I'm finally back home in D.C. after a long day of travel, and I wish I never left Las Vegas. Summer League is probably my favorite event of the NBA year. The informality, the intensity, the earnestness of players like Cartier Martin who are playing for their NBA lives - it all lends itself to such interesting storylines. Where else can you chase down Hilton Armstrong just minutes after he signed a contract with the Wizards? Where else can you just sit and chat with Martin about why so many NBA players don't adjust to being role players? Where else can you just walk up to George Karl and talk to him for a few minutes about his son Coby's chances of making the league? (That feature is coming soon on SBNation.com, by the way - the servers ate my whole thing two days ago and now I have to redo it).
I really wish I could have stayed out longer, and if we're perfectly honest, between SBNation.com duties and BF stuff, there's all sorts of things I wanted to do that I didn't get to do. Unfortunately, duty calls, so I had to cut my trip shorter than usual. I hope you enjoyed all the dispatches, and I'll see what other stuff I can put up in the next couple days.
Anyway, here are your key links and rumors from the past couple days that I missed while out in Vegas:
-The Wizards reportedly worked out Adam Morrison the other day and he's very interested in coming to D.C., according to Michael Lee. Morrison said his best workout was with the Wizards and that he's eager to show he can still play after basically sitting out two years. The Clippers have reportedly expressed the most interest, but want him to play in a five-on-five setting, something Morrison is reluctant to do. To me, that's a red flag.
Morrison certainly fits the bill of the kind of player Ernie Grunfeld has been acquiring this summer - former high draft picks who need their careers revitalized. But at this point, I'd rather just give the roster spot to Martin if we're not going to make a serious push for someone more expensive.
-Also via Lee: Hilton Armstrong's contract is likely for one year at the veterans' minimum of just under $1 million.
-It looked like Mike Miller was headed to Miami for sure, but Michael Wallace of the Miami Herald reports that teams are still trying to convince him to sign elsewhere. However, Adrian Wojnarowski shoots down any speculation that Miller is going anywhere but Miami.
-Ted Leonsis, who was out in Las Vegas, talked to Michael Lee about the Wizards' Summer League performance.
-We finally have a Shaun Livingston rumor. K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune writes that the Bulls have had "internal discussions" about adding Livingston to their team to be Derrick Rose's backup. Considering Rose's former backup, Kirk Hinrich, is now in D.C., that would be pretty ironic.
-The Suns are apparently taking a look at Fabricio Oberto, according to John Gambadoro of Phoenix radio station 620 KTAR.
-Juwan Howard has finally signed with the Miami Heat, about 14 years and $99 million too late.
-As noted the other day, the Celtics have expressed interest in Josh Howard, as have the Bulls. However, the Celtics cannot sign him outright, since they are over the cap and already used their mid-level exception on Jermaine O'Neal, so a sign-and-trade arrangement would have to be how it would happen. Howard had previously told Marc Spears (scroll down on that link) that while he's keeping his options open this summer, he has "some loyalty" to the Wizards for rescuing him from Dallas.
-Rashad Mobley, now of Truth About It, writes about Nick Young's first and only Summer League game.
-Al Thornton is out in Vegas, but won't suit up with the team. He's said that he wants to get in better shape than he was in last season.
-Dan Steinberg writes about John Wall flexing his muscles. Oh, Dan. This is why we love you.
-SB Nation D.C.'s Jordan Ruby writes about why he's trying to temper his skepticism of Summer League when watching John Wall.
-This would be a pretty bad nightmare.
-Finally, if you have any loyalty to Virginia Tech (and even if you don't), check out this profile I did of former Tech star Zabian Dowdell, who is trying to secure a spot on the Phoenix Suns' roster.