Former Illini Kasparas Jakucionis Makes Summer League Debut for Miami Heat

You've gotta start somewhere.

Unfortunately for Miami Heat rookie guard Kasparas Jakucionis, that location seemed to be at the deepest of the deep ocean-floor bottom. Jakucionis, the former Illinois star, made his NBA Summer League debut on Saturday night at Chase Center in San Francisco, and it would be putting it kindly to say simply that it could have gone better.

First, the positives: Jakucionis, who was selected by Miami with the No. 20 overall pick in last month's NBA Draft, played 25 minutes in his first professional action.

End of positives.

Yeah, the waters were that rough for Jakucionis on his maiden NBA voyage. Facing the San Antonio Spurs' summer squad, Jakucionis shot 1-for-7 from the field (including 0-for-4 on threes) and had three turnovers against one assist. It was the sort of performance that seemed to confirm all the concerns about his most glaring weaknesses coming out of college.

Worse, Summer League is a developmental enterprise, so squads tend to be made up of mostly first- and second-year players. In other words, Jakucionis hasn't even come up against the real thing yet, and already his struggles have become pronounced.

Of course, we're also talking about one game – and a debut, at that, which can be accompanied by nervousness and hesitancy. Also, we may have been a bit too harsh about those lack of positives. Jakucionis was solid enough on defense and, facing what an expected adjustment playing more off the ball (at least initially), he still served as an effective table-setter against the Spurs.