Unpacking the Vegas Summer League Notebook PLUS: Lynx, TC Pro-Am, & Breakdown Series

In this action-packed episode, host Steve Hartman sits down with friend Derek Bolden to unpack their annual pilgrimage to the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. Despite the blistering desert heat, the guys spent two days at Thomas & Mack Center to scout the future of the league. From dodging the legendary arena Dairy Queen lines to watching star prospects like Cameron Boozer Caleb Wilson, and Mikel Brown Jr, they give their raw, firsthand notebook drops on what stood out.
Plus, they share insights from a fascinating courtside conversation with an assistant GM from the Japanese B-League, Indiana Pacers scout and track how local Minnesota standouts are faring on the big stage. 

But before diving deep into the desert recap, Steve runs through a massive wave of local hardwood news shaking up the Land of 10,000 Lakes: 

• Lynx Make History: Celebrating Cheryl Reeve’s legendary, record-breaking 380th regular-season victory and a strong win over the powerhouse New York Liberty. Napheesa Collier's return is looming, which will give the Lynx a boost going into the stretch run.
• Wolves Summer Session: A look at the early summer league showings for Isaiah Evans, Rocco Zikarsky, and the consistency of Zyon Pullin. 
• Twin Cities Pro-Am is BACK: Everything you need to know about the premier (and free!) local summer tradition. https://www.twincitiesproam.com/schedule
• Breakdown Summer Series: Highlighting the fast-paced high school circuit sweeping through St. Louis Park, Fergus Falls, Austin, Delano, and beyond. https://breakdownsportsusa.com/boys-summer-series/

Tune in for unfiltered basketball energy, listener mailbag questions, and a sneak peek at the annual tradition that is NBA Summer League.

Listen on Spotify, Apple Podcasts or YouTube. 

Follow Splash City Basketball Podcast on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and Bluesky. 

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:04

Bag and then back and back again. Whoa, whoa, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 0:08

