Ben Simmons Vs Thon Maker: Who Had a Better Summer League?

Was Thon's 17 & 17 performance enough to topple the walking triple double?

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Summer League is awesome. It’s a perfect blend of the professional and pick-up styles of basketball, with most players playing together for the first – and often last – time. For fans, the blend peaks in Las Vegas: you have parties, summer heat, NBA royalty casually milling about the gyms and a whole lot of young NBA talent champing at the bit to impress their coaches or get themselves a contract.

As you are probably aware, this year we had two Australians participating in Vegas: Ben Simmons and Thon Maker. They are two of the most hyped ballers of the YouTube generation, and this was our first opportunity to see if they have a chance of living up to the incredibly lofty standards we’ve set for them.

So how did they go? Not bad at all, actually.

Simmons played four games – coach Brett Brown rested him for a game, something we’ve never really seen before in Summer League – and aside from some cramps in game one, things went smoothly. However, according to some reviews, you’d never know it. It’s true Ben doesn’t take enough shots around the rim; his lack of a left-hand layup is both troubling and surprising, considering he shoots jumpers lefty. And yes, the absence of a jumper allows defenders to sag off him and limit his driving opportunities. But the amazing thing is, despite these pretty sizeable and obvious flaws in his game, Ben is the most complete player in his draft class, and set to become a nightly triple-double threat in his first season. If he can fix his weaknesses, the sky’s the limit. But what people tend to overlook is even if Simmons can’t work on his weaknesses he’s still going to be incredibly effective in the NBA.

The Summer League stats show Ben is on track. Of the 112 players who played over 100 minutes, Simmons was in the top 49% in points per minute, top 5% in assists per minute, top 21% in rebounds per minute, top 32% in steals per minute, top 25% in blocks per minute and bottom 46% in field goal percentage. Put this all together, and only DeAngelo Russell averaged a higher rank across all six categories. Let me repeat: despite visibly struggling at times and leaving many fans wanting more, Simmons was the second most complete player in Summer League. The ceiling is sky high, and Simmons could be going all the way up like Joe & Remy.

The guy simply produces. Some of his passes are just unfair – his Summer League highlights (below) are insane. I genuinely feel he may already be the best passer in the NBA (I’m a homer though, so take that with a grain of salt). Furthermore, his rebound-into-burst-mode-fast-break combo will lead to countless easy points in transition for the 76ers. Can’t we just sit back and enjoy the positives in this kid’s game instead of nitpicking the negatives? Ben is going to be fine.

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And how about Thon? In five games, he ranked in the top 36% in points, dead last in assists, top 7% in rebounds, bottom 30% in steals, top 21% in blocks (all per minute) and top 50% in field goal percentage. Clearly, Thon isn’t at the same level as Ben, but he’ll nonetheless be happy with his performance. Thon was particularly impressive on the boards, and had some highlight-worthy blocks that will get Milwaukee fans drooling (and no doubt looking forward to some Delly-Thon alley-oops). He has a great motor, and his average rank across the six stat categories had him above fellow draftees Brandon Ingram, Denzel Valentine, Buddy Hield and Dragan Bender. With age-gate behind him and a successful Summer League in the books, Thon will no doubt be happy to focus on his game for a few months – he’s a tireless worker, and it wouldn’t be surprising to see him enter his rookie year a vastly improved player from what we saw here at Summer League.

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The chart below shows percentile rankings for the Summer League’s most well-known players. The stats confirm DeAngelo Russell was MVP of the Summer League, with Larry Nance Jr and Zubac also impressing and giving Lakers fans a boost of optimism for the post-Kobe era. Bobby Portis and KJ McDaniels also impressed and will hopefully see more minutes next season, while Dejounta Murray showed he can stuff the stat sheet but might want to work on his shot selection. On the flipside, Brandon Ingram, Buddy Hield and Dragan Bender will be very disappointed with their outings – a hard few months in the gym await, no doubt. As an aside – and I’m no Lakers fan by the way – but if the Lakers end up hitting on Ingram, watch out. The team is absolutely jam packed with young talent, similar to the 2009 OKC Thunder.

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