba is significantly longer. Nevertheless, Chicago’s No. 7 pick showcased a more complete and polished game than all his fellow rookies, regardless of position. On offense, Carter (14.6 PPG, 9.4 RPG, 2.6 BPG) is economical with his touches and smart with his shot selection. At 6’10”, he’s comfortable setting screens at the arc, popping to space, and using pump fakes to create attacking lanes from elbow. Although he wasn’t really force fed, Carter still showed the ability to power towards the paint from the block in isolation, and he even hit a tough turnaround with the clock winding down. Defensively, he was a wrecking ball, swatting shot after shot whether as a low-post defender or as a helper coming across the paint. Carter wasn’t thrown off by the pace of the game like some of his fellow rookies, and his shot-blocking instincts caught opponents by surprise on numerous occasions. There’s a case to be made that Jackson, the Grizzlies’ No. 4 pick, has the highest ceiling of any player in the 2018 draft. Already, the 18-year-old forward/center shoots threes comfortably, covers tons of ground defensively, and rises high to block shots well above the rim. Despite his youth, Jackson (11.2 PPG, 8.2 RPG, 3.8 BPG) played with energy and composure, and he looked at home against opponents who were sometimes four or five years older than him. If Carter made talent evaluators quietly murmur their appreciation, Jackson made them lick their lips at what lies ahead. Kevin Knox, Wendell Carter Jr. and Midsummer Hope for the Knicks and Bulls Memphis has some heavy lifting to do with its roster, as veterans Marc Gasol, Mike Conley and Chandler Parsons all have huge contracts and injury issues. After years of draft misses, the Grizzlies seem to finally have a prospect who can be a real building block for the future. Jackson projects as an ideal “modern 5” with an All-Star ceiling thanks to his potential as a two-way impact-maker. He should be starting sooner rather than later. Knox (21.3 PPG, 6.5 RPG) stood out because there weren’t too many playmaking wings with size in Vegas. His physical tools popped all week long: he raced up the court in transition, he routinely threw down powerhouse dunks, and he used simple but effective dribble-drive moves to get into the heart of the defense. Knox won’t always enjoy such massive advantages in size and length when he’s facing true NBA wings, but he showed the ability to punish mismatches and attack opportunistically in Vegas. There was a little less substance to Knox’s game than some of the other names on this list. Looking past his steady supply of highlight-reel fare, Knox was guilty of streaky shooting and inconsistency. Even so, Knicks fans should be elated by his play given that he was selected at No. 9. If the 2018 class was re-drafted today, he might sneak into the top five. Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images All-Summer League Second Team Backcourt: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Clippers) & Wade Baldwin IV (Blazers) Thanks to his 6’6” frame and long arms, Gilgeous-Alexander (19 PPG, 4.8 RPG, 4 APG) easily stood apart from the other point guards in Vegas. While the 20-year-old Canadian was more interested in downhill attacking and scoring rather than setting up his teammates this week, that didn’t come at his team’s expense. He finished well in traffic and often contorted his body to create space for high-percentage looks around the rim. Against this level of competition, Gilgeous-Alexander was able to force turnovers by pressuring on the ball, and he consistently made simple and effective reads in transition. Although the Clippers are in a bit of an identity crisis following the departures of Chris Paul, Blake Griffin, DeAndre Jordan and Austin Rivers, Gilgeous-Alexander looks ready for real minutes as a rookie. Baldwin (13.4 PPG and 7.4 APG) earned the nod here as an honorary Blazers representative. Portland fielded a completely stacked Summer League roster with a nine-man rotation full of current and future NBA-level players. The 22-year-old point guard washed out of Memphis after being a 2017 first-round pick, but he did a nice job keeping everyone fed in Vegas while also finding points for himself from the mid-range and going to the basket. 2018 NBA Summer League: Winners and Losers Frontcourt: Deandre Ayton (Suns), Mitchell Robinson (Knicks) & Svi Mykhailiuk (Lakers) Ayton (14.5 PPG and 10.5 RPG) performed better in the box scores than he did by the eye test. An imposing physical specimen who is ready to hang with NBA centers immediately, the top pick in 2018 lacks elite feel on both ends at this point of his development.