GLOBAL 14 » NBA

China could block NBA players return

JD — Tue, 29 Nov 2011 01:13:31 +0000

WOW!!! CHINA AINT WITH THAT SHIT

The Chinese Basketball Association is showing no inclination to let unhappy NBA players out of their contracts for the 2011-12 season, and will likely mandate they not receive clearance letters to return to the NBA until the Chinese season ends in March, sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Wilson Chandler (notes), Kenyon Martin (notes), J.R. Smith (notes) and Aaron Brooks (notes) are the four top NBA players under contract in China, and several sources involved in those contract entanglements said escape clauses won’t be allowed with the impending end of the NBA lockout.

The Chinese Basketball Association passed a rule that its teams could sign only NBA free agents during the lockout, and it was made clear to those players they would have to play the full season to be given FIBA clearance letters to sign contracts with NBA teams.

Smith has had multiple clashes with his team, and some Chinese officials fear players becoming obstinate and purposely missing practices and games once they realize they’ll be held to their contracts.

J.R. Smith is one of three Nuggets free agents playing in China.
(NBAE/Getty Images)

Team officials have prepared for the possibility some players could try to force their way out of deals, but their contracts give teams the latitude to fine and suspend players without pay. Chinese teams invested heavily when they signed NBA players, also providing hotel suites, personal drivers and chefs to make the players more comfortable.

“They can play, get paid [in China] and return to the NBA in March,” one Chinese team official said. “Or they can not get paid, and return to the NBA in March.”

As a member of FIBA, the NBA needs a letter of clearance from Chinese teams to allow players to sign NBA deals. Chinese teams could face forfeiture of any games that NBA players participated in, if the players somehow end up back in the NBA before the Chinese season ends.

“If they think that they’re going to make things difficult, not play, create problems, what’s going to happen is that the teams will not release their letters of clearance they’ll need to sign in the NBA,” a Chinese Basketball Association official told Yahoo! Sports. “There’s no way out.”

[ Related: Who are NBA’s top 15 free agents? ]

Smith, Chandler and Martin, who signed a $3 million contract with the Xinjiang Guanghui Flying Tigers, played for the Denver Nuggets a season ago, but the team has interest in re-signing only Chandler, league sources said. Chandler was a key player for the Nuggets after theCarmelo Anthony (notes) trade with the Knicks.

So far, Chandler – averaging 43 points for the Zhejiang Guangsha Lions – has been the most dominant player in the Chinese Basketball Association. On and off the floor, Chandler has required far less maintenance than his two former Nuggets teammates. Smith has constantly clashed with Zhejiang Chouzhou Golden Bulls officials since arriving in China, and the complaints about him include missed practices, allegedly faking injuries and relentless demands on living conditions and transportation.

Yi Jianlian (notes) can return to the NBA immediately because he has a Chinese passport that allowed him to sign with the Guangdong Hongyuan Southern Tigers regardless of the league’s NBA free-agent rule. He’s expected to be sidelined two to three weeks after spraining his right knee in a recent game, but plans to sign with an NBA team after free agency starts on Dec. 9.

