Milwaukee Bucks: 5 lessons from 2019 NBA Summer League

Bryant the cream of the crop

Much of the talk heading into Summer League (and I can count myself guilty on this front) was focused on what kind of impression Daulton Hommes and Fletcher Magee might be able to make with the Bucks. Instead, it was a more unheralded player who emerged as Milwaukee’s true standout.

After going undrafted out of BYU last summer, and then going on to have a starring role in Israel last season, Elijah Bryant certainly made the most of his Summer League opportunity across four games wearing a Bucks jersey.

Bryant averaged 14.2 points, 4.0 rebounds and 3.2 assists in 23.3 minutes per game for the Summer Bucks, while shooting an outstanding 52.9 percent from the field, 50 percent from deep, and 83.3 percent from the free throw line.

Although those numbers are impressive in their own right, the way Bryant controlled the game during his time on the floor, and made his impact with the kind of composure that is rarely found at Summer League, made him really stand out from the crowd.

It’s not necessarily all that unusual to see glimpses of talent at Summer League, but much more noteworthy is the kind of polish that Bryant offered up with his play.

Bryant has reportedly got the attention of NBA teams with his play in Vegas, and the Bucks could certainly do much worse than extending his stay with the team into training camp, or even using their vacant two-way spot on the 24-year-old.

Also worth mentioning in terms of the Bucks’ best Summer League performers is Australian big man Jock Landale. After a somewhat inauspicious start to his play in Vegas, Landale excelled as his stay with the Bucks continued.  Landale finished as the team’s leading scorer with 18.2 points per game, and his 44.4 percent three-point shooting from the center position may well suggest that an NBA opportunity could still be in his future.