The Los Angeles Lakers kicked off their Summer League journey on Monday at the California Classic in Sacramento. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to come away with a victory against the Miami Heat, but it did give everyone a first look at draft picks Jalen Hood-Schifino and Maxwell Lewis.
It is Hood-Schifino, the Lakers’ first-round pick, who will get the most attention and he certainly showed off some of the tools that made the franchise take him 17th overall. He finished with 15 points, five rebounds and four assists in the Lakers’ 107-90 loss to the Heat, but shot just 6-of-19 from the field.
Afterwards, Hood-Schifino admitted he was disappointed with the loss, but the rookie guard believes he had a decent debut and will simply look to learn and improve from here, via Khobi Price of the Southern California News Group:
“It was solid. Obviously it wasn’t the outcome that I wanted or my teammates wanted, but at the end of the day it’s Summer League just to develop, learn and get better and it’s my first game. But I feel like as the game went on I got more aggressive and started to be more aggressive and get downhill a little bit. But like I said, first game so just learn from it, watch the film and be ready to go on Wednesday against the Spurs.”
Hood-Schifino definitely began to look more comfortable as the game went on and did a good job of controlling the pace despite his shooting struggles. Unfortunately, the Lakers dug themselves in a big hole in the first half and just weren’t able to get out of it despite a good effort.
For Hood-Schifino and many others on the roster, it was their first game against NBA competition and even at the Summer League level, there is a difference. For the Lakers rookie, it was the spacing that he felt was the biggest difference from college, via Price:
“It was definitely a little bit more spacing, that was it. Obviously guys were able to hit shots, knock down shots. Heat did a good job defending as far as being in lanes, being active and things like that. But probably just the spacing.”
The first game of Summer League is hardly anything to judge. There were some good things and some rough patches for Hood-Schifino, but the Lakers guard will look to make some improvements the next time they takes the floor.
Lakers officially sign Colin Castleton and D’Moi Hodge to two-way contracts
A couple of other players who had solid outings in the Lakers’ opening Summer League contest were the team’s newest two-way players. The franchise officially signed big man Colin Castleton and guard D’Moi Hodge to two-way contracts.
Both came off the bench for the Lakers against the Heat with Castleton contributing 11 points, four rebounds and two assists while Hodge finished with seven points and a steal.
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