The Vegas schedule

July 3, 7:32 AMWashington Wizards ExaminerGeorge Panagakos

Previous Next

Comment Print Email RSS Subscribe

Subscribe

Get alerts when there is a new article from the Washington Wizards Examiner. Read Examiner.com's terms of use.

Email Address   Include other special offers from Examiner.com Terms of Use

JaVale McGee (right) has bulked up and will play at a new
weight this season.  Will he show off his offseason guns in
Vegas? (AP Photo/Nick Wass)

The Washington Wizards are one of 21 NBA teams that will participate in this year's Las Vegas Summer League.  After a Verizon Center mini-camp from July 10th to July 13th, the Wizards will head to Vegas with a select squad that will feature such stars as the red-hot Nick Young and the second-year defense machine JaVale McGee.

Last year's Vegas games featured dominant play by Washington's own Andray Blatche, who averaged a line of 17.6 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game.  He also averaged 6 fouls per game (the Vegas league allows a gratuitous 10 fouls per game). 

Blatche's impressive Vegas numbers did not exactly translate during the full 82 game season, except for his foul average.  Hopefully this year's team will leave room to grow.

While Blatche will not make the trip to Vegas this season, 2009 returnees may include power forward/small forward Dominic McGuire, shooting guard Nick Young, and center JaVale McGee (sadly Vladimir Veremeenko, drafted in 2006 along with Oleksiy Pecherov, will not be making a triumphant, post-Stewie comeback this summer).  Also on the possible list of Vegas-goers are pre-drafters Alade Aminu and Ryan Ayers among others.

The list might change due to unforseen circumstances, I won't say what due to last year's survival rate of course, but the only change-up in 2008 was the addition of Dee Brown after the '08 mini-camp squad was announced.  Man, feels like only yesterday I was urging the man to drive the lane and talking the man up.

Last year Washington finished 2-3 in Vegas play, with wins over the Houston Rockets and the Cleveland Cavaliers.  In fact, you can still watch all five games online by clicking the "archive" link by the appropriate game.  How cool is that? 

This year the Wizards will participate in five more games, including a repeat match-up with the Cavs on July 13th to kick things off and a Game 5 finish against the New York Knicks on July 19th (that's right Fish, it's go time). 

The games should air on NBATV like they did last year, and hopefully they will air on NBA.com as well.  I'll be on the look out once the mini-camp is over.  Here's a peek at the schedule:

*If times are Las Vegas, there is a three hour difference; a 3:30 p.m. game would be 6:30 p.m. our time (ET).

Pretty good set of five games.  You got the arch rival Cavs, no Shaq or LeBron of course, then you got the Nuggets, the T-wolves, probably without Ricky Rubio, which is a downer, but the Clippers will play Blake Griffin and the Knicks, well, they'll probably play some random seven guys including rook Jordan Hill.  Should be fun to watch.

Also, if you're a Kobe Bryant fan, catch him on the Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien, tonight at 11:35 p.m. (or online anytime).  He'll be on around 12:00 midnight, just in time for you to launch some Finals MVP fireworks for a Happy Fourth of July (offer not extended to Los Angeles, you guys are still in a timeout due to the riots)!  Or, you can sleep in like me and religiously watch those 2008 Summer League games before they disappear like it was magic.  But you know, I think this "Internet" thing has a long shelf life.

Edit: 6:46 p.m.; paragraphs about Dee Brown's 2008 run and Kobe Bryant on Conan; have a great Fourth everyone =).
 

If you enjoy my column here on Examiner, please subscribe for instant notifications of new articles and follow me on Twitter!