Summer League 2023 Scouting: Middle School Bullies

Two games are in the books for the summer Cavs of ’23 along with two wins. One thing was readily apparent when watching them: these guys have played together for a long time. The core of this summer league team, Sharife Cooper, Sam Merrill, and Isaiah Mobley, played together all last season for the Cleveland Charge, and it showed Friday during a 101-97 squeaker against Brooklyn and during a 99-76 blowout Sunday versus the Raptors. The rest of the Cavs’ July rotation feature guys from real pro leagues like Europe or Australia, or upper classmen like Pete Nance or Craig Porter Jr. The elder Cavs took some lunch money from the less experienced players like Grady Dick.

The Cavs looked to turn rebounds, blocks, and steals into transition opportunities as they repeatedly got out and ran against both squads. While it didn’t show up in the field goal percentage against Brooklyn, Cleveland’s aggression did show up in the Cavs’ 57-40 free throw advantage across two games and 47%-35% field goal advantage against Toronto.

With Sharife Cooper playing scoring guard, and Sam Merrill playing shooting guard, it was up to Isaiah Mobley to run the offense for Cleveland. Mobley the elder, averaged 15 points, 7.5 rebounds, and five assists in about 16 minutes a game to go with only two turnovers. He frequently brought the ball up on offense and found guys in the half court as he played in the low and high post kicking the ball to shooters and finding cutters. But the whole Cavs team were willing passers throughout both contests, notching 38 assists, and 57 trips to free throw line across those two contests. Mobley himself added 20 trips in the two games, using his experience and craftiness to draw fouls from the youngsters without as much control of their bodies. He’s not a dominating finisher, but he will score against inexperienced players, even if his jumper still looks sus.

Sharife Cooper got to the line at will as well against Brooklyn, and no one on that squad could contain him as he dropped 27 on just twelve field goal attempts. Sharife drove, shot, and  attacked his way to the He also almost single handedly held them off after a furious Brooklyn rally had cut the Cavs lead to just one with 3.5 minutes to go. After a pair of Mobley freebees and a nifty back door cut and finish by Emoni Bates, Cooper scored eight straight to keep the Nets just out of reach and win the game. Against Toronto, Cooper wasn’t the scoring machine he’d been Friday, but he did manage to notch five dimes and eight points as he looked to run the offense a bit more instead of just attacking. Though he did manage to finish 15-17 from the lines across those two contests.

Sam Merrill also acquitted himself well, but he should. The dude is 27. Merrill was not afraid to pull the trigger from deep, canning 7-20 across two games, and averaging 14.5 points, scoring in isolation, transition, the Korver curl screen at the top of the key play, and the occasional back door cut. Our man Sam also added 10 boards and five assists against Brooklyn, but no other counting stats against the Raptors. Of course, that’s because the Cavs front court was on the glass, and the Cavs’ guards and wings were consistently leaking out for easy buckets or trips to the line.

Speaking of having no conscience when shooting, Emoni Bates is never afraid to let it fly. He definitely gets that look in his eye and you know he wants to pull up. Bates catapulted 4-13 triples, Friday, with absolutely no hesitation. While his touch is uncanny, and his release is lightning, Bates’ shot is still a little too flat for my taste, and being so damned willowy, he tends to drift. But as noted earlier, he did have a big layup late against Brooklyn, and had an all-around solid game against the Raps, even though he only went 1-5. Emoni only chucked a couple times from deep, and really used the threat of his jumper to drive by guys, and threw couple unexpectedly nice passes. He looked good without the ball too, catching in the mid range and banking one in off a spin, or throwing down an and-1 oop from Craig Porter Jr.

Where Bates gets in trouble is when he doesn’t dish the rock on a drive. He’s not quick, explosive, or strong enough to get to the rack consistently, and his floater game is garbage. Bates shoots this running, flat floater that hits the back of the rim like the new guy too sober and amped up to finish out a round of quarters. He’s so willowy that he drifts if he elevates at all. The dude desperately needs to work on his explosiveness and not just using his length to score against lesser opponents like he did in high school and college. Emoni Bates also has the narrowest hips of any NBA player I’ve ever seen.

Bates floats on offense, waiting to get the ball on a kick-out almost impatiently. He’s at his best when he moves and cuts without the ball. Teaching him to relocate and be ready with a solid base when he catches, will do him wonders. For now the dude is a 6-10 guy who is really good at the old NE Ohio game of 33 (or 21 in the rest of the country) where you try to score on all the other guys on the court. The easiest way? Get the ball at the top of the key, dribble around and flick that rock to the hoop whether you’re 24 feet away or 30. Fortunately, Emoni’s handle isn’t garbage, but he’s far too weak to finish consistently at the NBA level. That means he’s gonna get himself in trouble off the bounce with anything other than a pull-up three or a pass. The sooner he realizes teams are letting him back up for a reason, the better.

