Vegas Summer League – The Diary: Day 1

It’s coming…of course the first game would be between San Antonio and Philadelphia, or as I like to call the two least interesting summer league teams in Vegas. San Antonio has Marcus Williams (who I have seen more than enough of), the electrifying James White, Jackie Butler and a bunch of guys trying to get in the League. Philly meanwhile has Thaddeus, Jason Smith and Derrick Byars plus a few of their regulars.

Hopefully, I am assuming that since the next three games are being taped for NBA TV viewing they will have commentators and a scoreboard. Right now this is pretty brutal. I currently have the video open, this box I am typing in and both rosters in my face so I can somewhat see who the hell is who.

I really feel bad for all these guys on the Spurs summer league team. Charles Lee and Marcellus Sommerville from Bucknell and Bradley are killing but I mean I don’t see them sticking. One of the rougher parts of summer league basketball. Speaking of rough, this game has been pretty brutal. I’m gonna use it to test the format and see if I can actually do this. Because I’m still trying to figure out who is on the floor right now.

End of the 1st Quarter….Philly 21, San Antonio 14. I’m not sure anyone really strives to be summer league champions. Leading scorers for Philly right now are Louis Williams with 7 and Louis Admunson with 6. Admunson looks just like Jason Smith from my view. This is going to get confusing. For the Spurs it has been Lee and Sommerville. That’s about it.

Jackie Butler looks like an absolute beast in the post. I mean he came off a block-to-block screen and just demanded the rock. And he got to the line.

Is it bad that I just remembered that Thaddeus was a lefty?

Edin Bavcic from Bosnia gives us our first breakaway jam of the summer. Unbelievable that I just typed that sentence. Dallas/Seattle can’t come soon enough. Bring it Durant.

Thaddeus with an illegal screen. Uh-oh…someone is going to have to make some adjustments. By the way there are just way too many whistles for my liking. And if you were curious my liking would be like zero.

Jackie Butler is officially a summer league player. He feels like the man, he’s aggressive, he knows Popovich can’t yell at him and Oberto won’t knee him in back or something. He’s not really scoring either. But he’s trying.

I love listening to the coaches and the players on the court. I like how they are trying to be over enthusiastic and good teammates to make a good impression. I haven’t heard this much chatter on a basketball court in a long time.

A headbandless Marcus Williams enters the game. The way he got boxed out on the free throw line was not a good sign. Manhandled would definitely be putting it nicely.

Not knowing how much time is left in the quarter or the score is just annoying and unfortunate. I cannot tell you how detached I feel from this game.

As I say that there is a timeout…5:47 left in the 2nd, 25-20 Philly. Which means it is 6-4 Spurs in this quarter. And yes watching this is more brutal than it sounds.

My screen has gone blue. I hear the game, I just can’t see it. The WNBA > Summer League. You can’t tell me you wouldn’t rather watch Becky Hammon and Sue Bird than Charles Lee and Herbert Hill in a hot ass gym.

Thaddeus just hit a sweet pullup jumper. He just looks like he belongs out there. Damn he just snatched a rebound like it was nothing. That Thaddeus…he is going to be something. Another timeout (ARGGGGH) 29-22 Philly with 3:41 left in the second.

At this point I consider myself warmed up for the remainder of the day. I am now about to rest up for the next three games (which will actually ya know be INTERESTING with Durant, Yi and Oden) If this game gets close I’ll let ya know. No promises though.

I return to a 58-57 game, Philly is up with 2:43 left. The stands are filling up as people are getting ready for Kevin Durant. I wish I could tell you who was scoring and such, but apparently the NBA gave up keeping track at halftime as they still have the halftime score up.

Thaddeus just missed a crazy putback dunk. Him, Carney and Iggy…sick athletes. The cameraman annoys me times ten by pulling the camera back just a smidge more, just to add an even higheer degree of difficulty to the diary.

Philly has turned the ball over on back to back possessions, the Spurs are up one. All the real Spurs are in France tearing it up. You know Tony is having the bachelor party of a lifetime before he bags the girl of a lifetime.

Bobby Jones just hit a three to put Philly back up by two. And remember when I said Jackie Butler was a beast? Well, he is a beast minus a brain as he pulled a Shaq and tried to bully his way to the basket. It was a charge of course.

My favorite part of summer league; when a player makes a sweet move or a great drive but just finishes horribly. I believe Louis Williams just did that as he split the defense, had the layup and gagged it. 61-59 Philly with 1:12 left in the game.

As much as I make fun of commentators for being shitty, I am missing them right now.

And we have our first ‘Gimme dat shit’ picked up by the mics by the hoop. I don’t know who said it but I liked it. Louis Williams just took it all the way to the rack and dunked on someone which got some ‘oooohs’ from the crowd.

Spurs with a full-court press, playing like their lives depend on this. Oh wait..they kind of do.

Someone fouled Louis Williams so he is at the line to shoot two. He sinks them both to make it 65-61 (I believe) with who knows how much time on the clock. I was right about the score as SAS called a timeout…there are 12 seconds though. Obnoxious.

Great ending…three big clanks by San Antonio. C.J. Watson pretty much his sealed his fate to the D-League by missing two wide open threes in a row.

Back with Dallas/Seattle…aka DURANT. And Jeff Green. And veterans like Johan Petro and Mohammed Sene. Shoot me now?