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With both the Orlando and Las Vegas Summer Leagues over we need to take stock of who did what, who improved, and what teams can do with this information. The NBA did release who they felt like did the best (based off of media voting), and the Utah Jazz ' bigman Rudy Gobert made the cut:
1st Team:
- Doug McDermott (Chicago Bulls)
- Donatas Motiejunas (Houston Rockets)
- Otto Porter (Washington Wizards)
- Glen Rice Jr. (Washington Wizards)
- Tony Snell (Chicago Bulls)
2nd Team:
- Rudy Gobert (Utah Jazz)
- Tim Hardaway Jr. (New York Knicks)
- Jordan McRae (Philadelphia 76ers)
- Russ Smith (New Orleans Pelicans)
- T.J. Warren (Phoenix Suns)
Also, it is important to note that Glen Rice Jr. also was selected as the MVP. Rice averaged 25.0 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 2.3 apg, 2.5 spg, and 0.5 bpg during his six games. For those who were worrying, don't worry, the SB Nation vote did include voting for Gobert to make the team. (As revealed to me late last night by the NBA league manager from SB Nation) Also, the guys who killed it, not surprisingly, where some of the guys Mychal and I really were excited for after the draft. You may remember that we couldn't stop talking about Snell, Rice Jr, Gobert, and Hardaway Jr.
This is an obvious no brainer as Gobert, in only four games, impressed all who saw him. He was percentage points off of a double-double average, and lead both leagues with an average of 2.5 blocks per game. As far as traditional bigmen go it's hard to get bigger than Rudy; and his play on the court further distances himself from the pack.
We are all expecting big things now, now that our feelings that Gobert is going to be great have been somewhat confirmed by a) on court production, and b) validation from other media members, and c) winning an award from the NBA.