Summer League Recap: Jazz 86, Cavaliers 71

Thwnksn again to CLF for another Summer League Recap. 

Well, this was a rough one.  As Coach Beilein mentioned in his post-game presser, the Cavs were down several guys, playing a lot of rookies, and couldn’t make easy shots. It led to the 15 point loss. Conversely, the Utah Jazz received stellar play from their young veteran, Tony Bradley, a 2017 1st round pick from UNC and their rookie guard Justin Wright-Foreman of Hofstra, their 2019 2nd round pick.  Beilein credited Bradley’s defense around the rim for a lot of the missed shots close to the basket.

There were some interesting, insightful comments from Coach Beilein regarding this game.  First, he mentioned that the Cavs played 7 rookies to the Jazz’s 2, which accounted for some of the lopsided play.  Beilein was pleased about some improvements the Cavs made that came from their film session of the Spurs’ game. The Cavs tightened up their transition defense, didn’t allow the Jazz to crash the offensive boards, kept their turnovers down, and attacked the basket and drew a lot more fouls after settling for too many Js against the Spurs.  It’s good to hear what Beilein was looking for, and how that affected his evaluation.

Some other notes regarding the past two games: Marques Bolden and Dean Wade were nicked up, so Wade sat and Bolden only played 8 minutes.  Beilein also mentioned that Bolden was adversely affected by the altitude in SLC.

Here’s your player report:

Player of the game: Naz Mitrou-Long

After watching Mitrou-Long these past 48 hours, there’s some patterns emerging regarding his game.  He’s quick, has nice handles, reads the game well enough, and can shoot a little bit from 3. Against the Spurs, he had 8 assists, which shows his passing ability.  Against the Jazz, he showed more efficient shotmaking going for 17 points (7-14 FGs, 1-4 3pt FGs) 2 rebounds, 2 assist, and only 2 turnovers in 30 minutes.

Rookie report: Dylan Windler

Windler didn’t shoot very well or very much last night, going 1-6 from the field, and 1-4 from 3.  But Coach Beilein sang Windler’s praises post-game, noting that he led the team in rebounds with 8, and assists with 5, along with an impressive zero turnovers.Coach Beilein said Windler is already a “marked man” for the opponent’s defense.  Beilein was pleased that Windler did other things to contribute and didn’t force his offense into bad shots.

One thing that Beilein wanted Windler to work on was to be more aggressive looking for his shot.  Two nights ago, Beilein called Windler out for not attacking the basket with the ball. Beilein said that in college, Windler typically ran the floor and filled the lane instead of running the break.  It sounds like Beilein has confidence in Windler’s handles and playmaking ability.

Summer league is a unique situation for Windler, since he’s the primary option on offense this week.  This almost certainly won’t be the case in the regular SEASON. I’m cutting him some slack and hoping he grows into a more aggressive offensive player in the mean time.

Honorable mentions: Malik Newman and Muhammed-Ali Abdur-Rahkman.

Newman was inserted into the starting lineup tonight, and I personally liked that move because of his ability to shoot and space the floor.  He didn’t disappoint, going 2-3 from three, and attacking the basket. It led to a perfect 3-3 from the charity stripe. But he needs to show up on the defensive end… no blocks and no steals for a guy as athletic as he is disappointing.

Muhammed-Ali Abdur-Rahkman was moved to the bench, which appeared to help him improve from his invisible performance against the Spurs.  Abdur-Rahkman went 3-5 FGs, including 2-3 from three, with 3 assists, zero turnovers, and one steal. Abdur-Rahkman tied for a team high +3 plus/minus.T

The Cavs wrap up their SLC Summer League against the Memphis Grizzlies, Wednesday with tip-off at 7PM Eastern Time.  GO CAVS!