SALT LAKE CITY — Ace Bailey got a standing ovation before the game even started.
As soon as he walked onto the court Saturday at the Huntsman Center for pregame warmups, the crowd rose in appreciation for the player they hope will be the next Utah Jazz star.
“They made me nervous,” Bailey admitted postgame with a grin. “But it was fun. Just being in an arena I’ve never played in and feeling the love from the fans — it was a blessing.”
But the night didn’t go quite as hoped; Bailey was outdone by another top-five pick.
For one night at least, it looked like the Philadelphia 76ers made the right choice.
V.J. Edgecombe, the No. 3 pick in the draft, scored 28 points and added 10 rebounds, and often looked like the best player on the court in a game that featured quite a bit of NBA experience.
In the end, Utah still came out on top 93-89 to open Salt Lake City Summer League. Kyle Filipowski had 22 points and Brice Sensabaugh added 19 to lead the scoring for the Jazz.
So, how did Bailey do, added nerves and all?
He showed flashes — a corner 3-pointer in transition, a smooth midrange jumper off a curl, and strong rebounding — on his way to 8 points and seven boards.
But some of the worries about his game that made him ultimately slide to No. 5 in the draft were on full display, too.
He went 3-of-13 from the field, often relying on tough, contested shots that he defined his lone college season at Rutgers. When those shots go in, he looks spectacular. When they don’t? Well, his game can leave you scratching your head.
But Jazz summer league head coach Scott Morrison isn’t stressing about the shot diet right now.
“I think we’re more interested in playing hard and pressuring the ball and spacing the corner,” Morrison said.
He called the next two weeks a “crash course” in the NBA. For now, it’s about the fundamentals — cutting, spacing, ball pressure, defensive rotations — before refining shot selection.
“Once he establishes those things where he can help the team in a positive manner without scoring, then we can worry about his shot selection,” he said. “He threw a couple of iffy ones up there, but we’ll show him tomorrow. Maybe we’ll mention it, but again, we’ll be more focused on his ball pressure, his defensive fundamentals, and spacing.”
Morrison also noted that Utah’s offense could do more to involve Bailey. There were long stretches where the ball didn’t find him, which may have contributed to his quick trigger when it finally did.
All in all, it’s a work in progress.
But Bailey seems A-OK with that.
“Man, it was great,” Bailey said. “And we won, too, so that made it a plus. It was fun.”
And plenty of people apparently wanted to share in on the fun.
As he spoke after the game, his phone kept ringing. He reached down to silence it once, and then again, before reaching down and flipping it to some Jazz staffers with a bit of a sheepish smile. You can add that to the list of things he needs to get used to now.
So, sure, Edgecombe may have had the more star-turning night, but Bailey got the win — and for now, that was good enough.
“The win,” he said when asked for his favorite part of the night. “I mean, also the altercation we got into; that’s basketball. So that’s gonna happen. Just made me more energetic, and just want to play more, too.”
The Key Takeaways for this article were generated with the assistance of large language models and reviewed by our editorial team. The article, itself, is solely human-written.