Hey everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Splash City Basketball Podcast. Your home for everything happening on the hardwood in the land of 10,000 lakes. I am your host, Steve Hartman, coming to you today with an episode where we recorded from Las Vegas after a couple days down at the Thomas and Max Center and Cox Pavilion watching a lot of different players uh kind of finished with the Timberwolves experience there. So before we get into that, let me take a quick minute. Love to have you subscribe and follow the episode on Apple, Spotify, and YouTube, or give us a follow at Splash City Basketball Podcast on Instagram and TikTok. I want to give a quick shout-out to Mike Alexander, Derek Long, and Paul Merida for their questions heading into Summer League. We get into some of their the answers to their questions uh later in the episode. So Derek and I just wrapped up the annual pilgrimage to the NBA Summer League. Uh it was only 112 degrees there, but uh it was nice and cool inside Thomas and Mac Center. Uh the but the city was on fire, not only just between uh Summer League, there was also the the Conor McGregor fight, there was the World Cup, um just lots of things going on down there in Las Vegas. Um it definitely felt buzier than any time I've been there, including March Manus. So uh we stayed downtown this time, explored a few different things, uh, checked out the arts district. Um, but it was a great time. I actually saw some celebrities walking through the the uh the casinos down on the strip, so that was fun. But most importantly, we were there to watch basketball. And uh in the main segment today, Derek and I discussed our full kind of firsthand experience, some of the things that we noticed this year versus last year, some of the different players, um things that we we you know noted in terms of performances, but also like had some interesting conversations with an assistant GM from a Japanese league uh who was sitting next to us. And so that was really fun. Um, but we also talked about some of the local guys. So I was keeping my eyes on you know, Javon Hadley and Kendall Brown, Cam Christie from the Gophers, Cameron Carr, played a Baylor, um, has it had some nice performances. So that's all coming up in today's show. Um, before we unpack the full Vegas experience, uh got to run through a few other things here happening locally in the state of Minnesota. We're gonna start with the Minnesota Lynx, who just wrapped up uh a good stretch after losing a heartbreaker to Connecticut. Um, they finally bounced back and get the 380th record-breaking victory for Cheryl Reeve. She is now officially the um most accomplished coach in the regular season as well as the postseason to go along with her four WNBA titles. So they beat the Sun 86 to 80 on uh Wednesday. Um and then they won again against New York over the weekend, 90 to 85. So big win there against one of the best teams in the league. Um looking up at the week ahead, Monday they got Phoenix Mercury, um, a couple other games later this week. They're still navigating some injuries, but it sounds like Nefista Collier is really getting close. That would give them a huge bump. Um, just you know, they're still one of the best teams in the league, one of the best records. Um, but getting Collier back will just absolutely be a game changer. They're gonna hopefully ride that momentum um into the playoffs here as we hit the stretch run of the WNBA season. Um also T-Wolves uh continued summer league play. So um Isaiah Evans had his first game on Saturday. We'll see if he can build off that. He looked a little rusty. Uh Rocco Zakarski's had some up and down moments. Zion Poland's actually had that looked pretty good. They're probably the most consistent performer for them so far. And I also really like Donovan Williams. So if you guys want to check, check out the Wolves Summer League, they'll still be playing uh the rest of the week here as well. Um, also over the weekend, we saw the opening of the Twin Cities Pro Am. And again, if you haven't been following, uh this is one of the things I've been touting on social media and on my last podcast. Just really love this event. It's a free event, it's great for kids. Um, get get some people watching basketball in the summer, watching some uh pros who play over in Europe sometimes. Um, I know Dane Dango is at Summer League and he's uh potentially on a roster here. Jamison Battle got some good run with the Raptors last year. He might be playing. So you get some pros and then you mix that in with the best high school players around, some of the local college guys from Nankato or Minnesota or um elsewhere, but just Twin Cities natives. Um it's really it's a really fun event. Play it over at D Listell. So that opened on Saturday. They play, I think it's Monday, Tuesday, Thursday during the week, but you can check out their schedule online. Just go to Twin Cities ProM Schedule and you'll find everything there. Uh hopefully, hoping to get over there this week, but maybe it might be next week. Anyway, uh, hope to see you there. And then the last thing I want to bring up was just the the breakdown summer basketball series. This is a high school event, high school teams, not AAU. And so there's a lot of these events happening around. There might be one in your area this weekend. They were at uh St. Michael Albertville and then up in Ada Borup. I know the Red Lake County Rebels, who weren't one of the best Class A teams, they took that event. Um, Tuesday, it's at St. Louis Park, and then there are stops in Fergus Falls, Austin, Delano, uh, Alexandria, Woodbury coming up later this week. So uh just a really fun event. You know, if you know maybe your local team is playing, check it out. Or if you just want to watch some high really good quality high school basketball teams uh play in in there in your area, uh check them out. It's it's a great uh great event, good, good way to follow some of the teams that'll be up and coming uh in the next season. Um and then lastly, I'm working on an article for Hitting the Hardwood covering kind of the Gopher players that I saw in uh Las Vegas and guys that gopher fans will be familiar with. For instance, Liam Robbins, right? Played his season with Minnesota, transferred to Vanderbilt. He was on the Knicks roster, um, and some guys like that. So we'll we'll talk about some of the gopher players in my next Hitting the Hardwood article. Um, but for now, let's take you to our recording from the Broken Yoke Cafe down in downtown Las Vegas, talking NBA Summer League.

SPEAKER_01 6:21

All right, another summer league in Vegas has uh concluded for us. It's day four, I believe, officially, but uh heading out to the airport shortly, enjoying some coffee. I'm here with Derek. Derek, uh it's two years in a row. Thanks again for uh starting this tradition. And uh yeah, what was your any big thoughts on this year's summer league that we witnessed?

SPEAKER_02 6:45

Yeah, I mean it's always a great setup. Crowds were solid, similar to last year, having the big always super flat. I mean, you expected it to be big, but it was still equally big this year. I think the Thursday stretch was is the biggest spot for me right away. Your big stars are coming in on a Thursday. So it kind of pushes the casual fan to re-plan the weekend.

SPEAKER_01 7:11

We're gonna have to uh get the okay to come out a little longer, maybe come out on Thursday morning instead of Thursday night, because we missed missed the big matchup between DeBonsa and Peterson on Thursday night, which was alright. But um, you thought maybe the Connor McGregor fight, maybe they decided to move some things around or because like last year I think some Cooper Flag Dylan Harper matchup was Saturday, right?

