First Impressions: Lakers Summer League (07/11/15)

They say first impressions are the most important. Well if that's true, then in this humble blogger's opinion the Lakers have a very bright future ahead. All of the Lakers rookies took the floor for the first time last night as professionals. The team ended up losing the game, but each player showed flashes of what they can be in this league, and that's pretty much what you want to see out of summer exhibition play.

Here's what I saw from each player:

D'Angelo Russell
- Cooler than the other side of the pillow, he came out calm and collected. The moment wasn't too big for him.
- He hit shots, showed his bball IQ with his passing, and looked more than comfortable running the offense
- He competed defensively.
- Russell made a few rookie mistakes like getting a backcourt violation when he didn't realize the NBA rules were different from college.
- Overall Russell will continue to adjust to the pace of the NBA and become one of the main offensive orchestrators on the team.

Julius Randle
- Got to whatever spot he wanted on the court when he wanted. He was by far the strongest player playing.
- Looked really rusty and missed easy shots he normally makes. He was out of rhythm until the end of the 4th
- He didn't let the game come to him and tried to force the issue a little bit
- His conditioning is much improved and he looked very athletic, getting a putback dunk and a driving dunk over Payne
- Overall this was promising for Randle. As he gets more time we'll see him back to the level he was at in the preseason last year. That was when he was mixing up the jumper with his driving game nicely.

Jordan Clarkson
- This dude was on a whole other level from everyone else on the court. He had a nice duel with Zach Lavine too.
- He looked poised, athletic, and his jumper is getting deadly
- Clarkson was just better than everyone last night. His experience and the work he has been putting in shows. Check out the highlights
- Overall he's mostly playing in SPL to gain chemistry with the rest of the Lakers young core. He's doing a great job

Robert Upshaw
- He looked awkward and out of shape at times, but above all else this kid competed. He went right at the number 1 overall pick in Karl Anthony Towns. They had a nice battle that got a little heated.
- Even out of shape he impacted the game defensively by getting 3 blocks
- He has a little bit of a nasty attitude when he competes. Like MWP did. The kind of dude you love on your team and hate when he's not.
- Overall I was impressed. And so were the Lakers because they signed him to a contract! Exactly what I wanted to happen. Bye Sacre.

Anthony Brown
- Played his role well. Hit open shots and played solid defense
- He made a few mistakes lie everyone else but he did what is asked of him.
- Overall I like him and his game. I want to see if he has that fire to compete or if he is laid back all the time

Tarik Black
- Overall he looks much the same as last year, which isn't a bad thing. He should be a solid backup center until Upshaw is ready or if the Lakers want to run small ball

Larry Nance Jr.
- A lot of what he did won't show up in the highlight reel unless they show his poster dunk attempt.
- Overall he hustled a lot and showed his tremendous motor. He'll get mor playing time tonight with Julius Randle held out as a precaution by the training staff

The Lakers will play again tonight at 5:30pm PST against the 76ers summer league team. I'll have analysis up on that as soon as I can.

Also, coming up soon on July 23rd I'll be apart of a team doing missionary work in Kenya. We'll be working in Kibera Slums which is the largest slum in Africa and is home to over 2 million people. There is one toilet with plumbing for every 2000 people there. We are in need of prayers and financial assistance. We're at about 48% funded right now. If you'd like to give you can at the link below:

www.wateroflifecc.org/gorgive

Register and then hit the give to teams button to select "2015 - Kenya Team 1" and my name is Jason

Thank you SO MUCH for your help. Any amount counts :)

Thanks for reading, go Lakers!!!