Fans, teams adapt to NBA Summer League playing rules

Given the COVID-induced hiatus the NBA Summer League was forced to take last year, fans watching games at the Thomas & Mack Center and Cox Pavilion might not quite remember how the games are played.

This certainly isn’t the NBA they’ve been watching over the past year.

But for those who memories aren’t sharp from two years ago when the Summer League last took place, really little if anything has changed.

Here is a primer on what to expect when entering either arena this week or next:

— Each quarter is 10 minutes rather than the NBA standard of 12.

— Players don’t foul out until picking up a 10th personal. It’s six during the season.

— It also takes 10 fouls in a quarter for a team to be in the bonus, double in the season.

— Each team receives two full timeouts per half, and any unused in the first 20 minutes don’t carry over. Teams are allotted six timeouts per game in regulation during the season, though no more than three can be used in the fourth quarter.

— Game officials are not allowed to ask for video replay for out-0f-bounds plays or basket interference calls in the final two minutes of the fourth quarter or overtime as they would be during the season.

— Overtime lasts two minutes rather than five. If the game goes to a second overtime, it becomes sudden death — which definitely doesn’t happen during the season.

The different rules mean more than just shortening games to accommodate a 30-team field. It also means adjustments for the coaches.

That’s especially true for Jamahl Mosley, the rookie head coach of the Orlando Magic who also is coaching their Summer League team. He said it’s matter of translating what happens in Summer League games into the regular season.

“We keep telling our guys it’s more about what we’re doing and how we’re seeing things,” Mosley said. “I think it’s getting them acclimated to the speed of the game. It’s shorter here in different situations, and you get more fouls. but I think recognizing things they’re going to see. Then we can talk about it on film: ‘Hey, in this situation, you have two fouls. You might have come out in this scenario.’”

Boston Celtics Summer League coach Joe Mazzulla echoed similar sentiments.

“You’ve got to teach (the players) a few small details such as when to take fouls.” Mazzulla said. “You’ve got to be a little more cognizant of your timeouts. You don’t want to use them if you don’t have to. We’ve talked about situational basketball. They’ve done a great job managing the game.”

Beyond the in-game coaching, there is the player evaluation — the whole reason the 30 teams are here.

Denver Nuggets Summer League coach Charles Klask said Summer League would be treated as the initial step in the process regardless of the rules differences.

“It’s not a true evaluation of what we can do, so we don’t get too caught up in it.” Klask said. “We look at it more like how hard does he play? Does he see the right read? Does he make the right read? How hard does he compete? Then once we get to September in training camp and he’s playing more Nuggets NBA basketball, then we’ll evaluate him.”

Contact reporter Mark Anderson at manderson@reviewjournal.com. Follow @markanderson65 on Twitter.