SPEAKER_02 7:35

Right, yeah. I mean, if there was here counting up, you know, there's the McGregor fight, World Series of Poker, World Cup, World Cup, and we got introduced to the Power Slap competition.

SPEAKER_01 7:47

Power Slap was the highlight of the weekend, I think maybe. Um yeah, that was awesome. Um yeah, it was a great we we did a little different. So last year, uh for those that maybe have interest in coming out. We've got you did an Airbnb the first time. Last year we went to the strip, stayed down there, and then this year we stayed downtown, all kind of different vibes, obviously. Um do you have if you had to pick one, like how how how would you rank those and like your experience just from like getting to the arena, enjoying the summer league experience, not not all the other stuff, but really um but I would say getting to summer league, they're probably even because all of them you gotta take a cab.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

I guess the the Airbnb, we were able to walk, which was kind of unique. Like you walk out of the stadium and instead of waiting for all the cabs, you're gonna start you know hooking a home button. Uh 99 degree heat, you know, being outside for just a little bit is too much.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

I'm getting was it cooler that year than you were there? Because it would been 110, 112 this week that we've been here so yeah, it was a pressure. We're not walking very far.

SPEAKER_03 8:58

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

One morning we walked a mile, wasn't even a mile, to get coffee. It's like, oh my god, 9 a.m., 8 a.m. and it's just just brutal.

SPEAKER_02 9:09

I I think uh what makes this year unique is just that we branched out into different areas. Um going to the arts district, which I I I assume they had an arts district, but never been. And I thought that was impressive. So it's just it's breaking your norms, finding new stuff, I think goes into big pieces.

SPEAKER_01 9:27

Yeah, it's it's different vibes. Uh you know, obviously Three mod was different than the strip, but uh it was fun. We got to experience it all though, you know. Spent a whole time down there last night. Yeah, the buzz with all these events going on was uh crazy. We got a private helicopter coming to pick somebody up.

SPEAKER_02 9:48

Uh that's probably the big advantage of staying um down the strip is you see all the players walking through the casino. I mean, last night we saw at least five or six big names just kind of walking through.

SPEAKER_01 10:00

Yeah, Walker Kessler. Um we saw um Brian Shaw, long time Lakers coach. We saw Mel Gibson. I mean, that was pretty sweet. Uh it was fun. Yeah, that was that was a big part of that. Um, although you saw the biggest celebrity of the weekend was the slap fight, power slap guy downtown in our hotel.

SPEAKER_02 10:21

It's my opportunity to get a photo of this.

SPEAKER_01 10:24

Um yeah, um, you know, just from uh the arena, like I think last year at my first time, I didn't really know, so there was a lot more like people like walking around. We ate at the arena, which is here we didn't do much of. Um but like people were talking about that DQ line just being epic, and I it's just I don't know, I maybe I'm uh just so live so close to a DQ that I don't think about it. Other other people are just enamored with it. So you got the one at the Excalibur and you got the one at Thomas and Mac Center.

SPEAKER_02 11:00

Well, when you think about it, and and this is uh you know a rookie mistake. If you go to the Thomas and Mac and you're hungry, you're gonna be eating you know ballpark food, which you can only take so much of. So I'm sure DQ just settles the stomach on two people's side. So yeah, if you're going out to the games, eat beforehand, eat afterwards, use uh the ballpark, it's only a bridge.

SPEAKER_01 11:23

Yeah, get a base, get a base like anything else you do in Vegas, you gotta have a good base. Um yeah, okay, so let's see. Anything else on the experience getting there, Vegas? I mean, it was a very busy weekend. That was like number one, I think I noticed was like last year it was busy at the arena, but this year with all this stuff going on, just the like generally this would be a slow time of year in Vegas because it's just so hot, but it was not the case this weekend. It was very it felt like busier than March Madness, I think, in my opinion.

SPEAKER_02 12:00

A lot of a lot of Argentina jerseys.

SPEAKER_01 12:02

Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 12:04

Different crowds that aren't typically here.

