That's Vegas, Baby: Making the Summer League Pilgrimage | Part One
After years of watching from afar, Stephen Gillaspie made his first trip to Summer League and discovered that basketball is only a part of what makes the annual gathering so special.
Some Sort of FOMO
Have you ever had moments where you’re so focused on getting to “the next thing”?
Did you have times when you were working so hard to accomplish what you wanted—or needed—to do that you lost sight of the journey that got you there?
Me too.
Growing up in small-town Arkansas, I dealt with this a lot. On top of the shared experiences of school and work, I also dealt with the challenge of helping my dad manage a ranch—something I honestly grew to really dislike. I woke up early before school and had to feed and water anywhere from 60 to 100 dogs—as well as 10 to 15 horses—at a time. Then I would go to school, come home, and take care of those animals again.
Lather. Rinse. Repeat.
Like most children, I had no idea that a work ethic was being instilled in me as I went through it; I only thought about how much fun my friends and peers were having and how few responsibilities they seemed to have. The day after I turned 16, my dad drove me to the closest fast-food restaurant, where I would apply for a job. If you’re wondering if that meant that I didn’t have to help out on the ranch anymore…I think you know the answer.
While I had plenty of moments where I genuinely despised having to do so much at a young age, it made me who I am today. I’ve carried my drive and determination into the military. I’ve also carried it with me into scouting and basketball media.
The only “downside” of this nose-to-the-grind mentality is that it can cause me to develop tunnel vision. If left to my own devices, I can completely lose the forest for the trees in life; it’s something I’ve really had to work on. But the older I get, the more mistakes I make that I choose to learn from.
And that’s one of the reasons I wanted to document my pilgrimage to Fabulous Las Vegas. Putting these memories to paper is a forcing function that reminds me to appreciate the journey rather than immediately moving on to the next milestone. I also wanted to share the experience with the No Ceilings family and, hopefully, encourage others to make the trip someday.
Every pilgrimage has milestones. Mine happened to include delayed flights, my first Uber ride, Thomas & Mack, a blackjack table, and conversations I’ll remember far longer than any box score.
Traffic, Flying, and Ubers
Given my military background, I’m sure you’ve assumed that I’m punctual. Being late to things gives me a genuine uneasiness—it’s something I’ve worked on over the years.
My family of six woke up at 5:30 AM ET to pile into our van and take me to the Jacksonville airport. To reach the JAX airport from where we live, you’ll typically spend time on I-95 South. Normally, you can make it in under 30 minutes, but, fun story, traffic was at a standstill after spending less than five minutes on the interstate. While my flight was in limbo, my sweet kiddos kept asking fair-but-pokey questions:
“Dad, are we going to make your flight?”
“What’s taking so long?”
“Dad, what happens if you don’t get to the airport on time?”
Fun times.
My amazing wife opted to drive since she would have to drop me off on top of it all. First-world problem for sure, but I was—straight-up—not having a good time.
As you have probably assumed, I did make it to the airport on time, and I did so without letting my time-related anxiety get the better of me! Small victories are still victories!
I had five hours to myself on my flight to Harry Reid International Airport—which was delayed due to a staffing issue and another plane’s schedule. I spent my time doing things like listening to Pop-Goes-Punk covers of songs, listening to podcasts, and playing Cribbage on my phone. As we were in the air, I also wanted to take a look at the scenery from my window seat. See, I’ve never seen any sort of desert environment before. I also saw black mountains for the first time.
Side note: this account is going to finish a lot of “firsts” for me—some pretty silly, as we’ll get to later.
Once I touched down at the airport, I hopped on the tram to another terminal to pick up my luggage. From there, I had a “first”!
My first Uber!
Yeah, living in southeast Georgia, there isn’t much of a need to take Ubers. Since I did not want to deal with the hassle of renting a vehicle, though, I knew I would use one of these services to get around. I downloaded the app, asked for a driver, and one arrived in under five minutes! I was blown away by how fast I was able to hitch a ride.
My driver, Aman, was very nice. In my ignorance, I asked if I could sit in the front with him (I later learned from the more experienced No Ceilings crew members that this behavior wasn’t normal). I even mentioned to Aman that he was my first Uber driver, and that it was my first time in Vegas.
We went through the normal, small-talky questions I imagine most others experience:
“What brings you here?”
