Viva Las Vegas !

The NBA Summer League is over and I have to say it was interesting and I'll miss it. It was definitely much better than last year, probably because the talent level was much higher. I really think the 2007 NBA draft will be one day remembered as one of the greatest ever.

Speaking of the Suns, they ended the summer season with a 84-81 loss to the Timberwolves, you can check the boxscore yourself and see that the Suns played well in the last 3 quarters but did not complete the comeback from a 15 point deficit in the 1st qt. Not much to highlight in terms of single players' performances other than Hale's 19 points in 25 minutes, George's 12 boards and...D.J.'s 10 TO (along with 7 assists, 6 rebounds and 12 points). There's a nice photo gallery on Suns.com

I tried to analyse boxscores and stats and watched some of the games I haven't been able to catch earlier on NBA.com to find positives and negatives from the 2007 Summer Suns. Here's my list:

• Marcus Banks played ONE impressive game. It's difficult to get any indication, but what's important is that Marcus showed he's willing to improve and impress the coaches. Way to go Marcus !


• Alando Tucker is a solid player, he can run and I think will play comes november (10-15 minutes, maybe). I am a bit worried about his shooting. We knew he was not a high-percentage shooter...but .418 from the field and .182 from 3-point is a bit low. Another area where I believe Doe needs to improve is rebounding (2.4 playing over 32 minutes per game);


• D.J. Strawberry was probably the Summer Suns MVP. He played a lot, in part due to Banks' injury and showed he can play. He can play defense (he was drafted on this strenght) and he's a good passer, he's willing to gamble a bit on offense (which I believe is good especially in the summer games). Overall I think he's a much better offensive player than we thought at first;


• Otis George should fight for a place on the Suns roster in training camp. He was good for a double double more or less on any given night. He averaged 10.4 points and 9.4 boards per game.


• Pape Sow is athletic and can rebound. From what I have seen I don't think it'll be a enough to get a place on the Suns roster.

That's what I noticed from the Vegas games. Enjoy the summer everyone !

Go Suns !