Exactly one month ago today, Patrick McCaw played 12 minutes and scored six points in a closeout Game 5 of the NBA Finals that gave the 21-year-old a championship in his rookie season. Wednesday, he led the Summer League Warriors in scoring for the third time in four games and raised his summer scoring average to 20.0 points per game.
It’s been a whirlwind month for the 2016 second round pick who scored 4.0 points per game last season as a rookie, but there’s no doubt that the experience of leading a team can only help McCaw. He’s only under contract with Golden State for one more season, but he’s viewed as a potential long-term Andre Iguodala replacement.
Through four summer games, McCaw’s had his share of ups and downs, including a suspect possession to end regulation against Minnesota on Tuesday night that resulted in an airball at the buzzer. But he’s also been the undisputed leader of the team, which is still an impressive feat on a Summer League squad that features plenty of players older than him.
Wednesday’s win, the first of the summer for the Warriors, was McCaw’s most efficient performance thus far, with a 10-16 shooting night from the youngster.
He flashed his defensive prowess with a steal-and-score in the backcourt in the second half, and also showed off the mid-range jumper that he’ll need to make more consistently as his career progresses.
PATRICK 👀 pic.twitter.com/bAvUkMijay
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) July 12, 2017
Pat Gonna Pat 🙃 pic.twitter.com/5QUF7m6v1i
— Golden State Warriors (@warriors) July 12, 2017
This year’s second round pick, Jordan Bell, also continued his strong play with a Warriors Summer League record of 16 rebounds. Bell’s now averaging 9.8 boards and 2.8 blocks per game through four contests and has shown that he can do exactly what the real Warriors will need him to do in the 2017-18 campaign.
Fellow NBAers Kevon Looney and Damian Jones, who may be competing directly with one another for playing time in the Golden State frontcourt, have combined to average 15 points a game so far this summer. They haven’t quite shown stretches of dominance like McCaw and Bell have been able to, but Looney’s grabbing six boards a game and Jones has eight blocks.
With the Dubs’ first summer win coming in the opening game of the bracket-style tournament that kicked off Wednesday, they’ll move on to face the Celtics and No. 3 overall pick Jayson Tatum on Thursday. It’ll be McCaw’s biggest Summer League test yet, but he’s shown no signs of slowing down.
