Soon Aaron Brooks, the unquestioned leader of the men’s basketball team, is going to be making his push for an NBA roster spot.
Based on his performance over the last season, and his showing in Oregon’s run to the Elite Eight in the NCAA Tournament, it isn’t far-fetched to think Brooks could break into the bottom half of the first round or early portion of the second round.
It’s an interesting place to be. The first round offers a guaranteed contract, while the second round is mysterious territory. There are no guaranteed contracts and a roster spot on opening night is a shaky proposition. For most of these players taken outside the NBA lottery, the first 14 picks of the draft, the summer months give NBA players the best opportunity to make an impression on their new employer.
NBA teams create summer league teams made up of draft picks and free agents. College players who went undrafted join these teams and try to prove teams wrong. Teams send these players to an assortment of summer leagues across the United States.
The Las Vegas Summer League has grown increasingly popular in recent years with big-name stars Gilbert Arenas, Dwight Howard and Ron Artest stopping by to play. The Pepsi Pro Summer League takes place in Orlando and the Rocky Mountain Revue is situated in Salt Lake City.
The league with the most-extensive list of NBA-caliber participants is likely the Summer Pro League in Long Beach, Calif. Located near the glitz and glamour of Los Angeles, the SPL has featured diverse talents from yesterday’s stars of Reggie Miller, David Robinson and Dominique Wilkins to today’s stars of Kobe Bryant, Baron Davis and Dirk Nowitzki.
It’s where Bryant displayed glimpses of his prodigious talent and Nick Van Exel showed he could be a dependable NBA point guard and a second-round steal.
Although Las Vegas has drawn away a good number of NBA teams, Long Beach remains a good place to see young talents prove themselves and older veterans stay in shape in the Pyramid, the gym of Long Beach State. Bo Outlaw, an established 14-year NBA veteran, regularly participates.
The Los Angeles Lakers and Memphis Grizzlies are two NBA teams set to participate this summer.
Many of these players find this environment a challenging, yet less pressure-packed stage compared with the NBA regular season. Attendance, unless it’s a Lakers game, is relatively small and emphasizes the play on the court. The players, often fresh from college or humbled by the minor league circuit, are more open with the media than established NBA veterans.
It’s likely Brooks will start out in one of these summer leagues. The competition in these leagues, while not NBA-caliber, is a step up from college basketball and is an invaluable way to make an impression, earn a roster spot and playing time when the NBA season begins.
Lakers guard and former UCLA star Jordan Farmar did it. He transformed a solid showing last summer and an understanding of the Lakers’ triangle offense into consistent contributions in the early parts of Los Angeles’ season.
Brooks too will have an opportunity to prove he belongs this summer.
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