Live From Las Vegas, It's Summer League!

Posted by Melanie Curtsinger, Wednesday, July 11, 2 p.m. PT

Do you remember that moment when you had to stand up in front of a room full of NBA players, coaches and front office personnel while a magician tried to read your mind and announce to the whole room the name of your first kiss?

Oh, you mean that just happened to me, not anyone else?

In what is an absolutely true story that would only happen to the person in that very room who is probably the easiest to embarrass, we had a magician come to our team dinner Tuesday night to provide entertainment. And well, now you know the rest of the story - and so do about 1 million other people, because Aaron Gordon uploaded the video to his Instagram story shortly thereafter (thanks, AG!).

Tuesday was an off day for the team, and I decided the only logical thing to do was rent a car and get as far away as possible from Las Vegas where I didn’t have cell phone service. Thankfully, Zion National Park checked off both those boxes, so I woke up at 4:30 a.m. (on an off day) and drove myself 2 1/2 hours away to Springdale, Utah for seven hours of pretty intense hiking.

By the way, am I the only one who thinks this is fun?? The previous night, I was in a car with Mo Bamba headed back to the hotel because we had to stay after the bus to do media. After he got off the phone with rapper Sheck Wes (again, because that’s normal), I told him my plans for the off day. He proceeded to tell me that sounded awful. When I asked him what about going to Zion National Park to go hiking sounded horrible, his response was: “The part where you said you’re going to Zion National Park to go hiking.”

So apparently Mo isn’t much of a hiker.

Wednesday is a light day for the team – after 10 days in Vegas (is it 10? Honestly, I’ve lost count at this point), guys are pretty tired. We had a two-hour practice this morning to prepare for tomorrow night’s game against Utah (7 p.m. PT on NBA TV), and the guys have the rest of the day off and won’t take the court again until the game, as shootaround tomorrow will be replaced with a walk-through at the team hotel.

Here’s how the remaining schedule shakes out, because I’m getting a lot of questions about it. All teams are guaranteed five games, but after that, it is single elimination. Here are the two scenarios if we win or lose Thursday’s opening round game.

From there, it’s simple – if we end up playing Friday, no matter if you win or lose, you go home on Saturday since you’ve already lost one game. If we play on Saturday and win, we advance. If we lose, we head back to Orlando on the first possible flight that we can find out of Las Vegas (or at least that’s my plans, anyway).

I hope you’re enjoying the blog (thanks for all the great feedback), but I hope you’re enjoying watching our games even more. I of course hope we go all the way, but even if we don’t win the championship, at least now I have a new answer to the ever-popular – “What’s your most embarrassing moment in life?” question, right?

Posted by Melanie Curtsinger, Monday, July 9, 1 p.m. PT

Observations from Las Vegas

Being in Las Vegas for a full seven days now with a full seven (at the very least) to go is sort of like taking an group exercise class at my gym back in Orlando (shoutout to the RDV Sportsplex!). When you’re 30 minutes in, you sort of feel like you’re dying a slow death. But then you realize you’re only halfway through the class and you have to do all of that over again, except at the end there will be some sort of a finisher that will probably push you to the verge of literal death.

Welcome to Las Vegas.

OK, ok, I’m being dramatic (sort of), but for someone who has never set foot in Las Vegas before accompanying the Orlando Magic to Sin City, seven days is a lot! While there has been more downtime since training camp and two-a-days concluded (if you need me, I’ll likely be at the hotel pool or gym working off the gelato I had yesterday), NBA Summer League is still by no means a vacation, and the team is working hard and resting every minute they can. To give you some insight into a typical game day in Las Vegas, here are some more observations from Sin City!

Sunday, July 8

7:00 a.m. – Since I know I won’t have any other time to get a workout in, I head down to the hotel gym (which is basically like an NBA training room since eight teams are at our hotel) and squeeze in a two-mile run prior to shootaround. At any given moment you can find NBA head coaches next to you on the treadmill, or you can be lifting weights next to a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves. Because that’s normal.

8:30 a.m. – Head downstairs to catch the team bus for shootaround. I’m in an elevator with Isaiah Briscoe and he tells me he just got a text saying the bus is supposed to be leaving now at 8:30 and not 8:45 like we both thought. He says he hates being the last person on the bus and we basically sprint once we get off the elevator. Thankfully, we arrive at the team bus a little winded, but on time… as the bus was indeed leaving at 8:45, and we were one of the first ones there. Oh well, at least we got an extra workout in!

9:00 a.m. – We arrive at the gym. Every shootaround and practice this week starts with film. Then, the team walks through plays, then stretches, then they get into live activity.

