Even if the NBA makes a deal today — as I always thought it would in time to play by Dec. 1 — I’m past congratulating anyone for their part in this farce. I’m filing this as written before they do a deal, go to war, or whatever. ___ Now that we know what the lockout is—a symbolic battle, rather than one over dollars, since that has been essentially settled—I have one question for David Stern and his owners and Billy Hunter
Team USA exhibition against France in jeopardy
From FIBA.com: “Speaking to French sports daily L’Equipe this week, French Basketball Federation (FFBB) President Jean-Pierre Siutat gave an idea of what the men’s national team’s schedule of warm-up games will be like. “The calendar has yet to be finalised, but it looks as though we will go and play Spain in early July and we have agreed on a return leg in France, in theory on 15 July,” he said. “The preparations will consist of seven to nine games
Buy This Shoe, Plus Morning Lockout Roundup
NEW YORK — I was supposed to go to a Converse event late last week, but the lockout interceded when the union called a media briefing at its headquarters in Harlem and I had to choose news over shoes. I told Mandy Gutmann (who left her post as a Knicks media relations staff for the greener pastures of Converse) that I would find a way to make up for my absence, and there it is. (I saw more people wearing Chuck Taylors in
Why J.J. Hickson failed in Israel
After less than two weeks in Israel, J.J. Hickson packed his bags and was on a 10 a.m. flight back to America. Despite an upcoming matchup against a Rishon Lezion squad that knocked the team out of the playoffs last season, Bnei Herzliya had such an issue with Hickson’s attitude and behavior that they sent him home 24 hours before the game. Though he arrived with tremendous hype as one of the more acclaimed NBA players to play in Israel, Hickson’s stint
Morning-after lockout roundup: NBA union is very, very angry
NEW YORK — Good morning. Hope you got some sleep. I didn’t get much, and I imagine Jeffrey Kessler didn’t either. Kessler, the lead outside counsel for NBA players (he performs the same role for NFL players) was practically foaming at the mouth in the wee hours of the a.m. after David Stern and Derek Fisher had conducted their respective news conferences in the most diplomatic tones they could muster. The moment Fisher left the room, Kessler started venting. Loudly. And he didn’t let
Lockout update: So Close, Yet So Far
NEW YORK — They are closer. Yet the sides in the NBA lockout are still far apart in many, many ways, and the players are especially irate because they believe the owners are trying to force a bad deal down their throats. That was the upshot of Saturday night’s 8 1/2 hour negotiating session, which ended with the owners telling the players they had accepted five of six suggestions made by arbitrator George Cohen and had adopted them into a formal proposal
Stern gives union until Wednesday to accept mediated offer
NEW YORK — David Stern and NBA owners have made a new take it-or-leave-it offer to the players, who have until Wednesday to make up their minds. The new offer; incorporating suggestions made by federal mediator George Cohen, would give the players between 49 and 51 percent of revenues; depending on the level of financial growth. The union did not immediately comment following the 8 1/2-hour meeting, but Stern said union attorney Jeffrey Kessler had rejected the new proposal. Stern said the owners
Lockout talks: 12 a.m. EDT update
NEW YORK — We are past the 7-hour mark at the NBA lockout talks, and there are no smoke signals coming from the negotiating room. It is another stakeout at another hotel, and the same cast of media characters is sitting vigil. This time we are in a conference room instead of a lobby, quite an improvement over the sidewalk stakeout the night the media overran cozy East 63rd Street to such a degree that photographers nearly brawled. One item of note