Within a few hours of a blockbuster deal was approved to send all-star guard Chris Paul to the Los Angeles Lakers, David Stern and NBA league office blocked the trade.

The purposed deal was a three team trade between the New Orleans Hornets, Los Angeles Lakers, and Houston Rockets. The deal would have landed Paul with the Lakers, sent Pau Gasol to the Rockets, and given the Hornets Kevin Martin, Luis Scola, Lamar Odom, Goran Dragic, and a 2012 first-round pick from Houston.

NBA analysts across the nation are confused by the trade being blocked by the league office, as this seemed like the best way to solve Paul’s contract situation. The popular thinking is that if the deal was approved, the Hornets would at least be able to replace Paul with quality pieces instead of getting nothing in return.

Paul can opt out of his contract at the end of the season becoming a free agent, which allows him to sign to any team that is willing to make him an offer. Paul is on record stating that he would not sign a contract extension with the Hornets, and would like to test the free agent waters which have shown to be very lucrative; Amare Stoudemire received 100 million over 5 years during last year’s free agent frenzy.

With so many lingering questions as to why the trade was blocked, the league has yet to make a detailed statement on the issue. This hesitation has brought about speculation that the deal was killed due to overwhelming pressure from small market owners.  That theory is gaining traction as Yahoo.com acquired an e-mail sent from Cleveland Cavaliers owner Dan Gilbert to David Stern.

In the e-mail Gilbert states,”It would be a travesty to allow the Lakers to acquire Chris Paul in the apparent trade being discussed. This trade should go to a vote of the 29 owners of the Hornets.”

This issue is further muddied by the fact that the NBA owns the New Orleans Hornets. It is believe that the NBA league abused its power as an owner to negate this deal. The league’s stance on owning the Hornets has been that all basketball operations would be handled by the Hornet’s managerial staff without intrusion.

Paul is hoping that the seemingly obvious intrusion can be deemed illegal as he is looking to pursue legal action, with the help of NBPA director Billy Hunter, against the NBA. The NBA has just gotten over one of the worst PR nightmares in the form of the 2011 lockout just to jump in the middle of another one. To make matters worse, there are reports that both Paul and Odom will not attend training camp which is scheduled to open on December 9^th.

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On the verge of an NBA season to be opening on Christmas day, fans will enter a familiar place where curiosity sets in for their beloved teams and how far they can go this year. However, with the exception of the summer’s draft picks, teams have remained relatively the same since the end of last season due to the lockout prohibiting trading and free agency. Therefore, expectations should be the same.

With free agency set to begin on December 9^th, just sixteen days before the season tips off, several general managers will make significant roster moves that can have a huge impact on the playoff picture at season’s end.

The 2011 class doesn’t contain any stars the way that the 2010 list did with LeBron James and Dwyane Wade, but it does possess some interesting talent that can really shake up the final standings in comparison to last year. So out of the dozens of players available which ones should fans hope that their teams go after exactly? Let’s break it down categorically beginning with restricted free agents.

Some of the top restricted free agents include names like Nuggets forward Wilson Chandler and Grizzlies center Marc Gasol. Chandler brings the ability to score from anywhere on the floor, which is why he was a major piece of the trade that sent Carmelo Anthony to New York. Meanwhile, the much improved Gasol brings incredible size with the ability to also shoot at 7’1, 265 pounds.

Other restricted free agents that will spark interest include Nuggets guard Arron Afflalo, Celtics forward Jeff Green, Heat guard Mario Chalmers, and Clippers center DeAndre Jordan for his remarkable athleticism. Although there aren’t any restricted names that jump out as great scorers, there are a few unrestricted ones that could help a team put up points down the stretch to complement their primary threats.

This includes Mavs forward Caron Butler and Magic guard Jason Richardson. Richardson has averaged 18 points per game over his career since coming into the league in 2001, while Butler has averaged 16.6 since beginning a year later in 2002. While Butler did not contribute to the Mavericks title run in 2011 due to injury, three key components on that team will also be available on the 9^th.

Guard J.J. Barea, who brings great energy and a consistent jumper, will be on the market along with teammate forward Tyson Chandler, who adds ferocious defensive intensity and strong rebounding.

Guard Peja Stojakovic, an extremely lethal shooter, helped spread the floor for the offense as well, while hitting a number of big shots throughout his career going all the way back to his early 2000’s days with the Kings.

Every team needs at least one pure three-point threat similar to Stojakovic. The Nuggets’ J.R. Smith, the Hawks’ Jamal Crawford, and the Heat’s James Jones provide excellent shooting for any team that lacks it. Jones won last year’s three point shootout and shot almost 43% from behind the arc, while Crawford and Smith can also score off the dribble as well.

