O.J. Mayo overrated?

I’m gonna talk about the famous O.J. Mayo today. Y’all know him. The 18 years old kid was chosen number 3 by the Memphis Grizzlies in the draft last month. According to the hype surrounding this kid, a lot is expected from him… Maybe too much?

Anyway, he showed up yesterday at the Las Vegas summer league for his very first game with the Grizzlies.
It was quite an event, and needless to say that people were eager to see the famous O.J. Mayo in the flesh. Besides, the crowd was much more larger than usual… But above all, people were wanting to see if the kid could live up to the expectations. Those folks were pretty lucky to be there! I wish I could have been there. I wanted it so bad I could taste it! But I guess the only way for me to see Mayo on the court is to wait until the next NBA season kicks off… in november. Well, I’ll deal with it.

As for Mayo’s game… well, the stat sheet ain’t mind blowing. Take a look: 15 points, 5 assists, 3 boards, 3 steals… and 8 turnovers! The latter number is awfully bad, isn’t it? Otherwise, most of his points (10) were tallied throughout the second quarter and he led the Grizzlies to the victory 88-75. But somehow, I’m afraid O.J. Mayo might be overrated…

It’s hard to analyze a player with only his stat sheet. I know from experience that a stat sheet doesn’t translate perfectly all the little things a player can do on the court. For instance, you can’t see if his defense is rough, if he involves his teammates on offense, how he moves without the ball, whether or not he takes some good shots… but honestly when I peer to his stats, somehow I feel compelled to say that I expected a lil’ bit more from a guy who’s overhyped since he’s a teenager. Plus, everybody knows a summer league game is very far from being as tough physically as a real NBA game.

That was only one game, a trivial summer league game to boot. But I truly hope the kid will get his “breakout game” real soon, so that we can say: “Yep, O.J. Mayo is as good as advertised.”