Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Showing posts with label NBA. Show all posts
Friday, July 29, 2011
Friday, July 1, 2011
NBA lockout could again damage David Stern's league as players and owners face huge labor divide
Mitch Lawrence
While announcing Thursday that his owners had decided to lock out the players, David Stern managed to come up with one piece of good news on an otherwise brutal day for his NBA.
Stern will not resort to going without a shave as long as the two sides can't agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. Pro basketball fans might not remember, but when the commissioner and his owners locked the players out in 1998, he didn't pick up his razor during the 204-day work stoppage.
"I won't be doing that again," he said. "Sorry, it was really ugly."
Aside from having problems with his appearance, Stern has good reason not to start growing a "lockout" beard. The way this one is shaping up, he could be looking like Rip Van Winkle by the time his owners and players reach an agreement.
"We have a huge philosophical divide," Stern said.
Do they ever.
Owners say the current economic system is broken. All it does is assure them of red ink on their books, and they're tired of losing their shirts.
Players counter that the current system is fine, but they think that owners throw away millions with bad signings, as Isiah Thomas made a career doing when he ran the Knicks.
A plague on both their mansions!
But this is why we're in Day 1 of an NBA lockout, why Stern was talking about all the negative fallout that is coming his way.
"I'm not scared," he said. "I'm resigned to the potential damage it can cause to our league."
There was damage in 1999, with the league needing a good two years to rebuild its goodwill with millions of fans. That's where the two sides are headed again, because they haven't found a way to divide $4.2 billion.
"Our differences are mammoth," said Billy Hunter, executive director of the Players Association.
Here's what is particularly troubling, but not surprising: Everybody has known about the great philosophical divide ever since owners and players decided to start negotiating in 2009. Yet, they have done nothing in all this time to get on the same page.
As Stern admitted Thursday, maybe they need to chuck everything they've done so far and just start over when talks resume in perhaps another two weeks.
In case you really thought the two sides were speaking the same language, the players' last offer Thursday put that to rest. This is where Stern got the players, got them good.
Hunter and his guys had already left the building when Stern revealed that their last offer, made in the three-hour negotiating session leading up to the midnight expiration of the CBA, actually would have increased the average salary from $5 million this season to $7 million.
How do you think that will that play in America today?
Do you think that will help the players, who already are considered overpaid and greedy?
Both sides are going to catch hell for this. Not now, when basketball fans can live without the NBA for a few months. There won't be summer leagues now and free agency is getting delayed, but so what?
But fall will eventually roll around, and fans will start wondering how LeBron James is going to recover from his colossal Finals flop. They're going to begin to ponder if Mike Brown is going to be a good fit with Kobe Bryant. Knicks fans will be consumed with whether Mike D'Antoni can teach defense, and whether Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire will try to play that end of the court.
And when those issues begin to be raised when camps would be starting, at the beginning of October, and there's still no agreement, then the players will get the backlash. They always do.
But as for now, it won't hurt the players. That was evident during a surreal scene Thursday in the lobby of a midtown hotel, when Hunter and player president Derek Fisher were met by a mob of reporters, minutes after they left the last, futile negotiating session.
For a few minutes, reporters and fans mixed and that's never a good combination, especially when there's breaking news. Fisher had just said that owners were still insisting on a hard cap and was about to make another point when a fan walked right into the discussion and rudely interrupted.
"Big fan, Derek!" the fan said. "Can I get a picture?"
Fisher, of course, complied. Because he gets it.
Friday, Saturday and next week, the fan will treasure the shot.
But by the start of next season, if there's still no deal, you can bet he'll be using it for a dart board.
NYDailyNews.com
Robert Rosamilio/News
During the last NBA lockout, commissioner David Stern grew a beard. He will not do that again. While announcing Thursday that his owners had decided to lock out the players, David Stern managed to come up with one piece of good news on an otherwise brutal day for his NBA.
Stern will not resort to going without a shave as long as the two sides can't agree on a new collective bargaining agreement. Pro basketball fans might not remember, but when the commissioner and his owners locked the players out in 1998, he didn't pick up his razor during the 204-day work stoppage.
"I won't be doing that again," he said. "Sorry, it was really ugly."
Aside from having problems with his appearance, Stern has good reason not to start growing a "lockout" beard. The way this one is shaping up, he could be looking like Rip Van Winkle by the time his owners and players reach an agreement.
"We have a huge philosophical divide," Stern said.
Do they ever.
Owners say the current economic system is broken. All it does is assure them of red ink on their books, and they're tired of losing their shirts.
Players counter that the current system is fine, but they think that owners throw away millions with bad signings, as Isiah Thomas made a career doing when he ran the Knicks.
