Las Vegas is the perfect setting for summer league basketball. Nowhere else do people show up with such unbridled optimism, yet only a few get to go home with those same smiles on their faces.
Everyone at UNLV is betting on themselves in some way over the next week or so, but cashing in on that bet is going to be tough. That’s especially true for those players who are on the fringes of the roster who know they’re fighting for minutes ... either on this team or on another.
“I don’t want to say it’s hard,” Carsen Edwards said after the team’s practice today. “Just playing the right way, I think it’ll all fall together for everyone. I think at the end of it all you want to play well individually but then also see your team do well. Playing well together, it kind of makes everything good.”
But it’s not just the guys fighting to move up from the end of the bench who are in this position. Even projected rotation guys like Payton Pritchard, Romeo Langford and Aaron Nesmith are coming in not only with team homework to finish, but their own.
The business of the NBA doesn’t simply mean tense negotiations, free agency, and trades. It’s part of the landscape from day 1, and young players on the roster always have two goals in mind: how to win, and how to get paid. The former influences the latter, but there are agents, friends, and family in players’ ears often reminding them of what they have to do to get an even bigger contract the next time around.
So when Pritchard, for example, hits the court and takes logo 3-pointers, the question is whether those are his goals, or the teams?
“Oh, they’re aligned. So that’s been a good thing,” summer league head coach Joe Mazzulla said. “I think we’re on the same page, as far as what he wants to get better at, on and off the court. We had 1-on-1 meetings with these guys before summer league started to make sure we had that alignment. We’re both on the same page as to what he wants to work on.”
Now throw into the mix how these guys will earn minutes and you have a hodgepodge of goals, some of which compete.
Brad Stevens has made it clear: Boston is looking for guys who complement Jayson Tatum and Jaylen Brown. That means wannabe volume shooters have to learn how to function in situational catch-and-shoot opportunities. Spot-up guys have to learn how to cut. Scorers have to learn how to share.
“I thought yesterday guys did a great job passing the ball ahead, moving the basketball,” Mazzulla said. “We had 24 points in transition and we pitched it ahead 17 times. So if we can get guys around them who can play it fast, play with pace and a little bit of a sense of urgency to create shots and easier shots, that can help and it’s been an emphasis in summer league.”
OTHER SUMMER NOTES
- Summer league isn't about wins and losses, but when a team gets a chance to close out a win, working together to get that done can be a powerful teacher and reinforcer of good habits.
Romeo Langford's game winning 3-pointer can be an important moment for a player whose biggest weakness is his shooting.
"He’s done a good job up to this point in his career handling things that haven’t gone his way," Mazzulla said. "He knows what he can control and what he can’t. An emphasis going into this off-season was consistency - being healthy, getting in the weight room every day and getting on the floor every day. I was happy for him. Anytime you see a guy put in the work and he makes a shot like that, it’s important for his mindset and it’s important for his growth. We’re all looking for affirmations in some capacity, and hopefully last night that was good for his confidence."
And while the end result of the game doesn't matter when evaluating the team and players, it's great for the players to see their hard work pay off with a W, especially when it comes the way it did against Atlanta.
"It was cool to see Romeo take that shot and make that shot," Edwards said. "That’s my guy. We’re really close, so just knowing all the work he puts in on his jumper and being able to see him pull that shot in transition with confidence and to go in was dope. I’m happy to see him do that."
- Jaylen Brown is in Las Vegas, showing his support for the team during summer league.
Supporting the young guys ☘️ pic.twitter.com/jKfb8DyOBq
— Boston Celtics (@celtics) August 8, 2021
“I think it’s cool,” Edwards said. “Just being cool with Jaylen and talking to Jaylen and stuff and just kind of giving me his thoughts and stuff, especially when they can be doing something else, somewhere else, anywhere else they want to be right now. But instead he came to support us. I think that’s pretty cool.”
He also showed up at practice to get some shots up and test out his surgically repaired left wrist.
Jaylen Brown is out here shooting around. Nothing on his wrist. But at the moment, at least, he’s not doing anything strenuous. I have no idea what he was doing before practiced opened. https://t.co/WToA4hm703
— Jay King (@ByJayKing) August 9, 2021
All indications are that things are progressing well with the wrist, which is great news.
- Jayson Tatum is also in Las Vegas, and he apparently showed up to flaunt his Olympic gold medal in the team locker room. Edwards, somehow, missed out on the fun.
“I must have not been there,” Edwards said. “I mean, it’s a great accomplishment and obviously Jayson is one of the best players, so him being able to do that and win gold is amazing, but if he was in the locker room, I must have missed it.”
He’ll get his chance soon enough. Tatum is pretty proud of that medal. He’ll have it on him most of the summer.
- Grant Williams is a new Vice President in the NBA Players Association.
"That’s honestly no surprise to me," Edwards said. "My rookie year for All-Star break we went to the Bahamas and they had an NBPA meeting there, and Grant, at that time was trying to get elected. He didn’t, but at the time, just him, the way he spoke about the league and things he wants to do and changes he wants to make, I felt like his time was coming. So it’s no surprise, and I think he’s such a caring dude and he knows what he’s talking about. He knows a little bit about everything, I swear. So at the end of the day, I think this is a good place for him, so I’m happy for him."