UVA alum Jack Salt did Jack Salt things in his NBA Summer League debut Sunday night.
Salt played seven minutes in the Phoenix Suns’ 105-100 overtime win over the New York Knicks, scoring two points on a stickback basket in the second quarter.
The 6’10” center from the 2019 national champion ‘Hoos hedged hard on screen-and-rolls, set some nasty screens on the offensive end to free up jump shooters. They need to come up with a stat to measure that – like how you get an assist for passing the ball to a guy who makes a shot. Salt would show well in the screen assist category, should that one ever exist.
He’s not an option on offense. I didn’t see Salt post up one time when the Suns had the ball. His role on that end consisted of him setting high screens, ball screens, spacing.
Salt only had that one rebound, on the stickback basket, but he only averaged 4.1 boards a game as the starting center on the national champs. Again, there are values to what Salt does that aren’t measured in the counting stats. Specific to rebounding, he boxes his guy out, and when you’re a center keeping the opposing center off the offensive boards, that’s huge.
He won’t get an NBA contract, a two-way contract. Maybe he gets a sniff at the G League. Most likely, Salt is headed overseas.
He scored in an NBA game. Admit it: you never thought that possible.
Story by Chris Graham
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