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Sure, it’s fun to watch some of the best and most exciting first- and second-year players in the league strut their stuff in a defense-optional, highlight-hopeful contest featuring plenty of springs and no shortage of youthful exuberance. But, as is often the case with such exhibitions, it can be difficult to take much of consequence away from a player’s participation in the former Rookie-Sophomore game.
Unless, of course, you’re one of those first- or second-year players.
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“I think it will be something to be a part of this,” said Croatian forward and Team World member Dario Saric, whose playmaking verve has made him one of the brightest spots on the not-quite-as-trash-anymore Philadelphia 76ers this season. “Like, on the same team, with all of these young guys, to play against the best young players in the world, and to try to show my things.”
For the right kind of player, the Rising Stars Challenge is precisely the perfect environment to “show [your] things.” Despite Golden State Warriors assistant Mike Brown’s best efforts at “installing” floppy sets during Friday morning’s practice, the atmosphere promises to be loose, fluid and chucker-friendly.*As Denver Nuggets and World guard Jamal Murray put it, “It’s kind of like a pick-up game,” one in which fortune tends to favor the bold … and, perhaps, those who chose to leave their on-court consciences at home when they hopped the flight to the Big Easy.
At his day job with the Utah Jazz, World forward Trey Lyles is a reserve forward with a very specific role — slot in behind veteran bigs Rudy Gobert, Derrick Favors and Boris Diaw, and try to defend and move the ball when he gets on the court, with opportunities to make plays and call his own number relatively rare. This weekend, though, the Kentucky product is kind of on vacation.
After first identifying his main goal for the game as, “Just go out there and have fun” — which, as you might expect, was a common refrain among participants in Friday morning’s media session — Lyles let just a teensy bit more truth out.
“Just kind of release myself from, y’know, playing in an actual team,” he said. “Be able to go out and play, go out and have fun. […] I’d probably say take a little bit more shots.”
“He’s always been an aggressive player,” Hayward said through a smile. “So for him, I think it’s something where we have so much depth on the team, he doesn’t get to shine as much as he could I think maybe on some other teams.”
A pause, and another wry smile.
“Always happy when he’s aggressive on the court,” Hayward concluded.
For some young players, the trip to All-Star Weekend is about showing what you can do off the court as well as on it.
Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker made the finals of the 2016 Three-Point Contest as a rookie, and will be back at All-Star Saturday this year to participate in the Taco Bell Skills Challenge, as well as suiting up for the U.S. team on Friday night. Having already gone through the pomp and pageantry of All-Star Weekend once, the 20-year-old said he’s focused more on making connections this time around.
“Just developing relationships,” he said. “There are so many important people down here that aren’t basketball players, that are just fans of the game. Meeting everybody and developing relationships — that’s the beauty of this game.”
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And if the game has humbled you a little bit, it can also give you a place to turn for redemption.
One year ago, Emmanuel Mudiay was the seventh pick in the draft, a tantalizing prospect poised to take his place as the Nuggets’ point guard of the future. Now, with his field-goal percentage and assist-to-turnover ratios continuing to look like problems and some in Denver wondering if new teammate Murray is better suited to man the one-spot for the Nuggets moving forward, Mudiay characterized the trip to All-Star Weekend for a second straight Rising Stars game as an opportunity for “growth.”
“I’ve seen that some of the guys that’s in the NBA All-Star Game right now, the big one, they had to go through the same things we went through, especially the Rising Stars Challenge,” he said. “So I’m just trying to get as much as I can out of that.”
Arguably no participant in this year’s Rising Stars game has gotten more out of this season than Nikola Jokic. The Nuggets center began opening eyes last year with his deft playmaking touch, and earned international attention with his performance for Serbia during the 2016 Summer Olympics. But he has burst onto the national scene of late, picking up the first two triple-doubles of his NBA career while serving as the centerpiece of a Nuggets offense that ranks eighth in the NBA in points scored per possession, and the focal point of a team that entered the All-Star break in position to make its first postseason appearance since 2013.
To some, Jokic stood out as the player not picked for Sunday’s All-Star Game who was most deserving of a slot in the main event. No matter, though. He said he gets to take away an important first step: actually getting tapped to make the trip.
“The feeling that you’re here — just to be an All-Star,” he said. “You know, the history, tradition … everything.”
“Everything,” of course, encompasses a whole lot more than basketball. Who can begrudge a player for allowing his thoughts about the most important aspects of the All-Star Weekend experience to spill beyond the confines of the court? This is New Orleans, after all.
It is in this respect that we tip our caps to Frank Kaminsky, Charlotte Hornets sophomore and Team U.S. spirit animal. When asked what one thing he most wanted to take away from this weekend, his answer was quick, clear and definitive.
“I heard Mardi Gras is on Tuesday. I really want to experience what Mardi Gras is like.”
So, y’know, keep your heads on a swivel out there*as you walk through the French Quarter, sports fans.*You can never precisely predict when you might see a 7-foot white dude in*a jester hat doing the Carlton on Bourbon Street, but this year, the conditions*seem optimal.
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Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at [email protected] or follow him on Twitter!Follow @YourManDevine