Speaker 1: All sad. The Summer League exhibition in Las Vegas that
Speaker 1: nearly killed me is over. Google for yourself really fast
Speaker 1: in me, the Las Vegas throat. It's not what you
Speaker 1: think it means. It really is not. That's what I
Speaker 1: had pause for the last nine days in Las Vegas.
Speaker 1: Turns out the frequency of my voice doesn't penetrate pause
Speaker 1: at the club. You know what I'm saying. A title
Speaker 1: game between the Rockets and the Cavs ended tonight. Do
Speaker 1: you know that the Cleveland Cavaliers were thirty to one
Speaker 1: to win the whole Summer League? Did you know of that?
Speaker 1: Just a beat down over the Rockets. The Rockets hadn't
Speaker 1: lost the game before Amani Baits and friends came through
Speaker 1: with the Tomahawk to decapitate the Houston Rockets. Did you
Speaker 1: watch it? No? I know you didn't. Don't even lie
Speaker 1: Cam Whitmore. By the way, one MVP. We'll talk about
Speaker 1: that in a little bit. Remember he was expected projected
Speaker 1: to be a top five pick, and then even the
Speaker 1: team that's light years ahead of everyone else, the Golden
Speaker 1: State Warriors, passed on him so that he goes to
Speaker 1: the Houston Rockets at twenty, which begs the question, though,
Speaker 1: does anyone really give a shit about the end of
Speaker 1: the Summer League? A lot of people joking in the
Speaker 1: Twitter streets saying that it should have been shut down
Speaker 1: after the first weekend. Most big league players leave big
Speaker 1: parties tended only happened in the first few days, which
Speaker 1: is actually a lie considering that the WNBA parties were
Speaker 1: absolutely lit. Cannice Parker was getting busy on the dance
Speaker 1: floor anyway, I digress. ESPN coverage take a dive like
Speaker 1: broadcasters you've never heard of, and Isaiah Thomas start debating
Speaker 1: the usefulness of the silent e in the English language,
Speaker 1: like that's where we're at in the summer leagues. Teams
Speaker 1: shut high draft picks down after the second game. Interest
Speaker 1: in buzz memes by Josiah starts to weigh on the internet.
Speaker 1: It becomes one of those boo boom, boom boom. It's
Speaker 1: like just straight dust mothballs in the Twitter streets. So
Speaker 1: who cares about the second half of Summer League? Does
Speaker 1: anyone actually give a shit? Who wins the tournament? That's
Speaker 1: a very complicated question. It depends on who you ask.
Speaker 1: If you are Ausar Thompson, if you were aiming Thompson
Speaker 1: a fifth pick in the draft, top five lottery pick.
Speaker 1: You probably don't care. I mean that affects your life
Speaker 1: in absolutely no way. Are you worried about the Warren
Speaker 1: Legarry Summer League ring and the Envy P Trophy. The
Speaker 1: answer no, shade to Warren in the Summer League MVP trophy,
Speaker 1: But no, like that does not affect you at all.
Speaker 1: Like you see Summer League as a way to announce
Speaker 1: your arrival to the league, to show out, to show
Speaker 1: your teammates what's up, to show the batties out there.
Speaker 1: Who needs to be putting a target on your back.
Speaker 1: You're already getting four years, five years guaranteed, You're probably
Speaker 1: repped by Bill Duffy, you probably got multiple endorsement deals already,
Speaker 1: set up gatorade cases in your garage, shoes on, shoes
Speaker 1: on shoes, h what else do you need? Life's good.
Speaker 1: So if you win the Summer League, I mean, it's
Speaker 1: just you're just sitting there in street clothes, popping a
Speaker 1: bottle of Rose Champagne, get your mug on ESPN, tork
Speaker 1: with Holly Row and navigate your new found fame. But
Speaker 1: if you are an undrafted free agent. If you're a
Speaker 1: second round pick, the championship game, get to the championship
Speaker 1: game where eyeballs are on you. Important, eyeballs are on you,
Speaker 1: very important. It's an extra game in front of a
Speaker 1: national TV audience. It's an opportunity to showcase your skills
Speaker 1: to your coaches and your organization. And more importantly, if
Speaker 1: you don't latch onto your original team in the summer League,
Speaker 1: it's more important that you show yourself to other teams.
