Congratulations To The Summer Heat For Surviving An OT Thriller To Capture Their First Ever Vegas Summer League Title

David Dow. Getty Images.

While some may not care and roll their eyes at a Summer League title, I say grow up. At the very least this is on par with the NBA Cup title in terms of significance. If the Lakers can have a championship moment for a fake title

Las Vegas Review-Journal. Getty Images.

then why can't the Summer Heat? Few people cared about the IST title just like there are a few people that cared about this Summer League title. Look, not everybody can win the real thing/trophy that actually matters

Boston Globe. Getty Images.

Advertisement

so I say we should take this opportunity to celebrate the Summer Heat. By far the best team in Vegas right from the jump, they kicked the shit out of the Summer Celts to kick off their stay in Vegas and then never looked back. A perfect 6-0 (only undefeated team) with a +14.7 scoring differential (also led Vegas) they were as dominant as dominant gets during their week in Sin City.

To win the title, the Summer Heat were going to have to survive a dramatic OT championship battle, which certainly had it's moments even if there were only like 15 of us actually watching this game

When Cole Swider made that three, I figured that was it. He was cementing himself as the latest Heat basketball lab player who comes out of nowhere and makes a million threes in a playoff series. We've seen that time and time again with them. But instead, GG  Jackson (someone who also had a great Vegas showing) answered with a three of his own

and off to OT we went. I like the idea of having a target score that Summer League uses, and in this instance it was 120. Just like the end of regulation, OT wasn't without it's own drama once we got down to the final buckets

Advertisement

Is this the Summer League Final or Game 7 of the NBA Finals? You want to talk big time shot making with a title on the line, well you're looking at it. None bigger of course than the Summer Heat game winner by Pelle Larsson (??????)

Look I don't care when it happens, if you make any sort of game winner to win a title, that rules. Summer League, NBA Cup, NBA Playoffs, a game winner for a title is still a game winner for a title. That's most likely going to be the best basketball moment of that dude's life and good on him for getting into the paint and finishing that tough runner. If you miss, the Grizzlies probably come out and score in transition, so that's a pretty big bucket all things considered.

When you look at what made the Heat so dominant in Vegas, it comes down to a few things. For starters, Jaime Jaquez Jr looked incredible. It was very apparent from their first game that he was WAY too good for Summer League, which as a fan is the exact thing you're hoping to see from any NBA rotation player

In addition to JJJ, Heat rookie Kel'el Ware looked about as good as any rookie in Vegas, and in theory is the exact type of player that the Heat need to put next to Bam. An athletic as shit five who can score in the paint, finish at the rim, and block shots. That allows Bam to slide back to his more comfortable spot at the 4, and now you're cooking. We all see what he's currently doing next to AD with Team USA correct? Well Ware has been every bit as good which is why he also ended up in the Summer League First Team

Advertisement

Then of course there was Championship MVP and former fellow Sun Devil Josh Christopher

He was solid in all 6 games in Vegas averaging 19.3/3.0/1.8 on 54/52% splits with 3.5 3PM a night. A former first round pick of the Rockets, Christopher is another candidate for this random Heat free agent turned playoff rotation guy. It's not like their wing depth is all that great, and given how he played this summer I don't think it's crazy to at least throw him a Two Way and see what happens. Personally I loved him at ASU and wish the Celts drafted way back when, so it's good to see him have a positive moment after being out of the league and in the G-League these last few years. 

The next question of course is if this is a sign of more to come for MIA. A look at recent Summer League history gives you a mixed bag. The Summer Cavs won it last year in a blowout over the Rockets, and they ended up not even making the ECF this year. In 2022 it was the Summer Blazers, who went on to win 33 games during the year. In 2021 we saw the Summer Kings take home their third Summer League title, only to then win 30 games. You could say that was the early sign of their eventual playoff appearance in 2022-23, but as you can see recent history isn't all that kind to the Summer League title winner.

The good news is the only guys who could potentially see real minutes with the NBA team both looked outstanding while in Vegas. As we know, the #1 rule states that everything positive you see during this week will translate, and everything bad you see you can ignore.

So while the actual Miami Heat may have lost in the first round, the Summer Heat did what the big club hasn't been able to do recently and finally brought home the trophy. Credit to them, they were the best team by far.