Jazz Summer League Squad Falls to Spurs’ Anderson & Co., 90-69

July 4th, 2016 | by Angie Treasure
(AP Photo/Kim Raff)

San Antonio Spurs’ Kyle Anderson (1) defends Utah Jazz’s Trey Lyles, right, as he looks for an opening in the second half of an NBA Summer League basketball game Monday, July 4, 2016, in Salt Lake City. (AP Photo/Kim Raff)

Summer League is all about evaluating players — NBA youngins and/or fringe guys hoping to make a roster — and the phrase “doesn’t belong” is something that has very different meanings when applied to any given player. For sophomore power forward Trey Lyles, not belonging was a good thing.

For the first quarter, anyway.

Second-year Trey

Trey Lyles looked really, really good in the opening minutes of the Independence Day scrimmage, racking up 11 points in just under four minutes of playing time. He was nailing the long ball early, going 3/3 from range.

As David Locke related, the coaching staff has made it a point of emphasis to put the ball in Trey’s hands and have him make plays, which he looked comfortable doing.

I, for one, am in luh luh love with the Trey Lyles rebound-and-go sequence.1 I think it’ll kill second units in the NBA.

“Obviously, he has the ability to play on the perimeter and make shots,” Jazz Summer League coach Johnnie Bryant said. “He will be fine for tomorrow.”

Trey “Mamba” Lyles ended the game with a respectable line of 13/12/2 in a hair under 30 minutes of playing time.

Defense (question mark?)

Trey cooled off significantly, however, and made some mistakes, especially on the defensive end. The Spurs made 20/25 shots in the paint (40 points, for those of us who don’t like math) and the team did little to deter the boys in black from dominating the paint.

“Defensively, we didn’t do a good job of getting shifted on the weak side,” Bryant said postgame. “We were shifting late and then once the ball got kicked out on close-outs, we had our hands down. They were able to hit some threes.”

The Spurs ended 10/26 from three for 38.5%. The game’s leading scorer — the slow-footed, old-man-game savant, Kyle Anderson — racked up 25 points in just over 26 minutes of action. Lyles didn’t seem like he was doing much to deter the third year small forward out of UCLA. 2

The Draftees

Speaking of belonging, while Lyles and “Slo Mo” definitely did, it’s TBD about whether the Jazz’s 2016 draftees — WSU product Joel Bolomboy and pair of PGs, Tyrone Wallace and Marcus Paige — did or not.

Bolomboy had the most pressure on him, with enough people in the crowd of over 7,000 Utahns rooting for him to make some significant noise in the building.

Joel struggled early, eventually scoring a single basket on five attempts, snagging five boards and collecting three fouls.

“I feel like there’s so much for me to learn,” he said in postgame with the media. “I’ve got to make sure I know every single play by heart. It has to be second nature to me.”

He did say having the first game — and first NBA basket under his belt — was a relief.

“Going into tonight, I didn’t really know what to expect. Getting that first game out of the way, I think, is a lot of pressure off my shoulders,” he said. “I think going into tomorrow, personally, I will do much better. The team, everybody, will bounce back.”

Paige — who looks particularly teensy out on the court with other NBA-sized talent — finished his 17:48 stint with 7 points and one assist. While his line might not have been killer, I can confirm KSL.com beat writer and Salt City Hoops overlord Andy Larsen’s affection for him is warranted. He was a wonderful interview, 3 and echoed some of what Bolomboy had to say.

“It was good to get the first one out of the way,” he said. “We have the right personnel to be a lot better. Personally, it was just good to get the first one out of the way and get the nerves out.”

Tyron Wallace — the long PG out of Cal — finished with 6 points, 2 assists and 5 rebounds.

Hanlan/Tibor

So last year’s rookies — the still-pretty Olivier Hanlan and resident giant person Tibor Pleiss — were sort of a mixed bag.

Tibor looked rough early, and though he was the biggest fella on the court, seemed to get bounced around a bit by opposing centers. As previously mentioned, 40 points in the paint for the Spurs was a lot, and even Pleiss’ nice 7’3” frame did little to deter that.

He did have a sequence in the second quarter where he had a tip-in, a midrange jumper and stepped back into a sweet three-pointer. Seeing a guy like that hit that shot is still a little surprising, even though we know he’s fully capable of it.

“My role is, right now, sometimes to stay on the three-point line and to be open or create some space,” Pleiss said after the game. “I think everybody has to get used to their roles and I try to accept my role.”

Olivier Hanlan started as the shooting guard, and last year’s draftee looked far more comfortable than I remember him being this time last year.

Hanlan seemed much more comfortable getting to the rim and knew how to use his speed against opposing big men in a more effective way. He wrapped up the game with 11 points on 6 shots, dishing 3 assists and grabbing 3 boards.

More games tomorrow and Thursday. It’ll be interesting to see if the team is able to keep the big guys from the Celtics and Sixers out of the paint better than they were able to tonight.

What did y’all see tonight? Let’s hear alllll the overreaction hot takes!

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