NBA Summer League

Joseph Ibarra

Brice Johnson will be making his 2nd appearance in NBA Summer League, and averaged 15.4 points, 6.8 rebounds, &amp; 1.8 assists last summer in Orlando. Johnson appeared in three games for the Clippers last season, after suffering a lower back injury, which sidelined him for much of his rookie year. As a senior, he set a UNC single-season record with 416 rebounds, &amp; was a consensus First Team All-American.

Forward
                            DOB: 6/27/1994
                            Age: 23
                            Height: 6'10"
                            Weight: 230 lbs
                            Years Pro: 1
                            Drafted: First round by the Clippers (25th overall)

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A Closer Look: Brice Johnson

The L.A. Clippers announced today their roster for the 2017 MGM Resorts NBA Summer League in Las Vegas from July 7-17 at the Thomas &amp; Mack Center and Cox Pavilion on the campus of the University of Nevada Las Vegas. The team is highlighted by current Clippers Brice Johnson and Kyle Wiltjer, along with 2017 NBA Draft Night acquisitions Jawun Evans and Sindarius Thornwell. The Clippers’ entry marks their return to the Las Vegas Summer League, after participating in the Orlando Pro Summer League each of the past two years.

L.A. is scheduled to open its Summer League slate on Friday, July 7, at 5:30 p.m. PDT against the Los Angeles Lakers. The Clippers will complete their opening round play with contests against the Utah Jazz (Sunday, July 9, at 5:00 p.m. PDT) and the Milwaukee Bucks (Monday, July 10, at 7:00 p.m. PDT). Following the opening three games, the participating teams will be seeded in a single-elimination tournament that will culminate with the crowning of the NBA Summer League Champion on Monday, July 17. A consolation round will be held for teams failing to advance, ensuring that each team at NBA Summer League is guaranteed to play no fewer than five games.

Clippers.com will have correspondents in Las Vegas covering the Clippers and Summer League, and Clipper fans will be able to access box scores, game recaps, cumulative statistics and behind-the-scenes coverage and more by visiting www.clippers.com and following the official Clippers social channels.

ESPN will present all 67 games from Las Vegas across ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and the ESPN App, including 35 games on its linear television channels. NBA TV will air 28 contests, commencing with the league’s opener on July 7. In total, 63 games from Las Vegas will air on ESPN and NBA TV’s channels - a Summer League record.

Tickets for the 2017 NBA Summer League are on sale now. Fans can purchase tickets by visiting NBATickets.com.

The L.A. Clippers 2017 MGM Resorts NBA Summer League Media Guide can be found here and on the Clippers Media Website (media.clippers.com – password: pressclips).

L.A. CLIPPERS 2017 NBA LAS VEGAS SUMMER LEAGUE ROSTER

L.A. CLIPPERS 2017 NBA LAS VEGAS SUMMER LEAGUE SCHEDULE (all times PDT)

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Press Release: L.A. Clippers Announce MGM Resorts NBA Summer League Roster, Schedule

The L.A. Clippers have acquired the draft rights to Oklahoma State University guard Jawun Evans from the Philadelphia 76ers in exchange for cash considerations.

In his final season at Oklahoma State, Evans, 20, led the Big 12 in scoring (19.2 ppg), was an AP All-America Honorable Mention selection and was named to the All-Big 12 First Team. In 54 appearances over two seasons at OSU, Evans averaged 16.6 points, 5.8 assists and 3.8 rebounds, while shooting 40.7% from three-point range.

Evans, 6’0”, 185 pounds, was named the Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2015-16. He was also a member of the gold medal-winning USA Basketball team at the FIBA U19 World Championships and a McDonald’s and Parade All-American out of Kimball High School in Dallas.

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Press Release: L.A. Clippers Acquire Rights to Jawun Evans

Jay Johnson

For the first time since 2014, the LA Clippers are headed back to Las Vegas for Summer League, &amp; today they have announced their official 15-man roster.

After their three day mini-camp in Los Angeles, the team will kick off Summer League on Friday, July 7th vs. the Lakers on ESPN. Click here for the full schedule &amp; broadcast information.

Check out below for a closer look at our full squad that is heading to 2017 MGM Resorts NBA Summer League in Las Vegas.

Guard
                            Age: 25
                            Height: 6'6"
                            Weight: 220 lbs

Making his second appearance in the Las Vegas Summer League, Bell averaged 10.5 points &amp; 4.4 rebounds in 2015 while playing internationally in Italy. As a senior at Villanova he was selected first team All-Big East, &amp; was also the first player to be honored with BOTH the Big Five Player of the Year and Most Improved.

