Reports surfaced this week that a number NBA players will descend upon Las Vegas in a few weeks to play in a pro-only summer league.  Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld broke the news first and he joins us on the Cowbell Kingdom podcast today.

Highlights

• Kennedy says they’re still assembling the rosters and ironing out some of the final details.  They’re not quite sure who will be participating yet.  But you can expect Kings big man J.J. Hickson to play, since he’s been training in Las Vegas this entire offseason.
• Who came up with the idea for this league?  Kennedy believes Joe Abunassar, head trainer at the Impact Training Facility in Las Vegas.  Jared Dudley of the Phoenix Suns also has played a role in organizing this early September basketball league.
• Will players will be paid to play?  ”They’ve come to the understanding that they’re not going to make any money off this,” says Kennedy.

 

Listen after the jump…

Read more…

Here are the rest of the videos of the first day of Kings Summer League Mini-Camp from Kingsflix.

First up, Paul Westphal:

Speak of the devil, Donte Greene is the next video:

And a little bit of the action from the night practices:

Get ready to see a lot of this next season — Tyreke Evans driving down the middle of the lane for a score.

And some defense that turns into offense for Evans:

Andrew Nicholson is basically running this blog today. Another nice interview after the first practice via Kingsflix.

“I know the offense is going to come to me; I think I did a good job on defense.”

Another great interview from Andrew Nicholson via Kingsflix.

“I think the resurrection of our franchise started today.”

Via Kingsflix

The Kings just released their Summer League schedule and roster right now and it has some very interesting inclusions that I think could end up shaping the rest of the off-season for the Kings.

First let’s go over their schedule of which I’ll be able to attend two of their games in about 10 days.

KINGS SUMMER LEAGUE SCHEDULE

Day                      Date               Opponent                                           Time                 Arena                                          TV/Webcast

Friday                  July 10           vs. Detroit                                           3 p.m.               Cox Pavilion                               Webcast

Saturday             July 11           vs. Golden State                                5 p.m.               Cox Pavilion                               Webcast

Monday               July 13           vs. Milwaukee                                    7:30 p.m.          Thomas & Mack Cntr               Webcast

Wednesday        July 15           vs. D-League Select                         5:30 p.m.          Thomas & Mack Cntr               Webcast

Friday                  July 17           vs. New York                                      3 p.m.               Cox Pavilion                               Webcast

I’ll get to see the first game against Detroit and their second game against the Warriors, which could end up being a legendary Summer League showdown.

Now let’s go over the roster:

2009 NBA SUMMER LEAGUE SACRAMENTO KINGS ROSTER

No.           Player                                    Pos.          Ht.           Wt.            Born                          From                      NBA Exp.

42           Robert Battle                        F                6-8          230            05/05/1981              Drexel                                 R

40           Jon Brockman                      F                6-7          255            03/20/1987              Washington                       R

43           John Bryant                           C                6-11        275            06/13/1987              Santa Clara                       R

20           Pat Calathes                        G-F            6-10        210            12/12/1985              St. Joseph’s                      R

18           Omri Casspi                         F                6-9          225            06/22/1988              Israel                                   R

13           Tyreke Evans                        G                6-6          220            09/19/1989              Memphis                            R

20           Donté Greene                      F                6-11        226            02/21/1988              Syracuse                             1

31           Spencer Hawes                   C-F            7-0          245            04/28/1988              Washington                        2

16           Marcus Landry                     F                6-7          230            11/01/1985              Wisconsin                          R

25           Wes Matthews                     G-F            6-5          220            12/14/1986              Marquette                           R

22           Jerel McNeal                        G                6-3          200            06/01/1987              Marquette                           R

15           Brian Roberts                       G                6-2          175            12/03/1985              Dayton                                R

8           Victor Stowes                       G                6-2          215            09/29/1984              Reinhardt College            R

34           Jason Thompson                F                6-11        250            07/21/1986              Rider                                    1

7           Ryan Toolson                       G                6-4          190            03/21/1985              Utah Valley                         R

SUMMER LEAGUE HEAD COACH:                                 Pete Carril (College – Lafayette)

HEAD COACH                                                                      Paul Westphal (College – USC)

ASSISTANT COACHES                                                      Jim Eyen (College – UC-Santa Barbara)

Mario Elie (College – American International)

Truck Robinson (College – Tennessee State)

Shareef Abdur-Rahim (College – California)

Pete Carril (College – Lafayette)

ATHLETIC TRAINER                                                           Pete Youngman (College – Ithaca)

STRENGTH-AND-CONDITIONING COACH                  Daniel Shapiro (College – Seattle Pacific)

Now here’s where I think your next two roster spots will go for the Kings unless they can get a great deal on a veteran free agent — John Bryant and Jerel McNeal.

John Bryant was an intriguing big man prospect out of Santa Clara who is really big at 6’11″ and 275 lbs. In his senior season with the Broncos, he averaged 18 points, 14 rebounds, and 2.5 blocks per game. He shot nearly 60% from the field and 78% from the free throw line. He can play. The problem is that he’s limited athletically and is pretty slow. But I think you can expect the same type of interest in him that the Kings previously showed in Darryl Watkins.

And with Jerel McNeal, you’re getting the possibility of signing the best undrafted guard in this year’s draft class. He is a good combo guard who has battled some injury problems. He’s probably more of a longshot to make the team than Bryant is but he’s definitely someone who could be manning the offensive attack for the Reno Big Horns this year while he waits to be signed to a 10-day contract with a team like the Kings.