Las Vegas in July is hell. And I mean that quite literally. It’s hot enough to make Lucifer look for shade.
But it’s a dry heat
Yeah, so is a convection oven.
But when basketball is involved, no amount of face-searing sun can keep us from soaking in the game we love and getting a chance to play scout and look for “translatable skills.” I partook in the festivities, and did some other cool things too. Here are a few things I learned from Summer League.
Interest is higher than ever
This is my fourth Summer League and I’ve never seen this level of interest. It was almost like being at a regular NBA game… especially for that Lakers-Celtics game. That was a heavy Los Angeles crowd out to see their guy Lonzo Ball.
Side note: Had some interesting conversations about Ball out here. Everything here comes with the caveat that it’s Summer League and it’s hard to get the right read on things sometimes… but there are some rumblings about his ability to get to the rim and shoot. Everyone agrees his vision is elite… but… there are questions about the rest.
But the interest is certainly out of this world. This Starters set is a top-notch production indicative of how much the NBA has built this Summer League up to. Orlando’s Summer League is an evaluation tool open only to media and NBA personnel. Utah opens things up to the fans, but it’s not a show. Vegas… Vegas has become a show that’s living up to the city’s reputation.
We’ve got a pretty damn good player here
These people getting Jayson Tatum’s autograph after the game might want to make sure it’s sealed and protected… because the buzz here is he’s ready to make some noise in the NBA soon.
The thing about Tatum, as I’ve said on Twitter and in podcasts, is that he’s taking the shots he’ll be able to get in the regular season. There’s a wide belief among the NBA crowd in Vegas that Tatum’s offensive game won’t take very long to mature, meaning he’ll be a contributor pretty soon.
That’s not to say he’s ready to dive in and score 20 a night, but I wouldn’t be surprised if he averages something like 13 points after the All Star break. He’s got a smooth flow to his game and the footwork is impressive.
The negatives I see right away are his strength and the hitch in his shot that slows his release down a tick. The strength will cost him position when he tries to post against stronger players. I imagine Jae Crowder bullying him in practice to teach him a few early NBA lessons. If he can’t hold his spot, that fadeaway of his will be released a few feet further out of his comfort zone. As for his shot, we’ll see what the Celtics coaches do with it. They might let him try to work with it so he’s comfortable as he expands his range or they may try to tinker with it early and then work on the rest.
Other player notes:
Jaylen Brown seemed to be working a lot on his 1-on-1 attack. The early success he saw in Utah gave way to sloppiness and turnovers, but he’s got a solid year of NBA play under his belt… I’m not worried about trying new things. It’s like a pitcher working on a certain pitch in spring training… he might get knocked around a bit but that’s the price of trying to add to your repertoire.
Semi Ojeleye is a beast. That kid knows where the weight room is. There’s a reason people said could be a second round steal… he plays solid defense and held his own against centers in all-wing small ball lineups. He also has legitimate NBA 3-point range. Brad Stevens is already talking about using this kid right away… he’ll be an interesting guy to keep an eye on (side note: The most fun I had this week was listening to the PA announcer completely butcher Ojeleye’s name on a regular basis. The best was when he’d gotten right a couple of times in a row… then massacred it just when you thought he’d gotten the hang of it.)
Ante Zizic looked completely gassed. I’ve been saying for a couple of weeks now that his long season in Europe combined with time changes and a flurry of game activity has caught up with him. I watched him check out of games and look like he was desperate for oxygen. Stevens said Zizic will benefit the most from a month off and I can see exactly why. The slow and lumbering Zizic doesn’t match the high-motor guy people have raved about. He was not good in Summer League, but he did improve as things moved along. I’m giving him an incomplete and waiting for preseason to get more of a feel for his game.
There’s not much to say about the rest of the guys. I don’t think Demetrius Jackson is long for the Celtics. Part of the delay on the Gordon Hayward signing is the finalizing of the last cap-clearing moves and Danny Ainge is looking at getting some sort of assets for Jordan Mickey and Jackson. Jackson’s full salary gets guaranteed on July 15, so something will happen soon.
Abdel Nader did a lot of the same things he did for Boston last summer and in Portland. There doesn’t seem to be room for him on the Celtics, so he may force his hand and find a good payday somewhere else. If he’s intent on sticking around, he might be a candidate for a 2-way contract that could essentially guarantee him $250,000 to play for the Red Claws and get some practice time in Boston without affecting Boston’s cap. Jabari Bird and Kadeem Allen will make nice livings playing professional basketball… but it may not be in the NBA.
Brad Stevens was a star. This conversation with Tayshaun Prince was consistently interrupted during stoppages in play by people looking for pictures and autographs. In a lull just before tip-off, a guy directly behind me yelled “BRAD STEVENS FOR PRESIDENT!!”… which drew a smirk from him and a very cute celebration from his young daughter.
I got to do some cool things
Vegas is what it is… and we all had our Vegas-type fun. But beyond that, I got a chance to play some pickup ball at Findlay Prep, the high-school home to a number of McDonald’s All Americans and current NBA players, including our own dearly departed Avery Bradley…
I’m a lot older and slower than I used to be but it was super cool to be on the floor that helped launch the careers of guys like Bradley, Tristan Thompson, Kelly Oubre, and Corey Joseph… among others.
There is nothing like drinking crappy beer in a hotel room with your buddies and talking basketball. The podcasts we recorded in Vegas were so ridiculously fun and I hope that came through in the shows. It was also nice to finally be in the same room and playing off one another. It’s also really cool to see guys like Kevin O’Connor, who have busted their asses, get the national attention they deserve.
I look forward to cashing this sucker in next Summer League. I know some people got the Celtics at 15-1 or 12-1 but I’ll take the $160 next July and put it towards better beer for those podcasts.
I’m leaving Vegas before the “champion” is crowned but not before one hell of a week. I was able to meet a few Celtics fans out here, but I apologize for missing out on seeing a few others. Time flies real fast out here.
The Boston Celtics have some good young talent and that was on display here in Vegas. We’re starting to see Danny Ainge’s vision come to fruition. A very good team built around three All Stars and supported by quality bench veterans and young up-and-coming players. If the Golden State era prove too much for the Celtics and the rest of the NBA, then Boston has a ready-made youth movement ready to take over in four years. Marcus Smart will be 27 when Gordon Hayward’s contract is over… so guys like Brown, Tatum, and whomever else gets drafted between now and then will be ready to take the lead as the next generation of Boston Celtics.
I watched those seeds get planted this week. There is a lot of promise, but at this point all we have are acorns in the ground. Our wildest imaginations can envision the mighty oaks they may become, and it’s places like the Las Vegas Summer League that we get to see them grow.
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