DJO and Buycks have final chances to make NBA case this week; Jimmy F. Butler 5th best Summer League performer of 384 players

We’ve updated the Summer League leaders here, but the focus for the rest of the week is on Darius Johnson-Odom and Dwight Buycks.  If they both make it, MU will have 8 players in the NBA, a fact only 8 colleges were able to top last year.

DJO has one more game with the miserable LA Lakers summer league team (which set a record with a 50-point loss to Miami) Thursday at 7:30 p.m. CST to make his case that he belongs in the NBA.  The shooting has been off, but he gets good reviews for his defense and a hope that he can hit treys while Kobe is resting like he did at Marquette BEFORE the double teams came (47.4% as noted in this piece).  Dwight Buycks gets three more chances to show the Spurs the kind of performance he put up for Oklahoma City last week in the Orlando League, and Buycks last game with be Saturday at 5 p.m. vs. Jae Crowder’s Mavericks team.  Here is the schedule for the five MU players still playing:

	Tonight	Thursday	Friday	Sat	Sun
Butler, Jimmy CHI	5 pm vs Hou		7:30 vs GSW	7:30 vs LAC	3 vs Mil
Buycks, Dwight SAS	9 pm vs LAC		7 pm vs MIA	5 pm vs Dal
Crowder, Jae DAL	7 pm vs Atl		9:30 vs NOH	5 pm vs SAS
Johnson-Odom, Darius LAL		7:30 pm vs LAC
Matthews, Wesley POR		5 vs ATL	5 pm vs Den

(all times are Central, and Butler also has a Sunday game at 3 p.m. vs. the Bucks)

One guy who doesn’t have to prove anything is Jimmy Butler, who is currently the 5^th best player in Summer League according to the updated NBA Player efficiency ratings.  Butler stormed the court for 25 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists and a steal.  After being ranked by ESPN as the 23^rd best rookie despite limited minutes in his rookie year, it appears he will see more minutes this year and a major factor for the Bulls assuming they lose someone due to salary cap after that.

However, before our Chicago alumni get too excited, it should be pointed out that in the same Bulls game Marquis Teague hit 4 of 17 shots with only 1 rebound and 1 assist to rank as the 3^rd worst player of all the Summer Leaguers (382^nd out of 384^th).  It’s only one game, but we advised against Teague as a first round selection, and in fact Rob Lowe had to go on MU Scoop the day after the pick to let everyone know I was being way to kind in not trashing the pick harshly enough draft night (I believe “yuck” was Rob’s summary of the pick).

However, with Hayward, Novak, Matthews, Wade and Butler already signed, and Rick Carlisle taking the unusual step of telling the NBA channel that Crowder would make the Mavs, the focus is all on if DJO and Buycks can make the Lakers and Spurs respectively.

Here is where MUs players rank in NBA Efficiency so far, along with the top and bottom players statistically in the Orlando and Las Vegas Leagues combined.  You can scroll down two posts for the entire list of 384.  Good luck DJO and Dwight!

Rnk	PLAYER NAME	Gm	Lg	Min	Pts	fgm	fga	Reb	Ast	Stl	Blk	Eff
1	Markieff Morris (PHX)	2	LV	30.5	22.5	7	18.5	13	1.5	0.5	4	30
2	Michael Kidd-Gilchrist (CHA)	1	LV	22	18	7	12	8	5	4	0	30
3	Klay Thompson (GSW)	2	LV	29.5	20.5	7	13.5	6	4.5	1.5	1.5	27.5
4	Josh Selby (MEM)	2	LV	28.5	27.5	9.5	16	1.5	1	4	0	27.5
5	Jimmy Butler (CHI)	1	LV	36	25	7	16	7	3	1	0	27
7	Dominique Jones (DAL)	2	LV	33	26.5	9	18.5	5.5	3	0.5	0	26
73	Lazar Hayward (OKC)	4	Orl	29.8	15.8	4.8	13.2	6	0.5	0.8	0.3	15
103	Jae Crowder (DAL)	2	LV	31.5	12	4.5	12	4.5	2	1	0.5	12.5
180	Dwight Buycks (OKC)	5	Orl	13.8	8.6	3.8	7	0.4	1.6	0.6	0.2	8.2
188	Wesley Matthews (POR)	1	LV	15	7	3	6	2	0	1	1	8
221	Darius Johnson-Odom (LAL)	4	LV	18.8	4.8	1.5	6.2	4	1.8	0.8	0.3	7
382	Marquis Teague (CHI)	1	LV	32	8	4	17	1	1	0	0	-3
383	Michael Thompson (NOH)	1	LV	5	0	0	3	0	0	0	0	-3
384	Antoine Wright (LAC)	1	LV	29	0	0	9	1	0	0	1	-7