Source: http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2011/09/kobe-bryant-verbal-agreement-italian-team.html
יום שישי, 30 בספטמבר 2011
Kobe Bryant's reported deal with Italian team may be in jeopardy
Scheduling issues might complicate Kobe Bryant's plan to play overseas in Italy
How did today?s NBA season-saving session go?
David Stern and Adam Silver, following Thursday's six-hour collective bargaining session with NBA player representatives:
"Meh."
Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski has a much more dour take from inside the proceedings:
Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan Dallas Mavericks Cleveland Cavaliers
Your daily reminder that every lost NBA game hurts more people than you know
We've gone on at length, since July, about the financial impact an extended NBA lockout will have on thousands of North American workers that rely on an 82-game season to put food on the table. Workers that need those 41 home games to help chalk up the hours, and earnings. Men and women that have nothing to do with a terrible application of a mid-level exemption by owners, or player that burned through his rookie contract in just a few months.
What we forget, when we mock the half-canceled NBA preseason, is the sheer amount of workers that will be hurting due to a delayed series of games that nobody really cares about. Yes, the preseason counts.
Watch this video:
And then there's this, from the Los Angeles Times and via Pro Basketball Talk. The less said about it, the better, because we're not allowed to use rude language in these pages:
"It's going to devastate these workers," said Mike Garcia, president of the SEIU-United Service Workers West union, with nearly 1,000 members working at the three NBA arenas in California: Staples Center, Oracle Arena in Oakland and Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento. "They have become very dependent on these jobs," he said. The workers include janitors, ushers and ticket-takers who earn about $11 an hour on average.
An additional 700 food-service workers at Staples Center would be idled if Lakers and Clippers games were scrapped, said Tom Walsh, president of Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees Local 11, the workers' union.
Multiply that by the 28 other arenas NBA teams use, and that doesn't even begin to estimate the impact an extended lockout will have.
Meanwhile, the NBA's players may have dissuaded the NBA from insisting on a hard salary cap. Good ? job?
Carmelo Anthony doesn?t understand ?Muhammad Ali-type statements?
The lockout isn't over yet, so we could have something to top this, but it appears as if an NBA player has given us the first Kenny Anderson-type statement.
You remember Kenny, right? During the lockout that stretched from July of 1998 to January of 1999, he was quoted by the New York Times as saying this, unabashedly:
''I was thinking about selling one of my cars,'' he said recently, laughing. ''I don't need all of them. You know, just get rid of the Mercedes.''
Oh, Kenny. He wasn't lying, and he wasn't wrong. But even in those relatively well-heeled economic times, the statement didn't sit well with ? well, anyone.
And in Sunday's NBA.com story by David Aldridge, New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony passed this along while talking to The Starting Five's Michael Tilley:
It was shortly after that that my man Michael Tillery (who, by the way, disagrees with me that the stars couldn't put their own run together), from the terrific website The Starting Five, asked Anthony why the star players don't speak out like the NFL's players did during the NFL lockout.
"We're not allowed," Anthony said. "I mean, everybody has their own opinion. You hear people talk here and there. But nobody comes out and says what they really want to say. That's just the society we live in."
He laughed a little.
And, then: "Athletes today are scared to make Muhammad Ali-type statements."
Oh, Carmelo. He's not lying. He's not wrong. But comparing Ali's stand against a conflict in Southeastern Asia that had gone terribly wrong to a discussion over the sharing of actual billions of dollars in Basketball Related Income is the absolute height of absurdity. Yes, athletes today are scared to make Muhammad Ali-type statements (as is the case with most people that want to keep their jobs), but the application of an anecdote like that to a situation like the NBA lockout is completely and utterly wrong.
Aldridge mentions as much:
Forget for a second that Ali got in trouble (with some) for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, for refusing induction into the Army and for not only becoming a Muslim, but a Muslim who supported the controversial teaching of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad until Muhammad's death in 1975. Kind of big things. And by comparison, Anthony was asked about speaking up on a labor dispute involving millionaire athletes and billionaire owners. Kind of little things, in the grand scheme.
And, in Anthony's defense, his point about the relative lack of star power at the bargaining table between the NBA and its players is well-taken.
Yes, in 1998 and 1999 a David Falk-led coterie of famous players helped lead the NBA Players Association, but to an ultimately disastrous affect. The space between the 1995 lockout and the 1998 lockout was filled with escalating top-tier salaries and the routine signing of average players to, quite literally, minimum salary contracts. The stars, during the 1998-99 lockout, attempted to keep that status quo before the rank and file got their way. It wasn't until then that the 1998-99 lockout ended.
"You saw me at a lot of meetings. You see CP. You saw 'Bron at a couple of meetings. But right now, the same thing just keeps going back and forth, so we don't know how powerful we are at this moment. We'll just see what happens."
What happens next, according to CBS's Ken Berger, is a negotiating session on Tuesday that will possibly bleed (or swim, lovingly) over to Wednesday before the observance of Rosh Hashanah sets in on Thursday and Friday. Though it would have made an impact last week to have seen LeBron James, Anthony and Kobe Bryant at the photo opportunity in Las Vegas, supporting their union while a litany of agents attempt to take it down from the inside, their presence isn't really needed in New York this week.
And in that time, perhaps Carmelo could find another outspoken athlete to compare his particular plight to. Something perched in the middle of, say, Kenny Anderson and Muhammad Ali.
