Wisconsin star Johnny Davis made his NBA Summer League debut Saturday in Las Vegas. Johnny was selected No. 10 overall in the NBA draft by the Washington Wizards. A familiar foe awaited Davis in the desert, former Purdue star Jaden Ivey who was selected No. 5 by the Detroit Pistons. Davis and Ivey had their share of battles last season, with Davis dominating one of the matchups scoring 37 in a game at Purdue. Here are some takeaways from Davis' first taste of NBA action.
A slow start for Davis saw him attempt no shots in the first quarter. Davis did however have a sweet left handed dime for a dunk. When Davis finally attempted his first shot, he knocked down a smooth runner in the lane just like we saw him do so many times last season.
At the half, Davis was just 1-for-4 overall from the field but didn’t look terrible. A few times he got to the paint with ease but ended up dumping off a pass or kicking out. I would have liked to seem him be more aggressive on those drives.
The Wizards president of basketball operations Tommy Sheppard joined the ESPN crew and spoke about Davis during the second half. An interesting point he made was how much time Davis will have to work through the ups and downs thanks to all the vets surrounding him. Especially, someone like Bradley Beal who Davis has been compared to.
Davis finished just 1-for-9 from the field. Surely not what he had hoped for in his debut, but it is simply the first game of Summer League. He still pulled in five boards and went 4-for-4 from the free throw line. I would like to see him shoot some more 3s and open looks he passed up on. Davis settled for a lot of tough contested mid-range shots. No need to overreact, even thought that is what sports fans do the best, Davis will be back at it on Monday and look for him to have a bounce back game.
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