SPEAKER_01 12:05

Yeah, yeah. So um just let's talk about like the games and vibes. You know, I think some people uh I even had somebody a buddy say, like, oh my god, watching these games, it's like who wants to go watch this? And there is an element of some bad basketball at times, but there's also you know, our other friend yesterday mentioned how how hard they play, because it's like their jobs, their you know, careers on the line. And so you do get a mix of jacking up shots and foreplay and out of control, but um, there's also like some really good effort plays, and I just I think that stands out to me as uh like how the games are played. Because there was a what a couple games you watched on Friday that were like 30 point gloss, team shooting like 20% to free and just jacking them up and not making anything. So that part is kind of hard to watch, but then there was that um uh what game was it that was super close and compelling and both playing and uh pacers, pacers, yeah. And that was just a really fun game.

SPEAKER_02 13:11

So yeah, I think uh when you have like your stars watching and and they're you know cheering on these young guys and and they're fighting for a job and they're fighting for a paycheck.

SPEAKER_03 13:24

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:24

Um, I mean we saw blood on the floor during a game. So I mean that that just shows like everyone is an athlete, everyone can do something at the highest level, and just to see them pushing themselves or or extending for a dunk or a block when normally maybe they wouldn't. Um, yeah, they're you have to kind of be in person, like watching it on TV, like bad shooting and stuff is kind of boring. But if you're in person, you can see the the work, it it definitely adds to it.

SPEAKER_01 13:53

Yeah, um reader or uh listener question from Derek Long. He was asking about um uh uh the coaching, you know, how much coaching happens because it does, you know, they don't practice a lot ahead of time. A lot of these guys won't play together for much longer. Um, and so like are they able to run anything? And I what I took away from watching these two games because I was watching specifically of some of that, after timeouts, you definitely notice some set plays. And they do execute those for the most part. Um, in the flow of the game, there just isn't a lot of that. Um, it's more about spacing and getting guys in position, and you know, who do we want setting the pick up top and who do we want in the corner, that stuff. Um one of the things that stood out to me was the guys who just do their job. You know, like there's some but me, let's be honest, out of all these players, one one or two guys will make the active roster or to have an impact on the season, three or four maybe are G-League guys, and the rest are probably in Europe. But the guys who like just hey, I'm good at this and I'm gonna own this, and those guys stand out to me. And like whether it's a guy that shoots, like I think it was Tyler Nickel for the Knicks, stood out to me, um Javon Hadley for the Heat, uh you know, Kareem Durham Hawking, like just plays defense and hustles all over the floor. I mean, he's not great at anything, but he just does what they need, and those are guys that I think end up getting a role somewhere because it's like, you know, we don't need you to be the playmaker, ball handler guy. We got all-stars that do that, and then yay. But so just like that's kind of interesting to me, watching the guys who just like accept that and don't try to do too much because the guys that do too much end up turning it over, taking bad shots, and it's kind of hard to watch at times. So yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:53

Yeah, you see that with Slink Guard slide too. Like, if they're really just working on assists, getting guys open, setting the floor, like they're not trying to score, they're trying to just run run the ship. Yeah, and it's it'd be very telling if they make it to the next level.

SPEAKER_01 16:08

Yeah, one thing uh I wanted to bring out because I noticed that during the season last year, a lot with Wemby, specifically, because his arms are so long, but I noticed that even just when you're that close, like we are at Summer League, the screens and how they like extend their arms on like they're like literally pushing guys on screens, and somehow that goes uncalled. And I don't know when that out started, but it drives me nuts. Yeah, yeah, it's it's trickling into pick-up basketball sometimes, and I'm like, Did you just push me? It's on a screen, like that's illegal, or it used to be. I don't know what happened or when that changed.

SPEAKER_02 16:45

Yeah, it's a little jersey tug, a little extra push. Uh they gotta keep it rolling so they're not calling the fouls out.