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ASK IRA: Is Stern bluffing, or is agreement close?
Q: OK Ira, if there is going to be a season something has to happen now. Do you think the commissioner is just posturing, or is the 2011-12 season going to be all-or-nothing? — Tony.
A: It can’t be all or nothing. You can’t lock out players and then cease negotiating, saying the season will [...]
A: It can’t be all or nothing. You can’t lock out players and then cease negotiating, saying the season will [...]
A Clipper dunks the most in the NBA, but it?s not Blake Griffin
One of the biggest joys of the NBA last season was watching L.A. Clippers rookie forward Blake Griffin dunk on opponents, cars, and pretty much anything that ended up in his immediate area. He was relentless, playing with fury and passion that defined his every move on the court. Griffin's game expanded as the season progressed, but his dunks were always the biggest draw.
Yet, for all the attention he got, he didn't dunk as regularly as two other players, one of whom was his own teammate. At the Warriors blog Golden State of Mind, the writer Evanz ran the numbers to figure out which players produce the most dunks, lay-ups, tip-ins and hook shots in the league (via PBT). Except, instead of using the raw totals, he did a little statistical work to figure out which players attempt the most dunks per 100 possessions of playing time. You can check out the full list at GSOM, but the top 10 is as follows, in order: DeAndre Jordan, Dwight Howard, Blake Griffin, JaVale McGee, Tyson Chandler, Ryan Hollins, Hakim Warrick, Andrew Bynum, Kenyon Martin and LaMarcus Aldridge.
The startling placement here isn't that Griffin didn't finish first -- Howard had 227 dunks to BG's 214 in 2010-11. Instead, it's that Jordan, a limited player who had a mild breakout campaign, outpaced his teammate by a margin of 4.45 to 4.04. For all the attention Griffin got for attacking the rim, Jordan actually did so more frequently.
In part, that's because Jordan is one of the most athletic centers in the league. Then again, it's hard to say he's any more athletic than Griffin -- the truth is that he's just more limited and relies on dunks to score. The takeaway here isn't that Griffin is somehow not as relentless a dunker as we previously thought, but that his game is more varied than we often suggest. He's an athletic freak, but he's also a really talented basketball player.
Griffin's young, so we have plenty of time to appreciate his many gifts. Still, we may have to start that process sooner rather than later. Rookies don't average 22.5 ppg on 50.6 percent shooting just because they're great at jumping. They have to approach the game as thinkers as well as athletes.
Lockout videos: Tracy McGrady, when he was amazing
During the 2002-03 NBA season, Orlando's Tracy McGrady averaged over 32 points per game. He made 46 percent of his shots from the floor, 39 percent from long range, and hit 79 percent of the nearly 10 free throws he took per contest. Also, he didn't spend half the year on the shelf; as McGrady managed 75 games for a middling Orlando team. His Player Efficiency Rating that year was a LeBron-esque 30.3.
And, with a nod to ClutchFans, here's a clip of him dropping 46 points with 10 rebounds and 10 assists against the defending Eastern Conference champions from New Jersey:
Something To Talk About ?
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS –�We’ve known all along that some sort of compromise was the only way to solve the NBA’s labor issue in time for the regular season to begin on time. But all we’ve heard for weeks is that the sides were so far apart that an on-time start was little more than a [...]
Source: http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/09/28/something-to-talk-about/
ASK IRA: Is Stern bluffing, or is agreement close?
Q: OK Ira, if there is going to be a season something has to happen now. Do you think the commissioner is just posturing, or is the 2011-12 season going to be all-or-nothing? — Tony.
A: It can’t be all or nothing. You can’t lock out players and then cease negotiating, saying the season will [...]
A: It can’t be all or nothing. You can’t lock out players and then cease negotiating, saying the season will [...]
Cleveland Cavaliers Miami Heat Shaquille ONeal Kevin Garnett
David Falk says he could fix the lockout in one day, is now a wizard
If we've learned one thing about the NBA lockout over the past few months, it's that, no matter when a deal is finally reached, the entire process is going to take a while. The players and owners started too far apart and held too fast to their demands for anything to be resolved after only a few meetings. We can only hope that we don't miss a large portion of the season.
Apparently no one told former NBA superagent (and current regular agent) David Falk about these intractable disagreements. Armed with the powers of magick, or some other supernatural force, Falk thinks he could solve the lockout in just one day of meetings. From an interview with Toronto's The Fan 590, as transcribed by the fine folks at Sports Radio Interviews (via PBT):
"There are no bad guys. I think that the owners are trying to change a system that they feel isn't working. Obviously there's a number of teams losing money. ? The players are reluctant to give up gains made over a long period of time. So there are no bad guys. This is a difficult challenge, but this is what you hire agents for. In my career, which spans 37 years, I've never once had a player that I represented that I didn't make the deal. The agent for the owners is David Stern ? and the agent for the players is Billy Hunter. It's their job, collectively, to get a deal done. ? We all lose if there's no deal. [...]
"I volunteered. I've given both sides very, very specific suggestions on how to get over the hurdle. ? I think that I could make this deal in one day, with either party. I really do. I know it sounds egotistical saying that, but I know all the owners well. ? Obviously I've represented players for 37 years. ? I'm disappointed that the young stars of the NBA today, the LeBron James, Kobe Bryant, Dwyane Wade, Dwight Howard, those guys need to be involved full-time, not part-time. ? I think that they are allowing other people to determine their future financial fortunes, which is a terrible mistake."
