UConn Summer League 2025 | Page 6 | The Boneyard

UConn Summer League 2025

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Horatio said:
Wasn’t he a good football player also??? That’s what I was referring to.
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He didn't play football at Albany Academy iirc. So he didn't at least past freshman year. I wouldn't mind him as a tall wideout though.
 
JohnFSilver said:
He has spent two years in nba. If he gets released he will get picked up for defense by someone. His biggest issue is the refusal to shoot. Has to slow it down on offense.

But. Wing defense is valuable.
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Is it? When you can’t score a lick? The NBA isn’t college ball where one dominant guy can be shut down with a closer and stunt a team. Everyone on the floor can shoot it, so if you have one guy that can’t, at all, the balance of value is massively limited.

One thing if you’re an average offensively player and a great defender, another if you’re scared of the rim.
 
ctbro1999 said:
Not UConn related but holy crap, this might be the best summer league dunk ever. And that guy's career just ended as well. LOL
www.threads.com

Ballislife (@ballislife) on Threads

Johnny Furphy on Noa Essengue might be the greatest Summer League dunk ever!
www.threads.com www.threads.com
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Certainly the best picture of a dunk. Furphy needs to actually get a poster of that.
 
husky429 said:
My good friend was a skill guy for the Hawks for years and I know plenty of others working with high level players.

The basic answer, honestly, is they don't reconstruct a shot very often at all. It's not worth it. Very few players do it successfully. Who's the last few NBA players to truly take their jumper and reinvent it? Building a new jumper is much easier.

College coaches VERY rarely overhaul a shot. We don't at UConn. There's a video out there of Pope saying how he doesn't teach shooting--he recruits it.

Small tweaks to a shot there are tons of drills for. Like Solo this past year... he upgraded his footwork and became a real shooter because of it.

Mostly players are just working on their footwork in the league. Or developing consistency in their form... not building a shot.
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I recall Kemba making an adjustment where he moved the point of release a lot higher during his NBA career. I suppose that might be called minor.
 
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Scoe said:
Cam is too good to be playing in summer league good to see him tear it up.
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I agree. Cam stated he is taking more of a leadership role on the Summer League team and that's very valuable to the others trying to play their way onto a roster because he can speak from personal experience.

Maybe that is why he is still playing because Memphis' management wants that. As far as proving performance, skill, and ability, he really has outgrown the Summer League.
 
Scoe said:
Cam is too good to be playing in summer league good to see him tear it up.
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That's why they locked him up to a contract. But I think they're letting him play because the rotation there is pretty tight so he could use the minutes.
 
Need to find replays from earlier this week but just watched the 3 most recent games for our guys

Samson had 10 minutes today! Was very active but mostly roaming around setting screens. Did have a nice block. 2 points and 3 rebounds

Adama played 19 minutes against the Wizards. He made the first basket of the game and then only took 2 more shots the entire game. Also spent most of the time setting screens and rebounding. Seems the Jazz have no plan for him, he's spent most games just roaming around screening. 3 points, 9 rebounds

Andre actually had some encouraging moments against the Bulls. His box score shows that he was 1-2 shooting so you'd think he was the same passive player on offense, but he was much more aggressive with the ball. Leading pick & rolls, driving, attacking on fast breaks. But most times, he still deferred to the pass at the last second instead of taking the shot. He did shoot and make a 3 with no hesitation and was even decently contested, maybe it was the camera angle but the form looked different. He almost ended someone's life on a poster dunk but got fouled and made 2 FTs. Defensively he did a great job. Positive steps but I think he's running/has already run out of time, especially with the Bucks signing Chris Livingston to a guaranteed deal (he has definitely been Milwaukee's best player in Summer League). 5 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists
 
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aceboon said:
probably the end for AJ in Milwaukee

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Livingston physically looks like an NBA player, is very aggressive and isn't afraid to impose his will and get inside to try to score.
AJ just looks lost.
I didn't see his most recent game but in the few others I saw parts of he didn't look comfortable doing much besides making an occasional great pass, running around a lot on defense without creating turnovers and avoiding shooting..... especially not driving inside to score. The last game I saw him in he drove into an open lane but instead of going to the basket and dunking he threw a pass behind himself to a guy beyond the three point line. And I think the guy missed.
It's bizarre.
Don't all these players have mentors or personal coaches that should clue him in that you won't last the way you're playing? Or does he sense it's over for him and he doesn't know what to do?
 
