[DIME MAG] The NBA Summer League’s All-Translate Team

http://dimemag.com/2012/07/the-nba-summer-leagues-all-translate-team/

DONATAS MOTIEJUNAS, HOUSTON
There’s been talk of the big Lithuanian — just signed in July after being a 2011 first-round draft pick — replacing Luis Scola but really? Motiejunas is a 7-footer who is comfortable playing the mid-range and banging down low like Scola, but he’s also about four inches taller than Scola and has range from that Scola couldn’t match. He’ll build on his Summer League averages of 16.3 points and 7.8 rebounds while shooting 63 percent playing for Kevin McHale, another former rangy big man. How about this for a debut? Twenty-five points on 11-of-13 shooting and two made threes. He’s been a pro since he was 15 and won a Lithuanian league title at 18, and that has translated into what Houston’s Summer League coach Kelvin Sampson called a high basketball IQ to the Houston Chronicle, praising his ability to switch defenses and expectations on the fly. It’s tempting to see him step out on pick-and-rolls with Jeremy Lin next season and shoot the three, but there’s a big IF there — if he’s not traded as part of a package for Dwight Howard.