Via the Washington Post: “To present that in the context of ‘take it or leave it,’ in our view, that is not good faith,” Kessler, who also represented the NFL players in their labor dispute with the NFL, said in a telephone interview Monday night. “Instead of treating the players like partners, they’re treating them like plantation workers.” In a phone call Tuesday, Stern blamed Kessler for the stalled talks and said he deserved to be “called to task” for the remark. “Kessler’s agenda is always to inflame and not to make a deal,” Stern said, “even if it means injecting race and thereby insulting his own clients. . . . He has been the single most divisive force in our negotiations and it doesn’t surprise me he would rant and not talk about specifics. Kessler’s conduct is routinely despicable.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “Who in Portland is going to ask Paul Allen — one of the richest men in the world and a silent assassin in the labor talks — whether he personally is going to replace the event revenues that are supposed to fund the bond debt that partially funded the Rose Garden? And while Spurs owner Peter Holt wasn’t mentioned on my sources’ list of hard-liners, as the chairman of the owners’ labor relation committee his fingerprints will be all over this death-knell proposal if it gets delivered to the players Wednesday night. Will anyone in the state of Texas, which has three NBA teams that would be idled by a season-long lockout, ask Holt to explain why the 84-percent taxpayer funded AT&T Center will be without its signature tenant and primary source of revenue?” Read more…
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Kevin Durant at the PDX charity game on the owner’s position: “It’s sickening,” said Durant, who is coming off of his rookie deal and set to earn $13.6 million in 2011-2012. “It’s sickening. Us players have sacrificed, gave up money, doing what we have to do. Now it’s on the owners. At this point it’s starting to get bad. We’ve done our thing. They’re trying to pressure us, back us into a corner and take a deal that’s not fair to us.”
ESPN.com ranked the five top juniors and it was pretty Thunder-centric: “Henry Abbott, ESPN.com: Serge Ibaka. Being that big, mobile and active is breathtaking, and international play over the summer suggests he has developed a reliable jumper, too. No joke: If he can protect the rim like a madman, and punish you for leaving him on offense, he’ll be one of the West’s most important playoff big men for years to come.” Read more…
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Ken Berger of CBSSports.com with a seriously brilliant column: “But what happened instead? The players and union officials took the bait that Stern had so cleverly planted on the end of a hook early Sunday. Instead, a defeated Fisher acknowledged the inevitable and Kessler, the union’s flame-throwing attorney, launched a roomful of red meat onto the table for the hard-line agents and star players who are fed up with this charade to devour on their path to the mutually assured destruction of union decertification. And if the season gets blown up in the aftermath of these ultimatums, threats and tantrums, it will be the players’ doing. This didn’t have to be. And it still doesn’t.”
Henry Abbott of TrueHoop: “Kessler explains the reasoning for the mechanism is because no union wants to let employers address workers directly. You don’t want your opponents to have direct access to your constituents. The fully informed committee has an obligation to keep bad deals from the rank and file, who have entrusted the process to them. This protects players from accepting an offer that might sound good to them, but would, in the judgment of those who have analyzed it most thoroughly, actually be bad news. So if the players are to accept the NBA’s offer, they will do so over the objection of their representatives.” Read more…
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The NBA and NBPA are set to meet Saturday but as Henry Abbott of TrueHoop writes, the union better be ready to deal or the NBA’s offer might just get worse: “Which is why some owners are agitating not just for the NBA to reconsider walking the offer down from 50 percent, but also reintroducing what the league calls a “flex cap,” which the union calls an over-my-dead-body “hard cap.” If the NBA’s next offer is anything like that, things will get incredibly ugly. In other words, while the league and the union are busily not making a deal, they could be busy destroying one.”
Some players are threatening decertification, says Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: “As many as 50 disgruntled NBA players – including several All-Stars – participated in a clandestine conference call with a top antitrust attorney on Thursday to discuss the process of decertifying the Players Association, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.” Read more…
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Site news: You may have noticed but I’m trying a new commenting system out. It’s not all that crazy, but it has one excellent feature: real-time commenting. Meaning no more refreshing to see if someone responded to you about how Eric Maynor should start. You don’t have to re-register or anything, but you can register a LiveFyre account to sync your Facebook profile or Twitter to it. Any feedback is great.
