Outside of Damian Lillard's run in Las Vegas in 2012, it's hard to think of another Trail Blazers rookie who had a better summer league than forward Caleb Swanigan, who Portland selected with the 26th overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft. The 6-9 forward out of Purdue averaged a double-double of 16.1 points and 10.6 rebounds, joining Blake Griffin, Kevin Love and Mareese Speights as the only rookies to ever average a double-double in summer league play, while leading the Trail Blazers as the 16-seed to the tournament finals. Swanigan, named to the All Summer League first team, also showed an ability to defend multiple positions and shoot the NBA three with relative success, so all in all, the 20 year old known as "Biggie" did just about everything you'd hope to see out of a first round pick.
Thanks to his play as summer league, Swanigan makes an early appearance on the NBA.com's "Rookie Ladder" rankings, showing up at No. 5...
Swanigan comes in behind Atlanta forward John Collins, selected with the 19th overall pick, and ahead of Dallas guard Dennis Smith Jr., selected with the 9th overall pick. Swanigan joins forward Kyle Kuzma, selected by the Lakers with the 27th overall pick, as the only non-lottery picks to make the Top 10 of the NBA's rookie rankings.