SPEAKER_01 16:52

Yeah, yeah. Um so we saw the Wolves last night. They played at 4 30 against Denver. Coincidentally, the same team we saw him play last year. Uh, Christian Brown was in the house for both. Uh this year, no ant, unfortunately. So that was kind of a I think there was a lot of hope that he might show up with the mellow, but it did not happen. Um I don't know if you have any big thoughts on the Wolves team and how they looked. Um they didn't play, they it was close until about the end of the third quarter, the fourth quarter, the Nuggets just kind of blew them out. But uh, any thoughts on the Wolves after watching them on guys Isaiah Evans or Black Rose of Harcy?

SPEAKER_02 17:37

Yeah, it definitely seemed like they were they just hadn't gelled yet as a group. The group that was out there, like they were, you know, going through the motions, trying to make some individual plays, nothing nothing was falling. Um yeah. Um Evans, you can tell the talent is there, it's just you know, first game out, trying to mix in, make a splash. It just it just didn't flick.

SPEAKER_01 18:04

Yeah. Evans looked pretty rusty, I thought. You can tell then like later he's trying to get a shot just to get going. And he didn't look particularly great. I I was I still am like through a you know, I being a Duke fan, I've watched him play in the last couple years, and he has gotten a lot better off the bounce. Like he will take it to the basket more. He had a couple of good drives. One I think he missed, but it was pretty pretty good drive. So like that encourages me that he's not just gonna be a stand and shoot guy, but um yeah, flat shot looked flat, looks a little like maybe just not in the flow, hasn't played maybe a lot. He just practiced on Friday, I think, for the first time. So um, because the trade didn't go through until then, so then he couldn't practice. So um Rocko Zukarski, I don't know, just he's young, so you're giving up some time, but he's got some work to do. I think he had nine points, six forwards, four turnovers, only shot three of eleven. Uh still just a project. I mean, we drafted him and Barranjay last year, and Baron Jay looks ready to contribute a lot. Zakarski's just not quite there yet.

SPEAKER_02 19:16

Yeah, he can just keep keep getting him ready for it. Yeah, it'll be a sparring partner.

SPEAKER_01 19:20

We should note that we did not see Barranjay play. They played on Thursday before we arrived in town, and uh Barranjay played really well on Thursday and then didn't play Saturday, so we didn't get to see him. Um Santos was kind of a bright spot, I'd say, for the Wolves. Okay. Made some threes, and then uh Donovan Williams had some highlight dunks, man. Like if he is in the paint, he is gonna hammer it.

SPEAKER_03 19:43

That was yeah, yeah, at least here.

SPEAKER_01 19:46

Yeah, just really explosive after, man. Um yeah, on the um Nugget side, yeah, that Stevenson could really shoot it. He was impressive. Um KJ Simpson from Colorado had a nice game for the most part. Um and they kind of just took it to the wolves in the second half. But big guys got more physical. That was a very physical game. That was the other thing that stood out. Uh I think Tate said it. I mean, just how physical the game was. Yeah. A lot of them. Like they're just like like we were saying, the guys are just this is their livelihood, man. They're playing it all on the line. And we gave Freeman huge gash. You know, and that was one of many physical plays, but yeah, just just tough. So what about other guys that we saw over the last couple days? Any standouts or guys that you thought was really a precedent? We saw Caleb Wilson and Boozer.

SPEAKER_02 20:47

I thought that was probably the most intriguing. Yeah. Um, just the stature that that Boozer brings in. I mean, he looks like a well-oiled NBA machine already. Uh, so he'll he'll be in the league for a while. That'll be fun. Um yeah, and the Bulls team is kind of a young talent. They had a lot of their their teammates there trying to support. So I mean they're they're in a rebuilding mode, but yeah, they're gonna rely on these young guys to make an impact early and try to establish them.

SPEAKER_01 21:20

Yeah. I feel like Caleb Wilson has the potential to be the second best player in this draft. Yeah. Like he he is impressive. Um athletically he is, but like he I was kind of like not sure of his outside shooting, and he looked really comfortable. He's got a nice shot when he's set. Um he had a couple like really tough threes in that game, and I think he had like thirty five points. Yeah. And he was yeah, awesome. You you pointed out, I think it was you pointed out how thick the loser is. Like his waist and down. He's got three trunks, just huge.