Scrutineer said:
Livingston physically looks like an NBA player, is very aggressive and isn't afraid to impose his will and get inside to try to score.
AJ just looks lost.
I didn't see his most recent game but in the few others I saw parts of he didn't look comfortable doing much besides making an occasional great pass, running around a lot on defense without creating turnovers and avoiding shooting..... especially not driving inside to score. The last game I saw him in he drove into an open lane but instead of going to the basket and dunking he threw a pass behind himself to a guy beyond the three point line. And I think the guy missed.
It's bizarre.
Don't all these players have mentors or personal coaches that should clue him in that you won't last the way you're playing? Or does he sense it's over for him and he doesn't know what to do?
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I think it was the first Vegas SL game I saw him do the same exact thing and it resulted in a turnover/bad pass over a teammates head at the 3 point line, just as Doc Rivers was on the broadcast saying he needed to work on his offense 30 seconds before.
 
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Mike Honcho said:
Tristen having a huge game with 2 minutes to go, up 3 points.

He's got 24pts, 10 assists, 5 rebounds on 8/11 shooting (6/9 from three). And just 3 turnovers.
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Besides UConn kicking arse and winning it all this upcoming season, nothing would make me more pleased as a basketball fan to see Newton, Sanogo, Bouknight, and other UConn players make it on a NBA roster, especially Newton and Sanogo. I was very pleased for Cam and the contract he got-he has earned this.

There is no question Newton and Sanogo can be back up level players off the bench on a NBA roster. As Queen Andrea (other alias, Mama Hurley) has said about the players, "these are my babies", LOL.

FWIW, having said that last statement, before anyone accuses me of being a UConn homer, I would say that I have been accused of the opposite. I have been flamed for being too critical of UConn players in the past as to how they performed at UConn or their draft prospects (i.e. Thabeet going #2).
 
Mike Honcho said:
Tristen having a huge game with 2 minutes to go, up 3 points.

He's got 24pts, 10 assists, 5 rebounds on 8/11 shooting (6/9 from three). And just 3 turnovers.
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Ahh. Twolves had the ball down 1 with 4.4 seconds to go and Tristen got called for a pushoff that essentially sealed the win for Houston. Disappointing end but still played great overall.
 
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Newton was on fire from three and hit a couple of tough twos as well. 10 assists and there were probably 3-4 left on the table from teammates dropping passes or missing bunnies

Weak push off call at the end. Refs kind of blew that one, but can’t blame the refs for losing a double digit 4th quarter lead
 
Cam isn't playing and Liam is ruled out for tonight's championship game. That means all of our guys are done playing in Summer League. I watched pretty much every game that UConn players were in, here is my summary of their performance

