By MAGGIE LILLIS
Basketball
Shortly before he drafted Marreese Speights with the 16th overall pick in last month’s NBA Draft, Philadelphia 76ers president and general manager Ed Stefanski decided it was time to make a pact with the 6-foot-10-inch forward from the University of Florida.
First it was the Clippers’ Eric Gordon. Now it’s the New York Knicks’ Danilo Gallinari who is sidelined from the NBA Summer League with an injury.
As a second-round draft pick, Joe Crawford knows nothing is guaranteed as far as having a future in the NBA.
The NBA normally invites 10 to 15 players who are expected to be lottery picks to attend the draft each year.
It was easy to envision Internet message boards devoted to the Minnesota Timberwolves exploding with anger as Kevin Love missed shot after shot and committed foul after foul early in his NBA Summer League debut Monday.
Romel Beck was hoping his latest Las Vegas homecoming would last longer than eight minutes.
When he won the slam dunk contest at the 2007 NBA All-Star Game in the Thomas & Mack Center, Gerald Green had to believe it was the last time he’d be stepping on a basketball court in Las Vegas.
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.
In their four-year existence in the NBA, the Charlotte Bobcats have been a nonfactor.
Louis Amundson probably was hoping his summer league days were over. But participation is a must for borderline players like Amundson as they try to prove they belong in the NBA.
O.J. Mayo’s new basketball life was less than five minutes old when someone inside a library-quiet Cox Pavilion tried to distract him at the foul line.
It would be a nice tribute to the NBA Summer League to say it played a part in helping the Los Angeles Lakers reach the NBA Finals this past season.