The Utah Jazz Summer League opened up Monday with two games: San Antonio took on Philadelphia in the opener and Utah faced Boston in the nightcap, with the Spurs and Jazz coming out victorious.
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Joining Okafor in Monday’s starting lineup will be two players from last year’s roster, Jerami Grant and Furkan Aldemir. Though all his shots didn’t go in, his jumper had a natural quick release, and he was effective in his spot-up shots from mid-range off the pick-and-pop. Yet it was not the ex- Duke Freshman that stared to begin the game, but San Antonio’s Dairis Bertans.
The 6-11, 270-pound center from Duke is one of only two players who are expected to play in both the Utah and Las Vegas Summer Leagues for the Sixers.
“I could have played better”, Okafor said. Momentum was completely shifted in Salt Lake City, yet the Spurs overcame the Sixers’ increased confidence and raced off twelve consecutive points to steal back the lead early in the fourth quarter. He seems to the naked eye like the prototypical Spurs organization guy, perhaps a replacement for recently-departed Marco Belinelli with a high on-court IQ and an excellent shooting stroke. His isolation defense was intimidating and disruptive. “I think it’s understanding where the rotations and the double teams are, the angles and where he has to get the ball against these type of players”. The team is even considering using him as a point guard.
Games like these make one wonder whether Anderson has the chops to make an National Basteball Association rotation. The result doesn’t matter to the Magic’s coaching staff as much as the development of their young players, and in that area they have nothing to worry about. Here were some observations that were noted about some of the players on the Spurs’ squad.
“I just got more comfortable”, Okafor said according to Philly.com. While the flaws many pointed out about Okafor were on display – poor free throw shooting and defensive awareness, mainly – Okafor bounced back from a bad first half in which he went 3-of-11 to finish the game by making seven of his 11 second-half shots.
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The full severity and recovery time of the injury is yet to be seen, but it could be a major letdown for Jerrett if he’s done any sort of longer-term damage, especially in his first action of the entire summer. LJC is still really raw on the offensive end, as he shot 3-of-11 from the floor and his form on his jumper was a little slow, but defensively and playing off the ball, he showed why he has some talent, when the Spurs drafted him in 2013 in the first round. He consistently made plays on every level. “It’s a process, and hopefully I’ll play better in the next game”.
