Image via Complex Original
DeAndre Jordan
Image via USA TODAY Sports / Troy Taormina
Summer League stats: 4 games, 25.8 MPG, 7.7 PPG, 7.7 RPG, 1.2 BPG, 4 Fouls Per Game, 41.7 FT%
Career stats: 26.1 MPG, 8 PPG, 9 RPG, 1.7 BPG, 41.7 FT%
Considering that Jordan just signed a four-year/$80 million contract, it’s difficult to remember that Jordan was once a lowly sought-after second-round pick who struggled in the Summer League. Nevertheless, in 2008, Jordan had difficulty grasping the nuances of the pro game en route to an uneventful Las Vegas summer league that saw him net averages of 7.7 points and rebounds per game. Moreover, Jordan looked ill-equipped to become an elite defender, averaging four fouls per contest, in only 25.8 minutes per game. After his introductory showing in the Summer League, Jordan looked like a freakish athlete playing basketball, rather than a basketball player, who happened to be an elite athlete.
And for a while after that uninspiring showing, Jordan looked destined for to be another lifelong “project” big man, who would never live up to his physical tools. But following the arrival of Chris Paul in 2011, and then Doc Rivers in 2013, Jordan began to erase memories of his so-so summer league debut, morphing himself into an elite rim protector and dunker. In his previous two seasons in Los Angeles, Jordan went bonkers, averaging 10.9 points, 14.3 rebounds and 2.3 blocks per game. Now a far cry from the 19-year-old who looked lost on an NBA court, and officially back with the Clippers, Jordan is ready to help lift Los Angeles to a long-sought title.
Patrick Beverley
Summer League stats: 4 games, 24.7 MPG, 5.8 PPG, 34.8 FG%, 0 3-PT%
Career stats: 27.4 MPG, 8.9 PPG, 40.1 FG%, 36.1 3-PT%, 3 APG, 1.1 SPG
Before becoming the starting point guard for the Houston Rockets, Beverley was a second-round pick fighting for a roster spot on the Miami Heat prior to the 2010-2011 season. Despite the inauspicious circumstances surrounding the beginning of his career, Beverley did not impress in his Summer League debut, averaging only 5.8 points and 1.75 assists per game, while shooting zero (yes, zero) percent from the 3-point line in four Summer League games.
As a result of his poor performance, Beverley would not play a regular season NBA game until 2012-2013, when he developed into a defensive stopper of sorts for the Houston Rockets. Since the Rockets gave him that opportunity, Beverley has run with it, quelling most concerns about his shooting and scoring. In the two seasons after his rookie year, he has averaged double figures in points and shot over 35 percent from the 3-point line as well.
Beverley’s improvement has been rewarded, as he signed a four-year, $25 million contract this offseason, despite suffering a season-ending wrist injury in late March. Not bad for someone who literally couldn’t make a 3 in the Summer League.
Marcin Gortat
Summer League stats: 4 games, 14.5 MPG, 4.8 PPG, 4.2 RPG
Career stats: 25.1 MPG, 9.9 PPG, 7.6 RPG, 1.2 BPG
Coming into the 2005 Summer League, Marcin Gortat was an unheralded European center coming out of the German league—and he performed like it. Gortat played four games with the Orlando Magic, averaging only 4.8 points and 4.2 rebounds in 14.5 minutes per game.
His humdrum Summer League performances seemingly carried over into the regular season, where he never averaged more than four points and 15.8 minutes per game in three and a half seasons with the Magic. With such an underwhelming start to his career, it came as a surprise to see Gortat flourish in the 2009 playoffs, where he filled in admirably for Dwight Howard. Shortly after Gortat’s late-season success, the Magic re-signed him, but traded him to the Phoenix Suns less than six months after. In Phoenix, Gortat flourished, never averaging less than 11 points and 8.5 rebounds per game, including 15.4 points and 10 rebounds per game in 2011-2012. Even though Gortat cemented himself as a legitimate starting center in Phoenix, he was traded to the Washington Wizards, where he continued to produce and help the franchise win its first playoff series since 2005.
