The Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks are playing in the NBA summer league playoffs on Thursday for round 2 of the tournament bracket in Las Vegas and the matchup is live from COX Pavilion starting up at 6:30 pm ET and has some great young players matching up on the teams, including CJ McCollum as well as Dennis Schroder.
The Blazers have some solid young talent in the league with McCollum and Thomas Robinson and the rookie from last year is averaging over 20 points in Vegas, while Robinson has been strong with over eight rebounds per game. The matchup is on the schedule after the San Antonio Spurs and Utah Jazz start up at 6 pm ET, while the Miami Heat and Washington Wizards will be later on. The Philadelphia 76ers and Chicago Bulls are also playing late night and that game is also on ESPN3 and will be online from WatchESPN out in the desert.
The summer league has had a number of great young stars playing and names like Andrew Wiggins, Jabari Parker and Dante Exum have established themselves in their first pro games, while Shabazz Napier has also been impressive to start. The Bulls and Knicks along with the Cavaliers and Wizards were among the bye teams and they are in the top part of the standings for the summer league and now they are waiting in the second round to see who advances.
The quarterfinals are on Saturday and the playoffs continue along through the weekend and then on Monday for the finals and that will be the last day of the tourney. The Sixers and Bulls are matching up later on and that game has Doug McDermott playing well and he comes over after a trade from the Nuggets during the draft. Tony Snell has been looking good in the summer league as well and he could make the Bulls into a great team this season.
Snell is a bench player, but if this translates into the season, he could be a key part of a deep team. The Bulls have signed Pau Gasol and they are getting Derrick Rose bask healthy and they come back as the best defensive team in the league. The summer league gives teams the chance to work out new schemes and also gives young players the chance to get minutes when it is not always easy to get them in the big leagues and for a coach like Derek Fisher coaching for the first time, it's crucial.
Check here for the Portland Trail Blazers and Atlanta Hawks live coverage from ESPN from the NBA summer league.