Cleanthony Early impresses in his first Summer League action

The noisiest play of the first two games of day one of Las Vegas Summer League was definitely this one:

Cleanthony Early did everything but powerbomb Ivan Johnson through the front row of media tables, and I might or might not have jumped up to shout “BAH GAWD”.

He impressed as well with his size and general ability to get around the court. One of the questions about him coming into the league was if he had the size and mobility to compete at small forward on the NBA level. From floor level, he looked more than adequate on both fronts. 13 points on 10 shots to go with 2 blocked shots didn’t hurt either.

However, a note of caution before Knicks fans go hog wild for him (and even moreso over Tim Hardaway Jr. who “dominated” with 25 points mostly by shooting every time he touched the ball), he only had one rebound, and shooting is one of the things from summer league least likely to translate to regular season play. Further, it’s not terribly hard to find mid-sized guys who are willing and able to shoot a lot and decently well. To be a solid rotation player, he’s going to have to show a little more.

A little of that is unfair to him, as the degree to which Hardaway and especially Shane Larkin (who struggled, especially in the first half, to get to his spots on the floor with the ball) dominated the rock made it unlikely for him to rack up assists. Still, you’d hope for more than one rebound in 27 minutes from a bigger wing.

But if Summer League is more the search for things which disqualify a player (especially a second round pick like Early), then he did well more than enough on Day 1 to pass that first test.