Forward
                            Age: 24
                            Height: 6'7"
                            Weight: 211 lbs

Making his third appearance in the Las Vegas Summer League, Brown brings two seasons of NBA experience to the team, with stints on the Pelicans, Magic, &amp; Lakers over the past two seasons. As a senior at Stanford, Brown was an All-Pac-12 Honorable Mention pick, &amp; Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year nominee.

Guard
                            Age: 20
                            Height: 6'0"
                            Weight: 190 lbs

Acquired from the 76ers in exchange for cash considerations, Jawun Evans joins the team as the 39th overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft. In his final season at Oklahoma State he ranked 2nd in the Big 12 in scoring (19.2ppg) &amp; 1st in assists (6.4 apg). His 205 total dishes were 4th best in Cowboys history. Evans also won a gold medal with USA Basketball at the FIBA U19 World Championships.

Forward
                            Age: 22
                            Height: 6'9"
                            Weight: 220 lbs

The 2016 ACC Sixth Man of the Year will be making his first appearance in NBA Summer League. As a senior at UNC last season, Hicks started 39 games and averaged 11.8 points &amp; 5.5 rebounds, while shooting 57.4% from the field. He &amp; fellow Clipper summer leaguer, Brice Johnson, were also teammates at the University of North Carolina.

Forward
                            Age: 23
                            Height: 6'10"
                            Weight: 230 lbs

Guard
                            Age: 25
                            Height: 6'6"
                            Weight: 205 lbs

This will be Jaron Johnson’s third appearance at the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. He brings D-League &amp; International experience to the team, having played for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers &amp; in Australia for the Perth Wildcats. In 2016 he led the Vipers in scoring, averaging 18.2 points per game.

Guard
                            Age: 25
                            Height: 6'4"
                            Weight: 200 lbs

Entering his fourth appearance in the Las Vegas Summer League, Marshall brings over 150 games of NBA experience to the roster, having played for the 76ers, Bucks, Lakers, &amp; Suns). In college at UNC, Marshall was the Bob Cousy Award winner in 2012 as the nation’s top point guard. Last season he averaged 15 points, 9.1 assists, 3.8 rebounds, &amp; 1.2 steals for the Reno Bighorns.

Guard
                            Age: 23
                            Height: 6'3"
                            Weight: 180 lbs

Michineau is making his second Summer League appearance for the Clippers, as he averaged 8.2 points, 1.2 rebound, &amp; 4.2 assists over 5 games last summer. The Clippers traded for the rights to Michineau, the 39th overall pick, last summer in the 2016 NBA Draft. He averaged 9.8 points, 2.9 assists, &amp; shot 46.8% from the field while playing internationally in France last season.

Guard
                            Age: 22
                            Height: 6'3"
                            Weight: 190 lbs

The undrafted rookie out of UC Irvine will be making his first appearance at NBA Summer League. As a senior, Nelson was named the Big West Player of the Year, averaging 16.9 points, 3 assists, 3.3 rebounds &amp; 1.7 steals. He led UCI in scoring, steals, three-pointers, &amp; also holds the school record for all-time threes made (258).

Forward
                            Age: 26
                            Height: 6'8"
                            Weight: 206 lbs

Like Kendall Marshall, Thompson brings plenty of NBA experience to the roster, having played in over 250 games for the 76ers &amp; Pelicans. He is making his second appearance in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas, &amp; averaged 14.4 points, 4.8 rebounds, &amp; 1.3 assists for the Austin Spurs last season. Thompson was a member of the Championship Sixers team during the 2014 NBA Pro Summer League in Orlando.

Center
                            Age: 24
                            Height: 7'0"
                            Weight: 225 lbs

Thompson is making his NBA Summer League debut. As a center for the D-League Erie Bayhawks, he averaged 12.1 points &amp; 7.5 rebounds per game, and also logged five double-doubles in 17 total games. As a junior at George Mason, Thompson led his conference in rebounding.

Guard
                            Age: 22
                            Height: 6'5"
                            Weight: 215 lbs

Acquired from the Bucks in exchange for cash considerations, Thornwell joins the team as the 48th overall pick in this year’s NBA Draft. As a senior for the University of South Carolina, Thornwell was named the 2017 SEC Player of the Year &amp; averaged career highs in nearly every statistical category. He helped fuel the Gamecocks Final Four run, averaging 23.6 points &amp; 7 rebounds per game in the tournament.

Forward
                            Age: 23
                            Height: 6'7"
                            Weight: 259 lbs

Warney averaged 17.3 points, 8 rebound, 1.4 assists, &amp; shot 57.6% from the field over 44 games for the Texas Legends in the D-League last season. A 2-time Summer League participant &amp; college AP Honorable Mention All-American for Stony Brook.

