http://sports.yahoo.com/nba/blog/ball_dont_lie/teams/boston+celtics/nba.t.2
Two years later, Delonte West explains his infamous weapons arrestLakers owner Jerry Buss is ready to give in to revenue sharing, and a hard capNever end, lockout: Boston Celtics editionNever end, lockout: Atlanta Hawks editionKevin Durant embraces a giant new tattoo, and healthier dinner optionsThe 10-man rotation, starring the fun in [Baltimore]e|place from Tuesday nightPaul Pierce and Michael Beasleyâ??s trip to China was pretty awful
Two years later, Delonte West explains his infamous weapons arrestLakers owner Jerry Buss is ready to give in to revenue sharing, and a hard capNever end, lockout: Boston Celtics editionNever end, lockout: Atlanta Hawks editionKevin Durant embraces a giant new tattoo, and healthier dinner optionsThe 10-man rotation, starring the fun in [Baltimore]e|place from Tuesday nightPaul Pierce and Michael Beasleyâ??s trip to China was pretty awful
NBA stories don't come more unsettling than the one that saw then-Cleveland Cavaliers guard Delonte West arrested two years ago while driving a motorcycle (complete with sidecar) while carrying a disturbing amount of guns and rifles. The resulting fallout has created a litany of legal woes for the talented hybrid guard, who now plays for the Boston Celtics.
Little has come out about how West put himself in that dangerous, frightening situation until recently, when SLAM's Tzvi Twersky asked Delonte to tell his side of the story .
West was already groggy from his prescribed nightly dosage of Seroquel when some ne'er do wells partying in his home studio came across his stash of guns and hunting weapons. In his take, West insists he was attempting to keep his mother happy by riding his stash to another one of his houses. From SLAM :
According to the typically impeccably sourced Kevin Ding , Lakers owner Jerry Buss is well in favor of revenue sharing, and a hard salary cap for NBA teams. Buss, more than any other owner in the NBA, has more to lose with standardized scrills sharing. Also, a hard salary cap that would prevent a team like the Lakers from fielding five players making eight figures at once; so this would seem like a huge deal, right? The owner who should be against it all is lining up behind David Stern alongside team leaders from Milwaukee, Memphis and Charlotte.
Yes, it's striking. But does it mean anything, at this point?
For one, the hard salary cap has always come off as a bit of an anachronism for pro basketball, a sport that features nine or 10 rotation spots that really matter, and a sport that can't suffer the wild roster upheavals seen yearly in the NFL and NHL. Because of growing revenue streams and the way the income pie is divvied up (even if the players nearly halve the Basketball Related Income with the owners, as opposed to the 57/43 split the players enjoyed last year), a hard cap that reflects that BRI calculation could be set well above where last year's soft salary cap (just above $56.1 million) was set.
That doesn't really do much for the also-rans in smaller cities, even with increased revenue sharing. No, the smaller cities wouldn't be in competition with a nearly $100 million payroll in New York anymore, but they never really were in competition with that anyway.
Increased revenue sharing ? It's a tired argument (along the lines of the tripe you read when a rich athlete gets fined thousands, and writers pass it off as "pocket change"), but to a 77-year-old owner who will likely see his team's new television network earn his organization billions even after Kobe Bryant hangs up his sneakers? It really doesn't matter. It's benevolent, I suppose, but it's hardly along the lines of a lower-spending but just as profitable owner (say, Jerry Reinsdorf in Chicago ) giving in to the same ideals.
This doesn't make the report, as authored by Ding , any less striking, though:
Read More »
The NBA lockout is spiraling into autumn, with no end in sight. Players swear they can make it an entire season without giving in to the owners' demands, and all kinds of sources from within ownership paint that group as one that wouldn't mind giving up an entire season to get what's theirs. But once the truth serum spikes the punch, both the owners and players would hop at the chance to put together an NBA season in full. To say nothing of the team employees or those who make their living making your life easier as an NBA fan while they pour you a beer or park your car.
Oh, and the fans. They'd like to see the lockout end, we're guessing. So we've heard.
However, some probably don't mind the break. For whatever reason, this lockout might be the best thing to happen to them in years. Let's get into those reasons, team by team. Individual by individual; be they players, executives, coaches, or whomever strikes our fancy. We've nothing better to do.
's Wyc Grousbeck, we're guessing, doesn't want the lockout to end. Why? Click the jump.
