Get rid of NBA’s summer league blues

What a time for the NBA with this scandalous activity going on and seemingly no one able to do anything.
No, no, not that referee thing.
Tim Donaghy, NBA enemy No. 1?
I guess for now, though I continue to believe, as NBA commissioner David Stern said and hopes, that Donaghy is merely one rogue criminal. And what business or government doesn't have one? I really don't know of any. Though this, at the very least, will lead to some referee accountability that has been missing.
No, the scandal which won't go away is the NBA summer leagues.
What is the point of all that? And why do they continue to have them?
Really, have you ever, ever heard any team say they are keeping a player based on summer league? Heck, just about the entire rosters are filled anyway between veterans and drafted players. Just what is the purpose of these things?
Yes, other than team types getting a week in Vegas or somewhere on the team, plenty of golf and good meals and, you know, "Honey, I'm working."
Yes, there's that.
But the real malfeasance is the way this thing really works, and because of the often sinister backdrop to summer league, teams are starting to pull out.
Don't be surprised within a few years if many teams simply hold there own, extended mini-camps in the summer to evaluate their prospects and take a serious look at players they are interested in under their systems.
That's what summer league is supposed to be, but it's degenerated into a series of exhibitions and a strong arm showcase for the players of certain powerful agents who use their top players as leverage to help sell their other clients.
It's one of the secrets of the summer league dance.
Certain agents pressure teams to hire players the team have no interest in, using the bigger name players they represent as leverage. Sort of, "I'll talk a deal with my main guy if you give this other guy a look." Or, "Do me a solid. I'll make it up to you down the road."
Teams are always chasing that carrot for a better deal or another player, so they put the stiff on their summer league roster, and it gives the agent another selling point for future clients, that he can get you on an NBA roster for a look. It can produce more clients for the agent and perhaps bigger and better ones. Sort of by saying "Just look at the guy I got a shot for. Imagine what I can do for you."
It's a dirty business that teams get sucked into.
There are situations where the summer leagues make some sense, like with a team with a half dozen or so young players or free agents, a chance to see those players in game situations.
Though the bigger ones can get bored quickly.
After a few lackluster efforts, Greg Oden went home for ice cream.
Kevin Durant spent a little time throwing up shot after shot and showing that it may be tougher than he thinks to be the next great thing when Renaldo Balkman gave him all sorts of trouble.
There is some competition of a varying level as guys who are looking to make rosters or maybe avoid the D-league play aggressively. Though teams worry some at that point of their valuable properties getting hurt.
There once was a lot more competition to the thing.