As news surfaced that Antwan Scott was invited to the Denver Nuggets Summer League roster yesterday, another former Ram has joined the New York Knicks Summer League team today. Per the Knicks website, Avila will be one of 13 players on New York’s roster for the Orlando Summer League tournament that will be held from July 2-8.
Unlike Scott, this is Avila’s second time at NBA Summer League after having played on the Houston Rockets team last summer, without making any inroads. During the 2015-16 season, Avila was in Belgium playing for the Stella Artois Leuven Bears. Just east of Brussels, the Leuven Bears were bottom dwellers in the Belgium league which is generally not considered one of the better basketball leagues overseas. This, however, allowed Avila solid playing time and experience, averaging over 27 minutes and he was listed as a small forward.
Avila continued showing off his diverse skill set that made him so efficient for the Rams, scoring 10 points per game in addition to 6 rebounds and 2 assists. His shooting percentages were surprisingly low, though, shooting below 50-percent from inside the arc and an uncharacteristic 23-percent from 3-point land. To make an impression in Orlando, he’ll need to shoot the ball better that and from the deeper NBA 3-point line none the less. Avila has always had a nice combination of size and a versatile/efficient game, with ability as a passer, rebounder, shooter as well as some skills off the dribble.
He’s not the biggest name on the Knicks Summer League team, being overshadowed by national collegiate stars such as Ron Baker of Wichita State and former Duke Blue Devil Marshall Plumlee. However, he comes with more experience and polish and is on a Summer League roster that had no Draft picks this year, so Avila is essentially competing against other undrafted players or journeymen trying to make a roster.
While it’s certainly an uphill battle for Avila to make an NBA roster off of his Summer League performance, it could lead to richer contracts overseas or even a D-League contract, allowing him to stay stateside and have more options to jump to the NBA.
