Archive for November, 2011

David Stern is the man winding the hands of the NBA’s doomsday clock. Yesterday he set his alarm to go off on Wednesday when the current offer on the table is set to expire. That deal is reported to be worth a 51-49 split favoring the players. However that deadline might not mean anything as Derek Fisher and the players almost immediately rejected the latest offer. As has been the case every time Executioner Stern has imposed a deadline the union just seems unwilling to play along. The latest edition of the countdown to hoops catastrophe comes with a caveat. [...]

It feels like Matt Barnes has played for just about every team in the NBA. Heck, it feels like Barnes has balled for teams that don’t even exist any longer. One thing Barnes has never done is played pro ball in any league other than the NBA. Just think about that statement for a second. Barnes is a career journeyman, no doubt about that. However unlike many NBA travelers Barnes has never played for any other league in the States or any other league outside of the States. No thanks to the lockout that piece of pride could be done [...]

With the NBA lockout preventing basketball fans from enjoying the sport they love it is easy to forget some of the issues that were relevant prior to padlocks being placed on NBA arenas. One of those topics revolved around Jim Buss and his desire to run the Lake Show his way. Since the retirement of Phil Jackson there has been no shortage of speculation that Jim Buss is making more enemies than friends around Lakerland these days. From his dismissal of long-time staffers like Ronnie Lester to the unceremonious good-bye give to Brian Shaw, there is no doubt that Jim [...]

I know good and well that every warning sign surrounding the NBA lockout is a certain sign of doom. But the news of a faction of players potentially pushing to decertify the union is a sure sign of the NBA apocalypse. To begin, the move to decertify will have come far too late in the game. With both sides set to sit down and talk this Saturday, there a rumors of playing pursuing the decertification option should another break from negotiations occur. To be sure Billy Hunter has misplayed his hand about as badly as a poker play that flops [...]

Let’s just make our peace with this now. With Shaquille O’Neal officially joining the media and his soon to be released book being leaked it is clear that all those topics we’ve all grown tired of are going to keep living on. Now just because most of what Shaq says, or writes, or has written for him, is meant to get attention doesn’t mean there isn’t something there. From the second the Lakers hired Mike Brown I was highly skeptical that he could handle Kobe Bryant given the way he babied LeBron James. Some of the passages being leaked from [...]

NBA owners are cutting off their own noses just to spite their smug faces. This much is clear by the way the lockout and subsequent negotiating sessions have gone. After a season that saw the NBA take huge strides towards expanding the brand, the owners have chosen to poorly in their approach to this labor strife. By painting the union into a corner the owners have shown themselves to be the greedy price gougers many viewed them as prior to the lockout. Keep in mind they agreed to the hideous revenue split of 57-43 the last time we saw an [...]

These are trying times for Derek Fisher. One the one hand, D-Fish the player must be as frustrated as ever that he’s not allowed to collect checks playing the game he loves. On the business side, Fisher the president of the players association is feeling the heat. Unable to get the owners to budge from their 50-50 split of basketball revenue the union is now fending off allegations that Fisher engaged in some backroom dealings with David Stern. Rumor has it that D-Fish did the union dirty by agreeing with Stern on an even split. No real surprise that Fisher [...]