2016 LVSL: The ‘All-What Are They Even Doing Here?’ Team

Friday’s Las Vegas Summer League meeting between the Minnesota Timberwolves and the Denver Nuggets was slated to be a highly-anticipated meeting between a pair of top picks from the 2016 Draft in Minnesota’s Kris Dunn and Denver’s Jamal Murray. While Dunn certainly stole the show (and Murray had his moments as well), it was the Nuggets’ 2015 starting backcourt of Emmanuel Mudiay and Gary Harris that ultimately led Denver to an 88-82 victory.

For many undrafted players and D-League stalwarts, Summer League represents an opportunity to simply be seen. For some like Mudiay, who had his share of ups and downs last season, it’s an opportunity to build on the foundation of his rookie campaign and see how far the extra year of experience has brought him. However, the inclusion of Harris — a third-year guard and 76-game starter for the fledgling Nuggets — was viewed as a bit of a head-scratcher.

It’s not that he’s too old. He’s not even the oldest player on the Nuggets’ Summer League Roster (Hello, Jimmer). But for a player who was already a key cog on the main roster and whose development has already come a considerable way over the past two seasons, there was a question of “What is he even doing here?”

Apparently, the Nuggets asked themselves the same question following their debut victory, as Harris promptly sat out Saturday’s 106-62 victory over the Grizzlies, with the Denver Post’s Malika Andrews reporting that he was done for the week.

After two days of action in Las Vegas, it’s clear that Harris isn’t the only one in that group at Summer League. There are a few guys who are too good to be here; Summer League “veterans” who probably aren’t getting all that much out of just dominating the competition the way they are.

Without further ado, here’s the All-‘What Are They Even Doing Here?’ Team for the 2016 Las Vegas Summer League.

Guard: D’Angelo Russell

Russell didn’t have the most spectacular stat line in Saturday night’s showdown between the Lakers and Sixers. True, the second-year guard finished with 22 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds, but it came on 40 percent shooting, with 6 turnovers, and he seemingly spent L.A.’s defensive possessions checking Twitter or something equally productive.

However, with the game on the line, Russell knocked down a pair of clutch jumpers, including a 3 at the buzzer to give the Lakers a 70-69 win, much to the delight of the heavy pro-Lakers contingent at the Thomas & Mack Center.

Russell, to his credit, realized that his performance was not quite up to expectations, telling ESPN’s J.A. Adande in a postgame interview “I played like s–t!” But despite his shooting woes, Russell looked effortlessly comfortable on many possessions, getting the shots he wanted, just failing to knock them down. From a process-over-outcomes perspective, it really wasn’t too far off from Friday’s performance where he shot 7-12 and turned in 20 points, 6 assists, 11 rebounds and 3 steals in the Lakers’ domination of the New Orleans Pelicans. It’s clear that Russell’s going to be able to get just about anything he wants against most guards here in Vegas, which raises the question of how much he’s actually going to benefit from the experience.

Guard: Devin Booker

I mean, you guys watched Devin Booker play basketball last year, right…? This really isn’t fair.

Despite being an actual teenager competing against literal men, he looks like a man among boys out there. Get him off the court.

Forward: Kyle Anderson

The 2015 Summer League MVP is back to defend his crown, though after establishing himself as a fairly consistent part of the Spurs rotation towards the end of last season, it’s not entirely clear why. Among all 2016 Summer League participants — Orlando and Utah Summer Leagues included — Anderson posted the second-highest VORP last season, trailing only Gary Harris.

Speaking of Utah Summer League, Anderson was there last week, leading all players in scoring with 23.7 points per game, along with 8.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, 3.3 steals and 1.3 blocks. Anderson’s Vegas debut was a bit more subdued, as he went for 14 points, 8 rebounds, 2 assists, 2 steals and 3 blocks, but he remained the same steadying presence, doing more than a little bit of everything for the Spurs in their 63-61 win over Golden State. 2016 LVSL Kyle Anderson looks a lot like 2016 USL Kyle Anderson, which coincidentally looked an awful lot like 2015 LVSL Kyle Anderson. When you’re top of the class for that long, it’s probably time to graduate.

In an interview with the San Antonio Express-News, Anderson said “I’m coming out here to play basketball. There are few things I’ve got to work on to get ready for October, just like last year.” Hard to argue with that logic. But Summer League opponents probably wish he’d find a new place to get ready.

Forward: Larry Nance Jr.

Nance was something of a revelation last year as a rookie, going from an opening night inactive to briefly wrestling the starting power forward job away from Julius Randle last December.

Perhaps the biggest work in progress of the players on this list, Nance tends to rely largely on his athleticism on both ends of the court. The problem is, that athleticism is something of a game-changer in Summer League.

In Friday’s opener, he flew all over the court, contributing 11 points, 9 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal. Against the Sixers, he upped the ante, putting up 13 points, 8 rebounds, 4 assists, 4 blocks and 7 steals. Between him and rookies Brandon Ingram and Ivica Zubac, that’s just way too much length. Nance has shown some flashes of an improved jumper so it’s not as if he hasn’t been using the time to hone new skills, but he’s mostly just been wreaking havoc with his athleticism and making the Lakers an absolute nightmare to try to score against.

Given the benchmark that Nance has set so far, it might not be the worst idea to see how someone like Zach Auguste can do with those minutes. Or… you know, Julius Randle.

Center: Bobby Portis

On paper, it actually makes a fair amount of sense that Portis would be back at Summer League this year. The youngest member of a crowded frontcourt in Chicago, Portis was a bright spot for the Bulls but failed to earn consistent minutes. After a season like that, the natural line of thinking would be to get that guy on the court against Summer League competition to see how he’d handle a bigger role as one of the team’s focal points.

Then you take it off paper and into reality and this happens:

Portis was an absolute monster against the Celtics, getting everything he wanted on offense and conceding nothing that he didn’t on defense. 17 points on 7-12 shooting, 13 rebounds and 1 monstrous block. If there was anything to be unsure of before, that uncertainty should be all but gone by now. This is Bobby Portis’s playground. He’s ready.