NBA: Sides reach tentative agreement on deal

JD — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 09:42:07 +0000

BREAKING NEWS !!
Posted Nov 25 2011 7:03PM – Updated Nov 26 2011 4:14AM
NEW YORK (AP) — NBA owners and players reached a tentative agreement early Saturday to end the 149-day lockout.
After a secret meeting earlier this week, the sides met for more than 15 hours Friday, working to try to save the season. This handshake deal, however, still must be ratified by both owners and players.
“We’ve reached a tentative understanding that is subject to a variety of approvals and very complex machinations, but we’re optimistic that will all come to pass and that the NBA season will begin Dec. 25,” Commissioner David Stern said.
The league plans a 66-game season and aims to open camps Dec. 9.
“We thought it was in both of our best interests to try to reach a resolution and save the game,” union executive director Billy Hunter said.
The Christmas Day deadline created a sense of urgency because that schedule is traditionally a showcase for the league. This season’s three-game slate was to include Miami at Dallas in an NBA finals rematch, plus MVP Derrick Rose leading Chicago into Los Angeles to face Kobe Bryant and the Lakers.
A majority on each side is needed to approve the agreement. The NBA needs votes from 15 of 29 owners. (The league owns the New Orleans Hornets.) Stern said the labor committee plans to discuss the agreement later Saturday and expects them to endorse it and recommend to the full board.
The union needs a simple majority of its 430-plus members. That process is a bit more complicated after the players dissolved the union Nov. 14. Now, they must drop their antitrust lawsuit in Minnesota and reform the union before voting on the deal.
Because the union disbanded, a new collective bargaining agreement can only be completed once the union has reformed. Drug testing and other issues still must be negotiated between the league and the players.
The settlement first was reported by CBSSports.com.
Participating in the talks for the league were Stern, deputy commissioner Adam Silver, Spurs owner Peter Holt, the chairman of the labor relations committee, and attorneys Rick Buchanan and Dan Rube. The players were represented by executive director Billy Hunter, president Derek Fisher, vice president Maurice Evans, attorney Ron Klempner and economist Kevin Murphy.
When last talks broke down, the sides were still divided over the division of revenues and certain changes sought by owners to curb spending by big-market teams that players felt would limit or restrict their options in free agency.
On Nov. 14, players rejected the owners’ proposal, which included opening a 72-game schedule on Dec. 15, announcing instead they were disbanding the union, giving them a chance to win several billion dollars in triple damages in an antitrust lawsuit.
Two days later, players filed two separate antitrust lawsuits against the league in two different states. On Monday, a group of named plaintiffs including Carmelo Anthony, Steve Nash and Kevin Durant filed an amended federal lawsuit against the league in Minnesota, hoping the courts there will be as favorable to them as they have been to NFL players in the past.
Now, players will dismiss that lawsuit and get back to the business of basketball.
The previous CBA expired at the end of the day June 30. Despite a series of meetings in June, there was never much hope of a deal before that deadline, with owners wanting significant changes after saying they lost $300 million last season and hundreds of millions more in each year of the old agreement, which was ratified in 2005.
Owners wanted to keep more of the league’s nearly $4 billion in basketball revenues to themselves after guaranteeing 57 percent to the players under the old deal. And they sought a system where even the smallest-market clubs could compete, believing the current system would always favor the teams who could spend the most.
Initially, the salary cap emerged as the biggest obstacle. Owners first proposed a hard cap, but players fought hard to maintain the current system that allows teams to exceed the cap through the use of various exceptions.
The league was adamant the system needed some adjustment, because the old rules gave too many advantages to teams who could afford to keep adding to their payrolls. So the league’s proposals targeted the highest-spending teams, seeking to eliminate the use of the midlevel exception by teams over the luxury tax and prevent them from participating in sign-and-trade deals.

DONDRIA X 2010 NBA ALL-STAR

JD — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:37:40 +0000

BIG LOOK FOR DONDRIA, LIVE!!!!! ON TNT

THE 2010 NBA ALL-STAR GAME

On Friday, Feb. 12, R&B newcomer Dondria will perform the National Anthem while Canadian R&B/pop artist Kreesha Turner will perform the Canadian National Anthem at the T-Mobile Rookie & Youth Jam at the American Airlines Center live on TNT at 9 p.m. ET.

ALLEN IVERSON X MEMPHIS GRIZZLES

JD — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 20:13:12 +0000

I’M NOT SURE I’M HAPPY ABOUT THIS. I JUS HOPE HE STARTS.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Allen Iverson has something to prove.

Though the 10-time All-Star and former league MVP has scored more than 23,000 points in his NBA career, he wasn’t a highly sought-after free agent.

The 34-year-old guard heard all the talk that he’s lost a step, that last year’s dip in offensive production indicated he’s on the downside of his career, maybe even20ready for retirement.

[+] Enlarge

Joe Murphy/NBAE/Getty ImagesAllen Iverson got a hero’s welcome, with a standing ovation and Grizzlies fans chanting his name.

Iverson wants to prove those critics wrong, and he’ll ge t his chance inMemphis. He signed a one-year contract Thursday with the Grizzlies — a team that hasn’t reached the playoffs since 2006 and has never won a postseason game. The Grizzlies are coming off a 24-58 season that tied for fifth-worst in the NBA.

“This year for me is so personal,” Iverson said at his introductory news conference.

“It’s basically going to be my rookie season again. It hurts, but I turn the TV on, I read the paper, I listen to some of the things people say about me having the season that I had last year and me losing a step, things like that. They’re trying to put me in a rocking chair already.”

