The Red’s Army Vegas Summer League wrap up

The Celtics have left Las Vegas and so have I.  It was a pretty good trip for everyone, as many of the Celtics came away from the week with something positive.  Here, in case you missed any of the coverage, is a wrap up of the week.

First and foremost, I want to thank the good folks at MBR Radio in Maine, especially Program Director Matt Boutwell for the help this week.  None of this would have been possible without them.  So let me start with a few items I did for the MBR Radio network:

• I spoke to Dionte Christmas after the E’Twaun Moore trade.  In this piece, I focused on him and Fab Melo and whether they’d be willing to accept an assignment to the Maine Red Claws.  Here is a related story written for Red’s Army.  It includes the full interview with Christmas.
• I spoke to Kenny Hayes, the D-League’s most improved player last year as a member of the Red Claws.  He talks about being so close to an NBA dream, and the struggle between fielding international offers and trying to get that NBA call up
• I also spoke to Austin Ainge, who says the Celtics are excited to experiment with how to use the Maine Red Claws now that they own the team.

Please check those out.  Each piece has an accompanying audio piece with interviews.

Here on Red’s Army, our Summer League coverage started with a conversation with Doc Rivers.  He seemed pretty excited about Jason Terry, but his praise of Terry also involved a shot at Ray Allen.  He also revealed that Paul Pierce shouldn’t have been playing on his sprained knee during the playoffs.

Doc and Danny Ainge also spoke a bit about the rookies, and while they each have things to work on, they clearly like what they see so far.

Rajon Rondo showed up for a couple of games, and took the time to pull guys aside and give them some guidance.

Dionte Christmas was maybe the biggest story of the week, saying first he was mulling big-money offers to play overseas… and then later confirming to me that he was going to accept a training camp invitation from the Celtics.

And then after the last game, I caught up with Jared Sullinger, who spoke about his week, shooting 3’s, and how Vanilla Ice plays into keeping him healthy.

All in all, a fantastic week.  A trip to the Vegas Summer League is well worth it for a fan looking to get out to Vegas for a few days and enjoy a little basketball.  Guys are often available for autographs, and you never know what current NBA stars will show up.

Also want to give a big shout out to Greg Payne  of ESPNBoston.com and the Herald’s Steve Bulpett for just helping point me in the right direction a few times.

How was I supposed to know the post-game interviews weren’t by the craps tables?