Don't buy that Jason Thompson jersey just yet...

Well folks July is upon us, and you know what that means... the NBA Summer League in Las Vegas! That's right, drink in all the exciting* and meaningful* games between the NBA's rookies first and second year players young(ish?) talent! Translation: it's just like the D-League, except anybody pays any attention to it! Wow this is fun, I may never end a sentence without an exclamation point again!

For realsies though, I understand there isn't much going on in sports right now (as Scrob elegantly points out below), but the amount of attention given to these summer camps is ridiculous. NBA.com and ESPN's NBA page turn the results and big-time performances into headline news. Now for a coach, GM, or especially obsessive fan, I definitely see the value of the camp. But people try to predict future results from standout performances if Vegas, and it just about never helps. Take for example:

2007 Vegas Summer League MVP: Nate Robinson (NYK)
Nate lit it up last year, edging out the elite trio of Louis Williams , Aaron Brooks, and Marco Belinelli for the MVP award. 19.6 ppg, 6 apg, and 3.6 rpg (not to mention a cringe-inducing 4.2 turnovers per) was good enough to bring him the prize. But how hard could it be to score 19 a game when Marcus Banks went off for 42? Nate followed up this MVP performance by putting up 12.7 ppg, 2.9 apg, 3.1 rpg, and a more under control 1.4 TOpg for a horrible train-wreck of a team. Those aren't bad numbers for a 5'9 sixth-man, but they're hardly worth doing back-flips over.


What's more telling is to look at the statistical leaders for the '04-'06 summer leagues against what they did in the regular season that follows. Check it out (click image for detail):

That's right, we get to make a Tskiti reference! Seriously though, that 2004 crop was horrible. Leading scorer is one of the biggest flops ever, the leading rebounder never made an NBA roster in his CAREER, and one of the leading passers had a pretty horrible year. Just look at this list... these were the STARS of the summer camp. Singleton, Lucas, Tskiti, and Jones are all out of basketball. J.R. Smith and Bassy Telfair have been high-upside guys who've never put it together. Nelson, Blake, and Foye are all solid but unspectacular starters. Clearly, a Las Vegas monster does not an All-Star make.

Sure, there have been big performances by big names. Amare Stoudemire, Dwight Howard, Chris Paul, Brandon Roy, Chris Kaman, and Montae Ellis have all used the camp to improve their game and get going on big years. But it's mostly just something to needlessly obsess over during the sports doldrums.

Then again... Leon Powe did shoot 55% and pull down 7.8 boards a game last season.... maybe they're on to something here!

*note: sarcasm