The team and Iverson’s agent, Leon Rose, declined to discuss specifics, though Rose said the deal is laden with team-oriented incentives. None is tied to Iverson’s individual statistics. A base salary reported at about $3.5 million was increased after the Grizzlies withdrew a qualifying offer to guard Juan Carlos Navarro, freeing up more money for the signing.

The 13-year veteran was welcomed with a standing ovation in an atmosphere that felt like a pep rally, with fans standing in the lobby of the FedExForum.

Iverson, dressed in a white shirt and wearing a Grizzlies ball cap, saluted the hundreds of fans who yelled out, “We Love You, Allen,” and chanted “AI, AI, AI.”

Cheerleaders, the team mascot and even the drum corps were there. One fan presented Iverson a book during the news conference. The Convention and Visitors Bureau gave him a Beale Street Blue Gibson guitar.

At times, the whoops and support of Iverson’s answers were reminiscent of a revival.

The Grizzlies are hoping for more than a revival. They want to go well beyond just making the playoffs; they want to boost interest in a franchise struggling to sell seats in Memphis.

General manager Chris Wallace called Iverson one of the NBA’s all-time great guards and said the signing is a great day for the team, Grizzlies’ fans and the city of Memphis. The team had been courting Iverson since July, a process that sped up with dinner Monday night in Atlanta with the guard, Wallace, team owner Michael Heisley and coach Lionel Hollins.

Iverson’s 2008-09 Season

	Lowest since
PPG	17.5	Ever
APG	5.0	2000-01
Steals PG	1.5	Ever
Minutes PG	36.7	Ever
Career In A Capsule • 13 seasons with 3 different teams • 1996-97 NBA Rookie of the Year • 10-time All-Star selection • 2-time All-Star Game MVP • 2000-01 NBA MVP • 4-time NBA Scoring Champion • 3-time All-NBA 1st-Team selection

“This guy has many years of basketball left in him . . . and he is eager. He expressed it to us to get going with the task of helping our team reach a whole other level of success,” Wallace said.

Iverson is the biggest name ever stretched across the back of a Grizzlies jersey. The franchise has only one All-Star in its history – Pau Gasol in 2006.

The 6-foot Iverson has been rookie of the year, the 2001 league MVP and a four-time scoring champ with a career average of 27.1. Philadelphia made him the top pick in the 1996 NBA draft, and he spent the bulk of his career with the 76ers before being traded to Denver in 2006 and then to Detroit last November.

Whether Iverson’s presence translates into more wins for the Grizzlies is unknown, but the excitement Thursday could indicate his potential impact at the box office. The team store already had jerseys with Iverson’s No. 3 hanging on the wall ready for sale.

Iverson ranks second among active players in career scoring, behind Shaquille O’Neal, and is 16th all-time with 23,983 points in 886 games.

Iverson will open the season against his most recent team. The Detroit Pistons visit Memphis on Oct. 28.

New York, Charlotte, Miami and the Clippers also inquired about Iverson, but Memphis appeared to be the only one to make a solid offer.

Questions still remain about where Iverson fits in the Grizzlies’ plans after talking most of the summer about the need for scoring help off the bench. Iverson said in April he would rather retire than come off the bench and complained about his minutes while with the Pistons.

Iverson said Thursday he wants to compete and be a coach on the floor.

O.J. Mayo, who finished second to Chicago’s Derrick Rose in rookie of the year voting last season, starts at shooting guard. Memphis seems committed to Mike Conley at the point. There’s little doubt Iverson’s scoring talents should help a team which averaged only 93.9 points a game last season, next to last in the league.

“I’m excited,” Conley said after watching the news conference with his teammates. “It’s a guy I always watched growing up, and having him as a teammate is going to be a great opportunity for me.”

ROCKETS VS. LAKERS

JD — Fri, 15 May 2009 22:18:24 +0000

LAST NIGHT AT THE ROCKETS VS LAKERS GAME IT WAS POPPIN!!! SLIM THUGGA, BUN B, YOLANDA ADAMS SANG THE NATIONAL ANTHEM IT WAS GOING DOWN. THEY GOT A ROCKET THAT COMES OUTTA THE JUMBO TRON AND STARTS BLOWING SMOKE AND FIRE, SHIT WAS EXCITING. I GOT ALOTTA GREAT SHOTS.

CONGRATULATIONS TO LEBRON JAMES

JD — Tue, 05 May 2009 01:23:42 +0000

CONGRATULATIONS TO THE HOMIE LEBRON JAMES FOR WINNING THE NBA MVP TODAY…I TOLD YALL!