Troy Weaver sees Russell Westbrook in Jaden Ivey. It was hard to see anything else in Ivey's Summer League debut.
The fifth overall pick flashed across the court for the Pistons, a bouncing, bounding blur, to lead his team to an 81-78 win over Portland Thursday night in Vegas.
Curling off a screen on the first possession of the game, Ivey hooked up with fellow rookie and 13th overall pick for an emphatic alley-oop and never looked back. How's this for a glimpse of the Pistons' future?
Ivey's speed gives him an extra gear, a Westbrook gear. He used it all game. He was especially dangerous in the open court. He knifed through defenders with one dribble and soared to the rim without fear.
"He has the same physical abilities as Westbrook," said Weaver, who played a big part in the Thunder drafting Westbrook fourth overall in 2008. "Very similar in size, very similar athletes. So yeah, I’ve seen this movie before, and I like the movie."
What's not to like?
With Cade Cunningham and Saddiq Bey cheering him on from the sidelines, Ivey finished with 20 points, six assists and six rebounds and was named Player of the Game. That included 12, five and four -- with just one turnover -- in the second half. He even picked up a tech late in the fourth; Westbrook has picked up a few himself.
"He brings a lot to the table, things in our tool chest that we didn’t have," said Weaver. "We’re excited about the talent and the competitive spirit that’s very similar to what Russel Westbrook had."
Ivey is a goal-setter. One of his first in the NBA is winning Summer League MVP; he'd be the first Piston to do so since the award was created in 2006. And he took his first step in that direction Thursday night, not that he's patting himself on the back.
"I did alright," he told ESPN after the game, likely bothered by a few first-half turnovers. "The expectations that I set for myself are high, so I don't think I played the best game. But for the first game, it was great. We’re just going to keep rolling and try to win a Summer League championship."
Duren, by the way, was no slouch himself. He had nine loud points and two grown-man blocks in about 12 minutes of action -- after practicing just once with the Pistons because he didn't officially sign with the team until Thursday morning.
Pistons head coach Dwane Casey has likened Duren to six-time All-Star Shawn Kemp, another comparison that rang true Thursday night.
"His athleticism, his explosion, he can go from zero to 100 just like that," Casey said courtside on ESPN. "I started recruiting Shawn when I was at Kentucky when he was in the 9th grade. Shawn was a little bit better shooter at the same stage, but the same explosion, both of them have it."
The Pistons already had a bright future before the arrivals of Ivey and Duren. After one Summer League game -- and one game is all it is -- safe to say it just got brighter.