This year's NBA Summer League is now complete, after wrapping up on July 18th. In the week since it's ending, there have been some interesting stories revolving around players who were able to immediately get NBA contracts:
1) Jeremy Lin - I had never heard of this guy before the NBA Summer League. He played at Harvard, is actually 6'3", and ended up as an undrafted free agent on the Mavericks' summer league roster. In a set of circumstances that only a Hollywood writer could have written, the Mavericks' top PG at the summer league, Beaubois, was dinged up, allowing Lin to get more playing time in their game against the Wizards. Apparently, Jeremy Lin then proceeded to hold #1 draft pick John Wall to 4 for 19 shooting... while Lin ended up scoring 11 points on Wall in the fourth quarter!
As if this wasn't insane enough, Lin actually grew up in Palo Alto... rooting for the Golden State Warriors. And now... he just signed with the Golden State Warriors!
2) Gary Neal - Another player I've never heard of who was recently singed by the Spurs, who also has a life that could be made into a movie. Apparently, Neal, a 25-year old 6'4" SG played at La Salle for a couple of years, leading the team in scoring. A woman then accused him of rape, putting his career on hold, until he was acquitted as the woman admitted lying. Neal then played at Towson University for his last 2 years, averaging over 25 ppg each year. Neal then played for a Turkish team, a Spanish team, and then played 2 seasons at Benetton Treviso, where he averaged 13.9 ppg in the last season (though he only shot 34.5% from 3-point land. Finally, Neal ended up playing on the Spurs summer league team, and had 16 ppg while shooting a silly 50% from 3-point land (17-34), including hitting 6 threes in one half of one game. Congrats to Neal for finally getting an NBA contract despite the long road he took.
3) Pooh Jeter - This guy is older, as he's 26, and has played in the D-League and overseas. He played with the Cavs Summer League team, is only 5'11", and got 14.8 ppg and 5.4 assists to be one of the top PGs at the summer league this year. He just got signed by Sacramento.
4) Samardo Samuels - This is someone I do know from watching college basketball. A very athletic, underachieving player at Louisville, who decided to come out after his sophomore year, he went undrafted though. He played on the Bulls summer league team and got 12.6 ppg and 7.4 rebs as a 6'8" PF. Sadly, he's very skinny and will probably get pushed around all over the place in the NBA. No worries, the Cavs already signed him for next year!
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