A plague on both their mansions!
But this is why we're in Day 1 of an NBA lockout, why Stern was talking about all the negative fallout that is coming his way.
"I'm not scared," he said. "I'm resigned to the potential damage it can cause to our league."
There was damage in 1999, with the league needing a good two years to rebuild its goodwill with millions of fans. That's where the two sides are headed again, because they haven't found a way to divide $4.2 billion.
"Our differences are mammoth," said Billy Hunter, executive director of the Players Association.
Here's what is particularly troubling, but not surprising: Everybody has known about the great philosophical divide ever since owners and players decided to start negotiating in 2009. Yet, they have done nothing in all this time to get on the same page.
As Stern admitted Thursday, maybe they need to chuck everything they've done so far and just start over when talks resume in perhaps another two weeks.
In case you really thought the two sides were speaking the same language, the players' last offer Thursday put that to rest. This is where Stern got the players, got them good.
Hunter and his guys had already left the building when Stern revealed that their last offer, made in the three-hour negotiating session leading up to the midnight expiration of the CBA, actually would have increased the average salary from $5 million this season to $7 million.
How do you think that will that play in America today?
Do you think that will help the players, who already are considered overpaid and greedy?
Both sides are going to catch hell for this. Not now, when basketball fans can live without the NBA for a few months. There won't be summer leagues now and free agency is getting delayed, but so what?
But fall will eventually roll around, and fans will start wondering how LeBron James is going to recover from his colossal Finals flop. They're going to begin to ponder if Mike Brown is going to be a good fit with Kobe Bryant. Knicks fans will be consumed with whether Mike D'Antoni can teach defense, and whether Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire will try to play that end of the court.
And when those issues begin to be raised when camps would be starting, at the beginning of October, and there's still no agreement, then the players will get the backlash. They always do.
But as for now, it won't hurt the players. That was evident during a surreal scene Thursday in the lobby of a midtown hotel, when Hunter and player president Derek Fisher were met by a mob of reporters, minutes after they left the last, futile negotiating session.
For a few minutes, reporters and fans mixed and that's never a good combination, especially when there's breaking news. Fisher had just said that owners were still insisting on a hard cap and was about to make another point when a fan walked right into the discussion and rudely interrupted.
"Big fan, Derek!" the fan said. "Can I get a picture?"
Fisher, of course, complied. Because he gets it.
Friday, Saturday and next week, the fan will treasure the shot.
But by the start of next season, if there's still no deal, you can bet he'll be using it for a dart board.
NYDailyNews.com
Friday, June 24, 2011
Cavaliers take Irving with No. 1 pick in NBA draft
AP – Kyrie Irving, a former Duke basketball player, is congratulated after being take with the No. 1 pick …
NEWARK, N.J. – Kyrie Irving probably secured his spot atop the NBA draft when he went to Cleveland and beat his future coach in a shooting contest.
Yet even surrounded by family and friends from his nearby hometown, Irving couldn't relax Thursday night.
"When David Stern came up there and said that the Cleveland Cavaliers have five more minutes on the clock, that felt like the longest five minutes of my life," Irving said.
Imagine how Jimmer Fredette felt.
The sweet-shooting NCAA player of the year had to wait about 2 1/2 hours from the time he was picked by Milwaukee to the time he officially became a member of the Sacramento Kings after being involved in the biggest trade of draft day.
"It took a long time, but it's something you've got to do," Fredette said. "They just wouldn't let you out of the room until the trade was official, and I wish it could have been a little bit earlier. I have friends and family that I'm going to go see and hang out with after this, so that's what happens sometimes."
It happened for plenty others in a draft that was considered a dud talent-wise but certainly wasn't dull, thanks to a flurry of trades that including veterans and picks.
There was no chance the Cavs would deal Irving, confident his foot is healthy enough to lead the rebuilding effort that follows LeBron James' departure and no doubt impressed when the Duke point guard beat Cavs coach Byron Scott in a shooting contest during his workout.
Loudly cheered not far from where he starred at St. Patrick's High School in Elizabeth, Irving showed no signs of the toe injury on his right foot that limited him to 11 games last season as he walked up the stairs to shake hands with Stern.
"I didn't have any doubts about going to No. 1. I was looking to the organization to pick who they felt was the right choice," Irving said. "But now to this moment, from being a fan of the NBA draft and now being drafted, it's a special feeling in my heart and knowing that my friends and family were together, it's a memory I'm going to remember for the rest of my life."
A three-team trade that included Charlotte, Milwaukee and Sacramento that had been agreed to earlier in the day wasn't approved until midway through the second round, forcing Fredette to wait around for his NBA destination to be determined after he was taken with the No. 10 pick.