Adama Sanogo - 6 games, 4.7 PPG, 5.8 RPG, 1.3 APG shooting 85.7% FG (12-14) and 80% FT (4-5)
  • Unfortunately the Jazz had Adama mostly roaming around setting screens. Was efficient in the shots he did take, but didn't get many
  • Did match up against Ryan Kalkbrenner in one game and had a really strong game abusing Kalkbrenner's drop coverage through a two man game with Walter Clayton Jr. 8pts/8reb that game for Adama
  • Overall he didn't have the chance to show why he was an All G-League team player with his minimal touches. With his size/profile I don't see a long term NBA career, but he has a proven record of G League performance and should get that opportunity somewhere if he wants it
Andre Jackson - 4 games, 5.5 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 3.5 APG shooting 50% FG, 66.7% 3P (4-6), 100% FT (6-6)
  • Overall Andre was pretty disappointing. The Bucks wanted to see him take a step in scoring, and with the exception of the final game, he was way too hesitant to even look at the basket
  • I'm pretty worried here. The Bucks pushed back his contract guarantee date and then signed Summer League teammate Chris Livingston to a contract, so I feel like the writing is on the wall in Milwaukee. Hopefully they trade him somewhere to give him another chance instead of just benching or waiving him
Cam Spencer - 6 games, 18.0 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 3.0 APG shooting 46.6% FG, 46.5% 3P, 90.9% FT
  • Monster. Cam definitely earned that contract, he was a beast for Memphis
  • In his second game he shot 7-10 on threes and made 3 of them in 1 minute early in the game. Two games of 20+ points
  • Cam will get much deserved NBA minutes this year. So excited to see what he does with them
James Bouknight - 5 games, 12.6 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 3.0 APG shooting 64.5% FG, 52.6% 3P, 81.3% FT
  • Bouknight showed a much stronger overall game than we're used to seeing, playing as a scorer, rebounder, passer, and decent defender
  • Unfortunately I did notice a trend in most games where he would start the game off focused and energized, and get lazy/show bad body language as the game wore on
  • Did go crazy for 20 fourth quarter points in his 4th game (25 total), but overall I don't see much beyond a G League contract this season. He played well, but probably not well enough for a guaranteed deal unless someone is willing to take a bet on the upside of that 20pt quarter. He's only 24, so it's not completely unreasonable
Liam McNeeley - 2 games, 18.0 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 3.0 APG shooting 40.7% FG, 42.9% 3P, 88.9% FT
  • Liam only played 2 games due to injury, but he looked the part. Came out guns blazing in his first game with 22 points, 12 rebounds and 6 assists
  • He looked deadly as a shooter, looked not great as an iso scorer. This is not a surprise to us, but hoping that Charlotte keeps him in the right role
  • As pick #29, that first game shows that Liam could be a major draft steal if he maintains consistency and health. I definitely see real rotation minutes for him this season
Samson Johnson - 2 games, 3.0 PPG, 1.5 RPG, 1.0 BPG shooting 100% FG (2-2) and 100% FT (2-2)
  • Very active on the floor, but for the most part just roaming around and setting screens. Minimal minutes in minimal games, I'd expect Samson to end up overseas
Tristen Newton - 5 games, 9.4 PPG, 3.2 RPG, 3.2 APG, 2.0 SPG shooting 41.9% FG, 47.6% 3P, 90.9% FT
  • The stats look better than he was, they're boosted a lot by his final game where he went nuclear with 24 points/10 assists on 8-12 shooting and 6-9 from three. Excluding that game, he averaged 5.8 PPG, 1.5 APG on 26.3% FG and 33.3% 3P
  • Tristen alternated between on-ball and off-ball with mixed results in both roles. I don't see an NBA spot in Minnesota as they are already guard heavy with mostly young guys - Ant Man, DiVencenzo, TSJ, Dillingham. Two way deal feels right (he did very well in the G League last year), but if there's any NBA future, it's probably not in Minnesota
 
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husky429 said:
Sounds like Liam and Cam are the only two seeing real NBA minutes. Those two plus DC, Steph, Tyrese, and Hawkins is a nice step for our NBA pipeline. Only going to keep improving back to where we should be
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As long as we add one or two NBA guys every season, I’ll be happy. Nobody is keeping up with the Dukes and Kentuckys in this area.
 
Huskyforlife said:
As long as we add one or two NBA guys every season, I’ll be happy. Nobody is keeping up with the Dukes and Kentuckys in this area.
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I'm happy not to. Mix of tansfers and top high school talent is fine with me, and it's a winning formula.
 
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