Trying to be a responsible Nuggets blogger (and since I was unable to watch the first game on Saturday), I was hoping to watch the second game played by the Nuggets Summer League team today. But for reasons that completely befuddle me, NBATV is only showing some of the games, not all. And the rest of the games - like today's 90-79 "victory" over the Toronto Raptors - are streamed at NBA.com on a tiny screen with one camera angle and no announcers. I couldn't even make out the players' uniform numbers or see if new "Assistant Coach" Nick Van Exel hit any of the refs after a bad call!Before we get to my cheap seats commentary on the Summer League, I must take a shot at NBATV for not showing all the games. Simply put, what's the @#$%& point of NBATV if they don't show everything NBA?!! I don't need to watch the 80th airing of NBA Access with (Michael Jordan ass-kisser) Ahmad Rashad, and I sure as hell don't need to watch WNBA Action, either. And to stream the games online in the worst possible way is another disgrace altogether. I mean, what are Nuggets fans supposed to do at work all day if they can't watch the Summer League games properly online?
If the NBA is too cheap to broadcast all the summer games, I suggest they hire team-specific bloggers - like yours truly - to announce the competition. Trust me, we'll do it for nothing more than a free trip to Vegas and a nominal per diem. (While we're being curmudgeonly, shame on Altitude* for not showing the Nuggets Summer League games, either. Are you telling me the Nuggets Summer League game isn't more compelling than the Miss Colorado Pageant? I didn't even know there was a Miss Colorado Pageant!)
Regarding the games, since the Nuggets don't play again until Thursday I thought we'd take a quick look at Games 1 and 2. In both games, Grizzlies and Kings' castoff Dahntay Jones (pictured above) - a guy we overlooked in our Summer League team analysis - has put up the biggest numbers. Jones had 16 points today on 60% shooting, and on Saturday he posted 21 points on 53% shooting.
Jones - a former first round pick from Duke - is one of those players that quickly fell off the NBA radar for me. In looking at his career numbers, his best season appeared to be 2006-07 when he put up 7.5 ppg in 21.4 minutes of playing time and he was a bust in his other NBA campaigns. But Jones is getting rave reviews out of Vegas thus far, and even though he's a competitor of newly acquired Sonny Weems in the "freakishly athletic 6'6" guy off the bench" category, a training camp invite might be his if he keeps this up.
Other notable Summer League action has been the Game 1 performances from Weems' (17 points in 20 minutes of action), Keith Langford (14 points in just 16 minutes) and my dark horse candidate to make the Nuggets' training camp, Elton Brown (13 points and 11 rebounds in 26 minutes). In today's Game 2, Brown posted another double/double (11 points, 10 rebounds) and point guard Taurean Green had a decent, well-rounded outing (17 points including 12 free throw attempts, and 4 assists), while Weems laid an egg with a 1-7 shooting day.
Has anyone besides me tried watching these games?
*If for some reason Altitude broadcasted the Summer League game even though it wasn't on their schedule, then I apologize to all the Altitude executives whom I may have offended for putting the Miss Colorado Pageant on the air. Actually, check that: they should still be ashamed for airing the Miss Colorado Pageant no matter what.