SPEAKER_02 21:56

This looks like an NFL linebacker. um one thing with Williams he I think he made a dunk and then ran down and made a block on the other end I was like that's a good hustle from uh you know a top 10 peg yeah I think he's uh mentioned that like in interviews like he's he called himself kind of a dog like he is like works hard and he's gonna you know get after it he's not gonna take him plays optically yeah that that was impressive that block was crazy um I really like Mikel Brown Jr. for uh the Nets I think he looked probably like the best point guard we saw I mean I think when we were watching he reminded me of having watched Dillingham last year what we kind of thought Dillingham might be but he's four inches taller and he's stronger and he's a way better shooter you know and you're like he's just as shifty but he's got all the developed stuff he looked awesome you could tell his confidence was high it did not seem too big for him by any means he looked just to be having fun and filling with it so it's like all right that if you can put off that vibe right away then that's a good sign. Yeah yeah and I mean they're gonna have Julius Randle and Michael Porter Jr and him I mean I don't know what else they're gonna happen so he's gonna have opportunities for sure uh other guys that were impressive I'm trying to remember um if there's anything that stood out but uh I was excited to watch a little bit of the Hawks last night Kingston Flemings was playing and uh you know didn't see a ton from him though that was a pretty good game as well it kind of came down to the end but um Lakers I mean they had the uh the guy that looks like he's 40 so that was fun I wasn't trying to rip on him I mean it's just it's just wild to see a like a fully bald guy at Summer League you know yeah the the classic you know balded top on the side looks like he could work in like your data team at 3500. He's gonna crush some pickup or YMCLE because I mean he's just he's that guy you can tell uh don't even remember his name so that's sad but um I want to let's talk a little bit about um we'll get to some of like local twin cities players but um you were talking to a woman sitting next to you who was an assistant GM for a Japanese team uh or a league right or a team in a Japanese league uh it's interesting conversation I I wasn't listening so you gotta tell what uh yeah it's uh it just highlights like the international presence that certain countries are trying to build and so she was an assistant GM for the like newly rebranded B League and there's I think about 20 to 27 teams in this league and and her goal for for the next couple days was just kind of going through scouting players you have these players who just aren't going to make rosters but you know could really elevate uh another league and and could stand out and potentially start right away um and they they can you know entice people to come over and take a big contract where they're might have to give up on the NBA dream but they can keep playing basketball they can get paid and and that's a a choice I think a lot of these players have to make is which route do you want to go but you know doing a quick glance at the the website for the speed league it's like the branding looked good some of the team names were interesting I was like all right I I mean I would get down to the Japanese basketball jersey that that could be kind of fun and just to see the the presence there and I think she really wanted to see Yuki and see uh see him playing and he's just a fan favorite um so yeah so it's it'll I I think these leagues are going to continue to build up continue to give so many of these kids opportunities. Yeah. Um but yeah like you can there's not I don't think there's an assistant GM pass you can buy so she had an agent pass on to just get out and mix it up.

SPEAKER_01 26:08

So yeah that's cool those are like cool stories that you know I at this this has really become summer league has kind of become like an annual like basketball event not just NBA summer league it's it's just there's college coaches there was EYBL tournament um in Vegas this weekend there's youth tournaments in Vegas so there's just like a ton of people relating to the game and it's just interesting to talk to people like that.

SPEAKER_02 26:35

You talked about Yuki Kalamura who's fan favorite at Summer League he was last year too he's an exciting player he's actually really fun to watch he's 5'7 um he was playing on the same team as Brayden Smith and Tamon lipsey so this three point guard thing in Indiana but your buddy is a scout with the Pacers and you brought up UP to him and he and then you know he's talking about all you've got these other guys that we're looking at too and it's just um you know it's it's a good reminder I think we were talking about this earlier how you what the fans love to see and get excited about is not what these teams do right like he's like yeah that's cool but yeah it's and this is where you you know when you work for an organization you understand how it's structured you know everybody has a role on the staff as well and they have specialties where you focus on just building the current team or just looking for future players um so then you know the pieces people that focus on contracts you know when is that going to be up you know when is there if there's an expansion team coming in you know are they gonna lose people to the expansion draft so there's so much plat uh planning and and strategy that that goes in with like the long-term health of a team that as a casual fan it is well beyond your uh your you coin um so yeah so I think there are a lot of their focus would be on players that'd be like oh he was you know good and to your point earlier where it's like they do a certain role or they specialize somewhere where maybe that's a deficiency within a team and it's like yeah that that makes a ton of sense why you keep him and not not a fan favorite guy or something like that.

