A Grip on Sports: In Las Vegas, and elsewhere, all eyes are on basketball in July

A GRIP ON SPORTS • We have to admit it never isn’t weird stepping into a gym on a 90-plus degree summer day to watch hoops. A 12-degree day, coat pulled up to our eyes, sure, that’s normal. Wearing shorts and flip-flops? That seems odd. But it is the way of the world.

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• The NBA has made an entire cottage industry of its summer leagues. The biggest, and brightest of course, is in Las Vegas. It’s going on now, under the watchful eye of the world’s biggest eyeball. More on that last thing in a minute but we have to stay focused. On basketball. Another thing Vegas has the world’s biggest and brightest example.

Theo Lawson is in Sin City – great work, if you can get it during winter – this week to document the play of Gonzaga’s handful of alums trying to make their mark in what is, actually, an extended tryout for most participants.

Not for Julian Strawther nor Chet Holmgren, for sure, but most others.

The two former teammates met on the court yesterday and treated it like it was. A business opportunity.

We’re not sure how close the duo was during their one overlapping year with Mark Few’s Zags – Holmgren came to Spokane a year after Strawther and the rest of the Tricky Trio – but we’re certain there were more than enough friendly clashes during scrimmages.

Friday was anything but friendly, even if it was an exhibition. Holmgren is coming back from a lost season – he broke a bone in his foot – and Strawther was making his NBA debut – sort of – after being drafted by defending champion Denver.

Being summer, neither made a huge impression as the games are more showcases than cutthroat competition. That comes later. You know, in October. Well, being it’s the NBA, in the playoffs.

• That eyeball reference? Over the past few years, we’ve spent an unfathomable amount of time in Las Vegas during July. And a couple years our high school-aged basketball contingent stayed at a complex next to where a giant sphere was being built. And when we type giant, we don’t mean Yao Ming or Gheorghe Muresan. We mean Empire State Building big. Or at least in regards to spheres.

It is now a finished product. And has been dominating the Las Vegas skyline the past week.

Hopefully, we will never stay in the vacation club next door anymore. Not sure we could take a giant eyeball looking into our window at 3:37 a.m.

• All over America high school girls and boys are playing basketball this weekend. The NBA may have learned marketing from the NCAA and promoters all over the nation – when it comes to summer hoops at least.

Each July the NCAA sanctions summer tournaments. It’s commonly known as the AAU circuit but that’s a misnomer as all but a miniscule number of events have no connection whatsoever anymore with AAU. The weekends are filled with game after game after game, most under an hour and most less about being recruited these days than just playing.

And there is a lot of playing. In gyms, at times, hot as a Las Vegas sidewalk in May. It’s part of the game these days.

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WSU: Around the Pac-12 and the nation, Colorado coach Tad Boyle explains how his U.S. U19 team didn’t earn a medal at the FIBA World Cup. … There is a WNBA video game and a former Oregon star will be on the latest cover. … Utah’s football team has a chance for a bunch of (figurative) medals this fall. … The latest Arizona football recruit has the weight of expectations on his shoulders.

Gonzaga: Theo’s story on the matchup between Timme and Strawther’s teams is accompanied by photographs from Tyler Tjomsland. … There was another former Gonzaga athlete in the news yesterday, though pitcher Alek Jacob’s ascension to the major leagues didn’t garner the same level of attention. … A current GU golfer qualified for the U.S. Amateur on Thursday. Jim Meehan has that story.

EWU and Idaho: Around the Big Sky, Northern Colorado added to its women’s basketball roster.

Indians: Stop if you’ve read this before. Spokane’s bullpen couldn’t get the job done last night and the Indians fell 8-2 to visiting Everett. Dave Nichols has the story from Avista.

Mariners: We could have written about the M’s once again, but took the day off. Even though they won in Houston for the second consecutive night. The last time that happened was 2018. The 10-1 victory was spearheaded by a nine-run fourth inning. … We not only can link the 11-30 countdown of Mariner all-star players in the S-R this morning, we can pass along the top 10 from the Times. … Eugenio Suarez seems to be heating up as the season rolls on.

Kraken: Seattle took care of a couple of contracts as the offseason rolls on.

Sounders: Stefan Frei won’t be in the box today as he will miss Seattle’s match with a concussion.

Storm: Seattle has a rookie from Africa that is setting a standard.  

Golf: The conditions got tougher on the Monterey Peninsula yesterday and the U.S. Women’s Open scores paid the price. Rose Zhang went out early, while the conditions were still somewhat benign and ended up moving into the top 10.

Track and field: The sprinters took center stage yesterday in the U.S. championships in Eugene.

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• My older sister has spent her life working toward a certain piece of news. She found out yesterday that goal is actually going to happen. We are so happy for her. It’s such moments of joy that we may not appreciate when we are younger but value so much in our later years. Our advice to those with fewer days under their belts? Never forget to celebrate life’s successes. And never stop working for even seemingly impossible goals. Until later …