9:30 a.m. – The Houston Rockets are taking the court after we finish shootaround, so they arrive and are waiting in the gym’s lobby for us to finish. Chris Paul saunters into our shootaround and starts to make the rounds. I look over and Troy Caupain looks a little surprised as he exclaims: “That’s Chris Paul!” A few minutes later, James Harden makes the same appearance. Because again, that’s normal.

10:00 a.m. – Shootaroud ends, and Jonathan Isaac (who is a rock star), Mo Bamba (who is a rock star) and Summer League Head Coach Pat Delany (you’re a rock star too, coach) all do post-practice media before we head to the team bus.

10:15 a.m.-5:15 p.m. – Free time. Players head up to their rooms (hello, game day nap), while I head to get another $20 acai bowl and then to the pool for a little R&R considering it’s 107 degrees outside (this is not a joke).

11:00 a.m. – I head to the pool and pass Byron Mullens en route. Mullens works out more than anyone I’ve ever met in my entire life, so naturally he’s leaving the gym even though we just finished shootaround and he’s playing a game that night. He takes one look at my acai bowl and says, “Are you having dessert at noon?” Simmer down, Byron, it’s an acai bowl. Dessert will come later.

3:30 p.m. – Just as promised, I walk next door to the Venetian in search of a gelato place I’ve been hearing about. Gelato is my love language, so even though it takes me approximately 37 minutes to find it in the maze that is the Venetian, I not only find it, but I treat myself to two scoops and also treat two friends who are with me because I’ve drug them along with me in search for this gelato shop for 37 minutes. Only seems fair.

5:15 p.m. – Bus leaves for the Thomas & Mack Center. My favorite part about the team bus is that when all the players get on, they fist bump everyone, every time, on their way back to their seats. It’s a true team feel being around these guys!

5:30 p.m. – We arrive at the arena. The game is on ESPN2, and I have Mo Bamba set up for a pregame interview with ESPN2. They grab him for a quick shot before he heads to the locker room. Meanwhile, Doris Burke and Mark Jones, who are calling the game that night on air, come over to chat. We set them up with an assistant coach to go over our roster to aid in their preparation for the game.

6:00 p.m. – In what is the smallest hallway that has ever existed, the Magic and Grizzlies players attempt to stretch and get ready for the game. The UNLV arenas are much smaller than NBA venues, and I immediately feel bad for these guys because they don’t have a proper place to stretch and get ready for the game.

6:30 p.m. – Tip-off! Have I mentioned that this team truly feels like a unit? It’s a true treat being around 16 guys that truly support and encourage one another. It doesn’t take long for the Magic to jump out ahead of the Grizzlies, which is a major kudos to our team seeing as how Memphis also participated in the Utah summer league and they have much more game experience than we do. Final score: Magic 86, Memphis 56. 2-0 baby!

8:30 p.m. – Postgame at NBA Summer League is sort of like that scene in “The Lion King” where there is a stampede of hyenas and wildebeests heading towards Mufasa, except no one is injured. There are approximately 100 reporters waiting backstage in the media staging area, and it’s a mad dash to grab someone. As mentioned, Mo Bamba and Jonathan Isaac have been rock stars all week, and they each do about 15-20 minutes postgame before heading to the team bus. Simultaneously, Justin Jackson has been requested for the NBA autograph staging area on the concourse, so an NBA rep grabs him and ushers him to another pack of hyenas.

9:15 p.m. – The bus heads back to the Wynn, but I opt for an Uber since I have a friend with me. I get a driver named Paul who is a self-proclaimed “bearded cowboy.” He proceeds to tells me how his cowboy hat was custom-made for him in Mexico last year when he was on a cruise, while we listen to John Michael Montgomery and discuss how we both like country music but how it also depresses us. Thankfully, the Uber ride is less than 10 minutes.

9:30 p.m. – Back at the hotel and realize all I had for dinner was two scoops of stracciatela gelato six hours ago. But I’m too tired for real dinner and don’t want to pay $38 again for grilled chicken and sweet potato fries like I did Saturday night, so I opt for the CVS across the street for a Quest bar and Vitamin Water. That NBA life is glamorous, y’all!

Thus concludes my first week at NBA Summer League. Stay tuned for more throughout the week in Las Vegas, and catch us Monday night at 9:30 p.m. ET for our third game against the Phoenix Suns on NBA TV!

Posted by Melanie Curtsinger, Thursday, July 5, 7 p.m. PT

Orlando has a long history of drafting big men with even bigger personalities; those whose smiles could light up a room and whose persona off the court matched their stature on the court by the time their tenures were finished in the City Beautiful.

