Sixers’ Charles Bassey glad for his first taste of summer league action
The center sat out last year's summer league while his contract was being negotiated. “This summer, my focus is just getting better,” he says.
SALT LAKE CITY — Right now, Charles Bassey’s focus is on having fun and getting better.
The 76ers’ second-year center has been working out for close to three weeks in Camden followed by a three-day summer session at the Sixers’ training camp at the University of Utah. So he’s enjoying playing in actual games with the Summer Sixers.
Participating in summer league games was something he was unable to do last year because of contract negotiations.
He was frustrated that his agent held him out of those games. But Bassey is more than elated to compete this week in Salt Lake followed by the NBA 2K23 Summer League in Las Vegas starting on Saturday.
Bassey didn’t have his best showing in Tuesday’s 103-99 loss to the Memphis Grizzlies at the Vivint Arena. The 6-foot-11, 235-pounder scored seven points on 2-for-7 shooting. He also was a minus-13 in 20 minutes, 22 seconds.
» READ MORE: Jaden Springer was easy to overlook as a rookie. He vows to be impossible to ignore this Sixers season.
The Sixers looked to regroup from the loss in Wednesday’s contest against the Utah Jazz. But in regards to Bassey, one bad game in a summer-league event might not be reason to panic. That’s especially true considering that he performed well against the Grizzlies’ varsity team this past season.
Bassey made 7 of 13 shots while averaging 7.5 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.0 blocks in 15.6 minutes off the bench in the teams’ two regular-season meetings.
“This summer, my focus is just getting better,” he said. “Just going out there and just do what I do. Just play as hard as I can run the floor, rebounding, play defense, block shots. .... Play hard every game. And just be consistent for sure every game.”
Joe the leader
Isaiah Joe has emerged as the leader of the Summer Sixers. That was evident by his comments after Tuesday night’s loss to the Grizzlies.
In defeat, the Sixers struggled mightily on defense — especially on the perimeter. The Grizzlies made 15 of 30 mostly wide-open three-pointers while shooting 51.4 % overall from the field.
“We’ve got to limit the mistakes,” he said, “but, as you know, veterans, we’ve got to make sure the team stays together. I think that’s the biggest thing when you lose your first game. People start to disperse, but you know we’ve got to keep the team together and keep pushing.”