LAS VEGAS — To put it nicely, Wes Johnson was a bit underwhelming last season for the Minnesota Timberwolves. That wasn’t the case on Saturday night inside Cox Pavilion, however, as the former fourth overall pick put together quite the performance against the NBA D-League Select team in lovely Las Vegas.
The wing player has been criticized for many things thus far in his brief NBA career, but Johnson left little to complain about as he scored 28 points while hitting 5-of-7 from beyond the three-point arc. Apart from the positive boost on the offensive end, Johnson generally just looked like he wanted to be more involved in the game of basketball as he stayed aggressive on both ends — even picking up a pair of beautiful blocked shots.
It shouldn’t be surprising that a top pick played so impressively, but there weren’t many that expected Johnson to accomplish what he did on Saturday night — even against second-tier D-League players — after shooting just 41 percent from the field earlier in his other two games this week while going just 2-for-8 from beyond the arc.
Other notable performances came from the following players:
- The Portland Trail Blazers’ top two picks have got plenty of love this week as Meyers Leonard and Damian Lillard, but those two sat on Saturday. A Blazers pick still shined, though, as Will Barton put on a show en route to 27 points on 10-of-17 shooting — including 4-of-8 from beyond the arc — in a win over the Miami Heat.
- Former first round pick Jimmy Butler had most of the hype on his way to 23 points on an efficient 10 shots, but Malcolm Thomas was out standing with 21 points and 16 rebounds as he attempts to make an NBA squad after a terrific year in the D-League. Marquis Teague’s shot wasn’t falling, but he played the point pretty well to round out the Bulls’ best players.
- Wins and losses don’t matter much in Las Vegas (unless you’re at the blackjack table), but the Golden State Warriors were able to wrap up an undefeated Summer League season with an 80-72 victory over the New Orleans Hornets. It was an all-around effort, but Charles Jenkins was very solid in running the team on his way to 15 points and five assists himself. Klay Thompson was a DNP after doing all he needed to do through the Warriors earlier action.
- Josh Selby put together another impressive performance as he made five of his eight attempts from beyond the arc as he continues to scorch the Summer League nets. Deon Thompson also looked very good with 14 points and six rebounds.
- The Dallas Mavericks picked up an overtime win in the Cox Pavilion thanks to the play of second round pick Jae Crowder and his 21 points. Dominique Jones had been the team’s star player throughout Summer League, but upper back tightness forced him to exit the game after playing just 10 minutes.
- Cory Joseph played well once again on Saturday as the San Antonio Spurs finished up their Summer League experience. He’s still not fully there as a point guard, but his 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists were a welcome addition. Tyler Wilkerson was also impressive, though his eight points, seven fouls and six rebounds in the box score don’t tell the most promising story.
- The Clippers lost their fourth game in five contests, but Adam Morrison scored 18 points to finish up a pretty solid Summer League. Antoine Wright struggled mightily, though, and it seems as though his NBA drea may have come to a close.
- Markieff Morris was Markieff Morris on his way to 25 points and 11 rebounds. Kendall Marshall was the star of the Phoenix Suns’ Summer League roster for the first time on Saturday night, however, as scored 15 points and dished 10 assists as his decision-making skills finally caught up to speed.
- Xavier Henry hasn’t played like the first round pick he was just a few seasons ago, but he looked very good on Saturday afternoon en route to 21 points while being aggressive the whole game. 11 free-throw attempts aren’t something that happens often in the run-and-gun style of Summer League.
- The D-League Select team finished 2-3 on the week after struggling down the stretch in multiple matchups. Mardy Collins was the team’s best player in Saturday’s loss — and one of the better players in the D-League this season — as he scored 20 points off the bench. Marcus Dove was solid throughout the week, too, contributing four steals in Saturday’s loss.
- Dexter Pittman was the only Heat player to score in double figures as Miami mustered just 55 points against the Blazers, but the reason he’s worth a mention is for an ugly flagrant foul he was called for on the aforementioned Barton. I believe it was the first flagrant foul of Summer League — definitely the worst.