There you have it: Falk is some kind of negotiating wizard whose mere presence can make dogs and cats fall in love with each other. I don't know exactly how he intends to move beyond the current impasse, but apparently "you guys should totally not be so mean and work it out" is the general concept.
It bears mentioning that Falk has played a major rule in collective bargaining negotiations twice before, most notably during the labor fight of 1998 and 1999, when he was widely identified as one of the key mover apart from union and league executives. At that time, at least one of Falk's "young stars," Kobe Bryant, voted against the eventual deal because it barred him from making as much money as possible on the open market. Why exactly does Falk think that everyone came come together now to reach a deal when he has firsthand experience with the stubbornness of people who pursue their own interests without much room for compromise?
I don't have an answer to that question, but it's important to realize that Falk is not an impartial observer here -- he still represents NBA players Greg Monroe, Corey Maggette, and Elton Brand, among others. If he thinks a deal can get done with respect for everyone involved, then he's either being disingenuous or negligent of his responsibilities to his clients. These negotiations will take a long time to be resolved because both sides are serious about � their goals. For Falk to suggest a deal would be so easy to reach is either a case of supreme self-promotion or embarrassing ignorance. The lockout fight is not a debate. It's a battle of wills and media spin.
Video: Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh on ?Law & Order: SVU?
A little more than a month ago, we brought you the news that NBA All-Stars Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh would appear on an early season episode of the NBC mainstay "Law & Order: SVU." On Wednesday night, that episode aired, and it was quite the doozy.
The plot is as follows: A former high school basketball player and current junkie accuses a hugely successful coach (Dan Lauria of "The Wonder Years") of sexually abusing many of his players. An investigation follows, led by the usual "SVU" team, plus a new detective in place of the recently deposed Christopher Meloni. A bunch of really bizarre stuff happens, at which point it becomes clear that the coach also abused Prince Miller (Mehcad Brooks, aka Eggs from "True Blood"), an NBA star seemingly modeled after LeBron James, when he was a young boy. Miller eventually comes forward when he realizes that the coach is still abusing players and must be put away for good.
Melo and Bosh appear in only two scenes, and they couldn't be more different. In the first, they introduce Lauria at his Hall of Fame induction and praise his contributions to his players and the community. In the second (which you can watch here), they stand with Miller as he gives a tearful press conference about the horrors of sexual abuse. Bosh even puts his hand on his friend's shoulder as a show of support.
I have no idea what changed for Anthony and Bosh -- perhaps their personal journey will be an extra on the DVD. What I do know, though, is that Bosh seems to be a more natural actor than Anthony. Mock his reluctance to mix it up in the paint all you want, but don't ever say that he's uncomfortable in front of the camera.
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NBA 2K12 rankings are wrong on Pau Gasol
NBA 2K12 rankings are wrong on Pau Gasol
Source: http://lakersblog.latimes.com/lakersblog/2011/09/dirk-nowitzki-is-better-than-pau-gasol.html
You could be a Maverick for a day
The Mavericks are offering a deal where you get a contract for a day.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheBasketballJones/~3/K2Pn5qC3_rs/
Kobe Bryant wide open to possibility of playing in Italy
Traveling to Italy this fall? You might get a chance to add a basketball arena to your list of must-see destinations. Speaking to the Gazzetta dello Sport in Milan during a sponsor appearance, Bryant called playing in Italy "very possible." "It would be a dream for me," he continued. "There's an opportunity that we've been discussing over the last few days. It's very possible and that's good news for me."
The report says the opportunity in question, an offer from Virtus Bologna of Serie A, is a deal for 10 games over between Oct. 9 and Nov. 16, worth $2.5 million.
When news of Virtus' interest in Kobe surfaced last week, I wrote about all the pros and cons. On balance, I thought it was a tempting offer he ought to pass up. My concerns aren't really about the risk of injury, though it's a consideration, but in other things. What does it look like for Kobe, who has the financial resources to withstand a lockout (and even help others to do the same) to snap up one of a shrinking pool of available roster slots in European leagues, potentially freezing out a member of the NBPA's rank and file from a needed paying gig? What about team-centered workouts? At some point, shouldn't the Lakers engage in them, and can Bryant do that while playing overseas?
Those issues are still very much worth raising, but whether with Virtus or another team, should Kobe agree terms similar to ones reported above he'll address one serious question leaving him open to criticism regarding any overseas offer - that of the money grab. 10 games and $2.5 mil is clearly not a major financial windfall for someone of Bryant's immense stature. He'd clearly be accepting the offer because of the personal significance of playing in Italy, where he spent part of his childhood.
It would be about the experience, which (going back to my list) is absolutely the best reason to take the offer, and the hardest to begrudge.
Rolling Stone names Charles Barkley one of the best characters on TV
One of the great pleasures of modern NBA fandom is having the opportunity to watch TNT's "Inside the NBA" crew spend several hours on TV every Thursday. Whereas every other studio team in sports broadcasting engages in the kind of forced banter that only a focus group could love, Charles Barkley, Ernie Johnson and Kenny Smith (and now Shaquille O'Neal, unless he screws everything up) feel fresh, like three friends hanging out watching a basketball game. In an artificial medium, they seem remarkably genuine.
