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LAS VEGAS — Keyonte George couldn't stop smiling. Who could blame him?
His first game at Las Vegas Summer League, after all, was pretty surreal.
Jerry West joked with the Utah Jazz rookie from his courtside seat at Thomas and Mack Center; later, Denver guard Reggie Jackson Jr. — who George used to watch a lot during Jackson's OKC days — interrupted George's postgame media session by yelling: "That was nice."
Oh, and there was that "nice" game, too (and that's putting it lightly).
George had 33 points, including 17 points in a scorching fourth quarter, and 10 assists to lead the Jazz to a 105-99 win over the Los Angeles Clippers in Las Vegas.
After two days of big performances from lottery picks, George may have outdone them all. With each assist, or made shot, or highlight-worthy dunk, his smile got bigger and bigger. There were probably more than a few Jazz fans smiling right along with him, because if Saturday is any indication, Utah may have struck gold with the guard from Baylor.
Throughout the draft process, George was often labeled as a shoot-first, inefficient scorer. Sure, he had all the tools — the handles, the vision, the ability to separate from defenders, and shot-making abilities — to become a dangerous offensive weapon, but it hadn't quite came together.
The common weaknesses that were thrown out were his athleticism, his 3-point consistency, his shot selection, and his turnover ratio.
He didn't run from the criticism.
Every time George pulls out his phone, he sees that list; he came across a graphic with the oft-repeated weaknesses online. Instead of scoffing at the list, he took a screenshot and made it his phone's lock screen image. He uses it as a motivation; not to "prove the haters wrong," per se, but as a constant reminder of where he can improve.
"Everything that's my weakness, I'm trying to get better at," George said.
Based on his first game in Vegas, he's getting better — a lot better.
It wasn't just the numbers that he put up, but how he did it. Saturday was a showcase on how those weaknesses may just be morphing into strengths.
Athleticism? It was hard to question his athleticism after he went up well above the rim to catch an alley-oop dunk. Or when he threw down an electric tomahawk one-hander. Or when he flew to the wing to block a 3-pointer.
Three-point shooting? George shot 40% from deep on 15 attempts and hit five 3-pointers alone in the fourth quarter to keep the Clippers at arm's length.
Shot selection? George did shoot a lot (he was 12-of-24 from the field), but 20 of those shots came either at the rim or behind the 3-point line. Those are the shots the Jazz want him to take.
Turnover ratio? Coming out of Baylor, George had a negative turnover-to-assist ratio where he averaged 2.8 assists and 2.9 turnovers. The most assists he ever had at Bayor was seven; he had that many in the first half Saturday. They weren't cheap assists, either. George directed traffic and passed guys into spots where they could score.
He wasn't a point guard at Baylor, but he's quickly proving he can be one in the NBA.
"The way that he picks up on things very quickly is really cool," Jazz forward Micah Potter said. "Today, he showed off his passing game a lot. It's getting more and more comfortable and more and more evident that he's going to be a good playmaker for us in the future."
Jazz summer league coach Evan Bradds added: "He just makes the right play. Like, I don't think he tries to thread the needle, make the Instagram highlight pass or anything like that, I think he lets the game come to him and whatever pass needs to make, he makes it."
Those are not things many would have expected to hear about George during the pre-draft process; that's why he took the screenshot.
"I wake up every morning to see that on my phone. Every time I'm going into a game or I'm going into a workout, that's my main focus," George said. "OK, let's take care of the ball today. Let's take those shots, even if they're not falling, just make sure we've taken great shots, playing winning basketball; and that's what I feel like I went out there and did tonight."
One of those winning plays caught the man called The Logo's attention. George was guarding an inbound pass and his internal clock went off. He thought it had been five seconds so he said "ooooh ref" just as the official made the call. George couldn't hold back his smile — something West clearly noticed.
"Hey, you're supposed to be a serious player," West joked to George from his baseline seat
It only made George's smile grow wider.
"A legend like that, getting the chance to at least have a small interaction, not a lot of people get to have that type of interaction with a guy like that. So yeah, that was cool," George said.
That happened in the first half, but there was a lot more smiling left to be done.
