With this performance, Skal Labissiere has officially avoided the dreaded “peaked-in-your-first-game”-itis. Take that Bruno! Take that MCW! The 8 points that Skal scored in his NBA debut, while impressive, have been made totally obsolete by this new 12-point showcase.
This also marks the second time he has appeared in a game where the Kings won. Progress! It also marks the first time he has played minutes in non-garbage-time. Even more progress! Basically, this is the game where Kings fans breathe a sigh of relief, realizing that their other first-round rookie can sometimes contribute to winning basketball. It remains to be seen if Georgios Papagiannis can perform similarly, but who cares right now? Tonight was about Skal. And Willie Cauley-Stein a bit, but mostly Skal.
This is the first real game action I’ve seen from him, and I’m impressed. Those pre-draft workout vids showed me he could shoot jumpers, and here he is, shooting jumpers in front of a real NBA crowd in a real NBA game. Other than that, I noticed that he looks and moves a lot like John Henson. Like, A LOT. John Henson with a jumper would be a pretty good player. Never mind that Skal has yet to block a shot this year. One thing at a time though. Tonight, jumpers. Tomorrow, blocks. The day after that? Who knows?