Summer League has not been kind to the Sacramento Kings. Thursday night’s game against the Dallas Mavericks took on a similar theme to the team’s first four games -- inconsistent play, injury and a late rally. In the end, the Mavericks were the better team, coming away with the 83-76 win and dropping Sacramento to 1-4 for the tournament.
-- Justin Jackson is amazing...every other game. The UNC product has been all over the board through five summer league games. Against the Mavs, the good Jackson showed up. In 35 minutes of action, the 22-year-old wing dropped in 25 points on 9-of-19 shooting and added four assists, four rebounds and two steals. He’s going to earn minutes early in his career.
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-- DeAaron Fox vs. Dennis Smith Jr. is going to be a fun matchup for years to come. Fox was limited due to ankle stiffness, playing just seven minutes for the Kings before coach Jason March pulled the plug. He had a front row view to Smith’s 25-point, seven-rebound, two-assist, three-steal performance. Smith’s talent has never been in question, but an ACL tear in high school and questions about his maturity caused him to fall to the ninth pick. He’ll make more than one team regret passing on him.
-- Like Jackson, Skal Labissiere has had a Jekyll and Hyde week in Vegas. In the grand scheme of things, Summer League means very little. No one will remember a 1-for-7 shooting performance once the regular season begins. Labissiere had to be hoping for more than 9.6 points and 5.0 rebounds in 26.6 minutes per game, though. He'll learn from the experience.
-- Luis Montero, Jack Cooley and JaKarr Sampson have done enough to earn a training camp invite somewhere. Montero filled in for Hield and chipped in 13 points and nine rebounds. Cooley scored 10 points in 11 minutes and Sampson brought energy, along with eight points, seven rebounds and four blocks in 20 minutes off the bench.
-- Georgios Papagiannis just turned 20 years old. It’s a fact that escapes plenty of basketball talking heads. The 7-foot-1 big has worked tirelessly on his body, but he is still at least a year or more away from stepping in and playing rotational minutes at the NBA level. He needs to get stronger and the speed of the game is still an issue. He has skills, but making any judgments on who he’ll be as a player after 22 regular season games and a handful of Summer League contests is probably too early.
