The 2013 Orlando Pro Summer League afforded us the first chance to look at the newest crop of NBA rookies and emerging stars, but it's the action in Las Vegas that really draws basketball pundits in during the league's summer months.
Twenty-one NBA teams and the D-League Select team are competing with each other right now in one of the United States' most appealing cities for tourists and players alike. Entering Wednesday's action, four teams (Golden State, Chicago, Phoenix and D-League Select) are undefeated.
Those fortunate enough to make the trip to Vegas this year have certainly gotten their money's worth. Some of the players who will be stars of the league in a few years are getting their first taste of professional basketball, while other players look to show improvement during a return trip to Sin City.
Just four days into the action, the storylines that have captivated audiences so far will likely be different by the time a new champion is crowned on July 22.
Even so, here's a brief look at some of the biggest stories to emerge from Las Vegas as the league's young players all vie for recognition and headlines during the NBA offseason.
*For an extensive look at the 2013 Las Vegas Summer League, click here (via NBA.com).
Andrew Goudelock
The third-year man from the College of Charleston spent his first two seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers, but didn't do enough to earn another look with Mike D'Antoni and the franchise after his contract expired.
He signed to play with the Chicago Bulls in summer league action this year, but as Chicago Tribune reporter K.C. Johnson noted earlier in the week, Goudelock is really auditioning for all 30 teams in Vegas.
As Johnson noted on Twitter, some fans were so excited about his opening game that they flew completely off the handle:
Chicago delusion aside, Goudelock has been the best offensive player in Vegas so far.
With strong apologies to Jonas Valanciunas, John Jenkins, Josh Akognon, C.J. McCollum and Jeffery Taylor, Goudelock's inspired play on both ends serves to the idea that he would be a valuable combo guard in the right offense next season.
Through three games (all wins), Goudelock is averaging 22.7 points on 56.1 percent shooting from the field. He came back down to earth with just 11 points against the Portland Trail Blazers on Tuesday, but overall there have been very few players with the defensive chops to keep up with him.
In limiting turnovers and shooting the ball well from the outside, Goudelock is showing flashes of the strong play that had him in Mike Brown and D'Antoni's rotation at various points during his short stay in L.A.
If he continues to shine, expect one of the league's 30 teams to take a chance on him as a low-risk scoring option off the bench. Heck, maybe the Bulls take that plunge after seeing what he brings to a roster first hand.
Position Battles in Charlotte
You don't usually see a majority of a team's rotation players playing in the NBA Summer League, but the Charlotte Bobcats are a rare exception to that rule.
Like the Phoenix Suns, the Trail Blazers and the Washington Wizards, the Bobcats sent a large contingency of players who will have a role on their 2013-14 roster to Vegas. In clear rebuilding mode, the Bobcats are fresh off their third-straight season of missing the playoffs.
That being said, we're getting a window into some of the position battles that head coach Steve Clifford will be monitoring during training camp later this year.
Charlotte signed Al Jefferson to a long-term contract this offseason, and the big man will be penciled into the starting lineup before he ever plays a minute for the team next year. In the other starting frontcourt spot, 2013 first-round pick Cody Zeller and 2011 first-round pick Bismack Biyombo are both trying to prove they have a leg up on the competition.
Zeller has had a strong string of games so far. Averaging 15.7 points and 9.3 rebounds, Zeller is proving his active skill set and hustle on both ends of the floor will be valuable for the Bobcats next year.
At the same time, Biyombo has shown improvement on both ends of the floor, too. In his first two seasons he was a fringe rotation/project player at best. In averaging 9.7 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game, however, Biyombo is at least adding his name to the mix of candidates to start next to Jefferson because he provides a defensive presence which Jefferson lacks.
In the other battle, 2012 Charlotte draft picks Michael Kidd-Gilchrist and Jeffery Taylor are both showing promise as NBA sophomores. The only problem? Both are small forwards, and Clifford will have to find a way to utilize both next season.
The No. 2 overall pick in the 2012 draft has been solid. MKG has averaged over 10 points on 54.2 percent shooting while continuing to develop his offensive game.
Taylor, on the other hand, has been lights out from the field. Through three games he's the third-leading scorer in Vegas at 21.0 points per game, and is contributing on defense too with 1.7 steals per game.
It's the second-round pick who has had a stronger summer so far, leading this writer's suggestion that Clifford and staff could use one of their 2012 draft picks in a shooting guard role to keep both on the court in certain lineups.
Nothing has been decided with Charlotte's lineup or roster based on three games in Las Vegas, but these two position battles will be interesting to monitor both the rest of the way and in training camp later this year.
Summer League is...Summer League
For all the flash, flair and fanatics of the NBA Summer League, it's important to realize that what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas.
As Steve McPherson of Grantland.com pontificated on Tuesday, the illusions of the summer league are just as great as trying to relate what we saw to an NBA game.
There's plenty to be excited about in Vegas each year.
There's basketball on the court in a time where there would otherwise be none. The NBA branches out to a city that is categorically interested in basketball at all times and we get a chance to see future stars in an environment that they are completely unfamiliar with.
That being said, it's hard to bank on anything that happens over the course of the action each year in Vegas. Just take Malcolm Thomas—even with career NBA averages of 1.1 points and 1.3 rebounds, he has been a star for the Bulls so far.
Entering his third season, Thomas faces an uphill climb in cracking Chicago's rotation this year, but he's looked like a starter against lesser competition.
And that sentence, in and of itself, is the reason why it's hard to put a true gauge on summer league results. Encouraging performances of promise are one thing, but consistently producing in NBA games is something that comes with both time and experience.
Experience is what the Las Vegas Summer League is about, but it's not comparable to the experience of playing against the best players in the world on a nightly basis.
Respect the results of summer league play for what they are: a brief glance into what certain players can be, and a confidence-building experience for players who need that swagger heading into training camp.
Anything else would be a bad gamble indeed. In Las Vegas, a bad gamble can haunt someone for a long time.
Follow B/R's Ethan Grant (@DowntownEG) on Twitter.