Danilo Gallinari (photo. Matt Brown)

As the Orlando Pro Summer League comes to a wrap today, the Vegas Summer League gets started. For the next week and a half, 21 teams will go at it, giving us a first look at some of the ‘08-09 rookies, NBA hopefuls and up-and-coming youngsters.

Here’s Part 1 of the Vegas league Players To Watch:

WIZARDS
* Andray Blatche — Still considered a big piece of the Wizards’ future, he’s coming off of a decent season (7.5 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 1.4 bpg) during which he didn’t really get into any trouble.
* JaVale McGee — First-round pick has talent, size (6-11) and potential (he’s just 20 years old), but needs to work on his strength. Does it matter that the first time I watched Nevada play this past season I didn’t even notice McGee doing anything?
* Nick Young — With Gilbert Arenas (presumably) coming back healthy, Young can start refining his game as an off-the-bench scorer in the J.R. Smith mold.
* Dontaye Draper — One of Carmelo Anthony’s best friends got his first summer league look with the Nuggets (predictably) in ‘07, spent a year playing pro in Australia, and is getting his second NBA shot with the hometown squad.
* Gary Forbes — After killing it in the pre-draft camps, the UMass product was one of this year’s notable draft night snubs. He’s the kind of player who will absolutely go for his in the summer league before ultimately winding up overseas.
* Jonathan Wallace — The ex-Georgetown PG got accepted to G’town’s law school, but he’ll try this basketball thing out first and see where it takes him.

RAPTORS
* Hassan Adams — After a year in Italy, we’ll see if he’s any more NBA-ready.
* Sean Banks — Former Memphis star has been a D-League standout.
* Rod Benson — The ‘Hood Paul Shirley needs to latch onto an NBA squad just for entertainment purposes.
* Joel Bosh — He’s a skinny forward who averaged six points and four rebounds at Alabama State. BUT…he is Chris Bosh’s little brother.
* Daniel Ewing — Never recovered from the Raja Bell Incident in the ‘06 playoffs.
* C.J. Giles — Once projected to be a Lottery pick, C.J. got kicked out of Kansas and Oregon State and spent the better part of this year just working out. He’s seven-foot, athletic and young, so he’ll get plenty of second chances.
* John Lucas — He would have given the Rockets more than Steve Francis did this past year, but ended up getting cut to make room for The Franchise. Is there such a thing as summer league vendettas?

SPURS
* James Gist — Second-round draft pick will catch a couple of bangers on somebody’s head before this week is up.
* Malik Hairston — Remember when he kept holding press conferences at Oregon to announce he wasn’t going pro, only everyone knew he had no business even considering it?
* George Hill — Here’s your chance to check out the most obscure ‘08 first-rounder this side of Serge Ibaka.
* Ian Mahinmi — Everyone in the Spurs’ organization is very high on the kid, a seven-footer who put in work with their D-League team.
* Amara Sy — You might remember him as the Diesel French Guy who won the Nike Battlegrounds 1-on-1 tournament a few years ago.
* Jamaal Tatum — You’ll remember him as the little guard with dreads who killed at Southern Illinois. Tatum gets plenty of love around here from Dime crew member LeKeith, a fellow Saluki.

KINGS
* Quincy Douby — He gets to play Kevin Martin for a couple of weeks and take all the shots he wants.
* Patrick Ewing Jr. — If he hadn’t gotten drafted, guarantee “The Legacy” would have ended up with the Knicks, Magic (where Pat Sr. is an assistant) or Wizards for the summer.
* Spencer Hawes — Fresh off of getting worked over by Shawn Kemp in a Seattle summer tournament.
* Marcus Malone — Karl Malone’s cousin played 15 minutes a night for the University of Houston and cracked double-digits on the scoreboard one time.
* Bo McCalebb — Dime “What’s My Name?” alumni (Issue #37) got buckets at the University of New Orleans (23.2 ppg).
* Juan Palacios — He left Louisville a completely different player than when he first got there. And that’s not a compliment.
* Sean Singletary — He could be their #2 point guard behind Beno Udrih Opening Night.
* Shelden Williams — Who’s had worse pro career so far, Shelden or J.J. Redick?
* Jason Thompson — The Lottery pick with the most to prove can start developing a chemistry with Hawes this week. Are Kings fans pumped that this is their front line of the future?

TRAIL BLAZERS
* Greg Oden — He’s not listed on the roster, but could make a surprise appearance like Kevin Durant did for the OKC team in Orlando the other day.
* Jerryd Bayless — Also not listed on the official roster, but you gotta believe he’ll see time in Vegas.
* Petteri Koponen — Former first-round pick is the odd man out in Portland’s loaded backcourt. He’ll be in Europe again this season…
* Nicolas Batum — …possibly joined by this guy.

