Cons
There’s a reason that championship game was the “full Mike James experience,” however. As good as he was, he certainly wasn’t perfect. In fact, his carelessness with the ball during two separate stints in the third and fourth quarters ultimately doomed the Suns and buried them in a hole that even his big-time performance couldn’t overcome with all those garbage time buckets.
James committed five turnovers in the game, with most of them directly leading to easy transition baskets for the Spurs. The turnovers were mostly the product of trying to dribble through two players or lazy passes, flaws that were on display from his first Summer League game.
Mike James is intriguing. He's shown a lot of playmaking ability through 2 games, but he's also shown some pretty poor decision-making.
— Jacob Padilla (@JacobPadilla_) July 13, 2015
Throughout his time in Las Vegas, James was prone to taking bad shots, playing a little too much isolation basketball and making some bad decisions with the ball. That’s not the end of the world; in Summer League, these guys have to try extra hard to make a name for themselves and stand out. Just ask Alec “I’m Going To Shoot The Ball Every Time I Catch It No Matter Where I Am On The Court” Brown.
But the lazy passes are something that’d definitely need to be cleaned up at the NBA level, since defenders would prey on a weakness like that. Getting James to buy into feeding a more talented offensive player in late-shot clock situations wouldn’t hurt either, nor would a suggestion that jumping to pass would get him in trouble at the next level against lengthier and smarter defenders.
Next: The Roster