NBA Summer League Wild Overreaction Thread

[Schrödinger's Gerbil]

If I'm ESPN, I'm refusing to broadcast summer league games in the future without some kind of guarantee that the high profile draftees actually play, barring legit injuries. Fans don't tune in to watch no names playing for two-way, G-league spots, or European contracts. They tune in to see the big names who are the future NBA stars. It's in the league's best interest that they play as well. It's the launching point to create fan interest, market potential marquee players, and create buzz for the upcoming season.

It's like the teams are some nerdy kid and the high profile picks are new Star Wars action figures that the nerd is too afraid to unwrap because it might scratch them. Holy hell, we're now load managing summer league. What a frig'n joke.

Perhaps some of these players are legit injured, but as Andy Larsen pointed out in a recent column, injury reports are routinely manipulated, unreliable, untrustworthy, and all too often can't be taken seriously.

What may be rational for the team or individual player is not rational for the league as a whole. I'm not sure that the league office can do, but it can't not do anything, or summer league is going to end up like the All Star game: an exercise in pointlessness that will turn fans off rather than draw them in.

There's so much about the modern NBA that is almost begging fans to disengage.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

If I'm ESPN, I'm refusing to broadcast summer league games in the future without some kind of guarantee that the high profile draftees actually play, barring legit injuries. Fans don't tune in to watch no names playing for two-way, G-league spots, or European contracts. They tune in to see the big names who are the future NBA stars. It's in the league's best interest that they play as well. It's the launching point to create fan interest, market potential marquee players, and create buzz for the upcoming season.

It's like the teams are some nerdy kid and the high profile picks are new Star Wars action figures that the nerd is too afraid to unwrap because it might scratch them. Holy hell, we're now load managing summer league. What a frig'n joke.

Perhaps some of these players are legit injured, but as Andy Larsen pointed out in a recent column, injury reports are routinely manipulated, unreliable, untrustworthy, and all too often can't be taken seriously.

What may be rational for the team or individual player is not rational for the league as a whole. I'm not sure that the league office can do, but it can't not do anything, or summer league is going to end up like the All Star game: an exercise in pointlessness that will turn fans off rather than draw them in.

There's so much about the modern NBA that is almost begging fans to disengage.

Bro it's July. What else is ESPN going to show?

 

[idiot]

If I'm ESPN, I'm refusing to broadcast summer league games in the future without some kind of guarantee that the high profile draftees actually play, barring legit injuries. Fans don't tune in to watch no names playing for two-way, G-league spots, or European contracts. They tune in to see the big names who are the future NBA stars. It's in the league's best interest that they play as well. It's the launching point to create fan interest, market potential marquee players, and create buzz for the upcoming season.

It's like the teams are some nerdy kid and the high profile picks are new Star Wars action figures that the nerd is too afraid to unwrap because it might scratch them. Holy hell, we're now load managing summer league. What a frig'n joke.

Perhaps some of these players are legit injured, but as Andy Larsen pointed out in a recent column, injury reports are routinely manipulated, unreliable, untrustworthy, and all too often can't be taken seriously.

What may be rational for the team or individual player is not rational for the league as a whole. I'm not sure that the league office can do, but it can't not do anything, or summer league is going to end up like the All Star game: an exercise in pointlessness that will turn fans off rather than draw them in.

There's so much about the modern NBA that is almost begging fans to disengage.

I generally think you make good points in your posts, but I can't go with you here. Summer league is for development. Period.

If ESPN wants to latch on, that's fine, but their goals should never eclipse the goals of the team in preparing their youngsters for what's coming up (including managing injuries) and giving a chance to players we'll never hear of again.

I don't really see your point about the failings of the "modern NBA" here. Back in the day, there was either: a) no summer league at all, or b) only very small summer leagues that only some NBA teams participated in and that had rather poor attendance and TV coverage. These days we have wall-to-wall coverage of all games with all teams participating. And yet we have posts all over the internet now that seem to suggest that the NBA is conspiring to withhold their players from us by having teams following their doctors' advice.

 

[slc]

I generally think you make good points in your posts, but I can't go with you here. Summer league is for development. Period.

If ESPN wants to latch on, that's fine, but their goals should never eclipse the goals of the team in preparing their youngsters for what's coming up (including managing injuries) and giving a chance to players we'll never hear of again.

I don't really see your point about the failings of the "modern NBA" here. Back in the day, there was either: a) no summer league at all, or b) only very small summer leagues that only some NBA teams participated in and that had rather poor attendance and TV coverage. These days we have wall-to-wall coverage of all games with all teams participating. And yet we have posts all over the internet now that seem to suggest that the NBA is conspiring to withhold their players from us by having teams following their doctors' advice.

After seeing Tatum, Haliburton, Lilliard all go done with the most serious injury a player can have
nobody wants Flagg, Bailey, Harper etc to miss entire season or more with an Achilles injury
Many people want to shorten season because of too much wear and tear on players

 

[stormkoopacv03]

I honestly wanted to see if Emoni Bates in the summer league again, just to see if he improved but Cleveland has cut ties with him, and is now an unrestricted free agent after two years later. Wow...

