Athletes abound. ...Summer League notebook - day five.

Notes from Tuesday’s NBA Las Vegas Summer League games. ...Ty Lawson (pictured at left) was schooling. He put on a Point Guard clinic - getting anywhere he wanted to go. If left open - he made shots. Lawson's 18 points, three rebounds, and four assists came in just 20 minutes as Denver waxed Chicago 99-71.  Lawson's Nuggets have yet to lose, bettering their mark to 4-0.

One player I didn’t know much about at all that has impressed me is Shane Edwards of the summer Nuggets. He runs the floor and finishes very well.

D.J. Strawberry impressed me Tuesday in the Las Vegas Summer League with his ability to apply pressure as a defender. He is a menace. ...Likewise the Kings’ Hassan Whiteside is having an impact by either blocking or changing opponents shots. ...I loved Wayne Chism stepping up to take a charge, just as he routinely did at Tennessee. ...Pooh Jeter looked like a certified NBA Point Guard Tuesday. His shot has improved and he already has the ability to run a team.

It’s too bad I never hear anything good about Joey Dorsey’s work ethic because the guy is a highly efficient BIG. I can’t remember the last time a summer team with Dorsey in the middle lost a game.

…We have watched 35 summer league contests from Orlando or Vegas in the last nine days.

Our Player of the Day for day five of the Las Vegas Summer League was DeMar DeRozan. The Raptors sophomore tore it up with 23 points (10-15 FG), and five rebounds in just 20 minutes - helping his team beat the summer Rockets 100-91. DeRozan is among the best athletes participating in Las Vegas but there is no shortage of high flying cats.

Rookie Terrico White - who is balling with the Pistons - sports a 40” vertical jump (and a sickening 3.7% body fat). Were we fielding a track team out of the athletes in Vegas - our club would have to include Ronald Dupree, DeRon Washington, Eric Bledsoe, Sonny Weems, and J.R. Giddens. Sprinters might be Roddy Beaubois, Ish Smith, John Wall, and Darren Collison.

Our “All Day Five Las Vegas Summer League Team” (their game efficiency rating). PG: Ty Lawson - DEN 1.000, SG: Mark Tyndale - DLS .739, SF: DeRozan - TOR 1.15, PF: Larry Sanders - MIL .764, C: Dorsey - TOR 1.142. Bench: Guards: Bobby Brown - TOR .814, John Lucas III - CHI .727, Aubrey Coleman - NO .678, Forwards: Tasmin Mitchell - CLE .789, Othella Hunter - DEN .700. Centers: DeMarcus Cousins - SAC .677, Courtney Sims - LAL .677.

We are hearing that Portland offered Wes Matthews (pictured at right) a five-year contract at close to 34 million dollars. We were ahead of the game on Matthews when we listed him as a draft pick on our 2009 Big Board. He went un-selected but made the Utah Jazz team as a free-agent. 

The second day of the Las Vegas Summer League was forgettable with three of the four games being blowouts. It also was a bummer for Brian Butch. The former Wisconsin BIG suffered a graphically ugly knee injury that was initially diagnosed as a dislocated patella tendon. Butch was taken off the court on a stretcher.

Our Player of the Day for Saturday was NBA veteran guard Bobby Brown. His summer Raptors dismantled Phoenix 103-69. Brown had eleven points (5-6 FG), six assists, and three boards in 21 minutes. He looked totally at ease with ball in his hands and he did whatever he wanted to do against the hapless Suns. It says here that as long as the summer Suns keep featuring Earl Clark - they will not win a LV Summer League contest. In hindsight, Steve Kerr’s draft that yielded Clark, and Taylor Griffin was pretty much a waste of two picks.

Our “All Day Two Las Vegas Summer League Team” (their game efficiency rating). PG: Ty Lawson - DEN .741, SG: Brown - TOR .857, SF: DaJuan Summers - DET .640, PF: Othella Hunter - DEN .750, C: Ed Davis - TOR .800. Bench: Guards: Roddy Beaubois - DAL .676, Devin Ebanks - LAL .428, Forwards: Kim Tillie - GSW .700, Ronald Dupree - TOR .600, Andre Brown - GSW .523, Centers: Joey Dorsey - TOR .684, Omar Samhan - DAL .666.