“Where are you from?”
“What do you do for a living?”
I always love being asked this question because I can answer it in several ways. I could have opted to go the “media” route with Aman, but, for whatever reason, I shared my military background. From there, I was pelted with questions about our President and other fun, geopolitics-based questions. After all, who doesn’t enjoy sharing foundational beliefs with complete strangers, am I right?
I did what I normally do in that situation: played dumb and placed the question-answering back on him. Seriously, aside from those questions, Aman was everything I could have asked for in my first Uber driver.
Aman dropped me off at The Luxor—the hotel our No Ceilings crew had and would be shacked up in for the duration of our stay. Most of the team was already at the Thomas & Mack Center, but I was able to catch up with some of the guys! Jam Hines—whom I hung out with at Portsmouth roughly four months ago—and Nick Agar-Johnson were still at the hotel. We hopped in my second-ever Uber and made our way to the gym!
Thomas & Mack, Ryan Kalkbrenner, and New, Familiar Faces
I cannot adequately explain just how exciting and fulfilling it was to lay eyes on the gym I had heard so much about over the years. Decorated in warm oranges, yellows, and reds, this place felt like home.
I made it.
For years, Thomas & Mack had existed only through livestreams, podcasts, YouTube recaps, and social media clips. I’d watched prospects play on this court from thousands of miles away and listened to countless conversations that happened inside this building. Walking through those doors felt strangely familiar—as if I already knew the place despite never having set foot inside.
The pilgrimage had finally become real.
Walking up the stairs, my mind raced with the possibilities of who I would meet, on top of the excitement of finally meeting most of the No Ceilings family in person. I mentioned that I had spent time with Jam at Portsmouth a few months earlier and had met Corey years ago during the Thompson Twins in their Overtime Elite days, but aside from those interactions, this would be the first time I was meeting most of the people I’d worked alongside for years.
As Nick, Jam, and I took our seats, we watched the Charlotte Hornets play the New Orleans Pelicans. I was excited to see players like Christian Anderson Jr., Hannes Steinbach, Sion James, Liam McNeeley, and Ryan Kalkbrenner. The Pels had people play, but none of their young headline players were on the court.
Of course, I couldn’t completely turn off the evaluator in me. Even in Summer League, scouting never really stops. Watching Charlotte deploy Christian Anderson more as a floor spacer than a primary creator reaffirmed some of the questions I’d had throughout the draft process. Hannes Steinbach flashed on the glass but also struggled defending in space and passing the ball—areas I’d been curious about entering the league. It was only one game, and far too early to draw sweeping conclusions, but it reminded me how quickly old scouting notes resurface once the ball is tipped.
As the game progressed, we were met by Draft Deeper himself: Nathan Grubel. As Nathan made his way down our handshake line, he came up to me and said:
“There you are, you big m*****f*****!”
That drew a big laugh and a big hug.
We kept watching the game, and I could not help but notice how impactful Ryan Kalkbrenner was. I mean, of course I knew he was good—I named an off-season award after him this past Summer. But seeing him move in the open court was something else. For some unknown reason, New Orleans kept attacking him in the paint—to which Kalk sent many shots in reverse.
As the game went on, I felt a tap on my left shoulder. Our social media guru, Paige Otto, swung by! After a big hug, we talked for quite a while. One thing I learned about Paige during my time with her is that she has a genuine curiosity about people, so it was very cool to chop it up with her.
As the game went on, the more No Ceilings people I met. Metcalf rolled over to the crew a little bit later. Corey and Albert caught up with us shortly thereafter, and then Rucker swung by shortly after them. Lots of hugs, lots of “it’s awesome to finally get to hang with you”s ensued, but we also kept an eye on the games, of course.
Of all I’ve heard about Summer League, the biggest thing that keeps people coming back is meeting more people in the basketball community. On top of getting to fellowship with my No Ceilings family, I was able to meet folks I’ve worked with over the years.
I can tell you that Bryce Simon of Game Theory is tall and every bit as nice as you think he would be. I also got to meet Gilbert “Gil” and Erik Ruby of the PHNX family! Also, both of those dudes were just as nice in person as they have been whenever they have asked me to talk NBA Draft with them. And the meeting of these guys was just on the first day! If there is anything I can say about the communal feel of Summer League, it’s everything you would hope for.
