Dog Days of Summer League - Rockets VSL Semi Finals Thread Etc

Hi Dreamshakers.  It appears that things have calmed down for a bit after the flurry of disappointment, recrimination, and ultimately, relief, of the past few days.

It now appears that despite:

Not signing Carmelo Anthony, never a serious possibility as far as I was concerned given his homelife, major media market requirement, and desire for max cash.

Not signing LeBron James also never a serious possibility if you thought about it, plus he didn't take a meeting with Houston. Plus, the disappearing ink was right.

Dodging a bullet/not getting the third star with Chris Bosh (covered ad nauseum elsewhere).

The heartbreak of Chandler Parsons hooking up with billionaire wingman Mark Cuban.

The Return of Ariza, seemingly a wiser, more skilled, Trevor Ariza, though the blank affect is evidently the same as ever.

Despite all that, the Rockets did not fold the franchise, cancel the upcoming season, fire Daryl Morey or roll over and die as was widely expected, if not demanded, by media outlets and the Self-Appointed-Punditocracy/Torch-Bearing-Mob of the NBA. (As opposed to regular reporters, though they've pitched in, too.) This mob seems to become more annoying, pointlessly snarky, vituperative, dog-in-the-manger, and less thoughtful by the day. #unfollowthetwitmob

I suppose the Twitmob thought they'd be better at something, anything, ping-pong, than Daryl Morey.  In this they were wrong, as usual.  Which reminds me of a lesson, that in retrospect was a bargain,  I learned on Canal Street in New Orleans of a summer evening: "Never take another man's bet.".  Without getting into game theory and the nature of betting, this is good default wisdom.

On Summer League - hey the Rockets VSL team is winning, Isaiah Canaan looks great driving, shooting, playing defense, everything but passing, really.  Donatas Motiejunas looks to be fulfilling certain readers' fantasies, and Nick Johnson is an NBA player.  What sort of player I don't know, but he belongs.  The spirit of Clint Capela hovers over the games, sadly.  Why we let a bunch of Europeans take over much of the international management of basketball is beyond me, given the honest, forthright, admirable and entirely above reproach job they've done with their main sport. "FIBA" is uncomfortably close to "FIFA", and that spells "annoying, untrustworthy, mendaciously legalistic, and Euro" somehow.