"We thought of the Summit as a Plan B, a contingency tournament in case the NBA (National Basketball Association) lockout pushed through,"confessed Vegas Summer League director of business development Albert Hall. "We invited foreign teams to come over and free agents hoping to make it to the NBA. As it turned out, the lockout didn’t happen so we went on with our NBA summer league and put up the Summit, too."
Hall couldn’t be happier. The nine-day Vegas Summer League drew 16 NBA teams, 10 more than the inaugural tournament last year. And the day after the Summer League ended, the Summit began.
"Las Vegas is a great place to host an event like this," said Hall who’s based in Los Angeles. "It’s the entertainment capital of the world. That’s why the NBA is thinking of holding the All-Star Weekend in Vegas in 2007 even if the city has no NBA franchise. But I think there’s a Vegas franchise in the works. The problem is the NBA frowns on gambling."
Hall said the big turnout for the Vegas Summer League has ruffled the feathers of organizers of similar NBA camps in Long Beach and Salt Lake City.
"Other NBA summer leagues have been around for years and they’ve never gotten as many teams as we did this year," said Hall. "So I think they’re not happy with the competition. But that’s basketball."
Hall said the invitation to the Philippines was coursed through Bruce O’Neil of the US Basketball Academy in Eugene, Oregon. O’Neil keeps in close contact with Philippine coaches, particularly Chot Reyes.
"We’re glad the Philippines accepted and we’ve tried to accommodate their request for them to play as many foreign teams as possible," continued Hall. "Too bad South Korea and Qatar backed out at the last minute. I think they had US visa problems. But we made sure the Philippines’ schedule included a game against China and the Nigerian national team. We also scheduled games against the Long Beach Jam which has two Japanese players and Passing Lane Sports which is 7-8 Chinese center Sun Ming Ming’s team."
When Reyes found out about the Summit, we grabbed the opportunity to send the national team.
"Some people told me the competition is way over our heads," said Reyes. "But how else are we going to learn and improve if not by playing against tough opposition? If we can hold our own against bigger, stronger and taller Americans, we’ll be able to hold our own against anyone, including the powers in Asia."
Reyes said the objective in playing here isn’t to win. In the first place, there’s no championship at stake. Teams are playing for experience and exposure. Reyes said it’s part of the evaluation process in building the national pool.
"The national program is now in place," said Reyes. "We want to make sure the Philippines will never again be embarrassed in international tournaments, that we will have players ready to play for the country in whatever competition we play. Our goal is to qualify for the 2008 Beijing Olympics and San Miguel Corp. is behind us all the way in this mission."
At the Vegas Summer League for NBA teams, several former PBA imports were spotted, among them Ira Clark and Dalron Johnson of the Portland Trail Blazers and Randy Holcomb and Hiram Fuller of the Washington Wizards.
NBA veterans like recent Manila visitor Dwight Howard, J. R. Smith, Al Jefferson, Tony Allen, Felipe Lopez, Tyus Edney, Darko Milicic, Jelani McCoy, Eddie Robinson, Jameer Nelson, Leandro Barbosa and Sebastian Telfair saw action. George Gervin’s six-foot son Gee, Jr. of the Dallas Mavericks, Chauncey Billups‚ younger brother Rodney of the Detroit Pistons and Chinese-Taipei star Tien (Garrett) Lei of the Sacramento Kings were surprise players trying out for NBA clubs.
In the stands watching the Summer League games were Pistons stars Chauncey Billups and Rasheed Wallace, Portland guard Damon Stoudamire, former Talk N’ Text coaches Bill Bayno and Paul Woolpert, former Phone Pals consultants Maz Trakh and Bob Thornton, newly-hired Portland coach Nate McMillen, Detroit assistant coach Phil Ford, New Orleans coach Byron Scott and Los Angeles Clippers coach Mike Dunleavy.