 

[jom2003]

This battle between Queen and Yang has been pretty fun to watch.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

If I'm ESPN, I'm refusing to broadcast summer league games in the future without some kind of guarantee that the high profile draftees actually play, barring legit injuries. Fans don't tune in to watch no names playing for two-way, G-league spots, or European contracts. They tune in to see the big names who are the future NBA stars. It's in the league's best interest that they play as well. It's the launching point to create fan interest, market potential marquee players, and create buzz for the upcoming season.

It's like the teams are some nerdy kid and the high profile picks are new Star Wars action figures that the nerd is too afraid to unwrap because it might scratch them. Holy hell, we're now load managing summer league. What a frig'n joke.

Perhaps some of these players are legit injured, but as Andy Larsen pointed out in a recent column, injury reports are routinely manipulated, unreliable, untrustworthy, and all too often can't be taken seriously.

What may be rational for the team or individual player is not rational for the league as a whole. I'm not sure that the league office can do, but it can't not do anything, or summer league is going to end up like the All Star game: an exercise in pointlessness that will turn fans off rather than draw them in.

There's so much about the modern NBA that is almost begging fans to disengage.

My only complaint for SL is the games are taking too long. No challenges in SL and timeouts should be limited.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

This battle between Queen and Yang has been pretty fun to watch.

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVTFsByxX0g


Didnt watch the game, but the post-up by Yang on the last clip of the highlights is the softest post D I've ever seen by Queen. Zero dog.

 

[jom2003]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVTFsByxX0g


Didnt watch the game, but the post-up by Yang on the last clip of the highlights is the softest post D I've ever seen by Queen. Zero dog.

Been said that before. Why Queen was taken ahead of Yang was truly baffling to me. Just a better prospect all around. Better size and actually plays defense. How the hell you give up a FRP to trade up for Queen when clear better prospects were available... Not exactly the greatest start to Dumars NOLA GM's career.

 

[seattlejazzfan]

edgecombe came back down to earth.

fears with a decent shooting day 6-11, only took 1 three and missed, but his assist to turnover ratio might be the worst in summer league history. in three games fears has 3 assists and 16 turnovers. 2-12 from three in the three games. I'm just glad the jazz drafted their short, turnover prone, PG who couldn't shoot at 29 rather than 5 or 7.

i thought queen looked really good yesterday.

ron holland continues to be one of the best players in summer league with 22 points on 12 shots and 6 steals.

 

[SoberasHotRod]

Been said that before. Why Queen was taken ahead of Yang was truly baffling to me. Just a better prospect all around. Better size and actually plays defense. How the hell you give up a FRP to trade up for Queen when clear better prospects were available... Not exactly the greatest start to Dumars NOLA GM's career.

???

Queen outplayed Yang by most metrics in this game:

17pts vs 15 pts, 10 reb vs 3reb, 3ast vs 2 ast, both had 1 steal and 2 blocks, +10 vs +2

Yang might end up better than Queen, but we go a little overboard on this site sometimes.

 

[fishonjazz]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVTFsByxX0g


Didnt watch the game, but the post-up by Yang on the last clip of the highlights is the softest post D I've ever seen by Queen. Zero dog.

Wow that was soft. Also Yang three point shot is beautiful

 

[Schrödinger's Gerbil]

Bro it's July. What else is ESPN going to show?

Don't know. There's always other options. This is, I believe, ESPN's second year broadcasting summer league. I imagine that when it signed up for it, ESPN execs didn't anticipate load management to make its way to summer league and for teams to be routinely sitting high profile draft picks. Regardless of what other options it may or may not have, it'll want to make the best of THIS option, which means maximizing eyeballs to the extent feasible given that it is summer league and it is July. Routinely sitting high profile players poses a direct threat to this objective.

Further, I don't understand the reasoning that just because the opportunity cost is low, one should be content to do worse than one otherwise might. I doubt you'll find this attitude liberally distributed among highly successful business types.

To me, and this is admittedly a pet peeve of mine, it's symptomatic of how load management in the modern NBA has officially jumped the shark. Load management, among its other adverse side effects, distorts the competitive environment and detracts from/cheapens the fan experience. It's part of the ongoing wussification of the NBA. (Ok, the last point is clearly hyperbole, more a product of frustration and lashing out than anything else, but also, perhaps, not entirely untrue.)

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

Don't know. There's always other options. This is, I believe, ESPN's second year broadcasting summer league. I imagine that when it signed up for it, ESPN execs didn't anticipate load management to make its way to summer league and for teams to be routinely sitting high profile draft picks. Regardless of what other options it may or may not have, it'll want to make the best of THIS option, which means maximizing eyeballs to the extent feasible given that it is summer league and it is July. Sitting down high profile players poses a direct threat to this objective.

