Long Beach Point Guard Wins MVP of Summer League

Standing 5’10,” weighing 175 pounds, and toting the name Casper, Long Beach State point guard Casper Ware isn’t necessarily striking fear into opponents hearts on paper.

However, if you ask those in the famed Drew League, the 49ers ghost-like point guard is far from friendly.

In August, Ware was named Most Valuable Player of the Drew League, a central Los Angeles summer basketball tournament established in 1973 that attracts some of the NBA’s biggest names every offseason.

But considering the NBA is currently in a lockout, meaning players are free to spend their time as they wish, this summer’s version of the Drew League saw a larger influx of NBA stars than it may have seen in its nearly 40 year history, including the likes of Los Angeles Lakers guard Kobe Bryant and Miami Heat forward LeBron James. 

That exact influx of NBA talent, which included other names such as Oklahoma City Thunder guard James Harden and Toronto Raptors guard Demar Derozan, has made Ware’s unlikely MVP honor all the most impressive.

“It felt good to win it against players like James [Harden] and Demar [Derozan], but they get paid millions to play this game,” Ware said. “To compare my game to theirs or say I won MVP over them, I couldn’t even tell you how it felt when I got it.”

Ware, who is currently heading into his senior campaign at Long Beach State, has been playing in the Drew since he was a college freshman.

However, Ware commented that the atmosphere during this summer’s Drew was nothing like what he has seen before.

“The past years, it was always a good atmosphere, but you just had the inner-city people there to watch, and faces that you already knew,” Ware said. “But this year, you had so many different people show up, from Fullerton, from San Diego, everybody showed up to watch.”

A large majority of those fans undoubtedly ventured to Charles Drew Junior High School to catch a glimpse of Bryant or James, in addition to the large outpouring of other NBA stars, but it was Ware who took advantage of the platform to display his talents.

Ware averaged close to 30 points per game, and even got the chance to take the floor with James, and on another occasion, against Bryant.

“He’s a great guy and a great teammate,” Ware said of James. “I see why so many people like him. Just to see the way he handles himself on the court and the way he talks to people on the court, it’s just great to see.”

As for playing against Bryant, Ware commented that disbelief were his initial feelings.

“It was just crazy,” Ware said. “I didn’t believe it at first, until I looked around and was like, ‘I’m really playing against Kobe.’ It was a weird feeling.”

“On one play I got to stick him and they ended up calling an offensive foul on him,” Ware added with a laugh.

And regardless of who the fans showed up to see over the summer, it was Ware that caught the eye of the professionals throughout the gym.

He even incurred some words of encouragement from two NBA players in particular, Atlanta Hawks forward Josh Smith and former Denver Nuggets guard J.R. Smith.

“It made me feel better,” Ware said of his feelings towards making the NBA having played against the pros. “Josh Smith and J.R. Smith told me that I was going to get there, not to worry about it and to just keep working hard.”

“It felt good to hear that from somebody who is already there and knows what it takes.”