Week 6 of the NBA offseason brought a lot of signings along with some more trades. Summer League has officially wrapped after its championship on Monday Night and Team USA began Olympic pool play earlier today.
Monday July 22nd
Spencer Dinwiddie signs a 1 year deal with Mavericks. This is second stint with Dallas and it's assumed he signed for the minimum. Gives Mavs some ball handling off the bench.
Tuesday July 23rd
The Hornets waived Reggie Jackson and he was picked up by the 76ers. He brings another veteran with championship experience to the roster.
Wednesday July 24th
Andrew Nembhard signs a 3 year 59 million dollar extension with the Pacers. The starting shooting guard has shown tremendous development since being drafted by the team. A much earned deal for the former Gonzaga Bulldog.
Tom Thibodeau signs a 3 year extension with the Knicks and has been to the playoffs in back-to-back seasons.
Orlando Robinson signs a 1 year deal with the Kings.
James Johnson signs a 1 year 3.3 million dollar deal with the Pacers to return. He provides a veteran presence in the locker to help the young team.
Thursday July 25th
Anthony Gil signs a 1 year contract with the Wizards. It’ll be his fourth year on the team.
Killian Hayes signs a 1 year deal with the Nets. The tank is officially happening in Brooklyn now.
Friday July 26th
Tyus Jones signs a 1 year 3.3 million dollar deal with the Suns he gives the Suns a true point guard and helps the Suns also get a team friendly deal. However, they’re now approaching a potential 500 million dollar team including salary and luxury tax.
Summer League Championship
The Heat are the winners of the 2024 NBA Summer League. They beat the Memphis Grizzlies 120-118 in overtime. Josh Christopher was named championship game MVP with a stellar performance.
GG Jackson, Jordan Miller, Kel’el Ware, Scottie Pippen Jr., and Reed Sheppard were named to first team all-summer league. Jalen Wilson was named MVP.
Team USA
The USA played Germany on Monday for their final tune up game before starting pool play in the Olympics. Kevin Durant still did not play, but did practice with the team. Germany had previously beaten the USA in the FIBA world cup last summer. The entire game was very close and Joel Embiid finally seemed to get going after a slow first couple of games. The USA won 92-88 after Lebron James carried the team down the stretch of the game. A lot of people are going to say the USA should be winning these games by a lot, but it is good for them to play in close games. No one on the team seems panicked if the game is close at all which is good. Steve Kerr seemed to find the starting lineup that fits for his squad as well. It's also worth noting that every country is starting to put together really good teams with NBA caliber players.
Sunday July 28th
Earlier today the USA took on Serbia in the opening game of pool play in the 2024 Paris Olympics. The USA cruised to a dominant 110-84 win. Kevin Durant suited and had probably the best game by any player since the beginning of their showcase tour. He poured in 23 points on 8-9 shooting from the field and 5-5 from three. Lebron James also had 21 points, 8 rebounds and 9 assists in the win. He was an effective leader and seemed to get the team going after a slow start. The starting lineup for the USA was Steph Curry, Devin Booker, Jrue Holiday, Lebron James, and Joel Embiid. A slow start saw an early timeout and sub from Steve Kerr as the USA was down 10-2 three minutes into the game. Anthony Davis, Anthony Edwards, and Derrick White were first off the bench for the USA. Once the second unit got in the USA sped up the game and really took Serbia out of rhythm. They were able to make Jokic work for his points as he had 20, but on 8-15 shooting he also only took 3 threes making 1 of them. The USA led 25-20 after a Kevin Durant flurry of threes helped them take the lead late in the first quarter. The Second quarter saw Serbia play well, but the USA still played really well together. Durant didn’t miss a shot in the first half and anytime Serbia looked like they were getting back in the game. Lebron made sure his team got the best shot on the next possession down. The 58-49 lead at half was capped off by a Kevin Durant buzzer beater to end the first half. The second half saw a well oiled Team USA machine pull away and outscore Serbia by 17 in the second half. It’s also worth noting USA left the starters in at the end of the game because of one of the tiebreakers is point differential.
Storylines vs Serbia
After playing well Monday, Joel Embiid looked miserable today. He played the least amount of minutes of any player who played for the USA today. He looks sloppy passing the ball from double teams and was fouling Jokic a lot when was on him. Jokic did a lot of his damage when Embiid was guarding him.
I think it is worth looking at starting Davis over Embiid. His defensive presence is better and the USA doesn’t get hurt in transition as bad when Embiid is in the game.
Kevin Freaking Durant. Oh my god, he’s back. In just 17 minutes Durant poured in 23 points on 8-9 shooting on all jump shots. Pure hooper is what he’s known as and everything was on display. He hit catch and shoot shots, hesitations into his jumper and looked comfortable taking one or two dribbles into his jumper as well. He killed anyone who was guarding him today. Conditioning will be a future question for him as he said he was a little tired after the first today.
Jayson Tatum and Tyrese Haliburton both saw DNPs today, did not play, Seems like Kerr liked having James and Durant play together and Adebayo and Davis playing together. Kerr traditionally has played three guard lineups and doesn’t typically play bigger lineups. This is really my only reasoning as to why Tatum didn’t play. Tatum is 6’ 10” and is arguably one of the more versatile defenders on the team. His offense however doesn’t seem to fit with the rest of Team USA because he’s not a great spot up shooter and he’s not going to be a primary ball handler for them either. As for Haliburton I’m not surprised he didn’t play, he was pushed out of the rotation as the showcase tour continued. Haliburton was the obvious candidate to not get any playing time right after the roster was announced.
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