Summer League 2022

Love the Home Alone reference. lol

One good tool to use in player comparisons. Manek on the court, team better.
Remind me of former UNC Marvin Williams, individual and aesthetically not pass ocular examinations, but when on court team better. But this at SL level vs NBA level…not even g league level.

Interest in seeing Greensboro, but needs to show real effort and work on conditioning…or can get paid more overseas as is.

1 Like

I totally agree on the Swarm roster spot. I think he’s worth a shot. I would not personally put a ton of stock into adv analytics of summer league. But if you want to go down that pathway, the hypothesis holds up that I stated earlier. He can shoot and has a quick trigger release, but he’ll be a sieve defensively against high level competition. Those defensive efficiency numbers don’t look good. And if they don’t look good in summer league…

Again, Manek’s ceiling is Joe Ingles lite. Teams can always use shooting. If Manek’s job is to stand in the corner and help space out the floor for 10-12 minutes a game. Then great. I would not expect much more.

As a Tar Heel, the Manek season was one of the most fun single season journeys I’ve watched, to the point he’s a fan favorite for most Heels fans.

I want to see him do well. I think his shooting was elite in college, and will translate into the pros. Give him time to get stronger and adjust to the speed of the game, I think you can always use a quick trigger shooter off the bench for depth for either spacing purposes or to try to give the offense a jolt. He has a nose for offensive rebounds and putbacks too.

It’s just weird seeing him kinda used as a wedge here as something “controversial”. He’s a classy guy, who’s fiery, competitive, and would be a fan favorite.

I’m not sure where those defensive efficiency stats came from. RealGM compiled summer leagues stats, and he’s ranked 262 on that rating, which matches the eye test we watched. The chart above would have him in the top 10 in defense for summer league, and we all saw him get torched enough on defense to know that’s not the case.

1 Like

I have just never seen a guy get hunted by offenses* in SL, especially in such a way that seemed to quickly discount happenstance. That was the wow moment for me. And that was happening from game 2. That tells me that he is [or minimally other teams see him as] a traffic cone defensively. That doesn’t mean he cannot get himself into a much better place defensively. But he’s not there now, that’s for sure.

As for adding him to the Swarm, that’s probably a good get. The shooting with that level of play will likely be valuable and also allow him to feel out the defensive needs in time. But I would not burn a 2-way contract on him, especially at the cost of bringing back Scottie Lewis post injury. I think Scotty in contrast has an ability to make a deep reserve role in the NBA sooner than later.

*doesn’t mean that other teams were making the shots created but that seemed (to me) secondary to that they are getting those looks. And the misses didn’t seem reasonably attributable to Manek.

I have thought that Manek has shown the shotmaking ability to get a look for sure. We knew he wouldn’t be a good defender. Maybe he is like a Mirotic type.

Full fledged argument - Its kinda hard to argue over numbers

summer league - Summer league is all that we have unless somebody has practice footage

Sample size - sample size increased by 25%!
Game4hammer

+50 offense to defense rating swing - everybody knows that he needs to improve his defense, that is why Cliff is here and Manek can read these stats just like us - shooting and team defense should be his focus this summer - improved team defense is obtainable for him

most boring street in America - never saw the movie

Marvin Williams - I was always annoyed to see him on the roster each year and in games. I always felt better about him after reading his nighly stats. He was Mr. Non-Sexy Consistency.

And if they don’t look good in summer league… Absolutely true. However, I was hoping that Gelo could be the 15th man but it looks like Manek is more deserving of that spot. I wish that Gelo was putting up Manek’s numbers but stats don’t accept wishes.

Wedge - No a hammer to beat down all the cheap shots on another thread

Scottie - got the 2-way that should have gone to Gelo last year. Now that he’s injured Manek deserve that contract.

Mirotic made 8 million from his last NBA contract. Talk about the good life!

Bro, you need to see the first home alone.

What do you guys think of Kenneth Lofton Jr of Memphis? From highlights it seems that he showed up at the SL, could be interesting to see him as a 10-Day Contract to see the fit in case Miles situation goes even worse.

Lofton Jr? About 4 weeks ago I went to look up his college numbers when he went undrafted and then I stopped when I saw the pictures. I cannot get over how fat that kid is. If KD was p!ssed of about James H’s conditioning then what would he (or any other NBA player) say about Jr?

loftonjr

Clearly this kid is not taking his job seriously. Nobody wants him on their team if he won’t move heaven and earth to make roster. I am irritated because this guy could make anywhere from $200k to 1million in ONE YEAR but he’s unwilling to give up cheeseburgers to get paid.

If he lost weight then I would say that the Hornets should give him a two way.

1 Like

I 100% agree. I think he shows the capability of a good player, but it is not acceptable to not be in shape when you are looking to make millions, possible tens of millions.

Sounds like he’s taking the Sean May approach to things.

Remember that teen World Cup thing last summer, Lofton and Chet next to each other and thinking…wow these guys got skills…but really need to swap what eating. then Lofton can be sleeper, Chet not a Bradley bust. But Man have got fatter/thinner?

I think he’s worth a shot, he’s only 19 and just put up great numbers in the Summer league. Put him on the Swarm and set him up with a personal chef.

1 Like