<doc-sep>The Los Angeles Lakers are owning the summer. The NBA announced on Tuesday that second-year Lakers guard Josh Hart is the MVP of the Summer League, a showcase of young talent and players grinding to make NBA rosters. Hart was leading the Summer League with 24.2 points per game along with 5.2 rebounds and 1.5 steals through six games at the time of the award. Hart caps Summer League in dubious fashion Hart’s Summer League ended on a sour note though. Named MVP before the championship game, Hart got into an argument with the refs in Tuesday’s finale against the Portland Trail Blazers, earning a technical foul with just less than five minutes remaining. Displeased with the technical, Hart continued to plead his case and found himself ejected by referee Tyler Ford. Josh Hart has some choice words after getting tossed from the game 😮#NBASummer (via @clippittv) pic.twitter.com/yEEyaM9fro — Def Pen Hoops (@DefPenHoops) July 18, 2018 The Lakers went to to lose, 91-73. Josh Hart followed in the footsteps of teammate Lonzo Ball to win the NBA Summer League MVP. (AP) Hart joins Lonzo Ball in Summer League lore While it wasn’t a Summer League storybook ending, it was the second straight year the Lakers have produced the Summer League MVP after Lonzo Ball won the award in 2017. It also earned Hart a shoutout from a high-profile new teammate. Josh Hart joined by big-name rookies for Summer League honors Story continues Hart is joined on the All-NBA Summer League First Team by high-profile rookies Kevin Knox (N.Y. Knicks), Collin Sexton (Cleveland Cavaliers) and Wendell Carter Jr. (Chicago Bulls) along with 22-year-old Milwaukee Bucks big man Christian Wood, who has played 30 games in two NBA seasons. Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton, Memphis Grizzlies forward Jaren Jackson Jr., Trail Blazers guard Wade Baldwin IV, Lakers forward Sviatoslav Mykhailiuk and Atlanta Hawks guard Trae Young made the All-NBA Summer League Second Team. Hart likely looking at increased role with Lakers next season Hart started in 23 of the 63 games he played as a rookie last season, averaging 7.9 points and 4.2 rebounds per game while shooting 46.9 percent from the field as the 30th pick in the draft out of Villanova. The Lakers will likely look to increase his role as a shooter around LeBron James next season and lean on his 39.6 percent rate from 3-point range he posted as a rookie. More from Yahoo Sports: • Former Steelers first-round pick Gabe Rivera dies • Man calls cop after hard foul in pickup basketball • Terrell Owens might be making a comeback in the CFL • Cowboys DE Randy Gregory finally reinstated after 18-month suspension<doc-sep>Josh Hart was the toast of the town throughout his time in Las Vegas, leading the Los Angeles Lakers all the way to the title game and winning the tournament’s MVP award. In doing so, Hart also showed immense growth all over the court that both Luke Walton and Rob Pelinka were immensely impressed by. ”When guys start playing and the game looks easy to them, that’s how you know they’ve really advanced,” Pelinka told Mike Trudell of Lakers.com. “Josh is just making it look easy. He’s playing with an even-keeled pace, getting to the rim when he wants to, making threes. He’s defense-first. “Magic and I were flying here tonight and just feeling so fortunate and blessed that we drafted Kyle Kuzma at 27 and he was player of the year at summer league, and now Josh Hart the 30th pick, player in the year in summer league back-to-back. It’s a proud moment for Lakers fans and for our scouting department. We’re really excited.” The job the Lakers’ scouting department has done late in the first round and into the second in recent years has been pretty freakin’ remarkable. Most No. 27 picks are pretty much a guarantee to play in Las Vegas after their rookie season, but Kuzma very obviously didn’t need that for his development. Hart didn’t have as big a role last year, but it was clear pretty early on that he was too good for the competition in this tournament. Walton was asked what Hart’s done to make such massive strides, and he credited Hart’s work ethic. “He’s been in the gym all summer long. He comes in he’s in the weight room, he’s on the court working out with Miles (Simon) and he’s committed to it. He came to us and he said ‘I don’t know what the plan is for summer league but I want to play. I want to play, I want to show what I’ve been working on. I want to compete against other people.’ “So we said hey, we’re not going to stop anyone from playing that wants to play, and I think it’s been nice for him to work on his game and show other people what he’s been capable of doing.” When asked about the last few weeks as a whole, Hart had this to say (via the Lakers’ official Twitter account): ”They were solid. There were things I did well and things I didn’t do well. It was a good measuring stick for the work I put in this summer with Miles and just seeing how much I got better, and how much more room I have to grow.” Hart’s improvement might serve as a bar that the rest of the young Lakers have to meet. This is the kind of cultural shift Magic Johnson and Pelinka waxed poetic about upon their hiring and, if everyone across the roster matches this development, the Lakers can surround LeBron James with the kind of talent that can produce right away, but also potentially continue improving throughout his time as a Laker. Hart was pretty obviously unhappy with how the championship game went, though. The Lakers were blown out by the Portland Trail Blazers and he was ejected in the fourth quarter, leaving him eager for his next chance to play better: ”After this horrible game today I can’t wait to get back and get back to training camp and preseason and regular season and kind of wash this taste out of my mouth. That time can’t come soon enough.” Honestly, next season can’t come soon enough for the rest of us either, Josh. All quotes transcribed via the Lakers’ official Twitter account.<doc-sep>
Josh Hart picked up some hardware before Monday’s Las Vegas championship game, as the second-year wing was named 2018 Summer League MVP. Hart has been an offense unto himself through six games in Vegas, averaging a summer-league-leading 24.2 points along with the event’s second-most 3-pointers (3.5). The 23-year-old has spent the bulk of the offseason working on his ball handling and jump shooting, as improvement in both areas has been easy to see. With a tighter dribble, Hart has consistently sliced up opposing defenses, shooting 50.8 percent on two-pointers. And he has also been able to handle his way into looks from deep, hitting 39.6 percent from 3-point range. The definition of a two-way player, Hart has provided the Lakers more than just scoring. He is averaging 4.4 points, 2.4 assists, 1.3 steals and only 1.5 turnovers, while constantly serving as the Lakers’ primary defender on the opponent’s best wing player. The sophomore was only able to play two games at last year’s summer league before an injury shut him down, but the Las Vegas fans aren’t soon to forget his performances this time. Hart has scored at least 18 points in all six of his games, including a 37-point eruption in the semifinals — which broke the Lakers’ single-game summer scoring record — and a 27-point scorcher against New York. Josh Hart's dominance of Summer League continues as he finishes with 37 points and 9 boards to lead the Lakers to the finals! #LakersWin pic.twitter.com/5Vqc7DD3Y5 — Los Angeles Lakers (@Lakers) July 17, 2018 Svi Earns Second Team Honors Drafted 47th overall last month, Svi Mykhailiuk has shot himself into the NBA landscape with a strong display at summer league. The rookie sharpshooter was named to the All-Summer League Second Team following a six-game run that saw him average 17.7 points and 3.0 made triples. Like Hart, Mykhailiuk has been devastating with his dribble, constantly getting to the cup (60.0 percent on twos) and pulling up for 3’s (42.9 percent). Impressive opening minutes for Svi Mykhailiuk. - Step-back J out of pick-and-roll. - Pull-up jumper off a couple screens. - Two grown-man rebounds in traffic. pic.twitter.com/oZMBCCj7NR — Joey Ramirez (@JoeyARamirez) July 8, 2018 As expected, he has been an excellent spot-up shooter, while also showing plenty of talent and hustle when it comes to passing, rebounding and defending. And like Hart, he saved his top game for the semifinals, dropping 31 points and six 3-pointers on Cleveland. Right before this sequence, someone on the Cavs bench yelled “He can’t guard you!” to the player covered by Svi. Not only did Svi stay in front and help force the turnover, he proceeded to hit a pull-up 3 in his face on the other end. pic.twitter.com/E2CRBGTZP0 — Joey Ramirez (@JoeyARamirez) July 17, 2018 The All-Summer League First Team was made up of Hart, Wendell Carter Jr., Kevin Knox, Collin Sexton and Christian Wood. Mykhailiuk was joined on the Second Team by Deandre Ayton, Wade Baldwin IV, Jaren Jackson Jr. and Trae Young. Hart — picked 30th last season — and Mykhailiuk were the only players on either All-Summer League team who were drafted later than 17th over the last two years. * With Hart taking MVP honors and Mykhailiuk selected to the Second Team by members of the media, the Lakers have repeated the awards that Lonzo Ball and Kyle Kuzma received last season, respectively. Now the Lakers hope that Hart, Mykhailiuk or one of their teammates can match Kuzma by being named Championship Game MVP in Tuesday night’s title match. *Wood went undrafted, but has been playing professionally for three seasons.