I watched the New York Liberty play the Connecticut Sun and am hurrying to get upstairs to see the second half of the San Antonio Silverstars versus the Phoenix Mercury.
I used to wish that ESPN would televise NBA Summer League games. Now, I am glad to watch the WNBA on television rather than the NBA Summer League.
While the Summer League was disastrous yesterday, from what I saw, today's game between the Sun and Liberty was entertaining and well-played. I love to watch games where players actually use their pivot foot to make a move, rather than changing their pivot foot as well. I was happy to see some semblance of shot selection, rather than watching Anthony Roberson, Wilson Chandler, JJ Hickson and Corey Brewer jack shots at will.
I saw real post moves and real step-back jump shots tonight. I missed those last night. I saw PG play from Lyndsay Whelan which was almost non-existent in four games yesterday.
I have often been critical of the WNBA (although, my criticism has often been correct, like when I suggested over three years ago that a team could win the NBA championship by thinking outside the box and playing a really fast tempo, like the Mercury used to win its championship), but I have to admit, it provides better basketball during the summer time than what I witnessed from the NBA's Summer League.
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
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3 comments:
Have you seen any of the GSW"s games on TV? If so what do you think of Randolf? Also, do you see any value in Summer League? What you believe that fans (and coaching staff) actually learn from the SL?
No, I don't have NBA TV and they did not play while I was there, so I have not seen Randolph.
From what I saw, the Summer League has value for NBA people looking for jobs and fringe players looking for jobs in Europe.
Not sure how much value it has for the NBA teams, other than it gives them a couple days of practice with their new players and a couple games to see how they react.
Vegas loves it because it brings people there during the hot summer months and the NBA gets content for its TV station and keeps the NBA in the media, so it certainly has economic value.
But, I'm not sure how much a coaching staff, scout or fan can take from it since it's like watching an AAU Tournament. I spoke to Jonathan Givony from Draft express and he said he hates trying to evaluate players in that setting because it's not like a real game. I mean, players have unlimited fouls...and, the officials are from the D-League and actually call things like palming and traeveling.
I am a Mercury season ticket holder and I upgraded my cable to the sports tier so that I could watch more games on NBA TV. The Merc were playing Houston the other night a 94-92 loss at the same tim ESPN was replaying the college slam dunk competition and NBA TV was showing one of these pointless NBA summer league games. I'm all for some NBA summer exposure but think they should only televise games when their aren't real WNBA games currently happening.
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