Forward
                            Age: 26
                            Height: 6'7"
                            Weight: 229 lbs

Another player with both International &amp; D-League experience, Wilson is making his fourth appearance in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. Last season he averaged 13 points, 5.9 rebounds, &amp; 1.4 assists over 30 games playing internationally in Italy.

Forward
                            Age: 24
                            Height: 6'10"
                            Weight: 240 lbs

Acquired from the Rockets in the Chris Paul trade, Wiltjer joins the team &amp; will be making his second appearance in the Las Vegas Summer League. He appeared in 22 games for the Rockets last season, &amp; also averaged 20.5 points, 6.4 rebounds, &amp; 1.7 assists for the Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the D-League.

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Clippers 2017 Summer League Roster Breakdown

Marcus Fong

There was a point in rookie forward Amath M’Baye’s Summer League stint with the Clippers when it appeared he was the best player on the floor.

It was the Clippers’ only win of the five-game jaunt in the Las Vegas desert and M’Baye showed a year removed from going undrafted as a fourth-year junior out of the University of Oklahoma he is likely on track to someday realize his NBA dream.

Gone are the questions that crept up after going undrafted in 2013. Gone are the doubts that he belongs.

“Last year, coming out of college I was asking myself a lot of questions,” M’Baye admitted. “It was a tough period for me because there’s so much unknown and so much pressure and so much relies on performance on the court. A year later, everything slows down. I understand that I did a good job last year, so there is less pressure on my shoulders. I’m going to find a job.”

That job may come with the Clippers or another organization. It may come thousands of miles away in a place with a difficult language or new culture. M’Baye, a 6-foot-8 forward with unlimited athletic potential, spent 56 games with the Mitsubishi Electric Diamond Dolphins in the Japanese League last season.

There was a bit of culture shock, even for a guy who grew up in France, lived in Senegal, and attended college at the University of Wyoming and later Oklahoma, and speaks four languages. But the experience allowed M’Baye to grow as a player.

He returned stateside a refined player from the previous summer when he was viewed as a raw athlete during draft workouts that included a June stop in L.A. to workout for the Clippers. He also returned from Japan with a renewed confidence as a small forward, a position he rarely played in Norman, and a shooter after averaging 18.5 points, 8.1 rebounds, 2.8 assists and shooting 48.6 percent from the field with the Dolphins.

“The experience in Japan was special, but I think it was for the best,” said M’Baye, who lived in an apartment alone in the several months he was in Nagoya. “It was hard. My girlfriend was there with me for most of the time and my mom came to visit. The coach was American and we had another American on the team. We tried to keep ourselves busy and not just be a loner. It was kind of hard, though, especially because Japanese is such a hard language and it’s such a different culture.”

The cultural differences likely made the basketball part of the experience seem easy.

“I started as a 3 over there,” M’Baye said. “I played 95 percent of my playing time on the wing. There’s no better way to learn a position than playing it. I think it gave me great diversity in my game as in I didn’t forget how to play the 4 and now I can play the 3. I think it’s something that the Clippers are looking for, especially with players like Matt Barnes, who play the stretch 4 and play the 3 and stuff like that. I think that’s the model I can fit in and so far it’s been good. I know there are a lot of things I still need to improve on, but I think I’m taking the right steps in the right direction.”

The ability to play both positions was something he knew he needed to address after he was not drafted a year earlier. Even after a season at the position and a summer playing there with the Clippers, he’s still learning.

“He’s like a sponge,” Clippers Summer League coach Brendan O’Connor said. “He wants more and more information. He’s always asking for stuff, asking for film and he wants to watch our practices to make sure. He started at the 3 spot and the 3 and 4 are so different in our system that he wanted to learn and he really wanted to do it.”

M’Baye averaged 13.0 points per game playing for O’Connor, including a breakout 27-point performance in a 91-85 win over the Miami Heat. He showed the ability to shoot from distance, a soft touch inside, a willingness to go after every blocked shot attempt and, of course, the athleticism. He had three highlight-reel dunks, led by a one-handed dunk along the baseline over a Heat defender.

But people from Blake Griffin, who M’Baye communicates with when he is ever in Los Angeles, to Clippers’ front office staff already knew about the dunks. It was the other stuff, the confidence and newfound skillset that was all new.

“The fact that I was able to play the 3 all year and have good numbers and help my team win helps build my confidence and it’s pretty high right now,” M’Baye said. “I’m hoping to keep it that way.”

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SUMMER LEAGUE STANDOUT: AMATH M’BAYE

nbaplatformservices

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Brendan O'Connor Postgame - 7/18/14

Karen Song

Orange County Register reporter Dan Woike, who has covered the Clippers from day one of the Chris Paul era, sat down with Eric Patten of Clippers.com during halftime of a Summer League game in Las Vegas. The two talked about the ownership transition, where the Clippers might see the most improvement in year two under Doc Rivers and much more.

