The dog days of the NBA are here. As free agency starts to slow down, we’ll see fewer transactions and more Instagram workout pics. But luckily, for at least a few weeks, the NBA’s summer league is here to hold us over.

The summer league is the NBA in its purest, most innocent form. For lack of a better term, guys are just hooping. Our favorite role players get a chance to prove they belong in the NBA. It’s our one chance to root for the 15th man on the NBA bench, just waiting for a shot.

But really, what we’re all here for is our first glance at the league’s rookies. They get to flaunt their skills over the competition and prove they belong. If they play well? Great. They should. If they don’t? The questions begin flooding in.

This rookie class is one of the more exciting ones we’ve seen in years. Expectations will be high for them, even in summer league. But they’ll all play differently in their roles. Here’s what you can expect from them and some things to watch for.

If you’re expecting straight-up domination out of the pick-and-roll from Ball in this summer league, you’re not watching right. Ball is more of an off-ball player in the half-court who can make the right pass and attack after a defense is already collapsed. At this point, he’s better in transition where he can flex his vision and athleticism at the rim.

Summer league is going to be up and down for him. The games tend to get a bit messy, but they move fast. Ball will have a chance to show off his skill, but he’ll also be playing with lesser talent. We’ll get to see if he’s able to create on his own, but don’t expect anything spectacular in the halfcourt.

Tatum was impressive in three games during the Utah Summer League. He averaged 18.7 points and 9.7 rebounds per game on 46 percent shooting throughout the stretch. He showcased his ability to hit tough shot after tough shot, including a game-winning one in his first game against the 76ers.

It’s only summer league, but Tatum can pretty clearly make some tough shots at the very least. We should expect more of the same from him alongside Jaylen Brown during the Celtics’ time in Las Vegas.

He averaged 33 minutes in three games while playing in Utah, which is a lot considering summer league games last only 40 minutes. It’ll be interesting to see whether he can keep his production up if the coaching staff plays him a bit less.

As the first pick in the draft, expectations are always going to be high on Fultz. And while playing in Utah, he didn’t disappoint. Fultz averaged 20 points per game on 47 percent shooting in two games. He was basically a walking bucket.

But get this — he also averaged 1.5 blocks per game. It’s obviously a small sample, but those were the same crazy plays like this all season long at Washington. (Video via Joe Giglio)

Markelle Fultz looking like young Dwyane Wade on this block. pic.twitter.com/Lgt4OAO5TK — Joe Giglio (@JoeGiglioSports) July 4, 2017

Add that to the fact that Fultz is, indeed, a walking bucket, and we’ve got an exciting player on our hands. It’ll be interesting to see if he’ll play more after playing just two of three games in Utah’s summer league.

Jackson is one of the more intriguing prospects in this year’s draft. He doesn’t necessarily have one elite skill, but he has lots of quite good ones. He’s a solid passer, a good defender, an all right ball-handler and a good rebounder

He may never be a first or second option on a good team, but expect him to showcase his athleticism and IQ off the ball. He’s sneaky and can come out of nowhere for offensive rebounds.

He’s not very good shooting the ball, but he can make up for it with plays like that. Don’t expect huge numbers from Jackson during this summer, but do expect to watch him make a lot of good plays with the ball.

De’Aaron Fox

Fox might be the fastest player end-to-end in this draft. He’s cut from the same cloth as John Wall, though not as fast. Expect him to push the pace throughout these next few weeks in Vegas.

He’s a good facilitator but knows how to use his athleticism to get to the rim and finish. He struggles to shoot the ball, but he can make up for the extra space the defense gives him by darting into the lane and making the right play.

It’s summer league, so every game plan is extremely vanilla. Fox will be the Kings’ lead ball-handler, so he’ll be able to showcase how good of a creator he is with the ball in his hands.

Mitchell was the 13th overall pick in this year’s draft, so it’s hard to say he came out of nowhere. But no one expected him to be the star of Utah’s summer league over Fultz and Tatum.

Mitchell averaged 15.3 points as a secondary guard option on Utah’s summer league team behind Dante Exum, but he showed off his incredible athleticism and defensive chops in three games. He averaged 3.3 steals per game and showed he could stick players at multiple positions on defense.

It’s a small sample against lesser competition, so we can’t put much into his performance. But it is encouraging to Mitchell playing well for Utah with the huge hole it has to fill in Gordon Hayward’s absence. It won’t be an easy task and will take multiple players to do it, but it’ll be a great start for the Jazz if Mitchell can step in and help fill that burden.