NBA Fans? Are These Summer League Highlights Going to Be Enough?

This summer has seen quite a collection of highlights emerge from summer league basketball games. Maybe I just haven't been paying attention the last few years but am I the only one who's noticed that there's been a flurry of links to spectacular summer league hoops performances as of late? 

Kevin Durant on a scoring binge at Rucker in New York City, Kobe dropping 40 in Los Angeles, Michael Beasley being Michael Beasley (more of a low-light to be fair). Nonetheless, these video clips and reports seem to be all over the web this summer.

Is that going to be enough for hoops fans? It might have to be. The latest news on the current NBA lockout is "take your pick". Either non-existant or a column by Malcolm Gladwell about the psychological reasoning behind sports' franchise ownership. 

That's not good news for NBA fans, players, employees or owners (especially the owners who are claiming financial hardship in this dispute). While the biggest name NBA players have not yet jumped to overseas leagues, many other NBA players are not standing around waiting. Alonzo Gee signed in Poland. Reggie Williams is headed to Spain, as is former Duke standout and second-round draft pick Kyle Singler.

Paul Pierce is helping Impact Basketball organize a pro league in Las Vegas. Up to 70 NBA players are rumored to be participating in this league, which is scheduled to start play following Labor Day.

For an unbiased observer looking over these types of scenarios, the picture is looking increasingly bleak. Could the NBA have timed this any worse? Consider that the league is coming off a season with sky-high ratings for it's playoffs. The league MVP is only 22 years old, the league is flush with rivalries that span the entire nation.

Boston vs. Los Angles, Boston and the up-and-coming New York Knicks, Heat and Bulls, Heat and Mavericks, Oklahoma and Los Angeles, even Clippers-Lakers stands to be a compelling matchup in the near future as the Clippers build around one of the more dynamic power forwards to enter the league in recent memory.

Now it's increasingly looking like all that momentum is going to come to a grinding halt. We're not talking about missing a few games. Right now the projection and predictions all point toward a lost season. No NBA basketball preseason, regular season, All-Star game or postseason.

At some point, perhaps David Stern or the players or even better, both, will realize just how outrageously stupid this would be. Sure, the owners can survive a lost season with far more ease than the players can. Still if you're an NBA owner concerned with the value of your franchise: fan backlash, empty arenas, and a dramatic decrease in merchandise sales all of which are a near certainty should a lost season occur seem like an odd way to insure greater profitability. 

So if those summer league pickup game highlights aren't enough for you then I've got some bad news. Barring a dramatic change in course they're probably all you've got until sometime in the fall of 2012.