NBA Summer League 2012: Big Men with Most to Gain This Summer

The NBA Summer League is the time for some of this year's most talked-about prospects to either prove the critics wrong or, unfortunately, prove them right.

In particular, many of the top big men from this year's draft crop are going to be working tirelessly in the coming weeks to prove that they have the athleticism, speed and motors that got them so much attention leading up to the draft.

They have to prove that they can put their raw talent to good use and start living up to their potential—immediately.

Here's a look at some of the big men who can benefit the most from Summer League play. You can see the full schedule here. 

Tyler Zeller

Once Andre Drummond was off this year's draft board, Zeller became the next best option for teams looking to develop a young, athletic center. The Cavaliers will now turn to him as one of the key frontcourt components of a very young team with a lot of potential—if he can survive the Summer League. 

Given all of the youth on the Cavs, it's going to be particularly important to see how these players perform together as they start to forge an identity over the summer.

Zeller has the potential to be a key member of this roster for years to come because of his natural athleticism and his mobility, despite being a seven-footer. He just needs to grow into himself a little bit.

This summer will be the perfect time for the Cavs to assess how much more work he has to do physically. 

Andre Drummond

Though the former Husky was initially projected to be a top-five pick this year, he ended up falling to the Pistons at No. 9, and they made the right choice. Drummond was the best center on the board, and, simply put, the Pistons needed one.

Now, Drummond has a lot to prove. Leading up to the draft, we all heard so much about how passive he can be and how he has yet to learn how to use his size to his advantage. All that doubt should give him a nice chip on his shoulder this summer.

Drummond is already off to a good start: Against the Jazz in an Orlando Summer League game earlier this week, he had eight points, five rebounds, four steals and two blocks in 27 minutes.

If he can continue to earn his keep defensively while improving his offense, he could soon develop into a high-quality center in a league that is nearly devoid of them.

Perry Jones

Jones could have the most to prove of any player this summer given his unlikely plummet in the draft a few weeks ago.

The Baylor product was expected to go in the late lottery or in the top 20 at worst, but just days before the draft, he was red-flagged for a knee problem. As a result, he fell all the way to the Thunder at No. 28 overall.

The Thunder have to be thrilled. Jones isn't the perfect prospect—most notably, he can't escape complaints that he has a weak motor—but he has the ideal size for an NBA 4 and is one of the most athletically-gifted post players in this year's class.

In the Orlando Summer League, he's already been doing his best to show his coaches and his teammates that he can be just as tough and gritty a player as anyone, and it's been paying off. Just ask his teammate Reggie Jackson, who told NBA.com's Fran Blinebury:

"

Freak athlete. Freak competitor. That whole talk about his motor, I don't know who started that but I believe that was probably a bad rumor. The guy loves to get out there, he loves playing hard. He just tries to get it done, do whatever he can.

"

One by one, Jones has been proving the skeptics wrong. If he can stay healthy this summer, he can easily become a must-have on the Thunder's roster.