A lot of ink is being spilled about how much Kevin Durant is struggling during the Las Vegas summer league. It's hard to judge just what that bodes for the future of the second overall pick. Obviously he's never been on the court with professional players before and more experienced players are beating him to spots and treating him like a rookie. Stil, the only conclusions that matter are that he's not yet strong enough, whatever he benches, and he needs to pick up the nuances of the game at this level before he can hope to make a major impact. Another rookie, Marco Bellinelli of the Warriors, is getting rubbed like a visitor to a Japanese massage parlor because of the way he's played thus far. But he's a veteran of pro ball in Europe which is a higher level than anything going on in Vegas right now so it's hard to project just how well he'll do when the games count.
That's the same problem that faces anyone trying to read the tea leaves of the Knicks. They've looked very strong in the first two games, including a shutdown performance against Durant and the Sonics, as Martin Johnson points out in today's New York Sun.
In action so far, Nate Robinson has looked like a very good two guard; Renaldo Balkman has rekindled memories of Dave DeBusschere with both his defense and his ability to handle the ball, and rookie forwards Wilson Chandler and Demtris Nichols look as though they should set aside space in their trophy cases for a Rookie of the Year award.
There's definitely some hyperbole at work there but they have looked good. Nichols, in particular, has been an eye-opener but before we start planning a tickertape parade remember who they are playing against. The Sonics won't be very good no matter who is on the court for them this season but the players are likely to be better than Kenny Adeleke, Ronnie Burrell and Antwayne Robinson. That's the problem with analyzing summer league performances. For every Belinelli or Durant there's a Daniel Artest or Chinese National Team to make you think twice about reading too much into anything.
Nate Robinson's playing in the summer for the third time, he damn well better be looking like a very good two guard against fringe pros. Against regular NBA players, though, he's looked like a summer league player. Balkman, on the other hand, handled himself just fine as a rookie and is playing with the confidence of a player who knows that he's better than just about everyone else on the court. Chandler, Nichols and Randolph Morris are neophytes who need as much experience as they can get now because, barring trades, they will struggle to find minutes once the season starts. Nichols might be in Europe if they don't make a deal although the hope here is that Robinson's Knick tenure ends as soon as possible and Nichols hangs around for a while. The news is better than it's been in a long while from Knicks camp but, for now, we'll keep watching out for the grain of salt.
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