In Vegas for Summer League: Opening Night

Catching flights and chasing dreams.

We settled into our seats in Section 107, row BB (a.k.a. the second row) just before opening tip of NBA Summer League’s Opening Night in fabulous Las Vegas — at the Thomas & Mack Center for the Orlando Magic vs. the Houston Rockets.

The No. 1 pick Paolo Banchero vs. the No. 3. pick Jabari Smith Jr.

The first thing that stood out was the size of the prized draft picks. They were clearly the biggest players on the court, both 6-foot-10 and looking NBA ready. Just like everyone said.

Paolo is listed as having 30 pounds on Jabari. That did appear to be the case.

Admittedly, we don’t watch a lick of college ball save for March Madness (simply no time when you watch almost every single NBA game), so this was a great chance for us to get to know the new kids on the block.

The second thing that stood out was the vast amount of NBA family in attendance. This was our first time going to Summer League in person, and it was great to see the wide range of the support.

The Magic fam, including Cole Anthony, Wendell Carter Jr., Markelle Fultz and Jalen Suggs, were sitting courtside with head coach Jahmal Mosley.

To the left of the Magic guys was The King of the Fourth himself, DeMar DeRozan.

In the row right in front of us was R.J. Hampton’s family, who could not have been nicer. His dad, Rod Hampton, seemed to know everybody.

Sitting along the left baseline were Tom Thibodeau and Brad Stevens, although not together. It was very surprising to see the always scowl-faced Thibs laughing and smiling for most of the night. A different demeanor entirely when he’s not coaching.

Lastly, sitting courtside in front of us was Mike Miller, who everybody was super happy to see.

The game had a lot of early turnovers which can be typical for Summer League, especially the very first game. Josh Christopher was called for several traveling violations, but he still had a solid outing with a game-high 22 points.

We asked the Rockets fans sitting next to us (who were in San Diego for vacation and cancelled their flight last minute to rent a car and drive to Vegas) if they knew the origin of Josh Christopher’s nickname, JayGup. They did not, but we have since looked it up. SI has us covered: “Josh also acquired his nickname from being the younger brother of Patrick, who is referred to as PatFish. So Josh is known by friends as JayGup, since a guppy is a small fish.”

Now we know.

Banchero outplayed Jabari, 17 points to 10, and he did look like the currently more polished player of the two, displaying a high level of passing, court vision, and a really soft touch. Paolo even hit an early step-back 3 with Jabari right on him, and he blocked a Jabari lay-up attempt as well. But we could see the potential and high upside of Jabari. It would be difficult not to. He found his shot a little bit in the second half.

And it was also just one game. (At Summer League.)

The speed of TyTy Washington jumped off the court. So did the size of Tari Eason. Listed at 6-foot-8 and 216 lbs, Eason looked and played bigger than that.

The Pistons-Blazers game got off to a high-flying start. Jaden Ivey lobbed an oop to Jalen Duren mere seconds into the game.

Ivey’s explosiveness was extensive. So was Duren’s size. Ivey had a play that wowed the crowd with a fake behind-the-back pass and then behind-the-back pass that had everyone exclaiming, “What was that!?” It was some Steve Nash shit, for real. It was super cool.

Not cool at all was Blazers rookie and 7th overall pick Shaedon Sharpe suffering a shoulder injury just five minutes in. He didn’t return which put a damper on things, especially for the Blazers who lacked the Pistons’ NBA experience. Isaiah Stewart (Beef Stew hit three 3s!), Killian Hayes, Isaiah Livers and Saben Lee were all playing for Detroit.

Cade Cunningham and Saddiq Bey were sitting courtside with head coach Dwane Casey. Cade was rocking some braids and a sick Detroit shirt.

Jalen Green was also in the house and looking fly as always. Contrary to the night they were drafted, it was Jalen who had the shades on.

Dame and Nurk were sitting courtside as well, but they were on the far other side from where we were sitting.

There was surprisingly enough Pistons fans in attendance that a couple of “Deeeetroit Basketballlll” chants broke out.

The funniest part of the entire first night was late in the Pistons-Blazers game when the last guy left from R.J. Hampton’s crew sitting in front of us pulled out his phone to record some game action for what seemed like the first time all night. It was one of the sloppiest possessions ever that ended with an air ball. One of the Rockets bros next to us yelled, “Did you just film that!?” as we all cackled in unison.

A classic ending to our first night at Summer League.

We love this game!