Don’t get it twisted, the NBA Summer League has its fair share of excitement for diehard hoops nerds. For example, take Oklahoma City’s Reggie Jackson getting all up close and personal with Orlando’s Moe Harkless. Or former Duke standout and current Net Mason Plumlee’s complete and under disrespect of Detroit’s Kentavious Caldwell-Pope.
We all love watching the megastars of the league show flashes of superhuman feats, but these are the type of settings that fill out rosters and potentially help teams advance in series. And trust and believe Kevin Durant is somewhere paying attention to these games – especially guys like Jackson and Jeremy Lamb – with OKC’s bench as foggy as it is right now. Getting back to the topic at hand for a moment, while the Jackson dunk was nasty as the bathroom on the Megabus I was on yesterday, hearing Plumlee yell “GET SOME!” was the icing on the cake. I’m not sure why exactly, but it probably has to do with the fact he resembled Ivan Drago running the break.
Two other tidbits of note thus far in the Orlando Summer League: Andre Drummond looked like a man amongst boys partially because he kind of was, but also because that guy is scary as hell whenever he taps into his seemingly limitless fountain of potential stored inside that frame of his. And rookies Victor Oladipo (Magic), Michael Carter-Williams (Sixers) and Kelly Olynyk (Celtics) have looked impressive.
Those looking to keep up with the Orlando Summer League can do so now as the event runs July 7-12 at the Amway Center. A week and a half later the Las Vegas Summer League will last July 12-22 at the Thomas & Mack Center and COX Pavilion.