The 2014 NBA Summer League consists of two pro basketball leagues organized by the NBA and the Orlando Magic just after the 2014 NBA draft. Ten teams took part in the week-long summer league at the Amway Center in Orlando, Florida, from July 5 to 11, 2014.[1] The other summer league was the Las Vegas NBA Summer League, having taken place at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Paradise, Nevada (near Las Vegas) from July 11 to 21, 2014, with 23 NBA teams and the NBA D-League Select team participating.[2] The Houston Rockets, Miami Heat and Philadelphia 76ers participated in both leagues.
The Philadelphia 76ers won the Orlando Pro Summer League Championship by defeating the Memphis Grizzlies in the title game, 91–75. Elfrid Payton was named the league's most valuable player.[3]
The Sacramento Kings won the Las Vegas NBA Summer League Championship by defeating the Houston Rockets in the title game, 77–68. Glen Rice Jr. of the Washington Wizards was named the league's most valuable player.[4] Ray McCallum of the Kings was named the most valuable player of the championship game.[5]
Pursuant to a sponsorship agreement with Southwest Airlines Co., the official name of the league is the Southwest Orlando Pro Summer League in 2014. All games were played on the Orlando Magic's practice court in the Amway Center, not on the main basketball court at the venue. Tickets for the games were not sold to the general public.
Each team played one game on the league's final day for either first, third, fifth, seventh or ninth place.
The seeding was determined by a team's total points after the first five days. Eight points were awarded in each game: four points for winning a game and one point for every quarter a team won. In the event of a tied quarter, each team is awarded half a point.[6] This differed from the previous year, when only three points were awarded for winning the game, and there were a maximum of seven total points available in each game. If two or more teams had equal points, then the following tiebreakers applied:
Each odd-numbered seed was paired with the team seeded immediately below it. For example, the top two seeds played in the championship game, the third and fourth seeds played in the third-place game, etc.
Reference: [7]
Josh Cohen of the Orlando Magic's website ranked the top five most valuable players in the Orlando Pro Summer League:
Pursuant to a sponsorship agreement with Samsung Group (Korean: 삼성그룹), the official name of the league is the Samsung NBA Summer League in 2014. Despite the fact that "Las Vegas" is not in the league's official name. and the games were actually played in Paradise, Nevada which is near but not in the City of Las Vegas, the league is nevertheless commonly referred to as the Las Vegas NBA Summer League or the Las Vegas Summer League. This is the case with links and references on the NBA's website.
The championship was determined by a single-elimination tournament; the top 8 teams received a first-round bye.
Teams were seeded first by overall record, then by a tiebreaker system.[12]
The head-to-head result was extremely unlikely to apply in determining seeding, since the teams played only three games before being seeded. It is impossible for two teams to both be 3-0 or 0-3 and have played one another. It is also very unlikely that exactly two teams and no others finish either 2-1 or 1-2 and for those two teams to have played one another. Even in the situation where there is a multiple-team tie and some but not all the teams have superior or inferior quarter points, the remaining teams look first to the point differential even if only two teams remain. Unlike tiebreak criteria often found in sports leagues, multiple-team ties that are reduced to two teams by progression through the tiebreaker steps are not returned to the first step of the two-team tiebreaker.
First-round losers played consolation games to determine 17th through 24th places. These teams either keep their own seeding or inherited that of their first-round opponent, if lower. For example, if the #9 seed lost in the first round to the #24 seed, it became the new #24 seed. Based on this, each odd-numbered reseeded team was matched against the next lower reseeded opponent with #17 playing #18, #19 playing #20, #21 playing #22 and #23 playing #24.
Second-round losers played consolation games to determine ninth through 16th places. These teams took the lower seed number of the two teams involved in their second-round games with the built-in assumption that lower-seeded teams that won their first-round games inherited the higher seed from the opponent they defeated. For example, if the #23 seed won its first-round game against the #10 seed, it was treated as the #10 seed in the second round. If the original #23 seed/inherited #10 seed then defeated the #7 seed in the second round, the #7 seed was treated as the #10 seed in the consolation round. Based on this, each odd-numbered reseeded team was matched against the next lower reseeded opponent with #9 playing #10, #11 playing #12, #13 playing #14, and #15 playing #16.
Reference: [13]
The All-Summer League First and Second Teams were selected by a panel of media members in attendance at the Las Vegas NBA Summer League.[4]
All-NBA Summer League First Team:
All-NBA Summer League Second Team:
Championship Game MVP: Ray McCallum, Sacramento Kings[5]