NBA Summer League 2013: 6 Takeaways from the Weekend's Las Vegas Action

Not everything that happens in Vegas stays in Vegas.

Nineteen different NBA teams, and one group of the D-League's best, were forced to accept this is more than just a clever marketing catchphrase after their summer league seasons came to a close in the past few days.

Thanks to the newly adopted tournament format, just two teams were left from the 22-team field that kicked off Sin City's NBA Summer League play on July 12. A pair of Pacific Division rivals, the Golden State Warriors and the Phoenix Suns, squared off in Monday's winner-take-all championship game.

Before the Warriors and Suns sent us all into basketball's shrinking season of slumber, the hoops world left us with a number of notable news nuggets to digest.

A slimmed-down Draymond Green doesn't need a position designation to make an impact. The Suns' sibling rivalry will bring nothing but good feelings for next season. James Ennis might be more than a seat-filler for the two-time defending champion Miami Heat.

Savor these storylines from the final weekend of Summer League play. It will be a while before we see any of these faces again.

Ian Clark's MVP Statement

As the summer league shifted its home base from Orlando to Las Vegas, so too did former Belmont standout Ian Clark. 

The combo guard opening his summer schedule as a member of the Miami Heat, then suited up for the Golden State Warriors in Sin City. After his performance in Golden State's 91-77 win over the Phoenix Suns in Monday's championship game, it's a wardrobe change Clark won't soon regret.

Despite starting the game on the sideline, Clark tallied more than 28 of a possible 40 minutes on Monday. Warriors coach Darren Erman wasn't without other options—Kent Bazemore and Cameron Jones combined for 30 points—but Clark made himself impossible to sit.

He exploded for 33 points off the pine, drilling 12-of-19 from the floor and 7-of-10 from deep, and was named the MVP of the championship contest. Any breathing room defenders gave him was too much, and when he was crowded, he created his own space.

At 6'3", 175 pounds, he's a bit on the skinny side for an NBA floor general, but he defends his position well and obviously has a deft shooting stroke. 

He may not have an NBA future in either Golden State or Miami, but he clearly deserves a shot to make someone's roster.

Morris Twins Leading an NBA Roster?

Despite the doomsday predictions that followed Steve Nash's exit from the desert last summer, the Phoenix Suns aren't completely devoid of NBA talent.

Goran Dragic and Eric Bledsoe are nightmare matchups on the perimeter for opposing guards. Marcin Gortat's a polished post presence and perhaps the key to Phoenix unlocking the vast potential in its 2013 top selection, Alex Len.

But after watching identical twin brothers Marcus and Markieff Morris guide the Suns to the title game in Las Vegas, it wouldn't shock anyone if both played prominent roles in returning this franchise to relevance.

Markieff entered the championship bout as the team's leading scorer with 14.2 points per game, but Marcus stayed right on his heels at 13.8. Both players had efficient shooting numbers on their stat sheets, with Markieff connecting on 56.9 percent of his shots and Marcus hitting 47.4 percent of his looks from beyond the arc.

Marcus enjoyed the better close to his week, as he poured in 23 points in Saturday's 103-98 win over the Toronto Raptors, then added 17 more to his resume in Sunday's 91-89 victory over the Miami Heat. His championship stat line read 17 points and six rebounds, while Markieff added 10 points, seven boards and a pair of steals.

With both employing the necessary versatile skill sets of today's demanding forward spots, the Suns may have double-dipped in the genetics pool and landed a duo capable of surviving and thriving in the deepest of NBA waters.

Draymond Green Isn't Going to Make It Easy on Mark Jackson

Absent a true position or the semblance of any consistency with his shot, Draymond Green didn't waste time forcing his way into Mark Jackson's rotation as a rookie last season. 

Shining at times for his defense, glass work and hustle, Green appeared in 79 of a possible 82 games with the Golden State Warriors. Despite Golden State's active offseason, it won't be easy for Jackson to forget about Green any time soon.

While he struggled to find his touch in the Warriors' weekend wins (27 points, 12-of-35 combined), he left his imprint all over the stat sheet. 

In Saturday's 83-77 win over the Los Angeles Lakers, he led the team in both rebounds (11) and assists (three). He controlled the boards again in the Warriors' 75-67 win over the Charlotte Bobcats in Sunday's semifinal (12 rebounds) while swiping a team-best four steals.

