ORLANDO, Fla. — Another NBA G League Winter Showcase is in the books, and for the assembled scouts and executives who were in attendance, the reviews are in. Everyone seemed to think the new location at Orlando Convention Center was …. fine.
Plus, unexpected levity arrived with the Holiday Matsuri anime and cosplay convention taking place on a floor below at the same time. While I can’t hope to match the quality and depth of the reporting on this event from my colleague Mike Vorkunov, I’ll start us off with this nugget: As a group of costumed youths walked past, I overheard one say, “Sports fans are even bigger nerds than we are. Do you know how much math there is?”
So drink up, hoop nerds, because we’re about to go deep on the nerdiest event on the annual hoops calendar.
This was the second straight year the league held the event here after a lengthy run in Las Vegas, and Orlando was always going to struggle with that comparison. There weren’t nearly the hotel or entertainment options once the games ended, while the search for barely adequate food nearly perfectly mirrored execs’ daily task of finding replacement-level options that won’t kill them.
At the same time … where else are you going to put the event? Orlando has warm weather and is relatively reachable for most, and the experience inside the gym was exactly the same as Vegas. Any convention center in any other city would have 98 percent of the same issues, while putting the event in real arenas is impractical unless the G League becomes massively more popular than it is.
Anyway, you want to know whether your team’s rookies, two-ways and assorted G League quasi-prospects looked good, right? I didn’t see every game here, but I saw more than enough. Here are some takeaways from the event:
Notable drafted rookies
While several late second-rounders got extended run, only eight of the top 35 picks in the 2024 draft were assigned for the Showcase. Most notably, three of them were from the same team, as the Utah Jazz sent all three of their drafted rookies (10th pick Cody Williams, 29th pick Isaiah Collier and 32nd pick Kyle Filipowski) for some extra seasoning.
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Williams was by far the most prominent player here, and the only lottery pick. After 16 games of elite tank commanding at the NBA level, Jazz fans will be relieved to know he looked substantially better in his two games in Orlando. Williams had 21 points, five rebounds and five assists in the first game and 19 points in the second. The fact he did this while shooting just 1 of 11 from 3 is a kind of contrarian indicator; he put up numbers despite the worst shooting variance possible. Williams also had four steals and generally looked active on defense.
Collier had a 3-of-12, seven-turnover disaster in his only game here before being called up because of a shortage of guards. (He made three more miscues in 16 scoreless minutes Sunday in Brooklyn.) For a guy whose turnovers threaten to swallow his career (34.1 percent turnover rate!), this wasn’t really encouraging.
Filipowski, whom I wrote about earlier this season as he received real rotation minutes for the parent club, played quite well in limited minutes in his two games. In a total of 38 minutes over the weekend, he had 26 points, 21 rebounds and six assists. This is what an NBA rotation player looks like when he plays in the G League. Fouls were a problem, he still can’t get his 3-ball completely straightened out, and there was one unfortunate shot contest highlighted below. Even so, these might be some of the last G League games Filipowski plays.
The New York Knicks were one of two other teams to assign multiple top-35 players to this event, with Pacôme Dadiet playing three times as Westchester rolled to the Showcase Cup championship, and Tyler Kolek parachuting in for the final and leading the way with 22 points and 11 assists. It’s a pretty encouraging sign that Kolek looked too good for this level; that’s what you’re hoping roster players will do in the G League, and it’s a little troubling that more players from the 2024 draft didn’t stand out in this way.
That would include his Knicks teammate Dadiet, who was not exactly the driving force behind the Knicks’ run to the Cup. In three games, he combined for 21 points to go with no assists and five turnovers. The Knicks knew he was a project when they drafted him, and he still is. Dadiet had only played six G League games all year before the Showcase, but he should be a fixture in Westchester now that New York added Landry Shamet.
The other team to assign two top-35 players was the Milwaukee Bucks, who had 21st pick AJ Johnson and 32nd pick Tyler Smith assigned for the weekend. Many scouts thought Johnson was a head-scratching pick at No. 21 last June; while he did little to change anyone’s mind, he was solid enough with 30 points and 10 assists across the two games. Notably, given the questions about his shooting, he also made five of his 11 3-pointers.
