NBA Summer League 2023: Hot Takes on Emoni Bates, Top Players from Day 4 Las Vegas

After a thrilling first weekend of Summer League hoops in Las Vegas, action continued Monday night with a handful of notable names all hitting the hardwood once again in Sin City.

And as always there was no shortage of impressive performances and hot takes surrounding some of the NBA's stars of tomorrow. Strong games resulted in praise while poor ones typically ended up with the word "bust" connected to it.

Here are some of the biggest talking points from Day 4 in Vegas.

Emoni Bates Finds a Groove

In his first two Summer League outings, Emoni Bates didn't play poorly, he just lacked a bit of efficiency, going a combined 10-of-30 against the Brooklyn Nets and Toronto Raptors.

But that all changed Monday night in the Cleveland Cavaliers' matchup versus the Memphis Grizzlies.

Bates, 19, was ultra aggressive and found a lot of success, pouring in 21 points on 7-of-11 shooting from the field and 5-of-8 from three-point range, showing some great catch-and-shoot ability beyond the arc.

He also filled up the rest of the stat sheet, contributing four rebounds, two blocks, two steals and an assist in the win.

It was by far the best performance of his young Vegas career and it showed the potential niche that the Third-Team All-MAC selection can have at the professional level as a solid shooter and scorer off the bench.

Cavs Twitter was buzzing following the strong bounce back from Bates.

The Cavs are back in action Thursday against the Chicago Bulls at 3 p.m. ET.

---

Keyonte George Stays Hot

Two Summer League games in and Keyonte George is already looking like the potential steal of the draft.

After dropping 33 points and 10 assists in his Vegas debut against the Clippers on Saturday night, the former Baylor star went off again, this time versus the Minnesota Timberwolves. He poured in a game-high 26 points on 9-of-15 shooting from the field and 5-of-10 from three-point range.

He also continued to have his playmaking on display, finishing with seven assists to go along with three rebounds, two steals and a game-high plus-26 for the night.

The second of Utah's three first-round picks at No. 16 overall, George has made by far the most noise of any of the organization's rookies and is right up there with Houston's Jabari Smith Jr. for the best player in Vegas thus far.

Twitter was hyped watching George keep up his hot start.

George and the Jazz will take the court against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday night at 9:30 p.m. ET.

---

Positivity Despite Anthony Black's Struggles

After a strong start to his first Summer League experience, Anthony Black came back down to earth a bit in the Magic's loss to the Indiana Pacers.

Black struggled from the field, finishing with just eight points on 3-of-12 shooting, 0-of-2 from beyond the arc. But he still did a decent job of affecting the game in other ways with seven rebounds, three assists and two steals.

Arguably the highlight of the entire game was an incredible assist by Black from half court that went right to D.J. Wilson.

He continued to display his versatility on the defensive side of the ball as well, using his speed and length to guard multiple positions.

Not typically the best place for nuanced discussion over rookie performances, Twitter still remained positive about Black's output and what he's shown thus far.

Black will get another chance at a better shooting night Wednesday against the New York Knicks at 8 p.m. ET.