LAS VEGAS, NV — Morez was on everyone’s mind who made the trek from the DFW area to the desert for the first weekend of NBA Summer League play.
It was our first chance to see Morez Johnson Jr., the Dallas Mavericks’ first-round draft pick, play against some NBA-level talent, while surrounded by some far-fringe NBA talent.
Some of us were convinced on draft night that the Mavericks had reached for Johnson at the No. 9 overall pick. Others, notably including my MMB colleague David Sanchez, who went on the Vegas
trip with us, were immediately sold on Johnson’s fit and worth at No. 9, especially in light of the fact that none of the top guards fell that far.
Should the Mavericks have stayed with the more popular logic of “best guard available” with Arizona’s Brayden Burries widely projected as Dallas’ pick and still on the board at No. 9? Or will Johnson, the exact prototype of a Masai Ujiri draft pick, prove out as the better selection? Time will tell, and the irrationality of fandom means it’s never too early to start drawing conclusions.
Six of us, including Mavs Moneyball’s fearless leader Kirk Henderson, participated in our own Basketball Dessert Storm this season. As I write on Sunday afternoon, Kirk and our resident gambling aficionado Tyler Edsel are all that is left of us on The Strip. Truly the sickest of sickos.
Here are some general thoughts on the weekend, with the disclaimer that although we had tickets to Day 3, when the Mavericks played their second game against theLos Angeles Lakers, most of us sat that day out. There was just too much to gamble on, with a pair of World Cup quarterfinals, what ended up being a mere popcorn fart of a fight night at UFC 329, where both the main event and co-main event ended in 1:09 or less, and the ponies. Oh, those most majestic of hooved professional athletes running at tracks all across this great land, delivered live to stream to any interested in placing an honest wager on not just who’s the fastest, but who can get going fast the fastest.
Most of us were posted up at the Westgate Sportsbook all day Saturday, while our resident Mavericks optimist, Michael Harris, flew solo as MMB correspondent at UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Arena that day. Fun fact — his daughter Fynnleagh got her NBA Summer League program signed by Kyrie Irving after Saturday’s 91-70 loss to the Lakers.
There were many such brushes with greatness throughout the weekend. We saw Alabama basketball coach Nate Oates at Eataly in the Park MGM. Kirk saw Arkansas coach John Calipari at the gym at the Aria. We brushed past former Maverick and current Los Angeles Clipper forward Derrick Jones Jr. on the way to the two-story Whataburger attached to the Waldorf Astoria, giving us one more opportunity to reminisce about the incredible smothered fadeaway he hit over Chet Holmgren in Game Six of the 2024 Western Conference semifinals against the Oklahoma City Thunder to put the Mavs ahead 115-110 with less than two minutes remaining.
There is no event or time of year when NBA sickos get to rub shoulders with basketball royalty like they do at Summer League. It really is something to behold. If you’re reading about basketball in the summer months, you qualify. You need to make it a point to get to Summer League in the next couple of years. Not even the food poisoning David and I both got from that trip to Whataburger on The Strip could turn the weekend sour. It was a great time.
Here are some general (mostly) basketball-related highlights and thoughts from the weekend:
- Saturday’s game against the Lakers was a big nothing burger. Johnson’s minutes declined slightly and his production did as well. We’ll get to his spectacular night in Thursday’s 91-80 loss to the Golden State Warriors separately below. This kind of erratic chaos is to be expected in Summer League play, and we’re not taking much of anything away about this.
- Sergio de Larrea is proving to be quite raw. Michael said he liked what he saw from de Larrea in Saturday’s game, but the numbers don’t give you much to be optimistic about. He did shoot the ball better on Saturday, going 2-of-4 from the field, but dished four assists and turned the ball over four times, after going 3-for-14 from the field while dishing five dimes on Thursday. This is a guy who needs to get a hell of a lot stronger with the basketball in his hands if he’s going to realize anything close to being the “steal of the first round”.
- Vsevolod “Seva” Ishchenko has achieved Mavs Moneyball Vibes Darling status after two games. On Thursday, he just had the look of a guy who might be able to survive the transition from ball in the Russian VTB United League. Here’s what our MMB correspondent back home, Bryan Porter, had to say about Ishchenko’s game after Thursday’s loss to the Warriors: “Seva is not yet physically ready for NBA games, but that kid attacks the basket with zero fear, has some craftiness and pace to his drives, and is unafraid to whip risky kick-outs to shooters. Seva’s game and physique both clearly need some fine-tuning, but the bones (and I do mean bones) of a truly intriguing Swiss Army knife role player are there for those with the eyes to see.”
- Johnson looked like the real deal for much of the team’s first Summer League game, even getting the better of his Michigan teammate Yaxel Lendeborg on several occasions along the way. He’s a beast. He did the things you wanted to see him do. He dominated the fringe talent in front of him. He made a living going to the basket and cleaning up the glass. He kept shooting 3-pointers until he made one, as if just to prove to everyone watching that he’s going to put in the work to become at least a league-average shooter after showing some development on that front in his second and final year in the college game. He finished with 27 points on a sizzling 12-of-17 shooting from the field, to go along with eight boards, in 32 minutes on the floor. We’ve seen all we need to see. The hype train’s engines are rumbling.
- Lendeborg on the other end of that game was nearly equally as impressive, though. It’s going to be interesting to see which one of those two former Michigan big men has the better NBA career. Lendeborg finished with 21 points, 10 rebounds and six assists on 8-0f-13 shooting, including 2-of-4 from 3-point range.
- On Friday, we got there in the third quarter of the New York Knicks vs. Brooklyn Nets game to snag good seats for the game between the Memphis Grizzlies and Chicago Bulls, which immediately followed. Mikel Brown Jr. had four points when we got there, but he erupted midway through the third to finish with 20, including three 3-pointers in the game’s final 16 minutes, each more difficult than the last. As good as Johnson was the night before, lamenting that Brown Jr. didn’t fall to the ninth overall pick, as some thought he might before the draft, was a definite talking point in the Uber ride back to The Strip.
- Friday’s main event was Caleb Wilson and the Summer Bulls vs. Cameron Boozer and the Summer Grizz. Both were incredible. Wilson made himself into an immediate Summer League Legend, going unconscious from 3-point range for 21 of his 35 points. He was fading away. He had hands in his face. He recorded five stocks, exactly as many as the much bigger Johnson had the night before for the Mavericks. He looked like a killer. Boozer, though he finished with 23 points and six boards, looked ready to compete for Rookie of the Year in a crowded field as well. He was strong and polished, shooting 7-of-12 from the field and 5-for-5 from the free throw line in the Grizzlies’ 97-96 win.
The value of a $72 day crammed full of basketball may have been offset by heavy losses at the games of chance, but we still netted a great time. The realization dawned on us as we were cashing betting slips at Westgate for England-Norway UNDER 2.5 goals scored, paired with Max Holloway to win the UFC Main Event, that the real wins, perhaps, were the friends we made along the way. NBA Summer League should be on the basketball bucket list of every NBA fan. Make plans for next year. You may even catch a glimpse of a Mavs MoneyBrunch in the wild at Hash House A-Go-Go.
