By Josh Liddick, Sports Talk Philly editor 
It's only a couple months removed from the conclusion of the 2016-17 NBA season, but basketball is ready to start up again in the form of the Summer League.
For a couple weeks, many of the NBA's young players get to showcase their talents in front of many league and team officials. Some players to show what their teams already know and further their solidification of staying on their team's main roster. Others will just try to prove that they are even NBA capable.
There are some players who were drafted, and many undrafted, but for a couple weeks, the Summer League features the future of the NBA.
The Philadelphia 76ers take on their bitter rivals, the Boston Celtics in a Utah Summer League showdown, that will definitely be a battle of the young futures these two teams possess.
Tale of the Tape:
Well, here we are, Boston vs. Philadelphia. Two teams with storied pasts, and futures filled with untapped potentials.
The Sixers and Celtics have two of the more talented Summer League rosters, and both teams feature two of the top three draft picks from this past year.
While they won't be having a position battle tonight, Markelle Fultz and Jayson Tatum will be able to face-off against each other for the first time on an NBA court.
The Celtics will get a glimpse of what they almost took, but ultimately traded away, and the Sixers will catch a glimpse of the draft pick Boston took with their original lottery pick.
Boston's third overall-pick from a year ago, Jaylen Brown will also be featured heavily in his second straight Summer League appearance. A match-up of second-years Brown and Timothé Luwawu-Cabarrot will be fun to watch for sure.
For the Celtics, they'll get to take a look at their 6'11" big-man from Croatia in Ante Zizic, who is sure to play a big role in this matchup.
Shawn Long was going to be a guy that the Sixers were going to use in the big-man role for the Summer League in his second straight year, until Long was traded to the Houston Rockets.
Instead, they'll turn their focus to Alex Poythress and Charles Jackson, who recently played minutes for the Sixers' G-League affiliate, the Delaware 87ers.
Plenty of role players to go around:
For the Sixers, the amount of role players who are looking to prove themselves worthy of playing in the Wells Fargo Center next season or in the future is bountiful.
2017 second-rounder Jonah Bolden shocked everyone when he announced that instead of going overseas for the summer, he would play for the Sixers in this Summer League. Bolden adds charisma and power to the power forward role that helped him thrive in Australia and at UCLA when he spent a year there as well.
The Sixers will also feature former Kentucky stand-out Aaron Harrison, and 2017 undrafted Kentucky guard, Isaiah Briscoe.
Possibly the most intriguing name on their Summer League roster right now is Melo Trimble, an undrafted guard from Maryland. Trimble was on First-Team All Big-Ten in 2017.
While Fultz and TLC are the two players guaranteed to make the main roster for the Sixers, the Summer League team is incredibly stacked and the players will show why they believe they deserve a chance to prove themselves.
| Matchup Preview | July 3, 2017 | ||||||||||||||||||||
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| Philadelphia 76ers (0-0, 0-0 Away) |
Boston Celtics (0-0, 0-0 Home) |
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When: 7:30 p.m. ET
Where: Jon M. Huntsman Center, University of Utah
Watch: TCN