The 6-10 (but let’s be honest, with that hair, more like 7-1) Jonathan Isaac has all those qualities. But before we compare his size 16 shoes to those who came before him in Orlando, let’s take a look at what makes this big man different.

We’ll start off one year ago in New York City, where I first met Isaac at the 2017 NBA Draft. The big man was a little surprised when NBA Commissioner Adam Silver announced his name and he walked up to the stage to put on that Magic hat (a hat that I carried around the rest of the night because it wouldn’t really fit on his head) since he hadn’t even worked out with us prior to the draft. But after speaking with Magic President of Basketball Operations Jeff Weltman on the phone shortly after the selection and declaring to me that this was “meant to be” after I told him that his coveted No. 1 jersey was available on our team, the shock that Isaac felt quickly turned to excitement by the end of the evening. Make no mistake about it, Magic fans – Jonathan Isaac wouldn’t change a thing about where he was drafted or to whom he was drafted that night.

The twists and turns didn’t end there. Isaac’s rookie season saw the forward plagued with injuries, forcing him on the sidelines for 55 of the NBA’s rigorous 82-game schedule. But despite the ups and downs of those first 365 days as a professional athlete, he kept his signature smile the entire time. It’s also possibly the reason that he ended his rookie campaign being even more kind, generous and humble than he was when it started (if that’s even possible). The hardest part for me during the past year wasn’t that he missed so many games, it was that our fans didn’t get an opportunity to know him like I do.

You’ve heard the term gentle giant tossed around, but the forward certainly personifies that – it’s hard to have a conversation with him without the both of you smiling and laughing, and it’s even harder to watch him on the court without doing the same. And if you do talk to him for any length of time, you will probably quickly learn how much he loves red velvet cake (he has joked about owning his own store one day) and breakfast (specifically French toast), which is the king of irony seeing as how his rail-thin frame suggests the opposite.

Isaac’s character shines through even more when you find out that he actually hates attention and prefers to use the name Judah when he signs an autograph, which is actually his middle name and one that carries a bigger meaning – Judah was the fourth son of Jacob in the Bible, and he is the fourth son of his father. He’s the kind of guy who puts others before himself, as witnessed when he sent me this text on draft night a couple weeks ago shortly after we drafted Mo Bamba: “Let me tell you!! You might just like Bamba more than me! That’s the kind of kid he is.”

And that, Magic fans, is the kind of kid Jonathan Isaac is.

Posted by Melanie Curtsinger, Tuesday, July 3, 6 p.m. PT

I have been in Las Vegas for all of 36 hours now, and I’ve had several friends text me and ask: “How is Vegas?!?!”

My response has amounted to something in the realm of, “well, it’s hot and crowded and very expensive.” But after talking with Jonathan Isaac this morning before our first team practice, I think he described it much better.

“It’s like someone has a hair dryer pointing at you at all times!”

So, before anyone else asks me…. That’s how Vegas is.

The Orlando Magic invaded Las Vegas Monday, and training camp kicked off Tuesday. What exactly does that look like in summer league? The team is conducting two-a-day practices Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before taking the court for the first time at 2 p.m. PT (5 p.m. ET) Friday against Brooklyn. That’s 12 hours of court time for all you math majors out there.

Today’s schedule allowed for enough time in between practices to walk across the street for a $20 acai bowl at the Palazzo (remember when I said it was expensive?) and a workout before boarding the bus again for the evening practice. We will arrive back at the team hotel after practice at approximately 7:30, which allows for enough time for dinner before going to bed. Because, you know, taping and treatments for practice begin again at 7:30 a.m. tomorrow.

I would say the most frequent sentiment I get from friends when I travel with the team is that it must be so glamorous. Yes, we are fortunate enough to stay at a nice hotel, but make no mistake about it – these are business trips. We will likely have one day off during our entire stay in Las Vegas (Zion National Park, here I come!), and when you travel with the team during the season, you are likely arriving late at night or early in the morning and you may have enough time if you’re lucky to walk somewhere for lunch in between shootaround and the first bus to the game.

So with one day of training camp under our belt, my observations are this: New Head Coach Steve Clifford is no-nonsense, yet personable. He demands that players listen when he talks, and often has pop quizzes to make sure the players are listening. He’s an excellent teacher and constantly points out plays that separate good teams from great teams. He expects a lot from his players yet is quick to point out why he demands so much – because these guys are professionals. He elicits laughter and already has their respect – and let me tell you, I think the guys are going to have to get used to hearing the word “sprint” this season!

Stay tuned for more this week from Las Vegas, where all 30 teams will converge on Las Vegas for a week and a half of basketball – and, of course, feeling like they have a hair dryer pointing at them at all times!