NBA Summer League 2016

Anthony Davila

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Photos: Clippers vs Knicks | Summer League - 07/08/16

Marcus Fong

LOS ANGELES – Forward Branden Dawson ended his Orlando Summer League play on a high note, though the Clippers dropped the finale.

Dawson poured in a Summer-League high 18 points on 7-of-10 shooting and added six rebounds and two assists, but the Clippers (0-5) got down quickly Friday against the Knicks (2-3) and turnovers remained a problem in trying to battle back in a 106-77 loss.

“I think overall the week went well,” said Clippers Summer League head coach Brendan O’Connor. “Obviously our record wouldn’t lead you to believe that, but I think our young guys that are going to be with us got better as the week went along.”

Second-round pick Diamond Stone also added seven field goals, tying Dawson for the team lead Friday, and scored 15 points. Stone also tied first-round pick Brice Johnson with a team-high with seven rebounds on Friday, finishing Summer League with 10.4 points and 5.6 rebounds per game.

Johnson led the Clippers in points per game (15.4) and rebounds per game (6.8) in his five Summer League games, though he struggled with his shot Friday in a 1-for-13 performance. He tried to help in other ways, leading the team with four assists.

But turnovers across the board were too costly, as the Clippers committed 19 as a team, including three apiece from the five starters, and shot 38.5 percent from the floor.

O’Connor said the draft picks will get a short break following Summer League action, but it won’t be long before they’re back with the basketball and training staff getting prepared for the season.

“They’re not going to have too much time to relax,” O’Connor said.

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Clippers Wrap Up Summer League Play

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Clippers vs Knicks Full Highlights | Summer League - 07/08/16

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Robyn Dixon

LOS ANGELES – Clippers head coach and president of basketball operations Doc Rivers didn’t care about the lack of points or rebounds in Brice Johnson’s Summer League debut.

As Rivers told NBATV Thursday at Orlando Summer League, it was the way Johnson let his start affect him that needed adjusting. After a game the first-round pick described as one of the worst of his life, Rivers gave Johnson a call.

“We had a good phone conversation after the first game,” Rivers said. “The only thing I told him, I didn’t like he showed everybody he played poorly with his body language. I told him, ‘Just get to the next play.’”

Rivers said he told Johnson he’s going to be a brilliant player, but he needed Johnson to play harder and more focused.

“’You’re going to have bad games,’” Rivers said to Johnson. “That’s one of the things I teach my guys all the time – you’ve got to be willing to go 0-for-40 to be a good basketball player, and go out there and play. No one’s mad at you for missing. I’m mad at you for thinking about the missing.”

Johnson vowed after the game that person would never show up again. Whether or not the talk with his head coach helped, Johnson responded with 23 points in both his second and third games and 19 points in his fourth game at Summer League, looking far more comfortable offensively.

“It’s just a learning step for me, and I’m just trying to play as well as I can,” Johnson said. “I know it’s going to be a little tougher once training camp comes around.”

Here’s more on what Rivers said during his halftime conversation with NBATV:

On Kevin Durant going to Golden State: “Clearly, they were the favorite last year, the year before, and they’ll be the favorite this coming year. But, there are a lot of good teams, including us, that feel they can make noise.”

On his team’s mentality this offseason: “At the end of the day, we looked at our team, assessed our team last year, and it was hard to assess it because we had so many injuries. Blake (Griffin) missed half the year last year, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen what happened in the playoffs happen to us, when you lose Chris Paul and Blake in a five-minute span. So, we wanted to look at it again and see how that team looks.”

On promoting Lawrence Frank to executive vice president: “Lawrence has been around forever. He knows the game as well as anyone. He may be one of the hardest working guys I’ve ever been around, and I thought I needed that in the front office. I needed someone to lead the front office, him and (general manager) Dave Wohl will do that together, and I just thought it was time. I think it was time for Lawrence. I think that’s his next progression. He had decided that’s what he wanted to do, and I thought it was time.”

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Rivers Talks Johnson Advice, Clippers’ Offseason On NBATV

ORLANDO – Summer League’s much more about progression for young players than wins and losses.

That’s why, after a fourth straight loss to start Orlando Summer League play for the Clippers, there’s still plenty of reason for excitement and anticipation, particularly when it comes to first-round pick Brice Johnson.

“It’s great for the guys that are going to be on our team,” said Summer League head coach Brendan O’Connor. “It’s their first introduction to our terminology, our coverages and hopefully they can maintain that so they can be a little ahead of the game when we get to training camp.”

Johnson scored at least 19 points for the third straight game in a 79-69 loss Thursday for the Clippers (0-4) against the undefeated Orlando White squad (4-0), with turnovers and a lack of outside shooting once again eliminating an early lead.

The Clippers led by 12 points halfway through the second quarter with mostly mistake-free basketball when the errors started building, allowing Orlando White to get within six points.

A 22-4 run to start the third quarter for Orlando White saw the Clippers suddenly trailing by double digits with more than three minutes left in the third quarter, as fruitless possessions and careless passes put them behind.

The extended dry spell allowed Orlando White to outscore the Clippers by 21 points in the third quarter before a completely different fourth, with both team’s defenses stepping up.

Guard Andrew Andrews, who’s started at shooting guard for the Clippers since C.J. Wilcox fractured his hand, finished with 11 points, four steals, four rebounds and three assists, helping lead the Clippers’ effort to get within six points of Orlando White with two minutes left. The Clippers created late turnovers, but too many of their own in the second half ultimately led to defeat.

The Clippers turned it over 20 times, including seven from Johnson, who also was whistled for eight fouls. But the Clippers’ first-round pick once again led the way offensively, and he knows this is just the first step in his journey.

