2018 NBA Summer League: 5 biggest disappointments
4. Donte DiVincenzo
The breakout star of the NCAA Tournament entered the 2018 NBA Draft still riding the wave of hype from his March Madness heroics. Donte DiVincenzo continued to court the buzz of media attention, winning the hearts of fans over his stories of his mom’s cooking and his excellent nickname game — it’s hard to decide whether “The Big Ragu” or “The Michael Jordan of Delaware” is best.
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For a Milwaukee franchise and fanbase that has been hurting for first round impact lately, DiVincenzo was supposed to be different. Jabari Parker just left for nothing in restricted free agency, Rashad Vaughn and D.J. Wilson look to be busts, and even future-MVP Thon Maker turned in a wildly inconsistent second year. Can DiVincenzo be different?
The jury is still out, but his time in Las Vegas has to be characterized as disappointing. The former Villanova guard missed the first three games nursing a groin injury, then played a combined 27 points in the team’s final two contests. Whether due to rust, the injury or simply bad luck, he shot 0-for-8 from the field over two games, missing short again and again. He scored just one point total in Vegas.
There were other positives to point to, but those are simply papering over the reality that fans were excited to see DiVincenzo play. What they received were a few DNPs followed by the summer’s worst shooting display. A healthy DiVincenzo can absolutely flip the script, but for now the first step was a poor one.