Former Badger Nick Boyd had his NBA Summer League debut with the Golden State Warriors. The rookie would probably like another try at his first impression after a fairly underwhelming performance. The first quarter for Boyd was great, besides some early foul trouble, but then he was working too hard to force shots and make baskets, so his shooting percentage dropped dramatically. Though there is one part of his debut that should be an encouraging sign from the Warriors: his minutes.
Boyd's final stat line was 11 points, 3 assists, 1 rebound, and 1 steal. However, his shooting percentages left a lot to be desired. He was 20% from the field on 2-10 shooting with 1-4 from 3pt. His best shooting came from the free throw line, where he went 3-4. If you are curious about the math, as he only made three free throws and two baskets but somehow got 11 points, it has to do with a Summer League rule around free throws.
The NBA Summer League is experimenting with a change in how free-throw scoring works. "The one free throw rule will award one free throw for any foul that would typically result in one, two, or three free throws under standard NBA rules. That free throw attempt will be worth the same total number of points as the free throws it replaces." Boyd's three free throws were a bit of a variety in point scoring.
Nick Boyd will have a ton of opportunities this summer for the Golden State Warriors
Related: Projecting Greg Gard's 10-man rotation for Wisconsin basketball next season
The most encouraging thing about Boyd's debut is how much the Warriors wanted to use him. He led the team in minutes at 23:21, even with Golden State intentionally trying to play every player on the roster. Boyd had the most usage and was consistently featured as the primary ball distributor as the point guard.
To make matters more encouraging, Boyd was in foul-trouble early and then throughout. His defensive tenacity had him constantly getting a whistle against him. He had two fouls within his first five minutes of action. He was then benched for the rest of the first quarter. It didn't get much better. When he came back into the game, he quickly picked up another. It wasn't long before he had his fourth, and yet the Warriors were committed to seeing him play, and play a lot. So if he fouled out, he fouled out. That seemed to be the approach.
It's really good to see that the Warriors want to see a lot of Boyd. It's not great that he struggled in his minutes and was a bit underwhelming. However, the silver lining is this: it's very, very common for NBA rookies looking to prove they belong to struggle in their first couple of NBA games. John Tonje did last year, too, and then ended up tearing up the G-League and even getting some real NBA minutes.
Boyd will have plenty of chances this summer. Tomorrow, the Warriors are back in action, and Boyd will be running the show all over again.
Add us as a preferred source on Google