2006 Vegas Summer League Journal

Celtics.com's Peter Stringer is following the Summer League team in Las Vegas and keeping a journal, as well as filing game reports, interviewing the guys, and probably playing some craps before the week is over.

Note: Opinions expressed herein are solely those of the author, and do not necessarily represent those of the Boston Celtics organization.

Sunday, July 16 - 12:47 p.m. - BOSTON

We're still fighting jetlag but back in Boston. The Toshiba Vegas Summer League announced their first and second All TVSL Teams. Ryan Gomes was named First Team All TVSL and Sebastian Telfair was selected for the second team. Neither played in Friday's game. Meanwhile, Gerald Green and Allan Ray also had impressive weeks in Vegas and probably should have gotten some consideration as well, but either way, congrats to Gomes and Telfair.

Friday, July 14 - 1:12 p.m. - COURTSIDE

Biggest note thusfar: Ryan Gomes and Sebastian Telfair did not start, and Telfair is in street clothes on the bench. Waiting to get official word on why he's sitting today. Jefferson grabbed two quick rebounds and has a hoop, but also turned over the ball under the Detroit basket twice quickly for four quick Pistons points. It's 20-9 with two minutes to play in the first.

Thursday, July 13 - 10:48 a.m. PST - OFF DAY

Today is an off day for the Summer League Celtics, but there's still plenty to talk about. First off, there's a new photo gallery of action shots from the TVSL. Check that out when you get a chance.

Also, we've got the video of the much talked about Sebastian Telfair's between-the-legs feed to Gerald Green for the monster jam from the win over the Raptors. That's definitely worth another look.

Telfair says that drive and dish is his is game, and based on a few of his plays this week, we'd have a hard time arguing with him.

"That's pretty much been my game: Get in the paint, find my big guys or find shooters," said Telfair. "Inside that five minute mark I know it's time to take over the game."

Telfair did tweak his right ankle in the final minutes of the game and went to the bench for one play before returning to finish off the game. He rode home with a bag of ice and disembarked the bus somewhat gingerly, but a day of rest should do him well today.

- Peter

Wednesday, July 12 - 11:18 p.m. PST - POSTGAME THOUGHTS

There's a much bigger crowd for tonight's Celtics game at the Cox Pavilion, which might be the coldest building in Las Vegas. And in terms of entertainment value, tonight's game was much better than Tuesday's ho-hum afternoon blowout.

I checked in with Al Jefferson again after the game about his right ankle. "It's getting better, man," said Jefferson. When asked if he's still thinking about it during the game, he said, "The only time I'm thinking about it is when you guys ask me about it."

The only concern for Jefferson tonight was his barking at the refs. While he may have had a case on a few calls, his coaches would rather see him focus on his game rather than the whistles.

"I told him he has to do a better job of controlling his emotions. Let the coaches deal with referees," said Coach Tony Brown. "He just has to stay poised and engaged in the game. I thought towards the end he got too excited about some of the calls. But Al's effort at the defensive end is improving every night."

Ryan Gomes quietly submitted another solid performance, scoring 18 points and grabbing four rebounds. But we think we know how he's managed to pad his scoring: After the game, Gerald Green was jokingly accusing Gomes of "stealing" his technical free throws.

The team has Thursday off and will wrap up the Summer League slate on Friday against the Detroit Pistons at 1 p.m.

Wednesday, July 12 - 12:36 PM PST

Shootaround went just under an hour, and the Celtics spent most of the afternoon preparing to take advantage of the Denver Nuggets' press defense.

"Every time they press, we look at that as an opportunity to score," said Doc Rivers from the sideline as they ran through a few sets. If the Nuggets do come out looking to press, and the Celtics respond by going up the floor looking for easy hoops, we could have another high-scoring, wide open game tonight.

The Portland Trailblazers were taking the court as shootaround wrapped up, and Sebastian Telfair had a few minutes to catch up with some old teammates before heading for the bus back to the hotel.

Next order of business for the team? The players were looking for food, while some of the staff was looking for tee times between now and the 6:30 team bus to Cox Pavilion.

Wednesday, July 12 - 8:14 AM PST

It's bright and too early here in Vegas. Shootaround is scheduled for 11 a.m. so I'll have an update sometime after that and before our 7 p.m. tilt against the Denver Nuggets.

In the meantime, my Blackberry was on overload last night as the Celtics Dancers team was picked at Foxwoods, and the photos were flying in fast and furious. Word from the front office is that it was quite an event down at Foxwoods. Anyway, click the "Dancers" link on the left navbar to get complete coverage from the event and see all of the photos.

Also: moment of silence, please, for the 3x4x5x odds craps tables at the Alladin, once one of my favorite spots on the strip. They've knocked it down to double odds last week apparently, and the casino is turning into a Planet Hollywood.

Tuesday, July 11 - BACK AT THE HOTEL - 3:41 PM PST

Just got back from our 111-62 laugher against the Raptors. It was one of those games where one team jumps out early and the other team just can't do anything right. Coach Tony Brown called it the best effort of the Summer League for the Celtics, and was pleased with Gerald Green's performance (he had an alley-oop from Telfair and another sick Tomahawk dunk), saying that today was the first time they'd seen the same Green that was starting to come on at the end of last season.

A lot of things stood out to me about my first in person TVSL game. The first being that both Telfair and Rondo really made a point of pushing the offense, and the team seemed to be looking to fast break at every chance. Couple that with Toronto's turnover problems and poor field goal shooting, and you've got a blowout on your hands.

But the biggest thing you'll notice about these games is high volume of fouls being called. The Summer League is designed to help young referees develop too, and there was definitely some on-the-job learning going on today. Talking with Ryan Gomes on the bus over to the game, he mentioned that there were too many whistles, especially away from the basket, and that the Celtics couldn't get any flow to their game on Sunday because it kept stopping so often for fouls.

