Celtics return to Vegas summer league

By Chris Forsberg | ESPNBoston.com


The Boston Celtics will return to the Las Vegas Summer League for the first time since 2007 this offseason, according to a release by the NBA noting that 24 teams will flock to Sin City for this year's festivities.

With two potential first-round draft picks and young players like rookies Greg Stiemsma, JaJuan Johnson, and E'Twaun Moore already on the roster, the Celtics -- for a rare change in the Big Three era -- have some young players that would benefit from summer ball. In recent years, the team has only participated in the Orlando summer league, but Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge said recently that the team would consider both leagues depending on the amount of young bodies that could use summer ball.

The Celtics participated in the Vegas summer league from 2004-07. This year's competition will run from July 13-22 and will feature 23 NBA teams and one D-League select squad that will compete on the campus of UNLV.

The 2012 competition will mark the eighth summer that the league has been held in Las Vegas since its inception in 2004. Each of the participating teams will play five games, for a total of 60 contests over the course of the event’s 10 days.


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