NBA Summer League in Las Vegas is for EVERYONE. It’s for the rookies to get a taste of professional basketball, the established vets to have a good time in the world’s largest playground, the G-League guys to get their audition in front of coaches and front offices, and the coaches to catch a glimpse of their new young talent. It’s for the young fans to get easy (like, the easiest) access to past, present, and future stars for autographs and pictures, the college basketball fans to see stars of yesteryear now on the fringes of pro ball play again, and the serious fans to project the future of rookies based on their performance against 1 or 2 dudes per team who will make an NBA roster.
I came to Summer League last Wednesday geeking out about the whole scene. I prepped for the trip by listening to One Shining Podcast, hosted by Mark Titus and Tate Frazier, as they discussed their experience in Vegas the past few days on my hour long, 4am drive to the airport (fueled by 32 ounces of Black Rifle Coffee Company Just Black coffee). I was wide awake for the two hour, 5:45, red eye flight into Phoenix. Excitement mixed with two more cups of coffee will do that to you. Finally, after the never-even-reach-cruising-altitude flight between PHX and Vegas, we had boots on the ground in Sin City. The next 30 hours included 8 games featuring 12 first round picks from the last two drafts (and two kids from Omaha, NE), a quick stop at the World Series of Poker Main Event, the best buffet (S/O Aria) I’ve ever eaten, and a 2 hour delay on the runway before my flight back Thursday morning. Here are some of my observations from my first experience at NBA Summer League:
Quick disclaimer: I only saw 16 of the 30 teams play so before you hit me with the “what about Kevin Knox???” or “how could you disrespect my man Josh Hart?” hate, just know that I didn’t see either of these two play. All observations are strictly based on what I watched, which is why they are called observations.
Best Rookie: Trae Young, ATL
I very much would’ve liked spending this section waxing poetic about my large adult son Wendell Carter Jr. Him declaring war on the Nation State of Greece by capping his thorough dismantling of Kostas Antetokounmpo with an and one in the fourth quarter, then turning to Giannis in his courtside seat and telling him that the Thomas and Mack Center on the Campus of UNLV was, in fact, his house was met with a thousand yard stare from the Greek God of Length as he realized LeBron may be gone but the Central Division was Wendell’s now.
However, WCJ was not the most impressive rookie I watched on Wednesday. That honor belongs to the only man who could get me out of my seat after my second chicken finger basket of the day. Trae Young posted a nice stat line (23 points, 8 assists) in the Hawks huge fourth quarter comeback against the Pacers, but it was his spectacular last four minutes that left me selling some of my Lonzo Ball stock and researching what Trae Young equity is trading for.
With the Hawks down 4 (after trailing by as many as 25) and 4 minutes left, Trae Young re-entered the game and from that point on he assisted or scored every Hawks point. Each time down the floor the roars from the crowd and the flare from Young turned up another notch. It started with three free throws, built up when he slid a slick bounce pass between two Pacers defenders to Omari Spellman for a dunk, audibly gasped when he put a 65 foot outlet pass on the money for an easy dunk, and then reached a fever pitch as he capped the game with an ill advised floater over TJ Leaf to seal the win with 13 seconds left.
As I said earlier, Wendell Carter Jr. had a great game, Collin Sexton put on a Walmart brand version of the show Trae Young put on, Omari Spellman showed out, and Aaron Holiday outplayed Young for a half. But ultimately the star attraction lived up to his top billing.
Best Vet: OG Anunouby, TOR
OG Anunouby belongs in the NBA Playoffs much more than he belongs in NBA Summer League. The man amongst boys was easily the best player I saw Wednesday. His stat line (22 points, 4 rebounds, 2 blocks) doesn’t reflect the ease with which he achieved it, nor the impact he had on the defensive end, where I cannot remember one time his man made a play for himself or a teammate. He punctuated the game with a vicious chase down where it looked like he never exerted more than 75% effort before he walked quietly over to the sideline and received praise from all 15 of the Raptors assistant coaches.
(This was one of the funniest parts of NBA Summer League. Every coaching staff had at least 9 coaches on their bench to go along with the 3 or 4 regular season coaches who sat on the baseline and watched. Best we could figure, they let all of the regular season managers and ball boys throw on a polo and sit in the front row of the bench.)
Least Fun Match-Up: Harry Giles vs Billy Preston
Harry Giles and Bill Preston are probably not related (I didn’t do much research for this piece) but after watching them play against each other I swear they have to be long lost twin brothers. They are both long, thin, bouncy, easily perturbed big men who took odd paths to the NBA and had, until Wednesday, been turning heads in Summer League with solid play. Giles was the #1 recruit in the country before tearing his ACL. He became the sixth best player on an underachieving Duke team before being selected in the first round by the Kings (who apparently draft strictly off of recruiting rankings). Another highly touted recruit, Preston signed a two way deal with the Cavs after playing zero minutes for Kansas this past season while being investigated by the NCAA and going undrafted in June.
These two goons traded turnovers, air balls, fouls, and complaints to the refs all night before receiving double technicals early in the fourth quarter during a scuffle. Giles delivered the lone highlight between the two as he picked up a loose ball, dribbled coast to coast, and dropped a sweet no look dime on the other end. Preston was unimpressed, for some reason, and decided to make this known as he took the ball out of bounds. Giles responded and the twin brothers were promptly put in timeout by their mom as their second double technical resulted in both being ejected. Vlade Divac shook his head in confusion. The anticipated (in my mind, at least) match up lived up to the hype in comedy value only.
Sideline Watching: Everything I had heard and read about Summer League talked about how you end up watching the sidelines as much as you do the games while you’re there. Unfortunately, Wednesday afternoon is probably a little bit different than the weekend. Still, we saw our fair share of celebrities.
Bill Russell and Kareem – Two of five best players of all time shared the sideline for a game and a half. Bill brought along his MUCH younger female friend who was attached to his arm for the duration of his stay. Kareem rocked a full LA Dodgers outfit (hat, jersey (Puig, of course), and full length pants) which was, I’m assuming, an assist from his old PG, and part owner of the Dodgers, Magic Johnson.
Floyd Mayweather – The money man popped in to catch some Trae Young action and was standing along with the rest of us during the stretch referenced above.
Grant Hill and Vince Carter – were on the sideline doing color for NBATV and ESPN, respectively.
Markelle Fultz and Jahlil Okafor – Markelle watched the last three games from the front row. He was joined by Jahlil for the Trae Young Show. The sideline was packed, but these two didn’t seem to mind as Fultz was practically in his former teammates lap as they smiled and joked all game. A funny bromance when considering their respective places in Philly fans minds.
Wendell Carter’s Mom – Wendell Carter has pretty much done and said everything right since being drafted by the Bulls. Talking about team first things like setting screens, improving his defensive positioning, and looking for good shots. His mom, who sat right next to me while watching her son, was different. Every possession that didn’t end with a WCJ shot (there were a lot considering he only attempted 11 shots) was met with some version of “let Wendell eat” or “play with your eyes up, he’s wide open!” She was also incredibly nice and appreciative of/maybe wierded out by my effusive praise of her son. I love Wendell Carter Jr and cannot wait for him to hoist the Summer League trophy, the very same one that legends such as Denzel Valentine and Lonzo Ball before him have lifted above their heads, on Tuesday.
The 520 Wire 