London Perrantes Signs On to Feel The Heat

London Perrantes will get his chance. Not chosen during last night’s NBA Draft, he got the next best thing: an immediate deal for Summer League courtesy of the Miami Heat, where he’ll join Heat draft choice Bam Adebayo and fellow free agent signees Jamel Artis (late of Pitt), Derik Willis (Kentucky), and Zak Irvin (Michigan). The Heat play in both the Orlando (that runs July 1st to 6th) and Las Vegas (July 7th to 17th) Summer Leagues, so if you’re a parent being driven nuts by your children’s newly-acquired abundant free time, you can occupy them with a London Perrantes summer class on point guard play via NBA TV for most of the month of July.

LP’s prospects for the NBA are admittedly slim: NBA point guards his size are faster and more explosive than he is, and ones his speed are 6'8.’’ Defending and scoring one-on-one are going to be more difficult for him at this level than they were in college, where they weren’t always his strong suits.

Luckily, this is London we’re talking about here: he’s fundamentally strong across the board and is clearly smart and unselfish enough to adapt to the needs of his current roster. His best bet to latch on is to find a team with a dynamic creator on their second unit where he can initiate the offense for the bench group and then spot up off the ball.

He already made an impression in this role at the PIT, where he led the event in assists (8.7) and reminded scouts of his ability to make things run.

Jay Bilas is a fan.

“London is a really good point guard,” Bilas said. “Like, he makes zero mistakes. He played on a team that didn’t play at the highest pace, but he’s an excellent handler and a very good defender.

“He’s not big. He’s small. But he makes open shots. As a backup point guard on an NBA roster, he can make a team.”

Summer League teams often serve more as audition opportunities than landing spots, but Miami — who employed Tyler Johnson and Dion Waiters as second unit scorers with handles this season — is an example of a team that would work if he manages to stick.

London’s best case scenario after this summer is clearly one of the NBA’s new two-way deals, but I’d be happy to see him secure a regular D-League deal or play well enough to land one of the cushier, six-figure deals out of the country (as opposed to one where you play in an elementary school and go home in January without your last two paychecks).

Here’s to Cali Cool, all grown up.