Summer League Stories
The National Basketball Association’s Summer League is an exciting ten days of youthful play and offseason moves. It is far better than the stale play of NBA preseason basketball and also provides a lot of insight into how teams will attempt to handle themselves during a season. Here are the biggest stories from this summer’s league.
The Impending Lockout: The NBA’s collective bargaining agreement expires next summer, and the possibility of a lockout is looming heavily on everyone’s minds during the Summer League. Few people have any sort of benevolent outlooks on the expiration of the agreement, and tensions have already begun to rise.
NBA commissioner David Stern is going to argue on lowered wages based on figures showing the huge monetary losses the NBA is suffering. Union chief Billy Hunter has stated that those figures “lack credulity.”
This year’s bloated salaries are also the result of this impending lockout. Teams signing players to contracts now assume that any money outside of this year is essentially imaginary. Also many players from Europe with NBA-level talent are staying there until the CBA dilemma is resolved, and certain American players have opted to play in Europe for the security of long-term deals.
John Wall: The Summer League is fun for fans since they get to observe rookies in team uniform for the first time. Until the Summer League, all opinion on rookies must be based simply on statistics from the very unequal ranks of college or foreign basketball.
Wall had great college numbers, but the Summer League has shown that he is perhaps even better than people had anticipated. With an average of 23.5 points and 7.8 assists per game, Wall leads the League in both categories. He has also has an average of 4 rebounds and 2.5 steals per game as well.
As an anonymous NBA head coach put it: “It's not just that he's the number one pick. He's also what every coach and general manager wants with the way the game is being played."
DeMarcus Cousins: Cousins showed that he was underrated in all aspects, unfortunately that includes petulance. Although leading up to the NBA Draft he was described as a raw big man, Cousins showed off some very developed play. He shot opposed jumpers; he handled the ball in up-tempo transition. He even showed some dribbling finesse from the top of the key.
Cousins’ mental troubles exhibited themselves as well. He was often jawing at opposing players and whined at referees incessantly. Cousins began summer play by shooting 45.8 percent from the field. When he went 9-for-45 during the last game, he stopped hustling as much for the ball and was even visibly pouting in huddle exchanges with coaches. The sky seems like the limit for Cousins, he just has to overcome his main barrier: himself.
Run and Gun: If the Summer League is any indicator, the playing tempo of the NBA has shifted almost entirely. While ‘run and gun’ teams, like those coached by Mike D’Antoni, have always been around, they have been curiosities rather than paradigms.
Now, in the same manner the spread offence has overtaken college football, the NBA is based on much higher tempo. As one NBA assistant described it: "Everyone in the league is pushing the ball, even with big men."
Europe’s Problems: Teams in North America may have an impending lockout and some monetary issues, but a lot of Europe is suffering even worse. For instance, legendary Italian side Fortitudo Bologna won't exist next season. Many other respected European teams are cutting costs and salaries.
This is unfortunate as basketball is probably at its peak popularity in Europe. If European basketball loses the funds required to nurture youth programs, the influx of NBA talent from Europe will drop heavily, which will in turn hurt the competitiveness of international basketball.
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