Barkley has always been the biggest draw; he's a larger than life figure whose opinions drive a lot of discussion about the league. He's so popular, in fact, that Rolling Stone recently named him one of the 11 best characters on the small screen. Here's what Matt Taibbi had to say about the Round Mound of Profound:
Sports programming is one of America's great bastions of slavish conformity, ball-washing and non-thought, a place where a star athlete is commended for blindly following, in no particular order, his coach, his owner and the president of the United States. But into this world TNT thrust Charles Bark�ley, who spices up forgettable midseason games with politically incorrect gibes ("You still owe me 40 acres and a mule ? I've been waiting on that a long damn time") and self-deprecating gags (his halftime footrace against 67-year-old referee Dick Bavetta during the 2007 All-Star Game was one of the funniest sports highlights of the new century). Unlike every other sportscaster in the corporate-sponsored TV universe, Barkley doesn't even pretend to care about most of the games, and sometimes he'll even openly bash the product. ("We better not be doing the Bulls this year," he once groused. "Man, they suck! Bunch of high school kids with $70 million contracts.") In the history of gazillionaire athletes, Barkley is alone with Muhammad Ali in having both the gift of speaking his mind and the sense of humor to match. Owing to his Parkinson's disease, we never got to experience the great second career in television commentary that should have belonged to Ali. But we did get Sir Charles, one of the few true things on the air today.
Taibbi's commentary is pretty much right on as it applies to Barkley the personality. He's unafraid of sacrificing various sacred cows, both in the broader culture and basketball itself, and deserves credit for speaking his mind. If more commentators had his lack of filter, we'd all find sports television more tolerable than it often is.
Unfortunately, Taibbi overlooks the fact that Barkley often gets the facts of NBA analysis wrong. While Chuck certainly understands basketball as its played on the court, he misinterprets fundamental statistical issues and sometimes seems to pay attention to few teams outside of the title contenders. Barkley is certainly an entertaining NBA observer, but it's arguable that he deserves the term "expert." He's a lovable character, not quite an authority.
The question, as it pertains to Barkley's job, is whether or not those gaps in knowledge matter. With the rise of advanced statistics and in-depth web analysis, NBA diehards can quite easily find substantive analysis away from the TNT studio. Barkley's role is to appeal to a large numbers of fans as a personality -- he covers general subjects in broad strokes. We just need to identify him as a character and not a regular expert. Taibbi's take on Barkley, then, exists in the correct context.
Days of NBA Lives: Wherein Gerald Henderson considers the dog psyche
At this point, seemingly half the NBA is on Twitter. It's a wild world of training updates, questions as to which movies they should go see, and explanations of their Call of Duty prowess. Every so often, though, you also get a picture into the more interesting aspects of NBA life. This feature is your window into that world.
Gerald Henderson: How do dogs find so much pleasure in such unsanitary things?
Amir Johnson: #randomthought I should come up with a drug that makes people taller
Jermaine O'Neal: At my boy al harrington crib and there is the smartest chimp I ever seen over here! Wow! yfrog.com/kikrhatj
Carmelo Anthony: Filming #NurseJackie @sho_Jackie.
Amar'e Stoudemire: Off the main topic!!! If Kobe get 800k per game to play in Italy. Let's go over seas !! Lettgo!! NBA???
You can also follow Eric Freeman on Twitter at @freemaneric.
Yao Ming joins the fight in attempting to ban shark fin soup
Former Houston Rockets center Yao Ming, along with billionaire Richard Branson, attended a press conference on Wednesday in Shanghai to raise awareness about a dish you may not have even heard of -- something called "shark fin soup."
Yao is asking his fellow countrymen to stop eating shark fins, and while his words may not make much of a dent in changing a centuries-old Chinese tradition, this is a very good thing. Because the practice of securing shark fins is a terrible, terrible thing.
Shark fin soup is considered a delicacy in China, and though the price of a fin can be more than exorbitant, that doesn't stop the massive consumption of the dish. A dish that, frankly, is more show than substance. Shark fin soup is usually culled from a dried fin (dried out gas station beef jerky is closer in tenderness to a rare-cooked cut of filet mignon than it is to the fin) that essentially re-hydrates itself in a broth usually made of chicken stock and fish oil with other spices.
The broth itself, I'm sure, is delicious. It's soup. The shark fin? It's essentially tasteless, a somewhat gelatinous-yet-stringy goo that hardly even resembles shark meat, which can be pretty tasty. Anything could taste good in that broth, and the fin essentially adds nothing to the proceedings. So why do the Chinese keep gobbling it up?
Because it's a status symbol dish that many can afford, or many will save for months to afford. And in a country that has balanced out both empires, Socialism, rampant poverty, affluence, and myriad other economic climates in its time, status and this dish's historical role in that status means a lot. Just calling it "a tradition" is still a little weak.
So why is it wrong for them to consume shark fin?
Because shark fins aren't culled from a whole caught shark, with its various other body parts being sold for food or other uses. The purveyors of this trade catch the shark, age be damned, cut off its fin, and dump it back in the ocean. Without the fin, the shark cannot swim; and it usually slowly bleeds to death as it stinks like a stone in the ocean.
