Freeland Impresses in Vegas Summer League

By Sam Neter on July 14, 2014

Joel Freeland is looking “too good for summer league” according to one Portland Trail Blazers writer after he finished with 13 points, 9 rebounds and 1 block in a victory over Houston last night in Las Vegas.

He chose to suit up after falling out of the rotation at the end of the season following a torn MCL that saw him miss 29 games.

“I got injured, I missed 29 games at the end of the season, I didn’t play, basically didn’t play, in the playoffs,” Freeland said last week to the Oregonian. “They (coaches and management) wanted and I wanted to get some rhythm going into this season, get the jitters out a little bit and just get out and play and keep improving. What else am I going to be doing?”

Two games in the 27 year old is averaging 11 points and 6.5 rebounds on 50% shooting as he tries to prove his worth following the the Blazers’ signing of Chris Kaman this offseason.

“He’s a great player and he’s gonna help us a lot,” said Freeland after the first summer league practice. “It just means me and Meyers have got to pick it up more and prove our worth so we can play on this team.”

He added his knee feels “great”, with no pain and feeling strong, with plans to remove his precautionary brace after the summer league.

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In their opening game to New York, Freeland had 9 points and 4 rebounds on 4/7 shooting, but lost 71-69.

Dave Deckard from Blazers Edge had this to say about Freeland’s performance:

“Joel Freeland played the best (read: most consistent) game on Portland’s side. He doesn’t do a ton of things but everything he does, he does. He got decent looks on the inside, cleared space appropriately, grabbed the rebounds that came to him, and played under control. His defense wasn’t bad, though the Knicks didn’t test the inside with bigs too much. I saw Freeland in his first Summer League games (eons ago now). The development of his confidence and court presence is nice to see. He wasn’t going to win or lose this game for Portland but he did his job…maybe the only Blazer player who managed that this afternoon.”

Freeland, who has confirmed he will not playing for GB this summer to focus on his career, spoke to CSN after the game:

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Meanwhile, GB’s Matthew Bryan-Amaning, who is also suiting up for Portland, saw just three minutes against Houston and registered a DNP against Houston.

Here are a collection of tweets about Freeland so far in the summer league:

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