OKC Thunder rookies Ajay Mitchell, Dillon Jones poised in Las Vegas Summer League debut
LAS VEGAS — The Thunder hadn’t yet seen a defense quite like the Raptors in a 94-69 loss Saturday night in its Las Vegas Summer League opener.
A lane-sealing, hip-checking unit capable of erasing space and holding OKC to a 1-for-13 start.
Dillon Jones was smothered. Ajay Mitchell was shoved away from his driving lanes. Mitchell shot 6 for 18, adding 15 points in 30 minutes. Jones added 17 points and seven boards, though a late personal run couldn’t keep him from posting a minus-28, the product of being lumped into patchy lineups with brutal offensive stretches.
Mitchell is learning life as an NBA point guard. Jones is navigating what it means to be on the ball at this level, even if it might not be required of him so much during the season. Clapping back when Brice Sensabaugh claps first is an easy lesson. But Jones’ development will hold just as much flaw as it will highlights. He needed a game like Saturday’s.
“What are you learning from each game?” Jones says he’s asked himself during Summer League. “Like, ‘OK, how am I getting to this spot? Where can I learn from this, like, not just taking a bad name and saying I had a bad game?’”
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Toronto’s early defensive pressure, while digging a hole that OKC could merely dent and not remove itself from, wasn’t without holes against the Thunder’s guards.
None of it kept Mitchell or Jones from attempting to headbutt the line of defense.
“Just their aggressiveness,” Flagler said of Mitchell and Jones. “The fact that things may not be going well during the game but they stayed calm, completely poised and just went out there and really was aggressive, all angles doing everything they can to help the team win.”
Each will carry out the duties assigned to them as part of a notable load with the Thunder’s Summer League roster. But each has acknowledged the parts of their game that they’re emphasizing with intentions of it translating to the season.
Shooting off the catch, making plays and sound reads off the catch. That’s where Jones’ head remains when he’s allowed to drift him from initiating offense.
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Above all, he’s kept an open mind about the road for his development.
“Still just learning the nuances of the game,” Jones said. “Where to be, where not to be if you're in this position, what to do. Because — and I'm not going to learn that by the end of summer — when you watch these great players, that's what they're great at. You know, they can take what the coaches are telling them but then they can also process it in the game at a high level and know what's coming and things like that.
“My rookie year doesn't end at the end of Summer League. It ends this time next year. That’s a rookie season. So that's what I'm just excited about, just to keep learning.”
Las Vegas Summer League
When: July 12-22
Where: Thomas & Mack Center/Cox Pavilion, Las Vegas
Thunder schedule:
Saturday: Raptors 94, Thunder 69
Monday: vs. Miami Heat, 5 p.m. CT, ESPNU
Wednesday: vs. Phoenix Suns, 7 p.m. CT, NBA TV
Friday: vs. Golden State Warriors, 9:30 p.m. CT, NBA TV
This article originally appeared on Oklahoman: OKC Thunder rookies Ajay Mitchell, Dillon Jones poised in Las Vegas
