Dantley drafting his speech
His enshrinement into the Basketball Hall of Fame still is two months away, but Adrian Dantley already is working on what he plans to say in Springfield, Mass.
Dantley, an assistant coach with the Denver Nuggets, was voted into the Hall on his seventh try. He will go in with Patrick Ewing, Hakeem Olajuwon, Pat Riley, Dick Vitale, Bill Davidson and Cathy Rush in September.
"I've been writing some things down; it's an ongoing process," Dantley said Saturday before the Nuggets faced Philadelphia in the NBA Summer League at Cox Pavilion. "I'm basically going to thank everybody who helped me get to the Hall of Fame.
"It feels pretty good to get in. It's a hard process. But now that I'm finally in, I don't have to worry about it anymore."
Dantley averaged 24.3 points in 15 NBA seasons (1976 to 1991) and scored 23,177 points. He has spent the past six years coaching in Denver and says his love for basketball is what got him involved on the bench.
"I enjoy working with the young guys, helping them develop," Dantley said. "Honestly, I didn't see myself coaching when I was still a player. But when you love something as much as I love basketball and you get a chance to stay in the game, you do it."
• RECORD OPENING DAY -- Friday's first day saw an attendance record as 4,084 watched the four games. It was the biggest opening-day crowd in the five years the summer league has been in Las Vegas.
• AUGMON VISITS -- UNLV great Stacey Augmon showed up Saturday at Cox Pavilion. Augmon is helping the Nuggets' coaching staff this week at the summer league but is not on the bench.
• GORDON HURT -- Eric Gordon, the Los Angeles Clippers' first-round draft pick and No. 7 selection overall, left Saturday's game against Charlotte after straining his left hamstring in the third quarter of the Bobcats' 81-66 win.
"I hurt it pretty bad," said Gordon, who scored 15 points before leaving the game. His status for today's game against Detroit is up in the air.
"I don't know what they'll do," Gordon said of the Clippers' plans for him.