Johnson said he needs to continue adjusting to the physicality of the game, and that this is all part of the learning process for him and the young players trying to develop at Summer League.

“I’m not the strongest guy, and to be able to play in the post, I’ve got to add 20 or 30 more pounds,” Johnson said. “Just the banging and the bruising of the game is probably the biggest thing that’s hurting me right now… but when I get to L.A., I’ll be able to get in the weight room and eat the proper way to get stronger.”

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Summer League: Johnson Scores 19 In Loss To Orlando White

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Photos: Clippers vs Magic | Summer League - 07/07/16

Clippers vs Magic Full Highlights | Summer League - 07/07/16

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LOS ANGELES – Stop about 40 miles into the 100-mile Texas drive south on I-35 from Waco to Austin, then hop on US-190 west for another 20 miles.

That’s where the journey, almost inexplicably intertwined, began for Royce O’Neale and TaShawn Thomas, two high school rivals from the military town of Killeen, who became college rivals, then rivals in Germany and, finally, teammates at Summer League with the Clippers in Orlando.

“It’s just crazy,” Thomas said, finally able to reminisce on his unlikely path with O’Neale while at the Clippers’ team hotel in Winter Park, Fla. “To think about how we went from the Boys and Girls Club, to middle school, to high school, to college, then overseas playing each other in every level of basketball…it is crazy.”

Their parents knew each other growing up in Killeen, long before the city’s rapid growth brought the population to around 140,000. Even as it grew, it remained small enough that the city’s best athletes knew each other - and there were talented ones.

Cory Jefferson and D.J. Stephens, now 25 years old, went on from Killeen to NBA careers. Two years behind them were O’Neale and Thomas, who sought out the same dream while attending rival high schools – O’Neale at Harker Heights and Thomas at Killeen.

Given their talents, their personal rivalry grew quickly.

“Off the court, just like anybody – cool,” Thomas said. “But at or after the game, sometimes we wouldn’t talk to each other.”

O’Neale averaged 16.7 points and 10.4 rebounds per game his senior year, and his Harker Heights squad got the best of Killeen while going on to a 28-6 record; but Thomas made his presence felt all season with 21 points, 13 rebounds and four blocks per game, earning District 8-4A Most Valuable Player honors.

Had that been the last time crossing paths on a basketball court, no one would’ve thought twice – especially considering O’Neale went to college in Denver, while Thomas stayed closer to home at Houston.

Instead, both players transferred. O’Neale spent two years at Denver before heading to Baylor. After three standout years at Houston, Thomas was looking to do the same.

“When he was transferring from Houston, he was going to come to Baylor,” O’Neale said. “We kind of had it planned out.”

NCAA restrictions got in the way. Thomas said he was told he couldn’t stay in Texas if he wanted to transfer. He appealed, but eventually was forced to go out of state and chose Oklahoma, where the friendly rivalry resumed.

It worked out for both Killeen stars, who started for their respective teams their senior years.

Thomas quickly got his high school revenge the first time their teams faced off, posting 24 points and eight rebounds in an Oklahoma win. He earned Big 12 Newcomer of the Year honors, averaging 11.6 points, 6.5 rebounds, 1.5 blocks and 1.5 assists per game in his lone season in the conference.

Over at Baylor, O’Neale averaged 10.1 points, 5.8 rebounds and 3.4 assists per game for Baylor his final year, shooting better than 43 percent from behind the arc for the second straight season. 

Neither player ended up getting drafted despite fruitful college careers; once again, that could’ve marked the end of the rivalry.

They joined different Summer League teams, and then faced decisions on where to continue playing. For Thomas, the next move was overseas to Germany of the Basketball Bundesliga, the country’s top professional league.

It didn’t take long for O’Neale to follow – of course, on a different team.

And, as it turned out, in a much different living situation.

“I was extremely jealous,” Thomas said.

Thomas played for Mitteldeutscher BC, averaging 12.9 points, 7.1 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 blocks per game in the town of Weissenfels, where he needed help from his German teammates to get around, since he didn’t speak the language.

A city of about a fourth the population of Killeen, the experience wasn’t what Thomas initially expected.

“My agent came to Killeen before I signed… and he only got a little bit of a taste of it,” Thomas said. “When he was telling me the team I was going to, he was like, ‘It’s like Killeen.’ I’m like, ‘OK, cool.’”

“Way different,” Thomas said. “Killeen’s a military town, so it’s real diverse, a lot of different people.  They have to have some type of entertainment, something like that. There (with Mitteldeutscher), nothing. They had, like, maybe one grocery store in the whole city.”

The nearest movie theater, as Thomas recalled, was about 45 minutes away. His English couldn’t get him far, but he felt better for having gone through the experience and the culture shock.

“Mine was way better,” O’Neale said with a grin.  

He went to MHP Riesen Ludwigsburg, about 15 minutes outside of Stuttgart and two and a half hours from Munich, easily able to get around using English and with entertainment never far away. O’Neale, who averaged 8.4 points and 4.5 rebounds between the BBL and Eurocup, didn’t have a hard time adjusting.

Their teams ended up playing each other, with O’Neale’s Ludwidsburg squad getting the best of Thomas and Mitteldeutscher, despite nine points, seven rebounds and six assists from Thomas.

If it didn’t hit them then, two kids who grew up together in Texas facing off in Weissenfels, Germany, they had time to reflect on the long odds of their circumstances after getting called to Orlando to play together, finally, on the same Summer League team.

“We just think how far we came, and then how much Killeen has grown – not just us, but players up and coming,” said O’Neale.

Like Jefferson and Stephens before them, O’Neale and Thomas hope to pave the way for the next generation of Killeen stars. And, as they try to make an NBA roster, they finally get to do it as teammates.  