Basketball in Santa Cruz

Being a huge basketball fanatic, it was sweet to see that the NBA's Development League was having it's showcase in Santa Cruz.  A four day tournament with an all day ticket costing just $20.  What a deal, with four games each day, allowing for tons of basketball options with the up and comers for the NBA, players who were big in college, coming from overseas and just balling out. 

An all day pass gets you any seat in the building.  Any seat.  So I naturally went and sat courtside:

Pretty sweet getting so close to the action, with the ref standing just a couple feet away and me having to move my knees when a player would inbound the ball from the sideline.  Like the NBA All-Star game, there wasn't the best defense, so there were plenty of dunks going around and players trying to show each other up.  You do good, you could go to the NBA.  One player was called up to Sacramento the day after I saw him play, getting his dream to play in the pros.

Some of the highlights were seeing former NCAA tournament standouts such as Arizona's Nick Johnson and Louisville's Peyton Siva.  Also present was Steph Curry's brother (the player on the team in white in the above photo) and Thanasis Anteokounmpo, brother of Giannis who is rocking the Milwaukee Buckes right now.  Then there were the other players who had great games on the day I was there.  Pretty damn sweet to be so close to the action and talk with some NBA guys about the league and the players.  Here's a video and a couple more photos from the day: