I
have been a resident of Las Vegas for 2 years, and
an avid NBA fan for 40 years, this is the first time
I have attended any summer leagues, primarily because
I live here and it is easy to attend. This city is
a unique human ecosystem with an economy based on
tourism and gambling. They have the capacity to entertain,
feed, and house a large number of people on short
notice and at anytime of the year; the people in
this city work around the clock to do this, and I
am peripherally involved in the support of these
working people.
After
viewing the 3 games and watching all the NBA celebrities,
I really feel that they enjoy coming here because
of the ambience and because Las Vegas is not an NBA
city, they rarely get a chance to make a stop here.
I feel many came here simply because of the destination
that otherwise wouldn't have come here. I think the
players like it, with nightclubs, women, large stretch
limousines, extravagant hotels, great dining etc.
I overheard the organizer of the league talking to
a guy behind me, who I think was Jim Cleamons, both
saying what a great venue this was for the summer
leagues. This organizer, and I don't know his name,
a gray-haired gentleman, could be seen pacing the
arena along the sidelines and talking to about anybody
who was anybody.
I
was disappointed with the local turnout. The small
arena, Cox Pavilion, is directly connected with the
larger arena, Thomas Mack Arena where UNLV plays,
right on the UNLV campus. It holds 3000-4000 people,
on most nights there were no more than 1000 spectators,
of which 1 out 5 at least were press, NBA people,
and support people. It was a $20 ticket for all day
and completely open seating except for the chairs
lining the floor. Last night Danny Ainge was sitting
4 seats down and basically alone, a few autographs
were asked of him, which he signed, but nobody bothers
the NBA people, it is a very casual environment.
Parking
is simple and is free; it is just a few minutes away
from the Strip. What amazed about the players was
that they really took this seriously and they played
good defense, especially with unlimited fouls. I
felt this sometimes led to a hack fest and could
have led to some injuries. Telfair took many hard
ones when he beat his man off the dribble just to
get taken out by the next guy.
|
|
Many
of the borderline players played hard in order to make
training camp. I really did not hear any obnoxious
fans except for a few Blazer fans, which were embarrassing.
Most fans were not yelling because victories really
don't matter, they only cheered at the major dunks
and Telfair’s herky jerky moves.
What
the summer leagues lack are superstars and the flair,
however it was very competitive and somewhat entertaining.
What Nash and Patterson need to understand is a basic
economic principle that goes: value of a service
or form of entertainment = Quality divided by the
cost. If the Quality is high and Cost is low, it
is a very good value for entertainment, if quality
is low and cost is high, it is useless. The summer
leagues have a decent quality for low cost, so are
a decent value for entertainment. Would I go to Las
Vegas from Oregon just to see these games, I wouldn't,
however if coming to Vegas for other things, then
I definitely would. Remember it is hot this time
of year, for 10 days now it will be over 110. I must
admit that during the non-Blazer games I got a little
bored and daydreamed or watched the celebrities come
and go. One night my friend went and sat right by
Floyd Mayweather, Jr. and talked to him and his family.
It seemed to me the crowd got more excited when the
Blazers played because of Telfair and Outlaw
One
night I sat in the midst of the UNLV team and they
worship Telfair, and kept talking about him. They
would laugh when any player went down hard, and I
would hold my breath every time Telfair went down.
Overall it was fun, but I would not attend every
game for 2 weeks. It might be more enjoyable for
the players and coaches, since they get to talk to
their buddies for longer times than during the regular
season, when they are "enemies." There was a lot
of backslapping and hand shaking and gabbing between
coaches and players in the stands. I hope this gives
Blazer fans a little bit of insight into the Las
Vegas Summer League. You know, with all the changes
this year with the Blazers, I might actually spend
some money on the NBA this year.
-SheedBGone
Chat about it on the BlazerBoard |
