John Camden Has a Big Game in His Final Summer League Game

Former Cal standout John Camden gave the Washington Wizards something to think about in his final game of the NBA Summer League.

Camden scored a team-high 22 points in the Wizards' 91-83 victory over the Atlanta Hawks on Saturday in Las Vegas, and what is particularly important is that he was 4-for-8 on three-point shots.

Camden signed a summer-league contract with the Wizards after going undrafted, so he had to impress the Wizards' brass with his summer-league performance to get an invitation to the team's preseason training camp.

The 6-foot-8 Camden made 39.5 percent of his three-pointers this past season for Cal, and he has to make it to the NBA as a three-and-D guy. He improved his chances with Saturday's showing.

Camden played in four of he Wizards' five summer league games, but in his first three games he did not demonstrate he could score consistently from long range. He was just 3-for-16 from beyond the three-point line in his first three games, but he showed good range on Saturday, when he was 7-for-14 overall, made all three of his free throws and added two rebounds and two steals.

Many of the top players in the summer league sat out Saturday's game, so the level of competition was not as high as it had been. In addition, the defense played by both teams was not great, particularly in the fourth quarter.

As a result Camden made his first start of the summer league season and played 31 minutes, giving him an opportunity to show what he can do.

Camden showed a good basketball IQ on Saturday, scoring on a nice baseline backdoor move, and he was one of the few players willing to set picks, often coming up for high screens. One of those screens cost him a personal foul, but it was was a indication of his knowledge of the game in a contest in which most players were attempting to show their personal skills.

Meanwhile, Chris Bell, the other former Cal player in the summer league, did not do anything to help his cause. He played 11 minutes and scored two points on 1-for-5 shooting, including 0-for-2 on three-pointers, for the Pelicans in their 91-73 loss to the Indiana Pacers on Saturday.

However, he signed an Exhibit 10 contract, which guarantees him an invitation to New Orleans' preseason camp, which begins July 29.

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