Cuse Country

The “official” NBA summer league kicks off this weekend in Las Vegas, but other, smaller summer leagues are already underway. One such is the Orlando Pro Summer League, hosted by the Magic, which features six teams including Derrick Rose’s Demetris Nichols’s Chicago Bulls. Their first game was yesterday. There was plenty of pub for it, as it featured the top two picks in the just-concluded draft going head-to-head. There were highlights on Sportscenter and if you looked closely you could see Nichols and Joakim Noah failing to stop Michael Beasley from scoring 28 points. Demetris was a starter for the Bulls’ summer entry. He played 26 minutes and tied for the team lead with 13 points on 5-12 shooting (2-5 from long range). He also had 5 rebounds, 2 assists, and a block. On the flip side, he had 4 turnovers and fouled out. (Beasley took 12 foul shots; I assume these stats are closely related.) The full box score is here (PDF format). The Bulls will have a game each afternoon this week, through Friday, and you can expect Nichols to play quite a bit. Both Donte Greene and Darryl Watkins will be playing in the Vegas league starting next week.