Use this space to discuss the Wizards' second Summer League game.
Fresh off an ugly 56-52 loss to the Golden State Warriors in their Summer League opener, the Washington Wizards will take on the New York Knicks Sunday at 4 p.m. EST. The game will be on Comcast SportsNet if you're in market and NBATV if you're not.
The Knicks certainly don't have as many accomplished players on their Summer League roster as the Warriors did. Iman Shumpert is the standout, but it sounds like he won't play in this one. Otherwise, the only players to really watch are first-round pick Tim Hardaway Jr., undrafted signee C.J. Leslie and former Warriors big man Jeremy Tyler. The Knicks also have J.R. Smith's brother, Chris, who will likely start in Shumpert's absence.
A few things I'm hoping to see.
Otto Porter's aggression: Sam Cassell said it: Porter needs to be more aggressive today. I understand, to some degree, why Porter was passive Saturday, and he did a few other things that helped the team. But when he gets the opportunity to attack, he has to do better than settle for difficult runners like this.
Porter still has to get a lot stronger, of course, so he might get punished if he drove. But I'd like to see him try and live with the punishment instead of settling for tough shots.
It'll be interesting to see if the shooting guard experiment continues. If it does, expect to see more of Porter running through screens, like you see here.
Either way: Porter needs to play better today.
Shoot the three, Chris! It bugged me so much to see Singleton step one foot inside the line on pick and pops, clanking 17-footers instead of trying to work on his three-point shot. The results were basically the same if he moved inside and it's worth one less point. If Singleton wants to occupy the Stretch 4 role, he needs to actually act like a Stretch 4 instead of taking a shot like this.
Now is the time to test your range, Chris. Take advantage.
More impact from Jan Vesely: He was fine on Saturday, but he didn't really dominate the glass or act like a force at the rim like I had hoped. I would like to see him be more of a beast, essentially. Hopefully he can do that against a weak Knicks front line.
Smarter play from Glen Rice Jr.: I liked a lot of what I saw from Rice on Saturday. He was aggressive, snaring seven rebounds, and attacked the hoop on multiple occasions. There were a couple forced plays and loopy shots, like the possession with 30 seconds left that killed the Wizards' comeback effort, but I thought he also did a nice job of working within the flow of the offense. This play was my favorite, besides his dunk.
The next step, though, is to be more detail-oriented. Cassell singled out his bad reach-in foul up two while in the penalty with just over a minute remaining, but this defensive rotation, where he ran out to a wing shooter and left Kent Bazemore wide open in the corner, also stood out.
Still, it was a solid debut considering the ugliness of the game as a whole. I'm looking for more of the same today.
This is your open thread.
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