clock menu more-arrow no yes mobile

Filed under:

Los Angeles Clippers Bring In Penn State's D.J. Newbill For 2015 NBA Summer League

Can the Big Ten's scoring leader make it the roster for the Clippers?

Jerry Lai-USA TODAY Sports

Despite not being selected in the 2015 NBA Draft, former Penn State guard DJ Newbill is hoping to make his statement in the 2015 NBA Summer League.  He will be joining the Los Angeles Clippers and will try to make the most of his opportunity.

As the leading scorer in the highly competitive Big Ten, you could say that Newbill is underrated from playing at a low-profile basketball school. However, critics will be quick to point out that Newbill only led the conference in scoring because he didn't have anyone to defer to.

Both points of view have their merits, so it will be interesting to see how Newbill's talents translate to the NBA. At Penn State, he was a big fish in a small pond, but with Clippers, he won't have nearly as much defensive attention to deal with. That should help Newbill continue to improve his three-point shot this summer. After hitting just 27 percent of his triples in 2013, the senior guard knocked down 33 percent in 2014 and 37 percent in 2015. With a little breathing room as a role player in the NBA, we could see that accuracy rise even higher this winter.

It's that improvement in shooting that has gotten Newbill to where he is, because even though he's got the size of an NBA shooting guard, no one likes a guard who can't knock down an open three-pointer. Still, Newbill is a player who needs to work on his defense and off-the-ball game if he's going to crack the roster for the Clippers.