The Clippers won their first game of the Las Vegas 2024 Summer League 88-78 against the Nuggets in what was a fairly entertaining contest.
Player Notes
Cam Christie
Christie drained his first shot, a top of the arc three, and then went 2-11 the rest of the game and 1-7 from three. I’m glad he got so many shots up, and his three-point shot truly is effortless – I have no doubt those will fall given a larger sample size. Christie didn’t contribute a ton else in his 26 minutes, with 3 rebounds, and 2 assists, and got picked on a bit defensively by Julian Strawther. That said, there were no awful flubs either, and his only non-two bucket was on a beautiful cut. Not a bad debut.
Kobe Brown
This game was a bit of a mixed bag for Kobe. On one hand, he probably had the most well-rounded statline of any Clipper, with 13 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 1 steal, and 1 block in 26:30. On the other, he was just 5-16 from the field and 0-7 from three, a pretty inefficient outing. Summer League is always a small sample size and tonight the shots just did not fall for Kobe. It is what it is. I’m glad he got the shots up. But I would like to see him be more forceful and aggressive inside the arc in the coming games. He’s bigger and stronger than most of his opponents and should act like it. When he played bully ball in this game, he usually got right to the rim. It wasn’t a great game, but it wasn’t awful either.
Jordan Miller
The star of the show, however, was Jordan Miller. The second-year wing was comfortable, confident, and was far more aggressive than last year’s Summer League. Millers scored 36 points on 11-18 shooting, 6-10 from three, and 8-8 from the line. The shooting was by far the most impressive element, as Miller was an inconsistent at best outside shooter coming out of Miami. He had two, no-dip threes from the corner ala Nic Batum or Klay Thompson, and shot a couple others off movement. He won’t always shoot this well, of course, but the shot was confident and smooth. Miller was also active and disruptive on defense, and played a big role in limiting Nuggets’ forward Hunter Tyson. Miller did have a few bad turnovers in the 4th driving into traffic, but he was able to get to the rim and finish off second-side action, which is more in line with what he’d be doing in the NBA. A very impressive showing for Miller – if he even comes close to this the rest of Summer League, the Clippers should consider a full roster spot for him.
Moussa Diabate
I thought Moussa looked a bit bigger/stronger than he had over the past couple years, and that improved mass helped him in this game. Moussa put together an 11 point, 10 rebound performance, and had a couple nice dunks in traffic I don’t think he’d have been able to finish in years past. The box score only shows one assist, a gorgeous pass to a cutting Christie, but I think he had a couple other nice passes as well. The rebounding wasn’t dominant, but 10 boards in 26 minutes is solid work. The free throws looked a lot cleaner and more polished as well. Not an amazing showing for a third-year guy, but Moussa has clearly been working hard on his game.
Other Guys
I don’t think anyone else really, really stood out. Trevor Hudgins got the start at PG, and despite coming in as a shooter, failed to make any shots (though he was feisty on defense). His backup, RayJ Dennis, was quite good, with 7 rebounds and 8 assists in 20 minutes (and a plus/minus of 25) but did not flash any sort of scoring acumen. Elijah Harkles was energetic on defense and made two threes. Amari Bailey had a sick eurostep for a lay-in and a three but did nothing else. Terry Taylor had a nice drive and a couple solid boards. The less said about Josh Bannan the better. Dennis was the most impressive of the non-roster guys, but it’s a bit too early to say he’s really making a case for himself for an NBA roster spot.