It may have taken Gortat a few years to blossom and shake off the initial disappointment of the Summer League, but the five-year/$60 million contract he signed in the summer of 2014 was a reaffirmation of how far he has come since his slow start.
Nicolas Batum
Summer League stats: 5 games, 27.1 MPG, 6.8 PPG, 34.3 FG%, 11.1 3-pt%, 56.2 FT%
Career stats: 30.8 MPG, 11.2 PPG, 44.6 FG%, 36.3 3-pt%, 83.4 FT%, 5.1 RPG, 3 APG, 0.9 SPG
After getting drafted by the Houston Rockets (and subsequently getting traded to the Portland Trail Blazers) it was clear that the 19-year-old French national player was going to go through some growing pains before making his mark in the NBA.
That was apparent in his first five Summer League games; Batum struggled to see the ball go through the hoop, averaging a pedestrian 6.8 points per game, while shooting 34.3 percent from the field, including 11.1 percent from the 3-point line. In addition to his offensive woes, Batum was a non-factor on defense, only averaging 0.2 steals per game.
However, at the end of his rookie year, Batum would find his shooting stroke, upping his field goal percentage to 44.6 percent and his 3-point percentage to 36.9 percent. By the conclusion of the 2012-2013 season, Batum was one of the premiere “three-and-D” players in the league, averaging 14.3 points per game, while routinely defending the opposing team’s best players on a nightly basis. Though his production and efficiency have decreased in the past couple of seasons, Batum is still capable of spacing the floor and providing solid defense on the perimeter, two things that seemed farfetched when Batum introduced himself in the summer of 2008.
David West
Summer League stats: 4 games, 19.5 MPG, 6.5 PPG, 47.4 FG%, 4.8 RPG
Career stats: 31.8 MPG, 15.5 PPG, 48.9 FG%, 7.2 RPG
Although David West wasn’t terrible during his time in the Summer League, he also didn’t do anything to stand out. Only playing 19.5 minutes per game in four summer league games with the New Orleans Hornets in 2003, West only managed to score 6.5 points per game, while hauling down 4.8 rebounds per game.
In spite of a rough Summer League and first couple of seasons, West was able to improve every season, eventually culminating in a breakout season in 2005-2006, when he posted averages of 17.1 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. From that point until 2011, when he left the Hornets, he became one-half of one of the best tandems in the NBA when paired with Chris Paul. West’s tenure in New Orleans solidified his status as one of the most consistent front-court players in the league, never averaging less than 18 points in his final five seasons there. Even after his time in New Orleans, West continued his success, helping turn the Indiana Pacers into an Eastern Conference contender.
As West gears up for one last title run with the San Antonio Spurs, it is apparent that he has outgrown the sub-par Summer League showing from 2003, turning himself into what could be an essential piece to a championship team.
Danny Green
Summer League stats: 5 games, 20.5 MPG, 8.2 PPG, 36.4 FG%, 29.4 3-PT%, 2.6 RPG
Career stats: 24.4 MPG, 9.6 PPG, 44 FG%, 42 3-PT%, 3.3 RPG
Drafted by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the second round of the 2009 NBA Draft, Danny Green struggled to make any sort of impact with the team during LeBron’s first stint in Ohio. The former McDonald’s All-American played just 20 games during his rookie season before eventually being waived. And his Summer League debut wasn’t much better, either. In five games, Green hardly flashed the same effectiveness from downtown that has become his trademark today.
Of course, Green would eventually bounce back. The San Antonio sharpshooter recently signed a four-year/$45 million deal with the Spurs, effectively locking himself in as a permanent member of the team’s next Big Three of Kawhi Leonard, LaMarcus Aldridge, and himself. Oh, and let’s not forget about the NBA championship he helped deliver to the city in 2014, when he shot 47.5 percent from deep throughout the playoffs.
Trey Burke
Summer League stats: 4 games, 27 MPG, 8.75 PPG, 24.1 FG%, 5.3 3-PT%
Career stats: 31.2 MPG, 12.8 PPG, 37.4 FG%, 32.4 3-PT%, 5 APG
Trey Burke isn’t running circles around the league, but considering his rough Summer League start, he’s bounced back pretty well.
