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SALT LAKE CITY — After the first two days of the Utah Jazz Summer League one thing's for sure: Jazz fans love having summer league back in Utah.
“We haven’t seen anything since the Rocky Mountain Revue closed down," said Brian Loman from Pocatello, Idaho. "It’d be nice to see this happen every year.”
The Rocky Mountain Revue’s final season was in 2008. Since then, the Jazz summer league teams participated in the Orlando Pro Summer League as well the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas. The Jazz will play in the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas again after the conclusion of the Utah Jazz Summer League.
Monday night's game versus the Boston Celtics brought 10,215 fans to the game and that could be a summer-league record. Tuesday’s game had a good turnout as well with 9,408 fans.
Why are fans so excited to see a summer league game? After all, they don’t mean anything in the end right? Ryan and his son Kyle shed some light on why families are coming out to support the Jazz summer league.
“It's great being able to see the new draft picks and see the team (get) together since they’re a young team, and it’s affordable for families to sit lower bowl," Ryan said.
Everybody wants to see the new draft picks Trey Lyles and Olivier Hanlan, and last year’s draft picks, Dante Exum and Rodney Hood.
“I enjoy watching the Jazz and seeing how the new guys do,” said Karen Hansen.
With six guys on the summer league roster who played with the Jazz last season in Hood, Exum, Bryce Cotton, Chris Johnson, Grant Jarrett and Jack Cooley, fans are excited to see the difference between actual NBA talent and upcoming NBA talent.
“We’ve got such a young team and lots of new guys who played on the team last year, so it’s not too different from watching a regular-season game,” said Taylor Schmidt from West Jordan, Utah.
With the success of the Utah Jazz Summer League so far, Jazz fans are hoping this will become an annual experience.
“Jazz fans are some of the best fans in the NBA, so they come out and support their team regardless of who’s on the floor,” said Spencer Broadhead from West Jordan.
So go out and support the team. Yeah, it’s summer league so it doesn’t mean a whole lot, but it’s a great time. FanFest, an interactive family experience with rock climbing, inflatables and a live band, begins at 4 p.m. at the northeast corner of EnergySolutions Arena.
The Jazz face the No. 3 pick of the 2015 NBA draft in Jahlil Okafor and the Philadelphia 76ers Thursday night at 7 p.m. Nathan Harker is a sports writing intern currently enrolled at Brigham Young University majoring in broadcast journalism. Nathan can be reached at nathan.harker32@gmail.com or via twitter @nharker3207.
