Maryland had a pretty strong representation this year in the NBA Summer League. Six former Terps suited up: Jake Layman, Dez Wells, Diamond Stone, Robert Carter Jr., Melo Trimble and Rasheed Sulaimon. Let’s review their performances.
Jake Layman
Layman’s Portland Trail Blazers made it to the title game, which gave Layman a chance to play in eight games this summer. In those eight games, Layman averaged 13.8 points and 4.6 rebounds. It’s worth noting Layman did have some issues from the field, knocking down only 33.9 percent of his field goals. He did catch fire from the three in the end against the Los Angeles Lakers, going 5-for-8 from deep in what was a losing effort for Portland.
Dez Wells
With the Orlando Magic, Dez Wells did not earn a ton of playing time. The team leader of Maryland’s 2014-15 squad averaged 12.8 minutes per game and 3.3 points to go along with it. The playing time and scoring do not exactly bode well for Wells to make his NBA debut this season, but of course, numbers do not tell the whole story.
Diamond Stone
Stone played his first professional minutes for the Atlanta Hawks this summer. The biggest development for Stone was cutting down on his fouls. In 2016 with the Los Angeles Clippers, he averaged 4.6 fouls per game during the Orlando Summer League. Now with a year of NBA maturation under his belt, he cut that number down to a much-improved 1.8 fouls per game. Stone also enjoyed a minor boost in field goal percentage from last year in summer league as well, boosting it from 52.3 percent to 53.6 percent
Robert Carter Jr.
In the 2016 Las Vegas Summer League with the Golden State Warriors, Robert Carter Jr. made zero threes in 11 attempts. That’s an awful number for any team, but it is especially alarming when trying to impress one of the most three-pointer happy teams in the NBA. This year, Carter was able to find his stroke from deep, going 4-for-9 over the course of six games. The Denver Nuggets gave Carter more playing time than the Warriors did last year, which could be an encouraging sign for his chances of making an NBA roster.
Melo Trimble
Melo Trimble’s Philadelphia 76ers actually participated in the summer leagues in both Salt Lake City and Las Vegas. In Salt Lake City, Trimble only appeared in one of Philadelphia’s three games. In Las Vegas he saw more of the floor, appearing in three of their five games. Trimble found success shooting threes in Las Vegas, knocking down five of them in nine attempts.
Rasheed Sulaimon
Sulaimon only played two games in the Orlando Summer League with the Charlotte Hornets before signing with a team in France.
