HOOPSPWORLD.COM: The Los Angeles Lakers opened their Summer League schedule off with a thrilling 66-64 victory over the Milwaukee Bucks – paramount to the team’s win was the clutch shot of Javaris Crittenton, the Lakers’ 19th overall pick.
Basketball News, bringing you the best coverage of the Vegas Summer League, caught up with Crittenton right after the game to get his thoughts on his outstanding debut. Crittenton finished the game with 18 points on 8-13 shooting, 4 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 steals in just over 25 minutes of play. Though he didn’t start the game, Crittenton made his presence felt by scoring the final points of the game, knocking down a 20-footer with three seconds remaining in the game to give the Lakers the lead and sealing the victory.
Unlike Marco Belinelli’s stellar introdcutory performance, Crittenton didn’t wow spectators with gaudy statistics (although he did do so with a few rather thunderous dunks over his opponents. Although his statline was very good, it’s important to remember that these games are Summer League games against sub-par, borderline-NBA talent (if not worse). It might go without saying but it should be reminded that scoring, rebounding, and blocking shots are amongst the things that are much easier to do at this level than in the league where the stronger, quicker players reside. Players can play very well against this competition, but it doesn’t necessarily mean anything as far as projections go.
However, there are certain traits that talent evaluators look for in these games to see whether a player has the skills that translate well to the NBA. When observing the game through that lens, how did Crittenton perform?
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