Throughout the day, I kept having the same realization: Summer League isn’t just where basketball people gather—it’s where basketball friendships are maintained. Podcasts became conversations. Twitter avatars became hugs and handshakes. The games brought everyone together, but it’s the people who make the pilgrimage worth taking.
After the game, it was back to the hotel to get put together for our big team dinner!
Carmine’s and the REAL Vegas (According to me)
Of course, we Ubered back to the Luxor. To keep a good thing going, I continued to ride in the front seat of our Ubers, as I was told that not knowing the intricacies of Uber etiquette was very wholesome.
Once at the hotel, it was a quick change of ensemble for some of the crew, and another trip in an Uber! One of the funniest things I learned about Las Vegas is that “hotels” are really just enormous malls with attached hotel rooms. Every hallway seemed to lead somewhere different—a casino, another restaurant, a luxury store, another casino, somehow another restaurant—thankfully, I was surrounded by people who had done this a time or two.
The restaurant we had reservations for was in the famous Caesars Palace. There was a lot of beautiful architecture and an elegant aesthetic to the resort, and I was genuinely blown away at how massive this place was. As we were walking down the “street” inside, we arrived at Carmine’s—a very classy and delicious Italian Resturant.
Funnily enough, we apparently walked right past the All City team—where Gil and Erik contribute on the PHNX front. I was made aware of this by a text from Erik.
All 11 of our team sat down at our adjoined tables. Albert—who may have the most class among our No Ceilings crew—ordered food for the table. We were able to share veal parmesan, a rigatoni bolognese, garlic and oil angel hair pasta, meatballs, and fried calamari. Wine, beer, water, and dessert worked their way into the meal as we talked about this past cycle’s success and discussed some remarkable opportunities ahead (stay tuned).
Once we broke away from the meal, the team enjoyed a very Vegas night out. Or, at least, by my account. We hopped around hotels, responsibly enjoyed some beverages, and I was treated to my first-ever night of gambling!
Now, I was and am familiar with the “how” when it comes to playing card games. And when I say the “how” of playing card games, I mean knowing how certain cards let you reach 21 in blackjack. As was the case with so many things during this trip, I wasn’t nervous about the gambling itself. I was nervous because I had absolutely no idea what the unwritten rules were. When do you tip the dealer? Why weren’t people tipping the dealer? Is there a wrong way to buy in? How do I avoid accidentally breaking some unwritten rule—ending up in a casino basement getting pummeled and accused of counting cards?
Everyone else looked completely comfortable while I was trying not to slow down the game for others.
But in terms of getting chips, what are the different types of buy-ins, etc.? I was a little out of my element.
You may already be thinking: “Gee, this redneck from Arkansas who has never even been in an Uber until age 36 had to have gotten waxed at the table.”
I’ll have you know that I actually made $150 on the night my first time gambling!
At one point, I was playing at one table with Paige, but I eventually ended up at an all-No Ceilings table with Metcalf, Corey, and Albert. There was a lot of shared strategy, some talk of hating the number 12, and, on the other hand, me hitting on a $100 wager, thanks to some excellent vibe-coaching from Albert.
Once the night (morning, actually; time is not real in Las Vegas) came to a close, I unfortunately had to say goodbye to most of the crew. Rucker, Metcalf, Corey, Paige, and Nathan all had plans to leave the following day—another reason I will not miss the opening weekend of Summer League next year. Luckily, I would have Nick, Jam, and Albert to hang out with for the following day.
Those who stayed all made it back to their rooms at about 4 AM Vegas time, with Albert having plans to head back home later that day. I had a speaking opportunity with Sports Management Worldwide the next day, while Jam planned to spend part of the day with some NBA folks.
As the night finally came to an end—or perhaps more accurately, as the next morning began—I headed back to my room with just a couple of hours of sleep ahead of me before another full day of Summer League.
I had already experienced more firsts in twenty-four hours than I could count. My first Uber. My first glimpse of the desert. My first walk through Thomas & Mack. My first time gambling. Most importantly, my first opportunity to spend meaningful time with the people who have helped make No Ceilings feel like home.
The pilgrimage had only just begun.
Part Two picks up with a day of basketball, a speaking engagement, and even more reminders of why everyone tells you that once you’ve experienced Summer League in person, you’ll spend the next eleven months looking forward to coming back.
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