Aussies in Summer League: Was the Brock Motum show enough for an NBA deal?
Brock Motum performed well enough in last year's edition of the NBA Summer League for the Utah Jazz to be called back this year. With the Jazz appearing in both the Utah and Las Vegas editions, Motum has had his fair share of opportunities to showcase his skills and potentially earn his way onto the opening day roster of an NBA team.
In three games in the Utah edition of Summer League, Motum put up averages of seven points and five boards per game, but shot poorly in all categories, with a field goal percentage of 33% and a three-point percentage of just 20%. He even struggled from the free throw line, only managing to knock down 40% of his freebies.
However, it seemed a change of scenery was all Motum needed to get his game back in gear. In the Las Vegas Summer League, the main edition for most NBA teams fielding a roster, Motum stepped it up, averaging nearly ten points on much-improved shooting across the board. Perhaps the most impressive stat, even given the small sample size, was his 55.6% shooting from downtown, which highlighted the versatility he spoke about in an interview with NBA Australia.
Motum acknowledged the improvement in his play in the LVSL in another short interview following the Jazz's final game, against the Washington Wizards.
Yeah I started off a little rusty. I think in Utah, I hadn't played a game since February, so it took a couple games to get the rust out, but now I'm more comfortable here playing in Vegas and I feel a lot better about my game.
Motum's best showing was arguably against the Timberwolves and their frontcourt pairing of the 2015 draft's top pick Karl-Anthony Towns and the 15th pick of the 2014 draft, Adreian Payne, as formidable a partnership as any in Summer League action. Motum managed to grab six boards and score 12 points on 5-of-8 shooting, even hitting two of his four three-point attempts.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=obMQ0eRh6DI&feature=youtu.be There appeared to be an opportunity for Motum to make the Jazz roster when he first joined their Summer League team, but since then, the additions of Trey Lyles via the draft and Tibor Pleiss from Europe to the incumbent Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors, and Trevor Booker probably means that the Jazz have settled on their frontcourt options for the upcoming season.
Having said that, with spacing and versatility such a big part of the NBA game nowadays, Motum's ability to drag an opposing big out to the perimeter could very well help his cause for a contract with an NBA team. Add the fact that he's aware of the role he plays on a team, and his willingness to scrap and play hard, and there's no doubt that he could be a solid pick up for any team, maybe even a contending one.
Brock's done well enough in Summer League to get people to sit up and take notice. Hopefully some of those people are NBA GMs with a hole to fill at the big man positions.