Summer League in Las Vegas starts tomorrow for the Minnesota Timberwolves. They’ve gone through a week of practices and filled Target Center for a scrimmage in the middle of July – something that just doesn’t happen.
People are excited for the Wolves this year, and while the Wolves aren’t starting up the regular season yet, they’ll still be playing in some games (at least five) throughout the next 10 days.
Here’s your primer for all things Summer League related.
Schedule
The Wolves open on Friday night, playing D’Angelo Russell and the Los Angeles Lakers at 7:30 CST.
They play less than 24 hours later on Saturday against Bobby Portis, Doug McDermott and the Chicago Bulls at 5:30 p.m. CST.
The team is scheduled to practice on Sunday before playing its final preliminary round against Trey Lyles (played at Kentucky with Karl-Anthony Towns) and the Utah Jazz at 9:30 p.m. CST on Friday.
All three preliminary games will be played at the Thomas & Mack Center and will air on NBATV.
After that, the Summer League Tournament starts and things get a little hazy. This looks more difficult to figure out than a bean bag tournament at your family’s cabin (after everyone's had four Busch Lights).
What we know for sure, though, is that the Wolves have Tuesday off.
Here's what the tournament looks like:
Wednesday, July 15 Cox Pavilion 4 p.m.: #24 Seed vs. #9 Seed (Game 37) 6 p.m.: #22 Seed vs. #11 Seed (Game 39) 8 p.m.: #20 Seed vs. #13 Seed (Game 41) 10 p.m.: #18 Seed vs. #15 Seed (Game 43)
Thomas & Mack 4:30 p.m.: #23 Seed vs. #10 Seed (Game 38) 6:30 p.m.: #21 Seed vs. #12 Seed (Game 40) 8:30 p.m.: #19 Seed vs. #14 Seed (Game 42) 9:30 p.m.: #17 Seed vs. #16 Seed (Game 44)
Thursday, July 16 Cox Pavilion 4 p.m.: Winner of Game 37 vs. #8 Seed (Game 45) 6 p.m.: Winner of Game 39 vs. #6 Seed (Game 47) 8 p.m.: Winner of Game 41 vs. #4 Seed (Game 49) 10 p.m.: Winner of Game 43 vs. #2 Seed (Game 51) Thomas & Mack 4:30 p.m.: Winner of Game 38 vs. #7 Seed (Game 46) 6:30 p.m.: Winner of Game 40 vs. #5 Seed (Game 48) 8:30 p.m.: Winner of Game 42 vs. #3 Seed (Game 50) 10:30 p.m.: Winner of Game 44 vs. #1 Seed (Game 52)
Friday, July 17 Cox Pavilion 4 p.m.: Game 37 Loser vs. Game 38 Loser (Game 53) 6 p.m.: Game 41 Loser vs. Game 42 Loser (Game 55) 8 p.m.: Game 45 Loser vs. Game 46 Loser (Game 57) 10 p.m.: Game 49 Loser vs. Game 50 Loser (Game 59)
Thomas & Mack 4:30 p.m.: Game 39 Loser vs. Game 40 Loser (Game 54) 6:30 p.m.: Game 43 Loser vs. Game 44 Loser (Game 56) 8:30 p.m.: Game 47 Loser vs. Game 48 Loser (Game 58) 10:30 p.m.: Game 51 Loser vs. Game 52 Loser (Game 60)
Saturday, July 18 Thomas & Mack 4 p.m.: Game 46 Winner vs. Game 51 Winner (Game 61) 6 p.m.: Game 47 Winner vs. Game 50 Winner (Game 62) 8 p.m.: Game 45 Winner vs. Game 52 Winner (Game 63) 10 p.m.: Game 48 Winner vs. Game 49 Winner (Game 64)
Sunday, July 19 Thomas & Mack 6 p.m.: Game 61 Winner vs. Game 62 Winner (Game 65) 8 p.m.: Game 63 Winner vs. Game 64 Winner (Game 66)
Monday, July 20 Thomas & Mack 9 p.m.: Game 65 Winner vs. Game 66 Winner (Game 67)
Player You Should Probably Get To Know From The Wolves
When you think of Ohio State basketball, you probably think of Greg Oden, Mike Conley, Evan Turner and D’Angelo Russell.
That’s cool.
But you should remember the name Sam Thompson. He’s a 6’7” forward from Ohio State who is generously listed at 200 pounds. He averaged 10.2 points at Ohio State, but shot just 26.2 from the three-point line. So yeah, he’s not really a great shooter.
And he only averaged 3.9 rebounds and 1.8 assists.
So, why is it worth remembering Thompson’s name?
Ummm. Are you kidding me? That dunk at 1:16. Are we sure Sam Thompson isn’t Clark Kent?
Thompson and LaVine on the same team? Lol. This is going to be fun.
Are The Wolves The Favorites?
Probably. Towns. LaVine. Payne. Jones. Brown. Brady Heslip. Othyus Jeffers. That’s a pretty stacked Summer League squad.
But just to really see if they are they favorites, let’s look at some of the other teams competing in the Sin City.
Hawks: Mike Muscala is really the only notable player on this roster. Maybe Brandon Ashley. But yeah. Not going to happen.
Celtics: Close to the Wolves in talent with first-round picks Terry Rozier and R.J. Hunter. They’ve also got Marcus Smart, Marcus Thornton, James Young and Jordan Mickey. That’s a pretty loaded squad. Okay. Celtics and Wolves so far.
Fun fact: Boston has former Golden Gophers Ralph Sampson III and Colton Iverson on the roster.
Nets: Markel Brown. Rondae Hollis-Jefferson. Clliff Alexander. Ryan Boatright. Eh.
