Ahh, NBA summer league basketball, hot fun in Las Vegas, where there is no lack of things to do for young NBA millionaires.
Meet tan ambassador Helen:
The hot tub at Tao nightclub is a must-do (warning: NSFW).
Find useful brothel info here.
NBA basketball? Not at the Bucks-Mavs game over the weekend. The Bucks won ugly, 66-59. Really ugly.
The Bucks shot ... YIKES!!! - 22-61 from the floor in that one, their opening game. (Note to eds: don't worry, that link is just a box score.)
Things went much better Sunday night against the Cavs, as rookie Brandon Jennings took control, scoring 23 pts and dishing out 8 dimes. Jodie Meeks can shoot it, alright - he added 16.
(I moved the Bucks-Kings highlights to a new post).
Now that I've put the good news video ahead of the bad, here are the actual Bucks-Mavs highlights, not for the faint of heart:
Gunning Joe: The new aggressive Joe Alexander gunned it up against the Mavs. Unfortunately, 14 of his 18 shots were no good. Sorry Joe. Better leave that to Jodie Meeks, who's looking like a fine 2nd round pick up. (Time to start thinking about whether shooting guard Salim Stoudamire will be on the roster after summer league closes.
Ball Don't Lie has (obviously) been jonesing for some NBA action. Dwyer's got our man Brandon Jennings as one of his Top Ten "players to watch" in summer action.
Brewhoop keeps tabs on the summer action and is providing game feeds as well as highlights. The Bucks play the summer Cavs tonight.
Bucks broadcaster Jim Paschke is on the beat with "Paschketball", joining the Tao hottub girls in Vegas.
Here's the official Bucks Summer League Central - featuring Brandon Jennings hype.
And the Brandon Jennings MVP youtube portal. He just might be the summer league MVP.
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This just in: Seems the Mavs are interested in Michael Redd, something I wondered about in my most recent post. It only makes sense that the Mavs are in the market for one more scorer for J-Kidd to feed -- and there's still a shooting guard hole to fill in the Mavs lineup after the resigning of Kidd and acquisition of Shawn Marion. Mavs owner Cuban isn't one to shy away from a salary like Redd's, so let's see if this latest scuttlebutt has any legs.
The Mavs were interested last winter, but didn't offer much. Last season, Cuban was reluctant to include forward Josh Howard in any deals, but the acquisition of Marion may have changed this stance. The Bucks needs have changed, too, with the trade of Richard Jefferson and their current luxury tax squeeze.
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A Brandon Bass "I told you so" from the free agent wire. No, Bass won't be helping Andrew Bogut out in the paint next season. He'll be working with Dwight Howard in Orlando. File under NBA imbalance tips again toward the haves. The mediocre (or worse) teams don't have much of a shot in the free agent market. Here's Orlando GM Otis Smith:
"Brandon is a physical, athletic frontline player. He will fit in well with our young core ..."
Yeah. Otis, we know.
One more thing: Was there no headline writer bored/drunk enough to title the story, "Magic catch Bass?"
That's it for now. I'm off to see how Leon Powe's doing after another knee surgery. Also hoping the Bucks are in the game and considering making an offer. C'mon Bucks fans - Dan Gadzuric, Kurt Thomas, Malik Allen and Francisco Elson just aren't going to last forever.