Winners and Losers from the 2012 NBA Summer League, Day 2

In baseball, it's often said that a team can't win a pennant in April, but it can certainly lose one.

The same aphorism applies to the NBA Summer League (sort of), wherein a player can't necessarily guarantee himself a spot in a fall training camp by performing well, but he can deny himself that opportunity by playing poorly.

The Summer League season is all of two days old, and won't get going in earnest until balls get to bouncing in Las Vegas, but that rule of thumb still applies, though it'll mean much more once the sample sizes grow.

In any case, here are five guys who played well enough on Tuesday to keep themselves abreast of bigger opportunities and five others who...well, didn't.

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Winner: Alec Burks

Alec Burks was the most obvious winner from Day 2. The second-year lottery pick out of Colorado led all scorers in Orlando with 31 points on a scintillating 10-14 shooting from the field (including 10-11 from the line) in an 84-80 win for the Utah Jazz over the Philadelphia 76ers.

Burks had a solid, if unspectacular, rookie season in Utah, averaging 7.2 points and 2.2 rebounds in just 15.9 minutes per game while showing off the impressive athleticism that made him the 12th pick in the 2011 draft. There's still quite a ways for Burks to go before he can be considered a truly productive rotation player, though performances like this suggest that the best is still yet to come.

Winner: Family Ties

Tuesday was also good for some folks with strong family connections to the NBA. The Sixers-Jazz game alone saw positive returns from two legacies of sorts—Michael Stockton and Justin Holiday.

A day after earning praise simply for following in his Hall-of-Fame father's footsteps, Stockton actually played like him at times, dishing out a game-high five assists to go along with his four points and three rebounds.

Holiday, meanwhile, took another strong step toward putting himself in position to play with his younger brother Jrue in Sixers camp, pouring in 16 points, seven rebounds, an assist and two steals in nearly 26 minutes off the bench.

This, after contributing 10 points and seven boards on Day 1.

Loser: Family Ties

Granted, Tuesday wasn't a particularly memorable day for everyone whose link to the NBA extends beyond their own basketball skills. John Millsap—Stockton's Utah teammate and the brother of Jazz forward Paul Millsap—picked up all of two points and two rebounds in his first action of the summer.

Not that those numbers are necessarily bad for seven minutes of playing time, though he'd still be hard-pressed to join his brother in Salt Lake City at that rate.

The same goes for Ben Hansbrough, whose quest to ball alongside elder brother Tyler resulted in three points, four rebounds and one assist in just over eight minutes in the Indiana Pacers' 78-74 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder. So far, the former Big East Player of the Year can "brag" about averaging three points, two rebounds and 1.5 assists in 10.5 minutes per game.

Assuming "brag" is the best verb available here.

Winner: Austin Daye

Austin Daye could've fit with Michael Stockton and Justin Holiday, on account of his dad (Darren Daye) having played in the NBA once upon a time.

But the younger Daye was good enough to deserve a slide of his very own for Day 2. Daye was practically unconscious during the Detroit Pistons' 79-74 win over the host Orlando Magic, stuffing the stat sheet with 24 points (on 8-10 from the field), six rebounds, an assist, a steal and a block in just under 23 minutes of action.

Then again, Daye should be dominating Summer League competition by now. He's already 24-years-old, with three years of actual NBA action under his belt after coming out of Gonzaga as the 15th pick in the 2009 draft. Should Daye show any need to play in Orlando beyond this summer, he'd more than likely find himself on the bubble of the Pistons' roster, if not worse. 

Loser: Orlando Johnson

Monday, it was MarShon Brooks putting up 10 shots and converting exactly none of them.

Tuesday, Orlando Johnson took up the mantle, going 0-for-10 on the way to a four-point, four-rebound, five-assist afternoon for the Pacers.

To his credit, the 6'5" guard out of UC Santa Barbara didn't turn the ball over and had the merits of a 19-point, nine-rebound performance from Day 1 on which to rest his laurels.

Hopefully, for his sake, he'll find someone to pass the 0-for-10 bug off to on Wednesday.

Winner: Lance Stephenson

Luckily for Johnson (and Hansbrough), Lance Stephenson was on hand to pick up the slack for the Pacers.

The punk-of-a-kid better known for mocking LeBron James (and getting an old-man-style talking-to from Juwan Howard) gave folks in Indy a glimpse of why the organization has been so tolerant of his knuckleheaded behavior. The Brooklyn native and one-time Lincoln High School phenom exploded for 28 points (on 10-14 shooting), seven assists, three rebounds and a steal to carry the Pacers to victory.

Now, if only Stephenson could figure out a way to translate that skill to the big club and leave his baggage behind.

Loser: Cole Aldrich

As you've probably noticed by now, the Pacers-Thunder game had more than its fair share of highlights and lowlights, not the least (or most?) of which was the afternoon of Cole Aldrich.

The big lug out of Kansas put forth yet another perplexing performance, with five points, six rebounds and SEVEN fouls.

That's right—seven fouls, as in, more fouls than he could've possibly racked up in a real NBA game.

Frankly, I don't know what's worse: That he only needed 18:17 to pick up those seven fouls, that he registered a plus-minus rating of minus-17 in the game or that the Thunder wasted the No. 11 pick in the 2010 draft on him, when the likes of Ed Davis, Eric Bledsoe and Avery Bradley were still available.

Winner: Latavious Williams

There are plenty of worthy underdogs to root for in the Summer League, though perhaps none means more to the history of the NBA than does Latavious Williams.

The first player in league history to go from high school to the D-League to the draft moved one step closer to achieving his dream of playing in the NBA with a 10-point, nine-rebound performance for OKC on Tuesday.

That one showing won't be enough to put Williams in The Association, though it could be the beginning of a string of showings to at least give him a chance to prove himself in Thunder camp.

Losers: Injured Rookies

Tuesday was, in many ways, a day to forget for 2012 first-round picks. Perry Jones III went down with a sprained ankle during the Thunder-Pacers game and, as a result, didn't take the floor again on Wednesday. To his credit, PJ3 put up eight points, four rebounds, three blocks and an assist before he left the game.

This, after Maurice Harkless left the Sixers' loss to the Jazz with a strained hip in the morning opener. Harkless managed all of two points, a rebound and an assist prior to bowing out of the contest.

Loser: Fab Melo

Fab Melo could've used an injury to excuse his middling performance during the Boston Celtics' 82-73 win over the Brooklyn Nets on Tuesday.

The big man out of Syracuse picked up five rebounds, an assist and a block but failed to score a single point during his 13 minutes on the floor.

Granted, Melo's second showing was largely an improvement over his first—two points, two rebounds and two blocks against the Thunder—though he's yet to do anything on the floor in Orlando to calm Bill Simmons' frayed nerves.