And because of the sheer amount of both regulated and unregulated shark fin fisherman, entire ecosystems are being blown to bits mainly because all manner of food chain-leveling sharks (the fishermen don't discriminate in what type of shark they go after; and the taste apparently doesn't change from shark to shark) are disappearing by the hundred. All for a piece of "meat" that usually rivals the size of a slim cut of flank steak.
The practice is growing. According to Branson, who stood with Yao Wednesday in damning the trade, China's growing affluence is leading to a massive uptick in the consumption of shark fins:
"There's been a massive increase in shark fin soup and the killing of sharks," said Branson, whose Virgin Airlines bans transport of shark fins. "The world is getting wealthier, particularly in China people are getting wealthier, and they can now afford to buy shark fin soup."
"We're trying to get other businesses to ban the transportation of shark fins," he said.
A reported 1.5 million sharks a week are being slaughtered for their fins alone. And the food, the "prize," is tasteless. Do you know what they make mock shark fin soup out of in China? Cellophane noodles. That's your taste approximation -- cellophane noodles.
It's a noble cause, and one you should be aware of. Because the continued practice is going to decimate the ecosystem that feeds so many other billions of people at a reasonable price, with sustainable food. Food with actual nutritional content.
Big move, Yao.
Metta World Peace donates $285K to mental health charities
Never one to dwell on bad news, Metta World Peace (the basketball player previously known as Ron Artest) has bounced back from Tuesday's early dismissal from "Dancing with the Stars" by spreading good cheer across this great nation. The man is a human positivity machine.
As he often does, World Peace just gave a very large sum of money to a variety of mental health charities. Mark Medina has the details for the Los Angeles Times:
Metta took some steps to bring World Peace on Wednesday by donating $285,000 to mental health charities across America.
He has pledged to give away more than $500,000 that he raised by raffling off his 2010 Lakers championship ring. [...]
"When I was a kid, I did see a counselor," he said. "My mom helped me out, she realized I was having problems when I was 13 years old. She realized I was going through a lot.
"We have a big problem right here in America with mental health, from little boys not understanding what it takes to be a good dad or be a good older brother or a role model -- to violence."
This cause has been a major passion for World Peace since at least the Lakers' championship in 2010, when he celebrated the Game 7 victory over the Celtics by thanking his therapist on national TV. In the past 15 months, he has raffled off his title ring and raised many more funds, all while making the argument that there's no shame in getting help for mental health issues. He has committed to this issue with the kind of dedication we usually only expect from basketball players on the court. World Peace doesn't just have charity interests -- it's arguably the biggest part of his life right now.
He deserves to be commended as much as possible. However, it bears noting that at some point World Peace himself may want to pay attention to his own finances, too. While this specific donation came from his ring raffle, he has his hand in lots of investments and interests, from music to reality TV to charity. Does he have enough money to sustain everything once his playing career is over?
I don't want to make it seem like I think MWP should stop giving to charity. But, at some point, it will be a massive problem if he can't continue to be an advocate for this cause because his bank account has taken a hit. People who support a cause this strenuously are rare. It would be a shame if World Peace had to stop helping those in need.
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China Escapes FIBA Asia With Olympic Berth
The FIBA Asia championship wrapped up Sunday with two critical games for first and third place that finalized the fields for next year’s Olympic action. In the final, China edged Jordan 70-69 to become the ninth team in the 12-team Olympic field. Jordan came back in the fourth quarter and tied the game with 1:32 [...]
Source: http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/09/25/china-escapes-fiba-asia-with-olympic-berth/
Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan Dallas Mavericks Cleveland Cavaliers
5-on-5 looks at Kobe, LeBron, and the lockout
Andy and I participated in today's 5-on-5 feature at ESPN.com's NBA page, focusing on Kobe Bryant and LeBron James, two guys looking to make a point this year. Kobe that rumors of his decline -- and by extension his team's -- are exaggerated, while LeBron hopes to restore some of the credibility lost with his fourth-quarter letdowns in the Finals. Per the 5-on-5 formula, we (along with Tom Haberstroh and Michael Wallace of the Heat Index, and John Hollinger) addressed the following quintet of questions: - Kobe or LeBron: Who would lose more from a canceled season?
- Kobe or LeBron: Who would gain more from a shortened season?
- Kobe or LeBron: Who means more to his team next season?
- Kobe or LeBron: Who has the better shot at being 2012 Finals MVP?
- Kobe or LeBron: Who should finish higher in #NBArank?
Carmelo Anthony doesn?t understand ?Muhammad Ali-type statements?
The lockout isn't over yet, so we could have something to top this, but it appears as if an NBA player has given us the first Kenny Anderson-type statement.
You remember Kenny, right? During the lockout that stretched from July of 1998 to January of 1999, he was quoted by the New York Times as saying this, unabashedly:
''I was thinking about selling one of my cars,'' he said recently, laughing. ''I don't need all of them. You know, just get rid of the Mercedes.''
Oh, Kenny. He wasn't lying, and he wasn't wrong. But even in those relatively well-heeled economic times, the statement didn't sit well with ? well, anyone.
And in Sunday's NBA.com story by David Aldridge, New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony passed this along while talking to The Starting Five's Michael Tilley:
It was shortly after that that my man Michael Tillery (who, by the way, disagrees with me that the stars couldn't put their own run together), from the terrific website The Starting Five, asked Anthony why the star players don't speak out like the NFL's players did during the NFL lockout.
