UConn men’s basketball all-time winningest player Alex Karaban struggled in his NBA Summer League debut on Thursday night in Las Vegas, but Sacramento Kings general manager Scott Perry wasn’t the slightest bit worried about the rookie forward’s uneven performance.

Karaban went scoreless and shot 0 for 6 from the field, including 0 for 4 from 3-point range in Sacramento’s 91-85 victory over the Los Angeles Clippers. Karaban also had as many turnovers (3) as he had combined assists (1) and rebounds (2).

As a guest during the ESPN broadcast of the game late Thursday night, Perry rationalized Karaban’s struggles as being nothing more than making his debut coming off an ankle injury that had sidelined him for a week.

“This is his first game this summer, and he has only practiced one day really,” Perry said. “He is a tremendous competitor, and we know he can shoot the basketball. We know he can contribute to winning.

“So, I am excited for him and excited for us that we have him.”

Karaban finished his UConn career as a two-time national champion who started in three national title games. He also set career records for the Huskies in games played (151), games started (150), minutes played (4,906), games won (126) and made 3-pointers (292). He finished his career sixth on UConn’s all-time scoring list with 1,880 points.

Perry said he loved a lot of things about Karaban to trade up into the first round to get him.

“I have always believed that the more players you can get on your roster who have come from winning programs, that matters,” Perry said. “They understand sacrifices. They understand the team nature of this game.

“He is tough and competitive and he’s been challenged by one of the best coaches we have in college,” Perry said. “There won’t be anything that he hears or gets put to the test on that he hasn’t already experienced as a college player under Dan Hurley.”

Perry said that in scouting players and putting together a team, he doesn’t just look at how well they perform in college from a statistical standpoint, but he takes a deep dive into their character.

Perry has what he calls his six pillars of core behavioral and professional standards that he seeks in players to know they will fit into his culture.

“One of the things that we have done as a staff is we have talked about identifying players who possess those (pillars) when we go out to scout,” Perry said. “The six pillars have very little to do with talent. We don’t talk about the shooting or athleticism. Those six pillars are: competitive, tough, team-oriented, accountable, professional and disciplined. They are all intangible qualities.

“We try to study players through the people we talk to going back to their high school days. Those qualities are very important to us. Everybody in the league has talent, but if you have those qualities they can help get you over the hump. In my history and my belief, those are separators.”

And how does Karaban fit into the parameters of those six pillars?

“You talk about a poster child for the six pillars (of success),” Perry said, “he is that.”