We start out series of player report cards after the Charlotte Hornets summer league slate. There’s no better place to start than with Brandon Miller, the second overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and not Scoot Henderson.

It wasn’t all smooth sailing for the hopeful superstar-to-be. He committed 15 fouls in his first two games and committed more fouls (8) than he had points (6) in game two. He got more aggressive on offense and less foul prone in the Las Vegas Summer League, but his efficiency took a dip. He finally put it all together for his final game, where he racked up 26 points, 6 rebounds, and 2 assists against the Trail Blazers.

Offense

The intrigue around Miller starts with his 3-point shot making and ability to create shots for others. He only converted on 31.3% of his 3-point attempts across five games, but he shot them in high volume and showed his shot making prowess on the move and spotting up.

He showed a quick, confident release that wasn’t fazed too much by closeouts or his own movement. The efficiency will come.

Miller’s shot creation for himself was more of a mixed bag. He got knocked off his spots quite a bit as a driver and didn’t do a great job putting pressure on the rim in the half court. There were some awkward attempts at finishing if he got into traffic, but he did make some impressive floaters as he got into a rhythm.

He had a few moments where he showed off his handle and put his defender on skates, including a play where he put Victor Wembanyama on his wallet.

His shot creation was limited by his lack of strength, but that’ll improve now that basketball is his full time job and he’ll be under the watch of a professional sports team’s strength and conditioning staff.

Perhaps the best part of Miller’s offensive game over the course of summer league was his passing. There were long stretches where it seemed like he was the only Hornet interested in sharing the ball with his teammates. There were plenty of examples of simple extra passes as well as some very savvy dimes. He’s very quick at recognizing strong side help when he drives and kicking it to open shooters.

This pass is LaMelo Ball-esque.

In all, we saw a little bit of everything we wanted to see from Brandon Miller on the offensive end of the floor in his first summer league. However, the overall efficiency wasn’t what you’d like to see.

Offensive grade: B-

Defense

With all the talk about Brandon Miller’s offensive creation and shot making compared to Scoot Henderson and other top prospects, little was said about his defense. He struggled to defend without fouling in the first two games in Sacramento, but the effort was there. He finished summer league averaging 1.2 steals and 0.8 blocks per game. He was solid as a help defender and showed good effort closing out to shooters. He also got the people going with this post defense against Wemby.

And this clip is an example of the effort he gave getting back on defense to protect the basket.

If it weren’t for all the fouls, Miller would have had an excellent defensive summer league. Unfortunately he fouled a lot–averaging 5.8 fouls per game. We knock him down a letter grade for that.

Defense grade: B+

Overall

Brandon Miller definitely flashed in summer league, but he maybe didn’t break out as an obvious superstar. He averaged 15.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.4 assists per game. The passing and defense were very good while the shooting and shot creation were a little more up and down. All in all, not a bad summer league, but maybe not the best.

Overall grade: B