"We're not allowed," Anthony said. "I mean, everybody has their own opinion. You hear people talk here and there. But nobody comes out and says what they really want to say. That's just the society we live in."
He laughed a little.
And, then: "Athletes today are scared to make Muhammad Ali-type statements."
Oh, Carmelo. He's not lying. He's not wrong. But comparing Ali's stand against a conflict in Southeastern Asia that had gone terribly wrong to a discussion over the sharing of actual billions of dollars in Basketball Related Income is the absolute height of absurdity. Yes, athletes today are scared to make Muhammad Ali-type statements (as is the case with most people that want to keep their jobs), but the application of an anecdote like that to a situation like the NBA lockout is completely and utterly wrong.
Aldridge mentions as much:
Forget for a second that Ali got in trouble (with some) for his vocal opposition to the Vietnam War, for refusing induction into the Army and for not only becoming a Muslim, but a Muslim who supported the controversial teaching of Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad until Muhammad's death in 1975. Kind of big things. And by comparison, Anthony was asked about speaking up on a labor dispute involving millionaire athletes and billionaire owners. Kind of little things, in the grand scheme.
And, in Anthony's defense, his point about the relative lack of star power at the bargaining table between the NBA and its players is well-taken.
Yes, in 1998 and 1999 a David Falk-led coterie of famous players helped lead the NBA Players Association, but to an ultimately disastrous affect. The space between the 1995 lockout and the 1998 lockout was filled with escalating top-tier salaries and the routine signing of average players to, quite literally, minimum salary contracts. The stars, during the 1998-99 lockout, attempted to keep that status quo before the rank and file got their way. It wasn't until then that the 1998-99 lockout ended.
"You saw me at a lot of meetings. You see CP. You saw 'Bron at a couple of meetings. But right now, the same thing just keeps going back and forth, so we don't know how powerful we are at this moment. We'll just see what happens."
What happens next, according to CBS's Ken Berger, is a negotiating session on Tuesday that will possibly bleed (or swim, lovingly) over to Wednesday before the observance of Rosh Hashanah sets in on Thursday and Friday. Though it would have made an impact last week to have seen LeBron James, Anthony and Kobe Bryant at the photo opportunity in Las Vegas, supporting their union while a litany of agents attempt to take it down from the inside, their presence isn't really needed in New York this week.
And in that time, perhaps Carmelo could find another outspoken athlete to compare his particular plight to. Something perched in the middle of, say, Kenny Anderson and Muhammad Ali.
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Video: LeBron James self-zings in new McDonald?s ad
As every sane basketball fan knows, Miami Heat forward LeBron James is corporate swine who would rather make a profit than teach children the benefit of proper eating habits and exercise. As such, he recently teamed up with McDonald's for a set of new ads built around their annual Monopoly giveaway game.
Usually, these sorts of ads present the compensated celebrity endorser as an everyday guy who just likes to eat processed chicken with regular pals at his local convenient-service restaurant. LeBron's a special case, though, because most people familiar with his work currently think he's an arrogant jerk who can't be bothered to think about the lives of real Americans. He cannot mingle with the masses because they want no part of him.
The solution is simple: self-deprecation. In this commercial, LBJ sits at a McDonald's table alone as a kindly announcer notes that the odds of LeBron James winning seven championships (you know, the claim he made at last summer's foolish Miami welcome party) are 1 in "oh silly disembodied voice, LeBron would really like you to stop ribbing about that comment because we are all friends here." Thankfully, anyone who participates in this fun game will have a 1-in-4 chance to win a free order of fries. Have you tasted those things? They are like tater cocaine.
It's important to note that LeBron playfully acknowledges a joke at his expense rather than mocking himself directly. The goal here is not to present himself as ridiculous -- it's merely to show that he's self-aware and can handle a few zings at his expense. In other words, LeBron needs to appear open to criticism and generally attuned to what people dislike about him. He can still be a global icon and a supernaturally talented athlete. He just has to realize that sometimes he acts like a high-grade moron.
Then again, LeBron may be so far past normal athlete image maintenance that this sort of brand cleanup won't help one bit. In the end, he may only win fans back when he achieves the multi-championship glory he promised in July 2010. When it comes to James, expectations don't change easily.
(Via TBJ)
Create-a-Caption: Kobe Bryant learns that it?s all about context
Here's the thing, Kobe Bryant: If you make a kid lay face down on the ground and scream at him because you're "motivating him to finish his push-ups at basketball camp," you're a very committed instructor who really likes these little scamps. But if you make a kid lay face down on the ground and scream at him because "he agrees with you having�a lower 'NBA 2K12' rating than LeBron James," you're a monster.
I'm sure it seems like a fine line, but it's actually a very wide and completely reasonable line. You're just sort of a crazy person who wants people to call him "Sarge."
Best caption wins some tough love, Gossett Jr.-style. Good luck.
In our last adventure: Hamed Haddadi has a terrible mustache and is grabbing his crotch. (That was actually Monday's working headline.)
Winner, Tyler: Hamed Haddadi demonstrates how to properly align one's sacral chakra in order to fully focus your chi on defense.
(ED. NOTE: What? It's a real thing. What did YOU think he meant? ... Oh, come on. Get your minds out of the gutter, gang. Can't we just grow up and talk about sacral chakras here? For once?)
Runner-up, Dago: Making a tribute to Michael Jackson ? you're doing it wrong.