SPEAKER_01 28:18

Yeah yeah yeah it is fascinating like you know they have to think so far down the road but there's all these other variables that come into play and um it was interesting because last year we saw him at Summer League after coming out the finals at finals appearance against the Thunder and then this year it kind of blows up because of Halliburton's injuries and they lost you know Miles Turner and whatever um but Pascal Sayakum was there um who was sitting next to him uh they had like two or three of the better players pacers uh at the game uh and going nuts when you know for Yuki and stuff like that so like uh it's just you know there's they're gonna have Halliburton back their pacers are gonna be right back in the mix you know in the East.

SPEAKER_02 29:04

I think that's it was an interesting thing last year seeing the like the Pistons game and how the whole team was there cheering on these younger guys and you know you you think that has an impact especially if some of these younger guys come up and you have your whole team there cheering you on and then and then the Pistons had a great season last year so it just shows there's some camaraderie there. Yeah to our teams that don't have anybody there it's like you know what's what's the locker room like do they do they have a bomb yeah um guys I saw that at the Mavs game last night like you know there was a ton of Mavs players there you know working the crowd and um you know sitting together so it's like all right they're trying to build something there and I'm sure that's pushed by their organization.

SPEAKER_01 29:48

Yeah you talked I mean Cooper Flag was there signing autographs for pretty much anybody that he could reach floor level about halfway around the stadium. Yeah yeah it's crazy um but yeah I think you know that's that's one of those things that shows up like as a Wolves fan I noticed that there weren't really any wolves players you know Finch was there a bunch of the assistant coaches were there Tim Conlin obviously was there but he didn't see Ann he didn't see Jaden he didn't see Rudy um not to say that that means anything but you know it's just it was what it was something that stood out to me.

SPEAKER_02 30:26

I was like huh you know that's that's why you know when you got these other star players there too uh but anyway um any other like before I got a few things on some individual players but any other um trying to think of what else we experienced while we were there things that stood out I mean a lot of we didn't talk about Papa Shot this year but it still had a presence they weren't really pumping it as hard as last year with like a ESPN right uh qualifier there were definitely more activations um with sneaker cleaning and custom custom uh sweatshirt builds well and I think you know you look at the NBA experiences and and what they offer and I I think it probably ebbs and flows on you know when they can pull in NBA talent to have them come in town. I'm sure logistics is very tough to manage but I don't know it's gonna be something to keep an eye on the next couple years if they add an expansion team in Las Vegas like that this seems like a um a unique opportunity to really expand and blow some things out with with summer league and making it just extra fan friendly.

