The Los Angeles Lakers have a good history with finding gems within their two-way player contracts and the team’s most recent additions, Colin Castleton and D’Moi Hodge, continue to show off the reason the front office brought them on board.
Castleton led the way with 21 points, 14 rebounds and three assists while Hodge added 16 points and five rebounds as the Lakers defeated the Charlotte Hornets 93-75 in their second game at the Las Vegas Summer League. The Lakers are now 2-0 in Las Vegas after dropping both games at the California Classic in Sacramento.
First round pick Jalen Hood-Schifino continued his run of solid outings with 15 points and five assists while also knocking down both of his 3-point attempts. Additionally, Max Christie showed the impact he can have even when he’s struggling to score as he added 11 points, six assists, four rebounds and four blocks.
But it was the two-way players who really stood out in this contest as both Castleton and Hodge flashed the signs of players who could contribute to the Lakers down the line. Castelton did excellent work facilitating the offense from the high post with one pass, in particular, to Hodge on a backdoor cut leading to plenty of “oohs” from the Summer League crowd. While he needs to get stronger, his skillset is clearly something that can be built upon.
The same can be said for Hodge, who showed his defensive capabilities as well, notching two blocks and a steal while knocking down more than half of his shots from the field including a pair of 3-pointers. The Lakers want defense to be their calling card and Hodge and Castleton are proving themselves capable of bringing that intensity on that end of the court.
Second-round pick Maxwell Lewis also had a good showing, knocking down both of his 3-pointers and finishing with 12 points and four rebounds. And most impressive for the Lakers as a team was their overall defensive effort.
They finished with 11 blocks and seven assists as a team while holding the Hornets to just 30.9% shooting from the field. Most notable was the work done on second overall pick Brandon Miller, who shot 4-of-18 from the field and finished with just 10 points. In fact, no Hornets player scored more than 11 in this contest as the Lakers’ defense was stifling throughout.
Up next for the Lakers…
The Lakers will have a couple of days off before taking the floor again on Wednesday, July 12 against the Boston Celtics. Their Las Vegas Summer League regular season finale will then take place on July 14 against the Memphis Grizzlies.
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