As for Smith, his struggles were more puzzling. He played in this same event last year as a member of G League Ignite and was massively better; this time around, he scored just 10 points in the two games, going 1-of-11 from 3 and failing to draw a single free throw. Smith can shoot it, which you can discern after a couple of minutes of watching warmups, and made six triples in another G League game earlier this year. Alas, after this weekend, his percentage from distance is now just 27.8 percent.
Finally, we have one other player to talk about: Boston Celtics rookie Baylor Scheierman, the final pick of the first round. An older rookie (24) drafted for instant impact as Boston tries to repeat, the Celtics haven’t really needed him much on their loaded roster. However, he showed he’s ready if asked. Scheierman’s 22 points, eight rebounds and six assists against Motor City on Sunday was one of the best efforts of the weekend.
Baylor Scheierman, shown here during a preseason game, hasn’t seen much time with the Celtics this season. (Brian Fluharty / Imagn Images)
Two-ways who shined
Many of the league’s 90 two-way players were assigned for this event, and a few distinguished themselves enough to warrant further discussion.
Leading the way was the Miami Heat’s Josh Christopher, who was the best player I saw at the entire event. He played three games for Sioux Falls as the Skyforce made the final before losing to Westchester, averaging 31 points and six rebounds. The 2021 Houston Rockets first-rounder is a top-notch athlete who could succumb to bouts of tunnel vision, but he’s straightened out his decision-making (and shooting) enough to make his athleticism a real problem. Given Miami’s current malaise, you wonder when the Heat might turn to him for real minutes.
Also of note was my draft sleeper Trey Alexander, a Denver Nuggets two-way player who suited up for Grand Rapids and hung 33 on Oklahoma City on Thursday before coming back with a 21-6-6 night on Saturday. Alexander has a thin frame and needs to show more catch-and-shoot potency off the ball, but his pull-up game in pick-and-roll is a real weapon on a spaced floor. One wonders if he could push for back-end rotation minutes in the second half of the season.
The other guy to keep an eye on is Brooklyn’s Jaylen Martin, who had 30 against Rip City on Sunday after his squad was embarrassed by the Clippers in the opener. Martin is only 20 and still needs to hone his skill set to be a viable perimeter role player, but he is a handful at this level and has a clear pathway to improvement; in particular, making four 3-pointers on Sunday was a notable development.
If you’re looking for deep cuts, check out San Antonio. Little-known forward Riley Minix, a rookie from Morehead State, scored 45 points over the two games and has been one of the best players in the G League all season. He’s also knocking down 41.5 percent of his 3s.
And his teammate, David Duke Jr., was absolutely brilliant on Sunday in a 31-point, seven-assist, six-steal effort in Austin’s rout of Cleveland. Duke has been around the block a few times already, and I don’t really think he’s an NBA rotation player, but for one night at least, he sure as heck looked like one.
Second-year roster players
“G League assignment in middle of second season” isn’t really a promising outcome for a drafted player. However, some late 2023 picks were in Orlando trying to improve their stock.
The most interesting of the bunch is definitely Minnesota’s Leonard Miller, a 20-year-old whose pathway to playing time is largely blocked by the quality of the Timberwolves’ frontcourt. The Canadian forward made the All-Showcase team by averaging 31.0 points and 8.5 boards across two games, and he’s shown more floor-spacing capability in his assignment games this year at 36.1 percent from distance across nearly five attempts a game.
The other notable was Charlotte’s Nick Smith Jr., a late-first-round pick in 2023 who is still only 20. He’s an undersized two guard who struggles on defense even at this level, but he also scored 33 points in 34 minutes in his one assignment game Thursday against South Bay.
Boston guard JD Davison also gave a solid performance across two games, including 14 assists and just four turnovers. As for the others, it was a rather forgettable weekend. Dariq Whitehead (Nets), Chris Livingston (Bucks), Mo Gueye (Hawks), Tristan Vukčević (Wizards) and Maxwell Lewis (Lakers) all have a long way to go before they can be of any help to their parent teams.
Second-round roll call
I already wrote about 55th pick Bronny James, but several late 2024 draft picks played in the Showcase. I think I can give more or less the same scouting report for all 11 of the players drafted 36th or later who participated in the event: They need more time in the G League.
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The biggest exception would be the 23-point game by Clippers second-rounder Cam Christie (drafted 46th) on Friday in a blowout win over Long Island, but he didn’t play well in the second game on Saturday and his numbers in 15 G League games this year have been pedestrian. Charlotte’s KJ Simpson (42nd) had a similar but reversed mixed bag, following a bad first outing (4-of-13, five turnovers) with a 24-point night in a win against Austin.