"Took a little while waiting back there, but it's a great moment for me and for my family, and for the Sacramento Kings organization," he said. "Hopefully their fan base is excited because I'm really excited to get out there and start the season with them and have a great year."
A draft that included a record four international players who didn't play at a U.S. college selected in the lottery soon became dominated by deals, which the NBA was still hustling to approve and announce as the second round wound down.
Stephen Jackson, Corey Maggette and John Salmons were part of the three-way deal, and fellow vets such as Andre Miller, Rudy Fernandez, Raymond Felton and George Hill were involved in other trades.
The deals spiced up what was thought to be a lackluster draft, which was missing its usual buzz with the NBA perhaps a week away from a work stoppage.
Three of the first six players taken were from Europe, capitalizing on the absence of some American college players who might have gone in their spots and made this a stronger draft.
Even Irving has international ties. He was born in Australia while his father, Drederick, played professionally there and said he might be interested in playing for the Australian national team.
After grabbing him with their first No. 1 pick since taking James in 2003, the Cavs used the No. 4 selection on Texas forward Tristan Thompson. They were the first team since the 1983 Houston Rockets with two top-four picks.
The Minnesota Timberwolves took Arizona forward Derrick Williams with the No. 2 pick. The Utah Jazz then took Turkish big man Enes Kanter third with their first of two lottery selections.
The league's uncertain labor situation hung over the draft, and likely weakened it. Potential top-10 picks such as Jared Sullinger of Ohio State and Harrison Barnes were among those who decided to stay in school, without knowing when their rookie seasons would have started.
Stern, who could lock out his players next week if a deal for a new collective bargaining agreement is not reached, was booed when he came onto the stage at the Prudential Center, which is hosting the draft while its usual home, Madison Square Garden, is undergoing summer work.
New Yorkers made the trip across the river to join the crowd of 8,417, cheering loudly when Kemba Walker and Fredette were taken in the top 10 and booing when the Knicks made Georgia Tech guard Iman Shumpert the No. 17 selection.
The draft was filled with little-known European players. Kanter hasn't played competitively in a year, forced to sit out last season at Kentucky after being ruled ineligible for being paid to play in Turkey. Lithuania's Jonas Valanciunas went fifth to Toronto and Jan Vesely of the Czech Republic was taken sixth by Washington.
"Basketball in my country is not so popular, but after this night, I think — I hope — that the basketball will be more popular," Vesely said. "I will do my best to help that."
Bismack Biyombo of Congo went seventh as one of six international players who went in the first round, three short of the record set in 2003. The 18-year-old forward moved to Charlotte as part of a three-way deal.
Kentucky's Brandon Knight went eighth to Detroit as casual fans finally heard a name they recognized again. He was followed by Walker of national champion Connecticut, who wiped away tears on the draft stage after he was taken by Charlotte, and Fredette.
"It's been like a movie. This whole year has been magical, honestly," Walker said. "So many different, crazy things have been happening to me, and you know, I just feel lucky."
Irving became the third point guard taken first in the last four years, following Derrick Rose in 2008 and John Wall last year. Rose was the NBA's MVP this season, ending James' two-year reign.
Irving insists he's not trying to replace James — whose highlights were booed when showed on the overhead screen — in a different manner now.
"I'm looking forward to getting to Cleveland," Irving said. "It's a big sports town and I cannot wait to embrace all of the fans there and the fan support. I can't wait."
Kansas twins Markieff and Marcus Morris went with back-to-back picks to round out the lottery. Phoenix took Markieff at No. 13 and Marcus followed to the Rockets.
YAHOO News
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
'Basketball Wives LA' cast revealed: by Alla Byrne
Gloria Govan, fiancée of Laker Matt Barnes, bitterly feuded with other cast members during season one.
A new team of basketball wives will soon be holding court in Los Angeles.
"Basketball Wives LA," premiering August 29 as the latest installment of the popular VH1 reality series, will follow five women as they navigate the ups and downs of their relationships with NBA superstars -- and each other.
The cast includes Kimsha Artest, wife of Los Angeles Laker Ron Artest; Jackie Christie, wife of Doug Christie, former player for the Los Angeles Clippers; and Imani Showalter, ex-fiancée of Charlotte Bobcats' Stephen Jackson.
Fans of the original series, which takes place in Miami, will recognize Gloria Govan, fiancée of Laker Matt Barnes. Gloria bitterly feuded with other cast members during season one, but this time her sister Laura Govan will be there for back up.
If its predecessor is any indication, "Basketball Wives LA" is bound to bring drama.
People.com
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