Second runner-up, Jones6: "In great American movie 'Problem Child,' Problem Child ran to home plate with a bat then slid in and the catcher was all like this. Funny country, that America."
Report: Magic?s Earl Clark leaves China?
Earl Clark, who played for the Magic last season after arriving in a December trade from Phoenix, reportedly is fed up with playing in China and is leaving.
The operative word is “fed” up, apparently, because according to a partial English translation of a story from the website HoopChina, Clark is bolting because he didn’t like [...]
The operative word is “fed” up, apparently, because according to a partial English translation of a story from the website HoopChina, Clark is bolting because he didn’t like [...]
Source: http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/sports_magic/2011/09/report-magics-earl-clark-leaves-china.html
Kevin Durant willingly wades into a heated NCAA football rivalry
Kevin Durant, albeit briefly, went to college at Texas. Texas is a football rival of the Oklahoma Sooners. Kevin Durant, since 2008, has played pro basketball in Oklahoma. And yet, Kevin Durant still enjoys rooting for the Texas Longhorns, and dismissing the Oklahoma Sooners. Especially on Twitter. Oklahoma residents, and some Sooner players, take issue with this.
And this is a ? thing?
Apparently so. The Oklahoman's Darnell Mayberry recently delved into the iffy back and forth between Durant and Sooner fans, and comes down on Durant's side:
Durant has enjoyed jabbing the Sooners and their die-hard nation every chance he gets. He's added the phrase "Hook 'em Horns" to each autograph he's signed at OU football games. He's sat courtside at OU basketball games and flashed the two-finger Hook 'em Horns sign. He's even taken his needling to Twitter. On Saturday, Durant posted a simple but around these parts scathing message: "LSU > OU?"
[?]
If you ask me, Sooners fans should be happy Durant doesn't embrace the school's sports. He shouldn't. Would you really want him to pretend to be something he's not? That's never been Durant's style in the first place. It'd be even worse if he genuinely accepted the Sooners.
Sooners defensive back Tony Jefferson, however, is far less charitable; tweeting this last weekend:
If I'm honest, signing "Hook 'em horns" in autographs at an Oklahoma Sooners game is one of the more engaging things Kevin Durant has ever done. As far as personalities go, he's rather vanilla, despite his Twitter presence. And the idea that the NBA's go-to good guy would risk scorn in the league's otherwise untouched heartland has me giddy. And it's not because I'm a St. Louis Cardinal fan that grew up in Chicago, or a Chicago Bears fan that currently lives in Indianapolis Colts territory.
Fandom is fandom, and it shouldn't be tempered, dismissed, or overturned because of working conditions. The idea of community and territory has been just about shot to hell because of the presence of cable TV and the Internet -- witness LeBron James growing up a Yankees and Cowboys fan while living in Akron, Ohio -- but regional rivalries die hard. For Durant to take to this sort of (admittedly, silly) back and forth after just one year at Texas is kind of cool.
And, to echo Mayberry's thoughts, for him to stick to his horns, so to speak, is fantastic. This is a star in need of some edge, and in an era where tattoos can't even raise our ire, we'll take what we can get -- 140 characters at a time.
Hook 'em, KD.
How many minutes should Kobe Bryant play next season?
How many minutes should Kobe Bryant play next season?
C-a-C: This lockout has robbed us of Rudy Fernandez?s telekinesis
Well, now you've really done it, NBA. I mean, it's bad enough that the lockout has already cost us free agency, Summer League, MUSCLE WATCH and basically all of the Denver Nuggets. Now we've also lost Rudy Fernandez, late of the Portland Trail Blazers and recently of the Dallas Mavericks (well, actually, "theoretically of the Dallas Mavericks," since he's still never suited up for Rick Carlisle), to Spanish club Real Madrid.
This would be a problem in any year, as Rudy is an intriguing dude to have in the league ? a mixture of explosiveness, marksmanship, surliness and scruffitude who is in equal measures delightful and maddening, but almost always entertaining. It is especially problematic this year, however, because Fernandez's long-latent mutant abilities have manifested themselves, and he has developed the power to move objects with his thoughts. (This is probably why Mark Cuban and Donnie Nelson sought Fernandez out after the season; rumors have long persisted that Roland Beech and his crew have been developing an advanced-stats version of Cerebro. This will likely be a panel topic at the next MIT Sloan Sports Analytics Conference.)
He's still harnessing this newfound talent, but he broke it out sparingly while playing for the Spanish national team in the recent Eurobasket tournament, and now, we won't get to see it. This lockout has robbed us of Rudy Fernandez's telekinesis. We are all poorer for this lockout, vis a vis telekinesis. Such a shame.
What sweet nothings do you think Rudy is mind-whispering to the ball to make sure it travels safely into the hands of Marc Gasol? Best caption wins some really helpful telekinesis tips and tricks to help you get on Rudy's level. Good luck.
In our last adventure: No face is more laden with excitement than Kyle Lowry's face. Kyle Lowry's Face Over Everything (KLFOE).
Winner, Lamachine: Kyle Lowry: "Then Coach said, 'We're shipping [Aaron Brooks] out,' and I was like, 'LAAAAHHHD, thank you!'"
Runner-up, azv321: Jared Dudley: "Kyle, I'm so glad you're also excited Eddie Murphy is hosting the Oscars! Let me see your Mrs. Klump impression!"
