I don't know about you, but after all the rumors and speculation of the past few days, I'm just happy that we can actually watch some basketball again. Even if it is the summer league.
The good guys begin their summer league schedule tomorrow against the Sacramento Kings (you're going down, Ziller). The game is at 4 PM Eastern Time (1 PM Vegas Time), and will air on NBATV and on NBA.com. If you miss it though, it also will air on Comcast SportsNet on tape delay at 8 PM. Basically, you have no excuse for missing it. (Okay, maybe not).
- Brian Chase, PG, Virginia Tech
- Mike Hall, F, George Washington
- Jared Homan, F/C, Iowa State
- Lee Humphrey, SG, Florida
- Dominic McGuire, F, Fresno State
- Aaron Miles, PG, Kansas
- Oleksiy Pecherov, F/C, Ukraine
- Kevinn Pinkney, F/C, Nevada
- Danilo (JR) Pinnock, SG, George Washington
- Kyle Visser, F/C, Wake Forest
- Jameel Watkins, F/C, Georgetown
- Nick Young, SG, USC
Really, the only guys that matter are Pecherov, Young, and McGuire. The rest of the guys are likely goners. At best, they're end of the bench guys to replace Roger Mason and Donnell Taylor. Personally, I'm rooting for Aaron Miles and Lee Humphrey, but whatever.
Summer League is akin to Spring Training in baseball, but even less significant. As Phily head coach Maurice Cheeks reminded us over the weekend, Tim Duncan was destroyed by Greg Ostertag in Summer League. Last year's standouts were Randy Foye and Marvin Williams, and both underwhelmed during the regular season. But despite all that, there are some things I'll be watching carefully with regard to our "Big 3" of this roster.
Young: Can he get his shot off effectively here? How is his defense? What's his range like? Can he handle the ball passably, or is he turning it over a lot?
Pecherov: He should be the star...how assertive is he? How much is he banging inside? What type of rebounder is he?
McGuire: Is he better on the offensive or defensive glass? What position will he play? Will he be mostly a perimeter or post defender?
Anyway, I'll throw up a game thread tomorrow, so treat this like any other game if you're watching. Alas, there is no contest, but hopefully, you'll survive. I'll likely be watching it live, but since I'll be in the Comcast studios logging the game, I probably won't be available for comment. I'll try to get back to the game thread for when it airs on Comcast later.
UPDATE: According to the Post, Alleyne, Rodgers, and Zimmerman were released before coming to Vegas.
What do you think we should be looking out for with our summer league players?