Further, I don't understand the reasoning that just because the opportunity cost is low, one should be content to do worse than one otherwise might. I doubt you'll find this attitude liberally distributed among highly successful business types.

It's summer League man

 

[cmrd]

Caping for the interests of giant media conglomerates is weird

 

[KqWIN]

Bro it's July. What else is ESPN going to show?

WNBA is actually awesome rn.

 

[Saint Cy of JFC]

???

Queen outplayed Yang by most metrics in this game:

17pts vs 15 pts, 10 reb vs 3reb, 3ast vs 2 ast, both had 1 steal and 2 blocks, +10 vs +2

Yang might end up better than Queen, but we go a little overboard on this site sometimes.

Just watching the highlights Queen was definitely a matchup problem for Yang on the perimeter, but all the baskets I saw were pretty tough makes by Queen.

 

[Schrödinger's Gerbil]

I generally think you make good points in your posts, but I can't go with you here. Summer league is for development. Period.

If ESPN wants to latch on, that's fine, but their goals should never eclipse the goals of the team in preparing their youngsters for what's coming up (including managing injuries) and giving a chance to players we'll never hear of again.

I don't really see your point about the failings of the "modern NBA" here. Back in the day, there was either: a) no summer league at all, or b) only very small summer leagues that only some NBA teams participated in and that had rather poor attendance and TV coverage. These days we have wall-to-wall coverage of all games with all teams participating. And yet we have posts all over the internet now that seem to suggest that the NBA is conspiring to withhold their players from us by having teams following their doctors' advice.

I get it. Your are correct in that summer league serves multiple purposes and teams must find a way to balance them productively. That's entirely reasonable from their POV and entirely reasonable for you to point this out.

My POV is not the players or teams but the league. There appears to be a disconnect between how the league markets summer league and what purposes it serves for the league and how the teams approach it. It's not in the league's best interest that high profile draft picks are held out of games. It wants fan attendance, fan eyeballs, fan buzz, and positive media coverage, BUT load managing high profile draft picks is antithetical to all these objectives. Added to this, injury reports are suspect, more so now than ever. One may be reasonably skeptical of them.

Regardless of what's in the teams' best interests, I think we can all reasonably agree that the NBA FO may legitimately worry that this becomes a growing trend, potentially severely diminishing the value of this particular "asset." If what you describe is the reality of Summer League, then it's marketing should reflect this.

Plus, I *&^*$ hate load management. These rookies are highly trained athletes at or near the peak of their strength and vitality, the same age group we've been sending to war for centuries. They can play back-to-back games, for heaven's sake.

 

[jom2003]

???

Queen outplayed Yang by most metrics in this game:

17pts vs 15 pts, 10 reb vs 3reb, 3ast vs 2 ast, both had 1 steal and 2 blocks, +10 vs +2

Yang might end up better than Queen, but we go a little overboard on this site sometimes.

??? For one, Queen didn't outplay Yang. He had a whopping 8 TOs in only 28min of play. If you are throwing the ball away at this rate in an actual NBA game, you'd be heading straight to the bench long before you can go collect other stats.

Two, outplaying guys in SL doesn't make you the better prospect. DJ Carton "outplayed" both Queen and Yang and was arguably the best player in this game with a game high 26pt, along with 5reb+5assists. Is he the best prospect of them all?

Outside of the size/defense factors, Yang went 3/6 from deep in this game. A big man of his size who can shoot would get mins on any NBA team.

 

[Thee Jazz Fan]

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oVTFsByxX0g


Didnt watch the game, but the post-up by Yang on the last clip of the highlights is the softest post D I've ever seen by Queen. Zero dog.

That was some beautiful footwork on that post up.

Been said that before. Why Queen was taken ahead of Yang was truly baffling to me. Just a better prospect all around. Better size and actually plays defense. How the hell you give up a FRP to trade up for Queen when clear better prospects were available... Not exactly the greatest start to Dumars NOLA GM's career.

Not only that but the Pels will probably be one of the worst teams if injury persists and even if there isn’t much injury issue, they could still be a bottom team and they gave up an unprotected for Sean Peck in a very strong draft. I just don’t get the logic.

???

Queen outplayed Yang by most metrics in this game:

17pts vs 15 pts, 10 reb vs 3reb, 3ast vs 2 ast, both had 1 steal and 2 blocks, +10 vs +2

Yang might end up better than Queen, but we go a little overboard on this site sometimes.

Queen doesn’t fit the modern era as well as Yang, plus Queen is as bad as it gets in his defense. Queen is the type of player I’d expect to play well in SL. For those reasons it’s not an overreaction take.

Don't know. There's always other options. This is, I believe, ESPN's second year broadcasting summer league. I imagine that when it signed up for it, ESPN execs didn't anticipate load management to make its way to summer league and for teams to be routinely sitting high profile draft picks.

Dude. Load management has been a staple for years. No one should be surprised that it’s happening. ESPN knows this and still broadcasting because there’s still more generated interest in SL than whatever the other options were. Lol