Fansided

Las Vegas Summer League feeds the NBA rookie hype train

By Philip Rossman-Reich

LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 8: Dennis Smith Jr. #1 of the Dallas Mavericks shoots against the Chicago Bulls on July 8, 2017 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 8: Dennis Smith Jr. #1 of the Dallas Mavericks shoots against the Chicago Bulls on July 8, 2017 at the Thomas & Mack Center in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this Photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by Garrett Ellwood/NBAE via Getty Images) /
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Dennis Smith Jr. was putting on a show in warmups with an array of windmill dunks and athletic plays. His second game in the NBA Summer League was a beauty. It was a “you should have picked me” revenge game against the Suns, where he scored 25 points to go with eight rebounds and four steals. Smith was a veritable highlight reel that had the NBA world buzzing.

Every game this week in Vegas has seen Smith garner more eye balls, and the rookie has not disappointed. Entering Sunday’s semifinal game, Smith is averaging 16.6 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game while shooting 43.9 percent from the floor. It has been a steady diet of highlights. The kind of highlights that make the eight teams that drafted ahead of the Mavericks second guess themselves.

Summer League, at its essence, is a non-stop hype train. The NBA promotes its Summer League in Las Vegas as the chance to see the stars of tomorrow. Part of its marketing campaign around the city are images of current NBA superstars like Kevin Durant and James Harden with the years they played in the Las Vegas Summer League beneath them. The league wants to use the 10-day event to hype its rookies.

Read More: Preseason predictions come home to roost

And it is certainly working. It is not just Smith dominating games and generating highlights and discussion among NBA and casual fans. It is Lonzo Ball throwing down triple doubles and highlight plays — not to mention paternal and shoe drama. It is also John Collins showing that the traditional power forward is not dead as he dominates the inside and some of the outside. Jayson Tatum picked up where he left off in Salt Lake City, averaging 17.7 points and 8.0 rebounds per game in three Vegas appearances for the Celtics. De’Aaron Fox and Josh Jackson have been solid as well. Donovan Mitchell was the surprise smash hit of the class with the Jazz.

The rookie class has performed well and lived up to its top billing. The league has to be ecstatic with its future and how it has looked at its premiere event of the summer. This is exactly what the NBA wants from its Summer League. The star players are shining and creating highlights as they air marquee games on ESPN2 and ESPNU as part of the new TV deal. It is the offseason and yet fans are fully engaged in the NBA.

The Mavericks likely knew this as they plotted out Smith’s summer. They were one of the two teams — along with the Heat — playing in both the Orlando Summer League, the eight-team affair held on the Magic’s practice court, and the Vegas Summer League. Those Orlando games air only on NBATV and receive much less fanfare.

The NBA marketing machine has featured this celebrated top five who played in Vegas all the while forgetting the rookies who played and played well in Orlando. In fairness, there are a larger amount of rookies to choose from since the majority of the class made its debut in Vegas. With 23 teams playing in Vegas compared to eight in Orlando, there is simply a higher volume of players to choose from. There were also fewer top picks to watch in Orlando this year. Malik Monk sprained his ankle in practice before Summer League and did not play at all that week. Neither did Knicks guard Frank Ntilikina.

Sixth overall pick Jonathan Isaac acquitted himself well in Orlando, especially on defense, but did not put up the scoring numbers. The draft’s rawest prospect from those top picks showed he had a lot of work to do. Meanwhile, Bam Adebayo and Luke Kennard both performed well with Adebayo finishing second in the Orlando Summer League in rebounds.

Smith did not play in Orlando. Dallas opted to keep him under wraps until Vegas. The Mavericks ended up winning the Orlando Summer League anyway.

The attention prospects receive is certainly different. Take Adebayo for instance. In Orlando, the Heat rookie averaged 17.5 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. He was a dominant force on the boards throughout as the Heat allowed him to explore his offensive game a lot more than he otherwise might during the regular season. He put up several double doubles and destroyed on the boards.

At Vegas, Adebayo has had a fairly quiet but equally strong 15.7 points per game and 8.7 rebounds per game. Through all the star power in Vegas, no one seems to notice Adebayo doing his work and continuing his work amidst the crush of rookies playing well. In Scott Howard-Cooper’s NBA Rookie Ladder for NBA.com, only three of the top 10 played in Orlando. Adebayo was second, so at least someone was noticing.

Quite simply, it sometimes feels no one notices what happens in Orlando. The league is closed to the public with only NBATV airing games on television for fans to watch from home. There are even several players who performed well in Orlando before joining new teams in Vegas to greater fanfare. Matt Costello, for example, played in three games with Orlando averaging 5.0 points per game and 4.7 rebounds per game. He showed strong rebounding skills and defensive ability. He then left Orlando early to join the Timberwolves. In Vegas, Costello averaged 10.3 points per game and a Summer League-high 12.3 rebounds per game. His presence was much more pronounced in the bright lights and attention given to Vegas.

While Costello is not likely to get a NBA contract, the attention and notice he gets in the Las Vegas Summer League might be greater than he would ever get in Orlando behind the closed doors. Maybe that matters, maybe it does not.

The Vegas Summer League is a mix of actual basketball evaluation and unstoppable marketing machine. The league is selling a product still after all, even if the games do not mean very much in the long run — or sometimes even resemble an actual NBA game. Dennis Smith Jr. and the other NBA rookies have certainly made a name for themselves this week in Vegas. It has been exactly what the NBA wants in the end. Whether they could do so in the closed-door environment of Orlando? They probably could. But not to this extent.

Next: Who's been good, who's been bad in Vegas

In this sense, Smith has announced himself and created some high expectations for his rookie year. As did several others. Fans will remember everything they saw in Vegas as they take the floor for real in September. The same can’t be said for what happened in Orlando.

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