NBA Utah Summer League Preview

(photo credit: nba.com)

The Utah Jazz will be hosting the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and San Antonio Spurs in a three day summer league on July 4, 5 and 7. It will be an opportunity for the young talent from the four teams to get some playing time together and against other similarly experienced players. It will also be a warm-up before all four teams join twenty other teams from the league in Las Vegas from July 8-18.

Boston’s roster will feature the third overall draft selection from this year’s NBA Draft, Jaylen Brown from the University of California. His selection was a surprisingly high according to most analysts (and Celtics fans), as he was expected to be in the number six to nine range. Other draft picks on the Celtics’ summer league roster include Guerschon Yabusele (16th overall, France), Demetrius Jackson (45th, Notre Dame), Ben Bentil (51st, Providence) and Abdel Nader (58th, Iowa State).

The Philadelphia 76ers have not yet released their summer league roster, but it is safe to assume that their number 1 overall draft pick from Louisiana State University, Ben Simmons, will suit up for the team. The 6’10”, 240-pound freshman was the presumed top draft pick for a majority of the NCAA season, and Philadelphia made it so on draft night.

The 76ers’ other two first-round draft picks, Timothe Luwawu from Serbia (24th overall) and Furkan Korkmaz from Turkey (26th overall) will most likely make their first appearances as well. It will be interesting to see if previous draft picks Jahlil Okafor, Joel Embiid and Nerlens Noel will see playing time considering their lack of experience and playing time in the NBA to this point.

The San Antonio Spurs roster doesn’t yet include their only 2016 draft pick, Dejounte Murray from Washington, but does include a member of 2016 NCAA Champion Villanova: 6’3”, 190-pound guard Ryan Arcidiacono. The Spurs will also show off three players at or near seven feet tall: Tonye Jekiri from the University of Miami; Alex Kirk of the University of New Mexico and most recently playing professionally in Italy; and Erazem Lorbek of Slovenia who, at 32 years old, is the oldest player appearing in the Utah Summer League.

Lastly, the host Utah Jazz boast North Carolina guard Marcus Paige, Cal guard Tyrone Wallace, Weber State forward Joel Bolomboy, and Baylor forward Taurean Prince. They will also have the tallest player on display, 7’3” Tibor Pleiss. Other notable names include former Ohio State guard Aaron Craft, Dionte Christmas of Temple and the Turkish Basketball Super League, and second-year forward from Kentucky Trey Lyles.

The four teams will engage in a round robin series of games. On Mondady, July 4, the Celtics will face the 76ers at 5 p.m. local time, and the Spurs will take on the Jazz at 7 p.m. On Tuesday, July 5, the 76ers will play the Spurs at 3 p.m. and the Celtics will play the Jazz at 5 p.m.

The last day of play will be on Thursday, July 7, when the Celtics face the Spurs at 5 p.m. and the 76ers take on the Jazz at 7 p.m. Tickets to individual games, as well as three-day passes and a Fourth-of-July special are all available online at http://www.nba.com/jazz/summerleague/2016.