Defensively, Emoni isn’t great at the point of attack, and is used to letting guys go by him or get parallel and then using his length to contest. The good news is he’s a willing defender, and had nice help blocks in both games. He’s going to have to get lower and work on his defensive footwork to avoid fouling. He also crashes the glass on both ends and has a nose for the ball: notching 14 rebounds and two steals across the two contests.

If Bates learns to get his legs under him on every shot, he could be a deadly catch-and-shoot offensive player, provided can control his shot selection. The amount of 6-10 NBA players with a lightning quick release on their J is about three players long: Kevin Durant, Davis Bertans, and Emoni Bates. Long term, Bates could project to be a taller Bertans/Kapono type, but he has more handle and Iso game than either of those guys ever did. What will be the determining factor is how willing he is to add muscle, and go the Brandon Ingram route. Ideally,  the dude is a matchup nightmare at the 2. It’s going to probably be at least a season of conditioning and learning before he’s ready to contribute as even an end-of-the-bench NBAer.

A guy who is ready to contribute right away, though, is gold. Craig Porter Jr. looks like that guy. Despite a bad shooting night against Brooklyn (3-11), Porter contributed a solid floor game with 8/7/3. The guy who led the Shockers in points, rebounds, blocks, assists, and steals last year looked every bit the heady, all-around player advertised. Defensively, his timing is fantastic. He has NBA athleticism, which he needs at 6-2, but he plays big, and is strong. Against Toronto, he had a much stronger night with 10/5/2 (no three attempts). Porter repeatedly attacked in transition, and showed some really nice passing throughout, despite several turnovers. Porter just looks like an NBA player with the way he moves. And you can never have too many Porter Jr.s in a basketball association.

The unexpected surprise these two games was clearly Luke Travers who looked like he’d been in the weight room for the last year and had just an awesome all-around pair of games. Travers was the best defensive player on the floor versus Brooklyn with a 13/4/1 5-6 line, four blocks, and a game high +19. The dude was everywhere with the help D, made smart rotations, cut without the ball, didn’t force anything, and was just exactly where he was supposed to be all the time. Against Toronto though, he had a terrible box score: 3/3/0 with two turnovers. But the dude was +27! It was mainly due to him being in the right place all the time, making the hockey passes and just being the glue guy. Simmo, needs to supply us with Australian glue brands so we can nickname this dude.

Australia’s NBL is clearly a viable option when it comes to developing NBA talent, with Melo Ball, Josh Giddey, and now Travers all developing there over the last few seasons.

The other player who impressed was Pete Nance. The fifth year senior has gone 4-9 from deep in two games, and though his shot looks unorthodox, it has a nice arc and rotation, and most importantly, goes in the basket. Nance was more aggressive against Toronto: with 11/5/2 and zero turnovers in 19 minutes. At 6-11 and 230 pounds, he has stretch four potential, and an NBA ready body. The question will be if he can compete athletically. Son of Cavs’ legend, Larry Nance, Pete joined fellow sons of Cavaliers in these two contests: Ron Harper Jr. (Toronto) and Cedrick Henderson Jr. (Cleveland, DNP). The other former Cavs in these two contests included Jamorko Pickett (Brooklyn), Moses Brown (Toronto), and RJ Nembhard (Toronto)

Khalifa Diop (no relation to Lasagna Diop), failed to impress against the Nets, contributing a game low -9, and just 2/6/1 in 13 minutes. The second game, he used his massive frame more effectively, and showed a nice all around game, with 7/6/3 and a pair of stocks. But the six fouls tells you it’s going to be a while before he is able to stay on the floor at the NBA level, if ever.

The final Cav to get rotation minutes was Fabian White who played seven minutes in game 1, and 14 in game 2. Fabian had some nice passes and played decent D in game one, then showed nice body control on drives in game two on his way to a 9/6/0 line. Look for White to get more run as summer league goes on, and some of the Cavs’ main guys start to get shut down.

For Brooklyn, Kennedy Chandler, Armoni Brooks, and Jalen Wilson all had nice games against Cleveland, with the three of them leading the late rally (after looking asleep in the first half) and scoring at least 16. As for Toronto, the youth and inexperience of their Summer League squad showed. Only former Cav Moses Brown looked like he had any experience. The likes of Grady Dick, Markquis Noel, and  Ron Harper Jr. combined to go 8-26 against stalwart Cavalier D. This is as it should be. The Cavs have a lot of older guys who have played together on their roster.

With the Cavs playing Memphis, Monday, I would not be surprised to see some of their rotation guys shut down on the back-to-back to give the deeper bench a look, or at least a lower minutes count. Still, you have to like what you see so far from the Cavs, even if it feels like the 8th graders picking on the 6th graders in the first week of middle school.

Koby Altman was interviewed during the Nets game and annoyed me with his positivity and myopia. Larry Nance Jr., and JB Bickerstaff were interviewed in the next game, with JB repeating the company line and Larry repping his brother. Those were the only times I turned the audio on during that contest because Isaiah Thomas makes my ears bleed with his pithy commentary like “Nikola Jokic is a very large human being.” Thanks, Zeke.