...gets talked about in blogs! OK, so that's not exactly how the Vegas marketing statement goes, but it works better in this space. I made my yearly sojourn to Vegas this week to check out some basketball Summer League games, and help me get a jump start on evaluating what rookies might be fantasy relevant this season. This year I plan to do individual capsule blogs on the various rookies, so I'll put my on-court impressions there in the upcoming weeks. In the meantime, let me give you a taste of why in Vegas it can be more fun to pay attention to what is going on off the court.

The Summer Leagues are an interesting mix of young studs with guaranteed contracts, young players trying to hustle themselves onto an NBA roster, and vets that never made it and are just trying to get work. Likewise, the stands are full of an interesting mix as well. There are the coaches and GMs evaluating talent, there are journalists and bloggers looking for angles, there are agents and entourages looking to attach themselves to new talent, and there are groupies that are on a different kind of hunt. And just by being in the arena, an average fan can be right in the middle of the action since the players themselves walk around the arena and sit in the stands.

I was scouting the games with Dalton Del Don, and when we first got to the gym we spotted a group of extremely attractive young ladies walk in. We immediately pegged them as either player girlfriends, or "players" that wanted to be girlfriends. Sure enough, before the afternoon was over I saw one of the group trying to talk to Renaldo Balkman at the concession stand.

As I walked down a hallway I saw J.R. Smith talking with a group of older guys, laughing with them about how silly it was that Smith "of all people" played some point guard for the Nuggets last season when it is well known how much he likes to shoot and hates to pass.

But the best behind-the-scenes action happened while I was taking notes during the Grizzlies/Spurs game. I was sitting in the last seat of an aisle, and a few rows up from me across the aisle were a few of the Suns players and a group of females. At one point one of the players came out to the aisle and was talking to someone a few steps up from me. One of the young ladies he was sitting with approached him and started fussing him out for paying too much attention to the other girls. They walked down a couple of steps to get further away from their group…which put them directly on the step next to my right shoulder. They were so close that even with their voices lowered I couldn't help but hear every word so clearly that I almost felt like I should join in. Here is a paraphrased transcript of their conversation, with cuss words removed…

Girl: "I can't believe you were talking so much to that other … (girl) all up in my face."

Player: (monotone) "You're overreacting."

Girl: (voice raising)"Overreacting, nothing. You can't be disrespecting me like that."

Player: (monotone) "You're overreacting."

Girl: (voice an angry hiss) "I'm getting sick of you! This is going to be all over California now…they're gonna be saying I can't even handle my man."

Player: (monotone) "You're overreacting." (As he walks away from her and leaves her in place fuming).

Ah, Las Vegas. Ah, Summer League. Only here would the action off the court be so much more interesting than the action on it.