OKC dropped to 0-2 with a 95-93 loss in Phoenix, pretend computer says: “The Thunder fell to 0-2 with another tough loss on the road in yet another nail-biter on an evening jam-packed with them. Vince Carter, who was not bought out of his contract in our magical universe, scored with 2:19 to play to bring the Suns within 93-92. Then no one scored for 1:32. In fact, Oklahoma City didn’t score after the 2:41 mark. Finally, Carter hit a three with 47 seconds to play, putting Phoenix up by two. Russell Westbrook missed for Oklahoma City. Phoenix got the ball back and ran down the clock until Channing Frye was hit with an offensive foul with 11 seconds remaining. With one final chance, all the Thunder could muster was a desperation shot by Serge Ibaka at the buzzer. After going 8-of-27 in the opener, Westbrook shot 5-of-15 from the floor. Carter led Phoenix with 19 points and hit four three-pointers. In reality, there is no way Carter will play for the Suns this season–whenever it begins–but on Wednesday, fans of the virtual Suns were glad he was still around.” Read more…
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Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports set fire to labor talks: “This union is threatening to implode, the push and pull of people wanting to cut a deal and those willing to keep warring over the final percentage points. Within the NBPA, the frustration with Hunter is this: Hunter knows where the deal will be made, but he’s engaged in a smear campaign to frame Fisher as a sellout to the league. For Hunter, the end game is simple: Divide and conquer, and ultimately try keep his own job beyond this labor agreement. This is a lousy deal for the players, and Hunter wants the blame everywhere else. Yes, this has created doubts about Fisher, but it’s hurt Hunter far more. Once, he had the stars on his side, and that’s rapidly dissipating.”
Ken Berger of CBSSports.com: “Sadly, a person close to Hunter said Tuesday the union chief remains “pretty dug in,” and it’s clear who’s giving the marching orders not to go a penny below 52 percent. Look no further than the infamous letter that seven high-powered agents sent to their clients on Oct. 3, strongly urging the players not to make any further concessions beyond 52 percent of BRI.” Read more…
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Two economists for Grantland: “Does the players’ line in the sand over 2.5 percent of BRI make economic sense? No, not if they miss many games to achieve it. Is the owners’ offer fair? Not really. Should the players take it? Yes. Will the owners give in and up the ante? Very unlikely. Will the players be rational and take what is on the plate? We can only hope so.”
Chad Ford and Marc Stein using the amnesty clause for each team: “Robinson is the only Thunder player that you could even conceive of them ushering through the amnesty exit door. But then you remember who we’re talking about here. OKC paying someone not to play? Laughable. Based on our latest info, Team Presti prefers to keep Robinson’s $4.5 million expiring contract around for potential trades. Otherwise? The Thunder’s next bad contract will be their first.” Read more…
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Marc Spears of Yahoo! Sports: “Whenever the lockout ends – whether it’s next week or next month – NBA teams know this much: They’re not going to have much time to prepare for their shortened season. That could give some teams like the Oklahoma City Thunder, Dallas Mavericks, Miami Heat and Chicago Bulls an advantage because their rosters are already largely built. Other teams like the Denver Nuggets, Golden State Warriors and Boston Celtics who either have a lot of holes to fill or hired a new coach – or both – could have more trouble. Not every team is as fortunate as the Thunder, who already have 14 players under contract and just one free agent: guard Daequan Cook. Their coach (Scott Brooks) has been with them for more than two seasons, so they likely won’t have many system changes. When the players have gathered during the lockout for informal workouts, they ran the team’s plays. Whenever the season begins, they likely shouldn’t have a tough transition.”
That world basketball tour KD was involved in has been postponed indefinitely. Read more…
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Howard Beck of the NYT: “Some notes of caution on NBA labor talks: “very, very difficult system issues” still to be settled, source says, including luxury tax plan.”
Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports: The last system hurdle appears to be use of exceptions for taxpayers. “Tax not issue” a source said. “Exceptions are where the fight is.” As for where the deal stands, it’s “in a very good place” according to the report. “There’s a strong expectation [within the negotiations] that hands will shake [Friday],” a source said. Read more…
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The two sides met for more than 15 hours yesterday and appeared to make a decent amount of progress on system issues. According to some reports, the system is almost all but settled and now it’s about a BRI compromise. Today’s deal day. It’s just a matter of getting it done. Here’s your song of the day.
Chris Mannix: “One source briefed on the talks Wednesday said agreement by the end of the week ‘very possible.’ ‘Lot of real progress tonight,’ source said Read more…
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Chris Palmer of ESPN.com tries to figure out who is most athletic between Rose, Westbrook and Wall: “Westbrook is as close to a perfect leaper as there is. He owns a high vertical leap, the ability to take off from far out and his versatility in jumping effectively off of one foot or two make him the complete package. Westbrook was third in the league among guards in dunks (52) and had almost as many as Rose and Wall combined (58). The Thunder point guard also has the unique ability to create a late burst with his last two steps — after he picks up his dribble — allowing him to essentially accelerate in the air, rendering most help defense useless. Westbrook’s long arms also allow him to time follow-up dunks while taking off from outside the charge circle.”
