Honorable Mention: Jerome Robinson
Like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jerome Robinson was selected in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft. Both players had successful collegiate careers, both showed plenty of big-league promise, and both looked to play key roles for the team in the future.
But unlike Gilgeous-Alexander, Robinson is still a member of the LA Clippers. And unlike Gilgeous-Alexander, Robinson was drafted more as a long-term project (though project really feels like the wrong word to use).
After taking a back seat in 2018-2019 and spending plenty of time with LA’s G League affiliate, the Agua Caliente Clippers of Ontario, Robinson appeared ready to go into the upcoming campaign able to make a significant contribution off the bench.
Of course, that will likely still be true — but after a disappointing Summer League performance, it doesn’t seem like Robinson will be taking as large a step as anticipated in 2019-2020.
Robinson has all the tools to become a polished NBA player. He’s a gifted scorer and passer, and his ball handling skills give him the ability to play either guard position. Robinson is also a strong enough shooter to be able to play well off the ball, and he showed a lot of confidence in catch-and-shoot threes in Summer League.
It’s tough to put a lot of stock into Summer League, because it could really go either way. Not paying enough attention to faults could cause you to miss some things, but acting like Summer League performance is the only indicator of a player’s future is foolish. There’s no doubt that Robinson is going to excel soon, but if he doesn’t make necessary adjustments early in the upcoming campaign, he just might not make as big a contribution as we expected.
And if not, that’s fine — with players like Lou Williams and Patrick Beverley above him in the rotation, Robinson has the perfect veterans available to groom him into the best ball player he can become, whether he ends up reaching that potential with the LA Clippers or not.
Regardless of what we saw in Las Vegas, Robinson should be able to carve out a bigger role this season than he did last year, and with the ability to score in bunches, he could become an important role player.