Bulls: We’ll have a better idea after the Wolves play them on Saturday, but they shouldn’t have a problem with the Bulls. Doug McDermott and Bobby Portis might be the only two players to crack Chicago’s roster.
Cavaliers: No. But they just made it to the NBA Finals, so we’ll give them a pass on not stacking their Summer League team.
Mavericks: I don’t even want to say anything mean here after what they went through. Who knew emojis could be so mean? For what it’s worth, I really like Justin Anderson’s game. I mean, he’s not a center who can block shots and lead the league in rebounding, but… Okay. I’ll stop.
Nuggets: If this team had Jusuf Nurkic on it, I would be inclined to call the Nuggets a threat, but he’s out with a knee injury. Two nice pieces with Emmanuel Mudiay and Gary Harris, but probably not enough.
Warriors: They just won the championship. Let’s not get greedy here, Kerr. They got a steal with Kevon Looney, though.
Rockets: This could be a sneaky-good team. Glen Rice, Christian Wood and Montrezl Harrell might not make the roster, but both Wood and Harrell were considered to be first-round picks not too long ago. Nick Johnson returns, as does Clint Capela. And then there’s the lawn-mowing kid from Wisconsin. You could talk me into the Rockets being pretty good in this tournament.
Lakers: We’ll know if they are for real in less than 24 hours. But let’s pretend we have a time machine. This team is for real. This type of play is perfect for D’Angelo Russell and Jordan Clarkson. Julius Randle is ready to prove why he was a first-round pick, while Larry Nance Jr. is fighting for a roster spot. Keep an eye on Robert Upshaw as well. They struck out in free agency, but the Summer League doesn’t care about that.
Heat: Miami has like 47 people on its Summer League roster. The Heat are playing in Orlando right now, so I’m not exactly sure who is going to play in Vegas. If they play Justise Winslow, Hassann Whiteside, Shabazz Napier and Zoran Dragic, things could be pretty interesting.
Bucks: The first thing I thought of with the Bucks was the return of Jabari Parker. But unfortunately, he’s not on the roster likely due to his ACL injury. Milwaukee has Minnesota native Rashad Vaughn to go with Johnny O’Bryant and Damien Inglis, but it’s nothing to get too excited about.
D-League Select: The rise and fall of Hasheem Thabeet. Man, oh, man. But hey, if he kills it at Summer League, there’s a fit in Dallas, right? Right?
Pelicans: Alvin Gentry doesn’t have a lot to work with here. Unless Seth Curry bring Steph and Dell, New Orleans doesn’t have much of a chance.
Knicks: The Knicks might not make the playoffs. They didn’t get LaMarcus Aldridge. But they do have a League Pass Summer League roster. There’s Thanasis Antetokounmpo, and Kristaps Porzingis. I'll give you $500 if you can repeat that last sentence 40 times to me in a row. There’s a good chance Phil Jackson’s head explodes while watching this. The team does have some good talent with Langston Galloway, Cleanthony Early, Jerian Grant and Ricky Ledo. Certainly a team to keep an eye on.
76ers: It’s shame that the Sixers don’t have a Summer League All-Star Team, but here we are. They don’t. It will be fun to watch Jahlil Okafor, though.
Suns: I really like this team. The big four here is Devin Booker, Archie Goodwin, Alex Len and T.J. Warren. Is that better than LaVine, Towns, Payne, Jones and Brown? I’m not buying it.
Blazers: It was sad to see what happened to the Blazers this offseason, losing LaMarcus Aldridge, Nic Batum and Wes Mathews. It looks like the team is going rebuild. And the Summer League roster is pretty fun with Noah Vonleh, Allen Crabbe and Pat Connaughton, who oddly enough is better at baseball than basketball, but he’s still a really good basketball player. Rough life. This team will probably win a game or two in the Summer League tournament not sure if it has enough juice to win it all.
Kings: This team pretty much starts and ends with Willie Cauley-Stein. Not much else.
Spurs: The Spurs are the best franchise in the NBA over the last 20 years, so they probably don’t care too much about Summer League. Kyle Anderson is an interesting guy to watch. Biggest thing is that Becky Hammon is coaching the team. Hopefully this won’t be a big thing in the future, but good for the Spurs and best of luck to Hammon is her first Summer League head coaching experience.
Raptors: Players to watch: Delon Wright, Lucas Nogueira and Brunco Caboclo All three haven’t contributed to an NBA team, so we will eliminate the Raptors.
Jazz: Jazz fans probably have to be thinking playoffs this season after what they’ve seen this offseason with Dallas and Portland. They might even be thinking Summer League championship. Headlined by Dante Exum, Rodney Hood, JaJuan Johnson and Trey Lyles, this team is pretty solid. Andrew Wiggins’ brother, Nick, is also currently on Utah’s roster.
Wizards: The only player that will probably make Washington’s roster is Kelly Oubre Jr., the team’s first-round pick this season. That doesn’t bode well for making history in Las Vegas.
So, after going through all the teams… I present to you my 2015 Summer League Power Rankings.
1.) Wolves (I’m a company man)
2.) Jazz (A lot of depth)
3.) Heat (If Whiteside plays)
4.) Lakers (Randle is going to dominate, I think)
5.) Knicks (This is more of a wish. I want Porzingis to well. I felt bad for him on draft night.)
What About Coverage?
It’s funny you ask that… I’ll be in Las Vegas for as long as the Wolves are. We’ll also have our Timberwolves Entertainment Network crew out there, pushing out fantastic content day in and day out.
All games will be aired on NBA TV, so that’s another option.
Momentum is riding high for the Wolves. Summer League head coach Ryan Saunders said the goal for the team is to win it all. Zach LaVine called the Wolves the favorites.
It should be a fun time in Vegas.