Lowry: "Hercules! Hercules!"
Dudley: "Yeah, that's the ticket."
Video: Blake Griffin interns it up at ?Funny or Die?
Warning: Video contains NSFW language.
Several weeks ago, Blake Griffin hit the newswire for an accomplishment that had nothing to do with dunks. Like many young professionals with no plans for the summer, Griffin decided to take an internship, specifically with the Internet humor website Funny or Die. Sure, most interns don't also make millions of dollars per year, but how else is a kid going to break into the comedy world? Open mic nights are for the weak.
Now, Funny or Die has taken us inside Griffin's time with the company with this spoof of the HBO Sports series "24/7." It's fitfully funny, although probably a little too dependent on stock "interns get treated like human garbage" humor. Still, there are some nice bits, including the part where Griffin learns how to use a phone.
It also must have been a real thrill for the league's most exciting player. That's because, towards the end, Griffin gets to perform with the man who is quite clearly his comedy inspiration, Will Ferrell. If I'd ever gotten a chance to meet Henny Youngman, I don't think I could have held it together as well as BG does here. Take my blog, please!
(Via TBJ)
FIBA Power Rankings
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS (NEW JERSEY BUREAU) – The EuroBasket and FIBA Americas tournaments are in the books, but there’s still some basketball to be played before the 12-team field for next year’s Olympics is set. The FIBA Asia championship, which wraps up on Sunday, will determine the ninth team to qualify for the Olympics, as [...]
Source: http://hangtime.blogs.nba.com/2011/09/19/fiba-power-rankings/
Video: Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh on ?Law & Order: SVU?
A little more than a month ago, we brought you the news that NBA All-Stars Carmelo Anthony and Chris Bosh would appear on an early season episode of the NBC mainstay "Law & Order: SVU." On Wednesday night, that episode aired, and it was quite the doozy.
The plot is as follows: A former high school basketball player and current junkie accuses a hugely successful coach (Dan Lauria of "The Wonder Years") of sexually abusing many of his players. An investigation follows, led by the usual "SVU" team, plus a new detective in place of the recently deposed Christopher Meloni. A bunch of really bizarre stuff happens, at which point it becomes clear that the coach also abused Prince Miller (Mehcad Brooks, aka Eggs from "True Blood"), an NBA star seemingly modeled after LeBron James, when he was a young boy. Miller eventually comes forward when he realizes that the coach is still abusing players and must be put away for good.
Melo and Bosh appear in only two scenes, and they couldn't be more different. In the first, they introduce Lauria at his Hall of Fame induction and praise his contributions to his players and the community. In the second (which you can watch here), they stand with Miller as he gives a tearful press conference about the horrors of sexual abuse. Bosh even puts his hand on his friend's shoulder as a show of support.
I have no idea what changed for Anthony and Bosh -- perhaps their personal journey will be an extra on the DVD. What I do know, though, is that Bosh seems to be a more natural actor than Anthony. Mock his reluctance to mix it up in the paint all you want, but don't ever say that he's uncomfortable in front of the camera.
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Poll: When will the lockout affect how big of an NBA fan you are?
The NBA lockout officially cost the league training camp and part of preseason today, meaning the lockout is legitimately impacting Orlando residents for the first time. The Magic will lose two road games and two home games in the preseason, so arena employees, local businesses and other related entities will lose profits they would’ve earned [...]
You could be a Maverick for a day
The Mavericks are offering a deal where you get a contract for a day.
Source: http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/TheBasketballJones/~3/K2Pn5qC3_rs/
Kobe Bryant Michael Jordan Dallas Mavericks Cleveland Cavaliers
Adonal Foyle hosting party on Friday to benefit his foundation
Adonal Foyle will host his Autumn Arts Party on Friday to raise money for his charity, the Kerosene Lamp Foundation.
Kyle Korver spent a day as a Wrigley Field groundskeeper
The NBA lockout has forced many NBA players to pursue new forms of employment. For most, that means plying their trade in foreign lands. Others (okay, just one) have decided that professional video game leagues are the future. In this brave new world, millionaires can take on the occupations of our nation's working stiffs.
Bulls shooting specialist Kyle Korver did exactly that during Sunday's game between the Chicago Cubs and Houston Astros at Wrigley Field. As evidenced by the photo above (via K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune), Korver spent the day helping out around the ballpark, much of which was spent helping out the groundskeepers. Korver also spent at least some time serving dessert to fans in the stands. Pay attention to that last bit, because it's one of the few times you'll see the shot-happy Korver register an assist.
Before you get any ideas, it should be noted that Korver's time as a menial laborer appears to be tied to his charity work with Seer Outfitters, although further details have not come out quite yet. (On top of that, he has a previous relationship with the Cubs.) I'm not sure exactly how Korver's raking of the mound will help kids in need, but if it's for a good cause then who cares. I'll just assume that a prior plan to do something on the set of "Two and a Half Men" fell through after they got wind of Ashton Kutcher's new look. The jokes only make sense if the two of them look alike. It's like how we can't call Chris Bosh "Predator" since he cut his hair.
With any luck, Korver will spend time working at other Chicago landmarks, just hanging out with the folks and helping make their days a little brighter. In two weeks, expect him to play cashier at Hot Doug's and reenact the shooting of John Dillinger outside the Biograph Theater. Because locals just hang out around the tourist attractions, right?
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