5 outstanding performers from the Celtics Summer League

Over the past 10 days, the Boston Celtics have showcased some up-and-coming talent as part of Summer League action in Las Vegas.

We’ve compiled a list of some of the best players from the five-game session, each of whom will have a chance to make their mark on an NBA roster and/or with the Maine Celtics this coming season.

We didn’t see much of Dalano Banton this summer, but the newest Celtics signing still showed enough during his limited action to earn a spot on this list.

The 6-foot-7 guard played in the third and fourth games of the session, the latter of which featured him as the star performer. Banton went for team-highs 18 points and nine rebounds against the New York Knicks, knocking down a pair of 3-pointers along with a 5-of-6 clip from inside the arc.

Banton is an exciting offensive player who can gallop up in transition, drive through contact and finish at the rim and can function as a pick-and-roll ballhandler.

The former second-round draft pick has two years of NBA experience under his belt with the Toronto Raptors. He’s already proven to the Celtics that he can score in bunches, as he did during their April 7 matchup when he had 10 points in the final 90 seconds of the game.

Boston’s front office clearly sees promise in the 23-year-old, as evidenced by the fact that they signed Banton to an NBA contract the day after Summer League ended.

Justin Champagnie was a rebounding machine this summer, grabbing a team-leading 8.3 boards per game. game. That number might not seem too high at first glance — until you consider that the player who produced it is only 6-foot-6.

Champagnie, who the Celtics signed in early April, was second among all small forwards in total rebounds per game. game and first in offensive boards with an average of 3.8 per match. He had 23 total rebounds in Boston’s first two games, including a whopping 13 on the offensive end.

During Game 2 against Washington, Champagnie logged arguably the most impressive individual stat line of any Celtics Summer League participant: 21 points, 12 rebounds, six assists and a block in just over 28 minutes of action.

He had a few hot shooting stretches during his four appearances, showing his ability to hit threes in transition. Like Banton, he was also quick to get to the cup and had some creative finishes.

For the second year in a row, JD Davison led the entire Summer League in assists, dishing out 36 helpers in five games. Twenty of those dimes came in the first two games, including his career-high 11 in Boston’s opener against the Miami Heat.

Along with his 7.2 assists per game, the 6-foot-3 point guard produced 9.8 points and a team-high 1.4 steals per game. match.

One area where Davison struggled was in the turnover department, where he averaged 4.4 per game. competition. However, that was largely due to a poor performance — a 10-turnover performance in the second game against Washington. If you take that game out of the equation, his turnover average drops all the way to a much more respectable 3.0.

As he showed with Maine last season, Davison is an elite lob shooter and an explosive athlete who can rip the rim off the basket. And at just 20 years old, he still has plenty of time to grow, which he will continue to do this coming season while on a two-way contract with the Celtics.

Jay Scrubb may not have been on the radar of Celtics fans before this summer, but he sure is now.

The 6-foot-5 shooting guard averaged 14.4 points, 3.6 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.2 steals per game.

Not only did Scrubb display an effective shooting stroke, but he had some quick, shifty drives to the basket that gave him a handful of impressive finishes and one opportunity.

He also scored at a high level in the G League last season, averaging 22.3 points per game (eighth in the league) while being one of six players to make at least 100 trips to the free throw line.

By the end of Summer League, Scrubb did more than enough to earn a two-way contract with the C’s, so we should see more of him this coming season both in Boston and in Maine.

If there was a team MVP awarded this summer, Jordan Walsh would have had his name on it.

After being drafted No. 38 overall in June, Walsh was labeled an NBA-ready defender. However, there wasn’t much talk about his offensive skills.

Well, now people are talking about it.

Walsh led the team in scoring with 18.0 points per game. game, including Boston’s highest individual scoring output of the summer – a 25-point outing against the Lakers.

The 19-year-old was the most prolific 3-point shooter on the team, knocking down 11-of-27 from deep for a 40.7 percent clip. That’s not bad for a guy who shot just 27.8 percent from long range during his lone year in college.

Walsh also dished out some really nice passes through his five appearances, underscoring his decision-making skills and overall basketball IQ.

On top of that, he lived up to the hype as a high-energy defender both on and off the ball.

Looking more like a lottery pick than a second-rounder, Walsh showed he has a legitimate chance to carve out some NBA minutes in his rookie season.