A day covering the NBA Summer League in Vegas
There are the young stars, the NBA celebrities, the loud fans, the desert heat. It's a good gig.
LAS VEGAS – When people hear that you have to go to Las Vegas for a week due to work, the reaction is usually the same — they roll their eyes, say "tough life," and become jealous.
But there is real work to be done here in order to inform you about the latest goings on of your 76ers and other happenings in the NBA from the 24 teams gathered in the desert, where the temperature is set to hover around 110 during the day for most of the week.
But just to give some insight to a normal work day out here, we'll rehash how Sunday went:
Arrive at the Thomas and Mack Center on the UNLV campus around 10:45 a.m. as the Sixers are having a morning shootaround in preparation for that night's game against San Antonio. The major topic will be the injury sustained by rookie Markelle Fultz the night before. We are scheduled to talk with players at 11:30, and the team sends out an email at 11:17 saying Fultz has a lateral sprain in his left ankle after X-rays ruled out a fracture.
At 11:30 a.m., we are summoned to the floor for our interviews and immediately notice Fultz walking around and dribbling a basketball. The ankle injury he suffered appears to only hinder him slightly, and there is no visible limp. He even gets takes a couple shots, standing still, of course. Minutes later, he tells the media he is OK; no break, ankle is fine. He seems relieved that he avoided a more serious injury. Though his summer league is over, his season is not, which was the obvious fear of Sixers' fans back east.
At 1 p.m., we head over to the Cox Pavilion, which is the other host gym for the games, to see Atlanta play New Orleans. The only reason this game has some interest is because former Saint Joseph's star DeAndre Bembry is starting for the Hawks. He is still the silky smooth all-around player who left Hawk Hill two years ago, but has gotten quicker and faster. He thrills the crowd when he gets a steal and throws down a 360-degree dunk.
Around halftime of that game, we take the short walk over to the Thomas & Mack Center to watch Phoenix vs. Dallas. Some pretty high draft picks are in this one as the Suns have Josh Jackson (fourth overall) and Dallas boasts Dennis Smith, Jr. (ninth). Run into a couple of Philly guys who now help oversee referee evaluation, Joey Crawford and Mark Wunderlich. Between barbs that would make our Catholic school teachers ears burn, the three of us are in awe as Smith shows his stuff. Names such as Russell Westbrook and Steve Francis are thrown around when describing his high-energy, take-no-prisoners play. As the game is winding down, someone comes and asks Crawford, probably the most recognizable ref (now retired) on the planet, for an autograph. Wunderlich appears baffled no one asked for his autograph. Ammunition for more ribbing.
Crawford points out that one of the refs is from Iceland. He says the guy, who he met during a trip there, was the top ref in the Iceland pro league. Crawford tries to tell a story over and over again about how a guy's name in Iceland ends in "son" and women's names end in "doughter" (his story, his spelling). Either he is way off or we're not interested enough to believe him, but he keeps insisting it's true.
Bop over to the 3 p.m. game at Cox for Brooklyn vs. Milwaukee. Not much to see here, but figured it would be a little quieter in the smaller venue and I needed to get some work done. Run into a few execs and talk hoops, get some writing done and notice Crawford holding court in seats below me.
After that game, go over to catch the end of Minnesota-Denver at T&M. Can't say I even remember much about the matchup except for a loud lady who shouted words of encouragement to someone in such a way that the entire arena could hear her. That's the fun part of summer league, the casual atmosphere.
In order to catch at least a part of as many games as possible, the 5 p.m. game between Utah and the Clippers is next. Watched first quarter, don't remember a thing.
The 5:30 Boston-Portland game boasts some high picks in Jayson Tatum (third to Celtics) and Zach Collins (10th). Tatum keeps up his terrific summer play, displaying a variety of ways to score and showing a much more mature game than expected. Collins seems more of a project.
During this game, Crawford and Wunderlich point out that one of the refs is from the EuroLeague. Wunderlich says he's the "Joey Crawford of Italy." One big difference, the guy rarely blows his whistle.
Finally, the 7:30 Sixers-Spurs game. Even though only a couple of players will see the San Antonio roster, they all play the game in Spurs fashion — great passing, hustle and smarts. Ben Simmons' halftime interview with the Philly media breaks the day's steady stream of basketball. Coaches Gregg Popovich and Brett Brown, the best of friends, talk courtside. When the game is over, Popovich casually points a finger into the stands and down walk about 15 assistant coaches to follow their leader.
Waiting for postgame interviews, a security guards asks where I'm from. When told, he says he spent many years in the Philly area, so we have a good back and forth. "Pop Joe" says he's a Sixers fan.
10 p.m.: Climb into cab to head back to hotel for a late dinner. Temperature is 100 as the cab pulls out of the Thomas and Mack Center. After dinner, head to the room to do some writing, go over the notes compiled from the day and get ready for a full day of basketball again the next day.
Maybe there is legitimate reason for jealously.