As the Warriors raced to their championship rout of the Suns, Green was back at his stat sheet-stuffing best (12 points, eight boards, three assists and a block).

Assuming Harrison Barnes moves to the second unit, Green's going to have a tough time sniffing out minutes at the small forward spot. With Marreese Speights presumably serving as David Lee's primary backup, Green's push for power forward minutes will be challenged by more than just the pounds he's noticeably shed since the end of the season.

Even as he slides, on paper at least, further down the pecking order, he's not going to go without a fight. He can defend all five positions, make plays on and off the ball and attack the floor with overflowing levels of energy and basketball smarts.

James Ennis Gives Heat Something to Talk About

With an NBA title to show for each of the past two seasons, the Miami Heat didn't enter the summer with any glaring weaknesses to address.

That was just as well, because Miami also started the offseason minus any draft picks, which were long since sacrificed as part of the team's masterful maneuvers that netted it both LeBron James and Chris Bosh in the summer of 2010. 

Not content to stand pat, though, the Heat traded their way into the draft and acquired James Ennis, a 6'7" small forward from Long Beach State. Quietly effective through his early Summer League stay (with an emphasis more on the quiet side rather than the effective part), Ennis saved his best for last.

While Miami fell 91-89 to Phoenix on Sunday, the 50th overall pick in June's draft may have emerged as the game's biggest winner.

He broke out with a game-high 25 points, hitting 8-of-17 from the field and 4-of-8 from deep. If his nine rebounds didn't jump off the page on their own, then the fact that six of them came on the offensive glass sure did.

As a second-round pick, he's operating without the certainty of a guaranteed contract. Even after using the amnesty clause on the oft-injured Mike Miller, Miami may still struggle to find Ennis a roster spot.

The Heat might want to figure this out quickly, though, because Ennis' stock is clearly on the rise after his eye-opening sendoff.

Acy Up Toronto's Sleeve

Quincy Acy has had a hard time standing out on a loaded Toronto Raptors team.

When scouts weren't salivating over Jonas Valanciunas' dominant display, they were caught up in Dwight Buycks' rise from roster hopeful to reserve point guard for the big club. 

With Valanciunas sitting out Toronto's fifth and final game of the summer—he'd done whatever was needed and then some by that point—Acy finally had his chance to throw his name into the discussion. Safe to say he dialed back and ripped off a heater that registered somewhere in the triple digits.

Acy shared the scoring lead with Buycks at 28 points, but the former Baylor star could have done even more damage.

Part of that fact came from a relative lack of aggression; he took just 15 shots in nearly 35 minutes despite connecting on nine of those looks. The majority of it had plenty to do with sharing the floor with a point guard who poured in 28 points, needing 20 shots of his own to hit that mark.

Acy's been overshadowed by teammates before—he's still driving fewer discussions than his collegiate teammate Perry Jones III. That didn't stop him from becoming one of the 60 names called during the 2012 draft, and it may only be a matter of time before the energetic, athletic big man is the one commanding the spotlight.

The D-League Has Some Untapped Potential

When the NBA D-League Select Team appeared on the Las Vegas Summer League tournament bracket, they looked like nothing more than a placeholder needed to round out the field to an even number of competitors.

But as they rattled win after win (four straight in all), it was clear this was a team playing for a bigger purpose.

This wasn't just another chance for these players to get their 15 minutes in front of NBA scouts; this was their opportunity to show the basketball world their league can compete with, and defeat, big brother.

The Charlotte Bobcats finally ended the Select Team's run with an 85-75 win in the quarterfinals on Saturday, but their message had already been delivered by then. 

Elijah Millsap, younger brother of the Atlanta Hawks' Paul Millsap, and Darnell Jackson, who has spent time with the Cleveland Cavaliers, Milwaukee Bucks and Sacramento Kings, each poured in 12 points in the loss. Kyle Weaver, a former member of the Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz, chipped in with 11, while Ron Howard, a six-year veteran in the D-League, added 10.

The Select Team looked destined to be a crowd favorite early on, as the sports world has never met an underdog candidate it can't support. It didn't take long to realize that attaching an underdog label to this group of players was both insulting and incorrect.

If these players are back fighting through the D-League ranks next season, scouts would be wise to give their stat sheets a closer look this time around.