Here is the full transcript of their conversation:

Eric Patten, Clippers.com: You were around the Clippers all season, as close as anybody. What affect do you think, if any, the potential ownership transition is going to have on the franchise moving forward just from a standpoint of what the team feels or looks like?

Dan Woike, Orange County Register:“Assuming that the sale, or the deal, goes through, it seems like it will eventually, I think you’re getting an owner who has tried to be in the NBA multiple times. And because of that I think he’s a guy who is not going to pinch pennies at all. From a quality of life standpoint, which is a weird phrase to use because the quality of life is already really good, you’ll see little things. It’s not like the team can just go and say, ‘We’ve got a crazy rich owner let’s go sign LeBron and whatever.’ The salary cap prevents that, but I think the biggest change is going to be infrastructure and things like that; more money spent on scouting, assistant coaches, things like that that elevate the organization as a whole and make it a more attractive place. To be honest, even when some of those things weren’t in play over the last three years because of the talent it’s been a pretty attractive place.”

EP: What have you made of what the Clippers have done in the first few weeks of the offseason? And where do you see them going, in terms of additional moves they might make?

DW:“It’s been interesting. I think it’s pretty clear the thing they felt was available that they valued most was shooting. And this was a team that scored a lot of points last year and to spend on more offense is interesting to me. A lot of that comes from Doc [Rivers] and his defensive system. I think he believes that it’s easier for him to get a guy to be a better defender than for him to take a guy who’s not a shooter and turn him into a shooter.

EP: In a way, then, is it déjà vu  to last summer because we’re having the same conversation when Doc’s introducing J.J. Redick and Jared Dudley?

DW:“It’s funny. It’s one of those things that you look at them last year and say, ‘They’ve got all these great shooters.’ But they were [in the bottom third] in the league in percentage. If you can move that up to eighth, how many more points per game is that? Is that two more makes per game? Now they’re talking about them scoring 115 points a game almost. They can be that kind of an offense.

“They’re kind of locked in at this point moving forward. They don’t have a lot fof money left to spend. They’re locked in under the hard cap. They’ve got to use veteran minimums or make a trade. I think they’re counting on some in-house improvements to make up for some of the moves they weren’t able to make in free agency and via trade. I think you look at a guy you mentioned, Jared Dudley. I think you look at Jared Dudely and say last year was one of the worst years he’s ever had as a pro. He’s too good to repeat that. And I think they are counting on that.”

EP: So, you speak of in-house improvement. How much does Reggie Bullok, particulary, but also C.J. Wilcox missing Summer League affect that arc of improvement?

DW:I think for Reggie it would have been really important to just get out here and play 30 minutes per game and take charge.”

EP: You see Tony Snell in Clippers’ game against the Bulls [when he scored 27 points].

DW: "Yeah, Tony Snell’s a great example of a guy who played sparingly his first year, but comes out here as a pro gets his confidence and the offense runs through him. He’s kind of gotten to be the playmaker. That would have been good for Reggie. For C.J. Wilcox, I think it would have been good to just get a taste of professional basketball. It’s unfortunate because you wind up watching a Summer League team of guys that are mostly being showcased for other jobs and really the Clippers are here because they agreed to be. If they find a guy they like out of it, awesome, but I don’t think they’re expecting that necessarily.”

EP: Sticking with Summer League, you’ve talked to Delonte West several times already. Can he add something? Can he be a piece to the Clippers or another team?

DW:“I think so. I think he’s a guy who’s still really talented. He’s not that old. He’s experienced. He’s played in big games. He’s tough. The problem with him is that he’s got an off-the-court stigma where the stuff he’s been involved in have given people an idea about him and it’s hard to prove people wrong. I think so far from everyone I’ve talked to he’s handled himself very well here. I think he’s still got to prove he can do certain things; be a better defender and stuff like that. It’s tough. I would think he’s good enough to get a chance with someone in camp.”

EP: Last thing, when you think about what DeAndre [Jordan] specifically did and the way he played with Doc being there. What is an offseason for Blake [Griffin] and DeAndre going to look like now having played for Doc for an entire season as opposed to last offseason when they get an idea from talking to him but they don’t really know what the system is like and what truly his expectations are as a coach?

DW:"You look at a guy like Blake and you look at the stuff he did well last year: facing the basket, attacking, ball-handling, strengths that he already has for his size. I think he’ll work more on that and get better at that stuff. I think you’ll see another step forward with shooting.

“For DeAndre, I think so much of it with him is confidence and he’ll understand the rotations and expectations mentally more. I think he can become a better offensive player, but that’s not his job on this team. His job is to know where everybody needs to be defensively. We watched them last year and saw some of the rotations hiccup at times, so having another a full year with the same core players… I think that’s got to be really valuable.”