Howard Beck of the New York Times on scheduling: “Whenever the lockout is resolved, the N.B.A. will build a new schedule from scratch, using all arena dates that are still reserved, according to people who are aware of the league’s plans. N.B.A. officials declined to discuss the issue Tuesday. Thus, the decision to formally announce cancellations is an academic exercise, and perhaps a bit of political theater. The announcements are a warning shot to the league’s 430-plus players, a reminder that they are losing hundreds of millions of dollars.” Read more…
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An update to yesterday’s Serge Ibaka rumor: He’s officially signed with Real Madrid. It’s for two months and could sign an extension if the lockout’s not settled.
David Thorpe of ESPN.com writes James Harden is the next Manu: “Harden reminds many of Ginobili because of his average-looking athleticism that gives way to an occasional monster dunk that foreshadows his future if he tried to make athletic plays more often. Remember that as Harden enters his third NBA season, he is three years younger than Ginobili was as a rookie, so the Ginobili we’ve seen play with nuanced craft is far past his peak athletic years. Harden plays with tremendous poise and pace, and as he seasons, he could add more excitement to his game, the way Ginobili can be electric with the ball when his team needs him most.” Read more…
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Players talked lockout after the OKC charity game: “No, no. Fifty-three. That’s where we’re staying at. We’ve had plenty of talks and we’re not dropping,” Harden said. “We already dropped and set our number at 53 so that’s what we’re sticking to. I’m definitely confident we’re going to have a season. I just don’t know when.”
Darnell Mayberry talked to fans about missing games: “In many cities, fans with opinions like Wallace’s would and perhaps already have boycotted NBA ball. That’s not the case in OKC, where after three seasons fans were just getting attached to NBA action before the labor dispute set in. Wallace is a prime example. He bought six tickets the day they went on sale last week. Five remained in his pocket as he snapped pre-game photos of the All-Stars from the first row of the lower bowl. His family couldn’t attend because his boys had football practice.” Read more…
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Nazr Mohammed: “It’s almost amazing to me how our union is handling the new CBA like a business deal while some owners are acting like bitter ex’s who want to make us bleed. We’ve given in on the BRI($300m), luxury tax to police teams from themselves, and we’re negotiating on length of contracts but nothing is enough for them. This is business and we have a good thing going. They need to stop being greedy and start negotiating before we alienate the people who make it possible for us to make a living playing a game. It’s not negotiating if we’re the only ones willing to compromise.”
Andrew Sharp of SB Nation on “Saint Kevin”: “Since his rise to superduperstardom is as inevitable as the constant tug of war between myth and reality and cynicism and naivete and everything else, it’s a good bet that at some point there will be backlash against all the praise. We’ve already seen some of it. (“The sports media celebrate Kevin Durant for being someone he isn’t”; Kevin Durant’s Beautiful Mirages). There are good arguments on both sides, and to some degree Durant’s always going to embody a much broader debate about narrative and how we understand the superstars of today. But even if the debate gets louder among fans, bloggers, and starry-eyed columnists falling all over themselves to deify him, don’t forget to appreciate the real Kevin Durant. The devil—or the saint, maybe—is in the details.” Read more…
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Mick Cornett wasn’t one of the mayors to send a letter to the league: “I just felt like the players and owners are on the same side as we’re on. Everybody wants it to be resolved,” Cornett said Wednesday. “It just seems disrespectful to sign a letter that seemed to imply somebody was necessarily at fault.” One paragraph later though, Cornett takes a side: “If forced to take a side, I would side with the owners in this deal,” Cornett said. “If anyone believes commissioner (David) Stern or the owners want to start canceling games, I just can’t imagine where that line of thinking is coming from. That’s the last thing anybody wanted to do. “They (owners) obviously are serious about getting a better business deal with the players. The players are going to have to see that the economics have changed, and they’re still getting a good deal, even if it is not as good as it was (in the previous CBA).”
A wonderful feature from ESPN the Mag on KD: “Kevin Durant has seen the YouTube videos. The ones where he drains so many threes the crowd rushes the court to touch the hem of his garment. The ones where his step-backs and crossovers turn defenders into extras from The Walking Dead. The ones where, with his Bambi gait, he shuts down more crap than Congress. The ones where he out-LeBrons LeBron. On his extended summer vacation, Durant took his game to the playground courts of LA, DC and NYC. The highlights became the “Lazy Sunday” of the lockout. On them, freed from the formality of the NBA, Durant plays with frivolity. Nothing is at stake. The game is just the game. And he is just a kid, standing on the court, letting the crowd love him.” Read more…
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