Read More »
The NBA lockout is spiraling into autumn, with no end in sight. Players swear they can make it an entire season without giving in to the owners' demands, and all kinds of sources from within ownership paint that group as one that wouldn't mind giving up an entire season to get what's theirs. But once the truth serum spikes the punch, both the owners and players would hop at the chance to put together an NBA season in full. To say nothing of the team employees or those who make their living making your life easier as an NBA fan while they pour you a beer or park your car.
Oh, and the fans. They'd like to see the lockout end, we're guessing. So we've heard.
However, some probably don't mind the break. For whatever reason, this lockout might be the best thing to happen to them in years. Let's get into those reasons, team by team. Individual by individual; be they players, executives, coaches, or whomever strikes our fancy. We've nothing better to do.
's Joe Johnson, we're guessing, doesn't want the lockout to end. Why? Click the jump.
Read More »
You wouldn't know it by looking at him in a basketball uniform , but Kevin Durant remains one of the more impressively tattooed men in the NBA right now. And his latest creation pays tribute to both the state he grew up in, his uniform number of choice, and his love of sweet, sweet body ink.
Dig:
Wow. As you can see, the hands in the tat are acting as an on-skin version of his number 35. Durant chose the number because, according to CBSSports.com' Ben Golliver , his childhood Amateur Athletic Union coach passed away at age 35. And, as the joke goes, he better not ever be traded to or sign with the Boston Celtics (Reggie Lewis), Utah Jazz (Darrell Griffith), or the Indiana Pacers (Roger Brown); the three NBA teams that have retired the number 35.
It's a pretty crazy looking tat, in a good way, courtesy of Tattoos by Randy , and Durant was kind enough to tweet about it over the weekend .
Read More »
With the lockout in full lockdown mode and news and NBA notes hard to come by, we often don't have enough fodder to fill out a daily or even weekly 10-man rotation, as most blips on the NBA radar end up deserving their own post. Today we're presenting a litany of links that you may have missed the first time, that weren't commented upon with a singular post. Enjoy.
C : SB Nation . Andrew Sharp with a fantastic re-telling of what went down in [Baltimore]e|place on Tuesday night.
PF : BrewHoop . A very cool and incisive interview with Bucks assistant GM Jeff Weltman. Do read.
SF : Hardwood Paroxysm . Great work from Danny Chau here on the lost career of Richard Dumas.
SG : SB Nation . Have the Minnesota Timberwolves hit their low point?
PG : NBA.com . Take some time off and dig this breakdown of Hakeem Olajuwon's 20-year-old quadruple-double.
6th : NBA.com . A nice story about the young triplets Hornets assistant coach Bryan Gates was blessed with.
7th : The Basketball Jones . Sebastian Pruiti's typically brilliant breakdowns of baseline out-of-bounds plays.
8th : True Hoop . Nick Young (notes) might play in China. Bring a mask .
9th : NBA.com . Some of the more entertaining parts from the Boston Celtics ' 1986 season.
10th : Hornets247 . An interesting read about the New Orleans Hornets ' television woes.
Got a link or tip for Ball Don't Lie? Holler at me at KD_BDL_ED (at) yahoo.com, or follow me on Twitter .
Even though most of these trips are, sadly, lockout-inspired, it's still pretty cool to see NBA stars head overseas for a bit of goodwill, some iffy basketball, and a few thousand units of shoes and apparel sold. And though China features a professional league featuring first class accommodations, it's still sometimes tough to brave the elements in a setting you're not used to. Even indoors.
Because apparently both Boston Celtics forward Paul Pierce and mercurial Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley suffered asthma attacks while playing for a barnstorming team called the "Kentucky Bisons" in Shaungyshan, China on Monday. You're allowed to smoke cigarettes in arenas over in China -- nobody would even show up for games if you couldn't in that cigarette-crazy country -- and Pierce and Beasley were taken aback. To say the least.
Here's the report, via a local newspaper, through an online translator, and via the fantastic China hoops blog NIUBball.com :
Beasley had apparently hurt his wrist on a dunk attempt during one of the games, but using his typically spot-on Beasley-esque clarity and vision, decided to participate in a slam dunk contest following the injury. Thus, perhaps, a broken wrist. Bad news when your employer, caregiver, and insurance provider have all effectively locked you out of any contact, even for medical emergencies.
Read More »