SUNS
* Taquan Dean — Put him anywhere on the planet and he’ll fire up enough shots to get 20 points. He might not get the actual 20 points, but he’ll try.
* Jared Jordan — Get ready for a million Steve Nash comparisons.
* Robin Lopez — His offseason workout program should involve luggage-carrying and coffee-making exercises.
* D.J. Strawberry — If Terry Porter is actually gonna use his bench, unlike Mike D’Antoni, D.J. could get some tick when the games count.
* Alando Tucker — See above.

SIXERS
* Dawan Robinson — You may know him as DimeMag.com regular “Doc” from Philly. The ex-Rhode Island guard put up 15 points, 4 assists and almost 2 steals his last year in college and has been playing overseas since.
* Jamont Gordon — A big point guard at 6-foot-4 with triple-double capabilities (at least in college) and the always tricky left-handed game, Gordon was probably the best player not to get drafted this year. Apparently he didn’t sign with an agent and has one more year of eligibility left at Mississippi State, so technically he could pull a Randolph Morris and play college ball this year, then sign with an NBA team immediately following the NCAA season.
* Jawaan McClellan — Never lived up to the hype at Arizona.
* Jason Smith — The Dime crew’s biggest (and only) Sixers fan is delusionally high on “The Dominator” being an NBA star one day. I don’t think he’s that nice, but what do I know?
* Marreese Speights — The Elton Brand signing kind of makes him a useless first-round pick, doesn’t it?
* Thaddeus Young — Goes into this season either as Brand’s backup or the starting small forward in case Andre Iguodala signs elsewhere.

KNICKS
* Renaldo Balkman — Does a hustle-man who can’t shoot have a place in Mike D’Antoni’s system? Balkman could be a poor-poor-poor-poor man’s Shawn Marion with the right coaching. Maybe.
* Mardy Collins — Another of the Knicks’ youngsters who needs to use this summer to prove he belongs on the team.
* Nate Robinson — Last summer in Vegas he showed signs of finally becoming a real point guard, copping the league MVP.
* Danilo Gallinari — He’ll be under the microscope like Yi Jianlian was last summer in Vegas, only Yi had the comfort zone of playing with the Chinese National Team in his first NBA exhibitions.
* Dan Grunfeld — So former Knicks player and GM Ernie Grunfeld’s son winds up on the Knicks’ summer squad? Didn’t see that one coming.

HORNETS
* Hilton Armstrong — Serviceable big guy needs another summer to develop.
* Brandon Bowman — My Georgetown bias probably makes me think Bowman is better than he actually is. His best shot getting to the League is if he turns into a James Jones-type shooter from the three position.
* Nududi Ebi — After making little to no impression with the new OKC squad in Orlando, Ebi gets another shot with the old OKC team.
* Julian Wright — One of N.O.’s young building blocks will get every opportunity to shine here.
* Frank Williams — He’s still around?

TIMBERWOLVES
* Corey Brewer — Was supposed to be last year’s darkhorse Rookie of the Year candidate, but his standout moments were few and far between.
* Rodney Carney — The highlight of his season was dunking on Dwyane Wade …then getting put back in his place when D-Wade crowned him later that same game.
* Kevin Love — Too much has been made about his lack of athleticism and speed. Love should turn out to be just as good, if not better, than Brad Miller in his prime, who was an All-Star and Team USA selection.
* Drew Neitzel — Some think he’s already a better pure PG than Sebastian Telfair. I say Bassy carves him up, but there’s no harm in bringing Neitzel to camp and seeing how he does.

BUCKS
* Joe Alexander — Where does he fit in now with Richard Jefferson on the roster?
* Daniel Dillon — Former 12th man at Arizona averaged two points a game last year. Are we sure he’s not related to someone in the Bucks organization?
* Trey Johnson — On the flip side, this guy dropped savage buckets at Jackson State, good for 27.1 points a game his senior year. And he’d regularly give major-conference schools the business when given the opportunity.
* Luc Richard Mbah a Moute — Brought the 2008 Toby Bailey Memorial “Seemed To Play In College For 10 years” trophy back to its rightful place at UCLA.
* Ramon Sessions — There’s actually a growing number of Bucks fans who wants Mo Williams out of there so Sessions can have the starting PG job.
* Darius Washington — Could push Sessions for the #2 job if he makes it to training camp and/or doesn’t go overseas.