ORLANDO, Fla. -- Alex Martins' full-time job is CEO of the Orlando Magic. But throughout the season, the 52-year-old has another role that comes into focus once the NBA calendar turns to July. Martins serves as the gatekeeper for the Orlando Summer League, the less-publicized and more exclusive summer locale for NBA teams to check out their newest draft picks and younger players trying to find a way into the league.
"We have a waiting list of teams right now that would love to get in," Martins told ESPN.com recently.
The Magic executive didn't say this in boastful way. In fact, he went out of his way to say that he and the rest of his staff wanted to work alongside the NBA and the organizers of the Vegas Summer League to make sure they weren't stepping on any toes. But Orlando has turned into the preferred destination for many around the league, away from the glitz and glamor of the Vegas Strip.
How did this happen?
Back in 2002, Martins and the Magic staff were looking to try something different. The Atlanta Hawks, Charlotte Hornets and Miami Heat joined up with the Magic, and the Orlando Summer League was up and running.
"Vegas is very productive and the teams that go out there love it and enjoy it and they get benefit out of it," Martins said. "But we wanted to create an environment that was really just all about basketball. In a basketball setting, not an arena-type setting. Where the media and scouts and team officials could access and watch and evaluate, but confined to that group. Over the years, what we've been told by the teams that participate here is that they really love that environment. They love the fact that it's just all about basketball. And that's not speaking negatively about Vegas in any means -- this is just different."
In Vegas, teams play in the Thomas & Mack Center and the Cox Pavilion, much larger venues, which serve as the home to the UNLV men's and women's basketball teams. In 2002, the Magic started the Orlando league in the RDV Sportsplex on the practice floor the Magic used. In 2010, the Magic moved the league to the new Amway Center, but maintained the cozy atmosphere by still using their practice floor in the new structure, not the arena floor itself.
The biggest difference in atmosphere, besides the cities themselves, is that the Orlando Summer League is not open to the public. The only people who can gain access are team or league personnel, agents, scouts and media. The Vegas Summer League, and now the even smaller Utah Summer League, are both open to fans. The Orlando games are broadcast on NBA TV and streamed on ESPN3 but there are only a couple hundred people in attendance in the small gym.
Detroit Pistons coach and head of basketball operations, Stan Van Gundy, loves the set up in Orlando. "I like the environment for players," Van Gundy said. "I like the environment that it's not public so you don't have a lot of people coming in. I think they can concentrate on their game more. I like this as a city a lot more than Las Vegas, Utah would probably be the same, but a few less distractions. I think they just run a really, really well-organized league. You can just come here and get to work. We'll have been here 12 days, and it's 12 good work days with great organization and no distractions."
Part of the charm of the Orlando league is in its quaintness. In Vegas, league personnel are spread out in hotels on the Vegas Strip. In Orlando, many players and coaches can walk back and forth to the arena from the hotels located nearby. Coaches and executives can come and go as they please without being hassled by fans.
Since its inception in 2002, the Orlando league has grown to a nine-team venture (the Magic have a Blue Team and a White Team to even out the schedule to 10) and has developed a loyal following. Like Van Gundy, who coached the Magic from 2007-12, Hall of Famer Patrick Ewing sung the praises of the league. Ewing, who coached the Charlotte Hornets' summer league entry, served on Van Gundy's Magic staff.
"I enjoy coming to Orlando," Ewing said. "I've lived there, I think it's great. I like the fact that this one, you get in, you get your work done, and then you leave."
Martins says the Magic don't make any money off the league itself, but the exposure for both the organization and the Orlando area is important.
"There's no financial benefit to us," Martins said. "The way it works is every team has an entry fee, and we ask basically the teams that participate just to cover all the costs. We have everything. We feed the media, we feed all the personnel that are here. We have expenses associated with using the building, etc. So we just charge an entry fee so that we cover all that." The entry fee is around $10,000-15,000 depending on the year.
While there has been some talk about expanding the league in the future, Martins says there hasn't been much talk about opening the league up to the public. The only exception came in 2003 when LeBron James played his first professional game as a member of the Cleveland Cavaliers Summer League team. Aside from the sellout crowd at the old Amway Center, that game will always be remembered as the one in which former Utah alum Britton Johnsen, playing for the Magic's summer league team, dunked on James.
"There's always room for that special situation," Martins said. "Like the year that LeBron came out and we took the game to the old Amway Arena. But beyond that, again, the beauty of this specific summer league is that it is all about basketball. It's about basketball personnel, both from the administrative side as well as the competitive side and the playing side. And that's what everybody loves about coming here."