SPEAKER_01 31:39

Yeah um I don't know what the timeline is for expansion but uh the one cab driver we had that seemed pretty knowledgeable brought up that the they were gonna name them the jacks yeah which was interesting because you know the WMA team is the aces so then we've got the jacks can't be the kings. No sorry you got the jacks so uh I don't know if that's breaking news or if that's well known legit yeah uh but yeah that's kind of kind of cool. Um let's see what else uh let's look at a few players so just you know I was kind of keeping tabs on some local guys and how they were doing um Javon Hadley probably got the most run uh Creetham Hall Colorado Louisville player um he's one of those guys that to me was kind of like the epitome of doing your job he is not scoring 15 20 points a game he's gonna get you eight he's gonna get you five six rebounds he's gonna get you four assists he's gonna play awesome defense he got in a lot of switches he was kind of playing that 3-4 and um yeah just really impressed with with him uh you know as a role player Kendall Brown from Eastridge played at Baylor he uh also played for the Heat he did a few things he's one of those guys that gets off the bus and you're really impressed um but he doesn't do a ton in impacting the game but um cool cool to see him there so two guys from the East Metro uh playing in that game um didn't see Trey Holliman get on the floor didn't see Dawson Garcia on the floor um former gopher and uh Vanderbilt player Liam Robbins played a little bit uh for the Knicks um you know nothing super impressive from him and uh uh let's see who else oh Trey White from Kansas I was really impressed with I thought he he looked really good and has good size shot the ball pretty well and he plays great defense so he was a good player at Kansas played at Illinois before that he was impressive um Cam Christie played uh we did see Cade Tyson now I was shocked he didn't make a summer league team but we did see him last night as well walking through our one of the hotels so he's around probably trying to get a spot trying to get get added to a roster somewhere um another guy that I was impressed with that local Twin Cities uh Minnesota folks would know is Cam Carr uh son of Chris Carr for Timberwolf who still does training in the Twin Cities Cameron uh playing for the Lakers he's just a really I mean he was a guy that the Wolves were at 28 I still I was super excited for but I think he went earlier um just 6'7 wing explosive score um so he he's looked pretty good too um Jameer Young I think him and Jace Richardson hooked up yesterday that was a fun point guard battle with the magic and um the heat so Jameer Young and that heat team is actually pretty good. I was they have a lot of fun players but uh Jameer Young former Maryland player I was pretty impressed with him so um yeah outside of that uh I didn't really you know see too many other uh uh you know local players having big impacts but you know we'll see if any of them make a roster Cam Christie I would expect to make the Clippers roster um just based on his you know he's had a good couple years in that organization so um yeah we forgot to mention Jalen Brown showing up yesterday and he was like the big star that showed up so that was cool that was the Sixers game uh after the big trade with Boston so it must have been a first introduction because he like pulled up held up the jersey so that was like probably first did you have holding the Brown yeah uh sixers jersey yeah Nick Nurse was on the uh on the broadcast and then uh at halftime they had the Jalen Brown Sixers jersey reveal or something I don't know but yeah it was that was a cool moment yeah there's that's when those guys show up there's definitely like a buzz you know it's it's that's can't last year was like that and Jalen Brown comes in and everybody's whispering oh it's Jalen Brown it's Jalen Brown but yeah good stuff all right well we gotta get to the airport here pretty soon um but again super fun uh I and everybody I've talked to that's a hoops fan I've said this is a great time you can you know make it a make it an experience um it's very hot but you know that going in uh so it's just a really fun kids like that was another thing right like I don't know if there was more kids in last year but it seemed like a lot of kids were there and enjoying it getting autographs it's it's as accessible to the players and coaches as you're probably ever going to be um and it's not overly expensive unless you want it to be so which is kind of nice get great seats for 60 65 bucks all the games you could watch so good stuff man yeah can't wait to do it again next year and earn a new badge for going to summer league yeah that's right uh so you're what three of the last four years you missed missed one in there so that's a good run uh we should probably book our tickets today right yeah I'm sure our families and wives would be thrilled with that but uh yeah it's great great stuff uh I'll probably I think I'm gonna do a a post or an article for hitting the hardwood on um the gopher players that are here so watch for that next week but uh for now I guess that's that's us signing off from downtown Las Vegas man appreciate it cheers all right that'll do it for today's episode thank you again for joining me thank you for listening uh give us a follow subscribe wherever you listen to podcasts also give us a follow on social media if you want to get into the conversation and um I appreciate everyone who sent in questions about Summer League uh really had a fun time out there and appreciate Derek for kind of helping organize that and I think that's gonna be a kind of an annual thing.

SPEAKER_00 37:39

So it's getting bigger it's getting busier and you know I I kind of have talked to some other people who are interested in basketball and I said this is a great way to experience it. There's um EYVL AAU tournament going on so there's a lot of college coaches around a lot of players kind of milling around it's about as good an access as you can have and for those with kids especially younger players who are really interested in the game summer league's great because there's a lot more access to players and autographs, coaches, things that you know you just don't get during a regular NBA season. And so if if you have someone who's really a a hoop head like I am, it's a great experience. It's becoming more than just NBA Summer League it's becoming kind of a annual basketball tradition of fans and players and GMs and coaches getting together and enjoying the game. So if you can withstand the blast furnace of Las Vegas in July uh definitely worth it. So uh again thank you all for listening appreciate you being here and we'll see you on the next Splash City basketball podcast.

SPEAKER_03 38:49

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