5 most impressive rookies in Summer League

It’s dangerous to draw too many conclusions from a few games of NBA Summer League, but these five rookies acquitted themselves very well.

Some NBA fans claim the big man is dying, but you wouldn’t know it from watching rookies play in NBA Summer League over the past two weeks. The bigs at the top of the draft have stood out in a major way in their first opportunity to shine for their new teams.

Of course, you have to take Summer League performances with a grain of salt. We are talking about really small sample sizes here. Even so, you can get a good read of how a prospect is going to adjust to the modern game by watching these glorified scrimmages. You can’t write a rookie off or anoint them as a Hall of Famer, but their play in the summer is still a useful data point.

We’ll take you through the top five rookies who impressed over the past couple weeks. The teams that drafted these guys should feel very good about their selections.

5. Mo Bamba

Orlando fans haven’t had a ton of reasons to be excited lately, but adding Mo Bamba to their frontcourt mix certainly qualifies as a reason for optimism. Predictably, he used his length and quick feet to serve as an excellent rim protector during his three games in Vegas.

What might surprise the Magic front office is how well he played on the offensive end. Bamba averaged just under nine points per game in roughly 20 minutes of action. More importantly, he did it efficiently, on 60 percent shooting from the floor.

The Magic don’t need Bamba to be a dominant offensive force next season, but they’re going to need him to be an active participant on that end of the floor. His offensive activity in Vegas makes it pretty clear he can score enough to keep defenses honest as a rookie. That, combined with his ability to be a dominant rim protector should allow Bamba to make an impact early in his career.