Boston’s Anton Watson, the player selected just before James, also deserves a mention. He wasn’t over-the-top amazing, but he now has a streak of six-straight double-figure games and had five steals over the weekend.
After that … yeah.
Detroit’s Bobi Klintman (37th), getting some of his first game action since returning from injury, wasn’t overtly awful but had seven turnovers in 50 minutes. Atlanta’s Nikola Đurišić (43rd), only slightly further along in his own injury recovery, registered his first double-figure outings in nine G League games. Baby steps. Toronto’s Ulrich Chomche (57th) got 65 minutes of playing time across two games, not that you noticed he was out there for many of them. Similarly, San Antonio’s Harrison Ingram (48th) was mostly a bystander, failing to scratch double figures in either game.
Golden State’s Quinten Post (52nd) has arguably been the most productive of this lot in the rest of the G League season, but he had a rough weekend that saw him shoot just 10 of 30 and, as ever, struggled to guard in space.
Finally, Indiana’s Tristen Newton (49th) has had his moments in the G League and made four of his six 3-pointers in the opener on Friday, but he’s also at 42 percent from 2 on the season at that level and committed 10 turnovers in two weekend games. His Pacers teammate, Enrique Freeman (50th), played in his first two games as a G Leaguer and was similarly plagued by turnovers (nine in two games); he also committed 11 fouls in 58 minutes
Sign this guy
Finally, the most fun part of the Showcase: the unaffiliated players out there trying to prove they deserve a spot in the league.
That includes several former NBA veterans who are no longer two-way eligible but can be signed to 10-day contracts starting Jan. 5. Among them: Tony Bradley, Devonte’ Graham, Jahlil Okafor, TJ Warren, Jordan Goodwin, Trey Burke, Tony Snell, Frank Kaminsky, Thon Maker, Killian Hayes, Jaylen Nowell, Kevin Knox and Nassir Little.
Warren and Okafor (who seems to have lost weight) played well enough to make the All-Showcase team, but I’d argue Graham is the one to watch. The 29-year-old point guard signed off his couch to South Bay’s roster last week and had 24 points in a win over the Osceola Magic on Saturday.
Additionally, a few other unaffiliated players stood out, ones who you haven’t really seen at the NBA level but likely will be added on two-ways or lightly guaranteed roster deals in the near future. At the front of that list is Grand Rapids guard Jahmir Young, who made the All-Showcase team after scoring 50 points in his two games. The 24-year-old Maryland product is a bit undersized at 6-foot-1 and not as consistent as you’d hope from 3, but his ability to get downhill and create offense stands out at this level.
Some others to watch:
Damian Baugh, SG, Westchester: The 6-4 combo guard had a great weekend, averaging 18.3 points, 10.0 rebounds and 6.7 assists while helping the Knicks to the title. He’s a suspect shooter (29.5 percent from 3 for his G League career), but his overall floor game might be strong enough to get his foot in the door.
Tolu Smith, C, Motor City: I’ve always liked Smith’s mobility going back to his Mississippi State days, and he’s flashed more offensive chops than I expected since graduating, especially as a passer. His weekend finished with averages of 20.5 points, 11.0 rebounds and 3.5 assists.
Feron Hunt, PF, Cleveland: An NBA athlete dogged by shooting questions, Hunt reminded everyone of his case by yamming on Filipowski in Cleveland’s loss to Salt Lake City.
6’8” Feron Hunt came FLYING in for this poster dunk! 😤🔥@nbagleague @ChargeCLE #WinterShowcase pic.twitter.com/jyQaGEOUXA
— SLAM (@SLAMonline) December 20, 2024
The 25-year-old SMU product kept it up by finishing with 21 points and five blocks too. While he wasn’t as impressive in his second game, he’s in the midst of his best G League season.
Jalen Crutcher, PG, Birmingham: Crutcher is this year’s guy who gets signed because everybody wants a point guard. He is a bit undersized and not an elite athlete, but he is a real point guard who can run stuff and seems destined to be the 10-day-of-choice for any team with a short-term need at this spot. Crutcher handed out 23 dimes in two games over the weekend, knocks down open 3s (37.0 percent on high volume) and won’t turn it over.
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(Top photo of Josh Christopher and Pacôme Dadiet: Jeff Swinger / NBAE via Getty Images)