"I don't think you can even foul out in this league," said Gomes.

Actually, the word is that you get 10 fouls per game here in Vegas. Somehow Rajon Rondo managed to pick up eight of them in three quarters.

I also asked Gomes if he had another 29 in him today after his Game 1 eruption, and he joked that he was looking for "about 37" today. Had he played the entire game, he probably could have got close; he dropped 22 points in just over 24 minutes by running the floor and staying active on the boards. He also made a few nice moves to the hole for some and-ones.

Gomes was among a handful of Celtics who passed up the team bus ride back to the hotel to stick around and watch some more basketball. Meanwhile, #1 pick Andrea Bargnani was announced to be sticking around to sign autographs after the game.

Monday, July 10 - SOMEWHERE 40,000 FEET OVER NEBRASKA - 11:26 PM EST

Having your own row of seats on a cross-country flight is a nice surprise. It's not like I'm Big Al's size or anything (think Allan Ray height), but it's a bonus to get to stretch out a little bit after my rough weekend with the Dancers.

Given the somewhat unusual number of roster players and new faces we've sent to Vegas, there's plenty of interest in how this team performs this week. I'm especially excited to see Ryan Gomes after he dropped 29 against the Mavs in Game 1. Gomes has been working hard this summer to diversify his portfolio, if you will, concentrating on his outside game and ballhandling, as well as running through several bigman drills with Clifford Ray.

Gomes has been in the gym virtually every day I've been there for draft workouts and press conferences, to the point I'm starting to wonder if he's got a cot set up in the locker room. Then again, Gomes is a guy who appreciates the opportunity he has here in Boston, and appears to want to make the most of it. Back when he was a draft pick, he worked out for something like 18 different teams (I'll check on that with him again) and certainly had to earn his playing time in his rookie year for the C's. He spent many a home game last year working out on the exercise bike back in the locker room to help keep his conditioning up rather than just riding the pine in a suit.

I'm anxious to see Sebastian Telfair in a game situation. While I've already seen a few nice passes during practices in the Summer League minicamp back in Waltham, I'm waiting to see him operate for us in real competition. And I'll have to add Through the Fire to my Netflix queue as well.

Another guy I'm looking forward to seeing is Leon Powe. He's a guy many feel could eventually turn out to be the steal of the NBA Draft. He also has overcome quite a bit of adversity in his life, not to mention a pair of severe knee injuries.

And finally, there's Ray. Last week after a minicamp practice, Ray was working on his three-pointer from the left elbow. In five minutes, I think I saw him miss three shots. His jumper is smooth, and his shot is just plain pretty. He's another guy who could have had "steal of the draft" potential had he actually been drafted.

Well, the word around the campfire is that guards tend to dictate Summer League play. We'll see if that's the case. We play game three tomorrow against Toronto, and that means #1 pick Andrea Bargnani will be in the house. His draft-night highlight reel was certainly impressive, but then again, well, it's a highlight reel. That's the point. We'll see what he's got tomorrow.

Meanwhile, I'll take minor turbulence as an indication from the muses that I've written enough for now. I'll check back in from courtside at tomorrow's game against Toronto.

- Peter

Monday, July 10 - LOGAN INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT - 6:53 PM EST

The JetBlue terminal is just starting to fill up, just over an hour before flight 483's wheels up time for Las Vegas, Nevada. I'm on my way to check up on the Celtics Toshiba Vegas Summer League team -- and maybe drop some money on the pass line -- out in the desert.

We're hoping things improve for Game 3 when Celtics.com arrives on the scene. The team stands at 1-1 after two very different performances in the first two games.

It's already been a crazy casino weekend for the website. We spent the last two days at Foxwoods Resort Casino following 44 hopefuls who are competing to become the first ever Celtics Dancers team. Check out Jessica Wallace's blog from the Connecticut Woods. And speaking of "The wonder of it all...", I spent the last two days taking pictures of the Dancers.

Make your "tough job" jokes here. I've heard them all, mostly from the dancers.

For those of you who aren't exactly sold on the Dancers concept, I'm here to tell you that the women are working very hard at learning their routines and there's a lot more to fielding a dance team than finding twenty pleasing faces. It's a lot of hard work for the girls and the staff; things were underway at 8 a.m. on Sunday morning and really wont stop until showtime Tuesday night. And they're probably glad I left this afternoon since I was sticking a camera in their faces every two seconds. If you haven't checked out the photo galleries, what are you waiting for? We'll wait for you.

All of the women invited to the Final Audition have considerable dancing talent; there's a lot of great personalities among the finalists and Dance Team Director Marina Ortega will have some tough choices to make when she picks her roster Tuesday night at Foxwoods. And if you're in the area, you can pick up tickets to the event at the casino that day.

Speaking of rosters, back to basketball. I talked to quite a few Celtics players and coaches last week about the concept that the Celtics Summer League team should wipe the floor with the competition because of the amount of experience on our Vegas roster. And the consensus seemed to be that while the Celtics are certainly looking to get the win every night, you can't just roll out five guys and get the 'W'. You still have to execute to win games, and the talent in the Vegas league seems to get better every year.

Witness Sunday night's 78-62 loss to the Clippers, in which the Summer C's only mustered six points in the second quarter. My own eyes have only seen some game photos (FYI - there's some pretty nice ones of Gerald Green throwing down in Game 1 - stay tuned for the photo gallery) and the box scores thus far. I've gotten a few second-hand accounts from folks who were there, but it sounds like our Summer League squad has a few kinks to iron out.

- Peter