Speaker 1: Like Max Streuce. Max Struce initially impressed at the Bulls
Speaker 1: Summer League while secretly catching the eye of Andy Ellisberg
Speaker 1: and pat Riley, and then he parlayed that into a
Speaker 1: ten day contract with the Heat and into a sixty
Speaker 1: three million dollar contract with the Cavs. That is what
Speaker 1: the exposure at summer League can do for a player
Speaker 1: who very badly needs exposure. Even if fans aren't in
Speaker 1: the stands, they are. It's a convention, baby, they're executives
Speaker 1: and scouts and they still remain and they are everywhere
Speaker 1: like fleas, like flies, like rodents. They are putting in
Speaker 1: the time watching Orlando versus Dallas. Yuck at nine pm,
Speaker 1: yuck at the cock center. Yuck on the last Friday
Speaker 1: night of Summer League. Yuck. And they think about it
Speaker 1: like it's Game seven of the Western Conference Finals. Kobe
Speaker 1: Buffkin might as well be Kobe Bryant to them to
Speaker 1: like a third string scout who lives for this shit.
Speaker 1: He just wants to talk about wingspan and like hip
Speaker 1: size and mobility. That's him, that's his shit. And it's
Speaker 1: a good thing too, because the vast majority of Summer
Speaker 1: League roster players never make it to the NBA, but
Speaker 1: a ton of them are gonna play professionally somewhere. Summer
Speaker 1: League will give him instant credibility, instant access to their
Speaker 1: tape where you cook a lottery pick. He's been touted
Speaker 1: as the next best thing, and you know what, you
Speaker 1: twisted his ankles up. That is how a kid from
Speaker 1: Towson ends up making seven figures a year at Olympiacos
Speaker 1: or Fenner Bacchi or Leon Aboju or any of the
Speaker 1: one hundred euro teams that exist there. And some of
Speaker 1: these guys they parlay Euros success then as a path
Speaker 1: back to the league as a scout or executive or
Speaker 1: a coach, as brand ambassadors. It's corporate liaisons, and god forbid,
Speaker 1: maybe they actually make it to the league League. Talk
Speaker 1: to Patrick Beverly about that. They just want to be
Speaker 1: surrounded in the game that they love. They're willing to
Speaker 1: spend years traveling by bus, probably at the little tippy
Speaker 1: top of the bus, like those double deckers in the
Speaker 1: dusty roads and the icy snow conditions and the Balkans,
Speaker 1: just to figure out a way to play one more season,
Speaker 1: just to figure out a way to win at any level.
Speaker 1: Some of these guys return the Summer League to start
Speaker 1: the process all over again, like moths butterflies. That's kind
Speaker 1: of beautiful to me. So here's what we're not gonna do.
Speaker 1: We are not mocking the end of summer because we
Speaker 1: didn't see chet Holmgren, or we didn't see Victor wembin Yama.
Speaker 1: By the way, I figured out a way to say
Speaker 1: his name, it's not Wambayama anymore. It's wembin Yama. Okay,
Speaker 1: So we're good there. Summer League isn't just for them.
Speaker 1: It's for Wendell Green and Luke Trevers and Craig Porter Junior,
Speaker 1: all of whom have played for the Cavs. It's for
Speaker 1: Trevor Huggins and Matthew Mayer, har Harrel and James Huff
Speaker 1: of the Rockets. This means something to them, So celebrate
Speaker 1: Summer League from beginning to end. It's like the end
Speaker 1: of a marathon. You're too tired to celebrate it properly,
Speaker 1: but you know you did something and you accomplish something great.
Speaker 1: I cannot wait for next year. I absolutely flourish at
Speaker 1: Summer League. It is the best thing in the NBA.
Speaker 1: Event Wise, I'll see you guys next year. Dum