Before his rookie season, Burke put together lackluster Summer League performances, averaging 8.75 points per game on 24.1 percent field goal percentage, including an abysmal 5.3 percent from the 3-point line in four Summer League games.
Despite a borderline disastrous start to his career, Burke rebounded in his rookie year to the tune of 12.8 points and 5.7 assists per game. In his second season, he continued his success, duplicating his scoring average and averaging a respectable 4.3 assists per game on an improved Utah Jazz squad. Granted, Burke’s career may already be at a crossroads, having lost his starting spot last season, but it’s evident that he’s a much superior player than the one he showcased in his first Summer League.
Greivis Vasquez
Summer League stats: 5 games, 26.1 MPG, 7 PPG, 35.1 FG%, 30.8 3-PT%, 4 APG, 2 RPG
Career stats: 24.1 MPG, 9.2 PPG, 4.9 APG, 2.6 RPG, 42.2 FG%, 35.6 3-PT%
Being a first-round pick in the 2010 draft, Greivis Vasquez was expected to become an effective combo guard for the Memphis Grizzlies, and somebody who could provide a little bit of everything in relief of Mike Conley. However, his production in the Las Vegas summer wasn’t encouraging at all.
The 6’6” lead guard struggled building any type of rhythm, averaging only seven points and four assists on 35.1 percent shooting in five games. As a result of his inability to create much of anything, Vasquez also often found himself in uncompromising positions, leading to the 3.8 turnovers he committed per game.
Such a slow start would signal doom for most players that early-on in their NBA careers, but Vasquez was able to shrug off his summer struggles and turn into one of the league’s most dynamic backup guards. Following a rookie season in which he played sparingly, Vasquez demonstrated an innate ability to distribute the ball to his teammates, averaging 7.1 assists from 2011-2014. Additionally, Vasquez has been able to sustain his success the last two seasons in Toronto playing a key role in the Raptors’ playoff runs. Over the course of his career, he has solid averages of 9.2 points and 4.9 assists per game, while shooting 42.2 percent from the field, proving that slow starts don’t always mean much in the NBA.
Serge Ibaka
Summer League stats: 9 games, 17.9 MPG, 8.4 PPG, 49.2 FG%, 0.7 BPG, 4.3 RPG
Career stats: 28.2 MPG, 11.4 PPG, 53.3 FG%, 7.5 RPG, 2.6 BPG
Ibaka’s debut was hardly the block party that us and his opponents have come to expect from the Congolese-Spanish big man. Call it culture shock. Because while Ibaka failed to impress during his debut, and didn't put up startling numbers in his rookie season, the Oklahoma City star quickly turned things around in his second season and beyond.
After averaging just 6.3 PPG and 1.3 BPG in his first year, Ibaka bumped those averages up to 9.9 and 2.4 in his sophomore campaign. In the seasons to come, he would lead the league in blocks twice and earn three selections to the NBA's All-Defensive First Team.
Wesley Matthews
Summer League stats: 8 games, 7.7 PPG, 34.7 FG%, 21.4 3-PT%, 0.7 APG, 1.3 RPG
Career stats: 32.2 MPG, 14.3 PPG, 44.3 FG%, 39.3 3-PT%, 3.1 RPG, 2.1 APG
If there's one aspect of Matthews' game that has been consistent every year since he started playing, it's his shooting. His field goal percentage has always hovered in the mid-40s, while his efficiency from deep has never sunk below 38 percent. Perhaps nerves or rust contributed to his lackluster Summer League performances, when he played for the Utah Jazz in the Orlando league and the Sacramento Kings in the Las Vegas league. Whatever the case, his shooting was notably off-target.
However, it isn't bothering Matthews anymore. After eventually signing with Utah, the undrafted Marquette product has carved out a name for himself as one of the most consistent shooting guards in the league. Fresh from five strong seasons as a Portland Trail Blazer, even a torn Achilles—commonly regarded as one of the most disastrous injuries to befall a basketball player—couldn't keep Matthew from getting his this offseason, when he signed a four-year/$64 million deal with the Dallas Mavericks.