NBA Summer League games, like most exhibition contests, oftentimes prove to be meaningless. With rosters almost entirely comprised of late-round picks, undrafted rookies, and free agent journeymen hoping to get a training camp invite, it can be difficult to gauge players’ performances based purely on statistics. After all, fringe benchwarmer Adam Morrison was the fifth-leading scorer (20.8 points per game) and Marcus Williams, who played a total of 53 minutes in nine games during the regular season, led the league in assists (8.2) in 2009. But that doesn't mean all of the numbers are completely worthless.
Last year, Tyreke Evans showed why Kings President of Basketball Operations Geoff Petrie referred to him as "a man among boys" during the Sacramento's pre-Draft workouts by averaging 19.2 points, 6.2 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 30.2 minutes — a stat-line that closely resembles his historic regular season production — in five Summer League games. Before playing limited minutes in the final two contests - Evans came off the bench and attempted just five shots in the fourth game - he averaged 24.7 points, 7.7 rebounds, and 4.7 assists over the first three games, attempting an even more extraordinary 41 free throws. Although he didn't shoot well from the field (40.3%), he exhibited the phenomenal one-on-one power game and scoring prowess that made him an immediate front-runner for the Rookie of the Year Award.
Like Evans, the Kings' 2010 first-round selection (fifth overall), DeMarcus Cousins, is sure to get plenty of court time on Sacramento's Summer League squad, which will begin playing on Monday, July 12 in Las Vegas. The big man's per game statistics from his lone season at Kentucky University — 15.1 points, 9.8 rebounds, and 1.8 blocks — are monumentally more noteworthy since he averaged only 23.5 minutes per contest. He put up 25.8 points, 16.8 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks per 40 minutes, and it'll be interesting to see if he can make an equally impressive contribution in several fundamental categories.
Although he won't be able to use his size advantage to the same extent as he did in college, Cousins shouldn't have a tough time putting the ball in the basket against highly inferior competition in Summer League. In addition to Morrison's output last year, the immortal Nikoloz Tskitishvili averaged 25.7 points per game in 2004 and ex-King Ike Diogu nearly set the league scoring record with 37 points in 2007, to highlight just a few notable performances.
The way Cousins gets his points will be one key factor in his success. No drafted player in the last five years drew more fouls than Cousins (8.3 per 40 minutes), and it won't be surprising if he, like Evans last year, ranks among the Summer League leaders in free throws attempted. Since Cousins shot only 60.4% from the line, a shockingly low percentage considering how well he's converted jumpshots from mid-range (55.8% overall FG), he'll certainly need to work on finding his stroke. The Kings ranked 18th in free throws attempted but just 28th in free throw percentage as a team in 2008-09, and can’t afford to give away even more points.
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