But shooters and scorers won’t be enough to win championships. That can only be done by obtaining size to clog up the paint and rebound, along with lockdown defenders to shut down perimeter scorers in the big moments of a game. Players such as Boston’s Glen Davis, Denver’s Nene and Kenyon Martin, and New Orleans’ David West make the best available big men.

Memphis’ Leon Powe and Shane Battier, Phoenix’s Grant Hill, and Detroit’s Tayshaun Prince are the main desired defenders. Although there are several more players who will become free agents in a matter of days, these seem the vital pawns for a team’s playoff run, and even perhaps to win a championship.

Fans should hope that their teams can acquire any of these players, especially those that played for them last year. While there are other players who seem interesting on paper such as Mavs forward DeShawn Stevenson, Lakers guard Shannon Brown, and Wizards guard Josh Howard – their character issues make them distractions that fans should hope their teams stay far away from.

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A potent offense is something that every team needs to be successful in the NBA. We saw last season that even though the Chicago Bulls had the stingiest defense in the league, the lack of help for Derrick Rose on the other end of the court essentially led to their downfall.

Crawford is, by far, one of the most explosive, electrifying scorers in the NBA. With his dazzling crossovers, his crafty shake-and-bake move, and his nearly unstoppable jump shot, Crawford is a threat anywhere on the court.

Now that his time with the Atlanta Hawks is up (the Hawks did not offer him a contract extension last season), Crawford has expressed interest, in one form or another, in joining quite a few teams around the NBA.

1. Portland Trail Blazers

Because of his unbreakable bond with superstar PF, LaMarcus Aldridge, Crawford has expressed interest in joining the Portland Trail Blazers. Aldridge, with a little bit of a sales pitch, has been trying his hardest to snag him while the lockout rages on.

On October 26th, Aldridge tweeted:

Rip City when @JCrossover come play in my game we need to make him feel at home so he will sign with us!

Crawford then responded:

@aldridge_12 —yall have GREAT fans too!! And love u and broy’s game!!!

Now, it would take a great deal of rotation work to fit him in—the Blazers are stacked at the Guard position with Raymond Felton, Brandon Roy and Wesley Matthews—but if they could find a way to work all four of them into the game plan, Portland would have the best four-guard combo in the NBA. Crawford is sort of a combo guard, possessing the ball handling ability to run the point and the scoring ability to run the two.

It would be an interesting acquisition that just might pay off in the long run.

2. Miami Heat

Could you imagine Crawford coming off the bench and dropping 15 points behind the already offensively savvy Dwyane Wade? It would be ridiculous!

LeBron James already put the thought out there in the twitter world:

Would love to see @JCrossover in a Heat uni! What u guys say?

And while Aldridge tried his best to protect his potential free agent jackpot, tweeting:

@KingJames how are you going to try and steal @JCrossover from us?! I already told Portland to make him feel at home on the 6th.

There’s absolutely no doubt that Crawford would take a contract from the Miami Heat as a potential championship contender for the next decade.

3. Chicago Bulls

Returning back to his true NBA home in Chicago isn’t a distant thought from the former Sixth Man of the Year, either. After being questioned about it from several of his followers on Twitter, Crawford finally budged with a response.

@Raffletickets17: “@JCrossover ever consider the bulls? With you at the 2 we would be amazing! Championship right there”–course I wud.!

With the already dominant scorer, Derrick Rose, leading the way for the Bulls, the only thing they need is a second option on offense. Their defense is already top tier, hanging high above all other teams in the NBA last season. If they could get their hands on Crawford when the free agency period opens up, Chicago could find themselves in the NBA Finals within the next two years.

4. New Jersey Nets

Jamal Crawford and Deron Williams are already good friends. What’s to say he doesn’t join forces whenever the lockout comes to a halt? Crawford’s also good friends with Marshon Brooks, the Nets acquisition on the day of the draft. While Williams and Crawford cut their conversation short on Twitter, moving into private messaging, but one can only speculate as to what they could be talking about.

Crawford to the Nets would only give Deron Williams another reason to stay with the franchise.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait until the lockout is over to see where all these free agents end up. With other big names like Tyson Chandler, J.R. Smith, David West and Caron Butler in the market, the NBA could see a complete shift in power. We’ll just have to wait and see what happens.

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A host of NBA stars converged upon Oklahoma City Sunday night for the US Tracking Fleet Basketball Invitational hosted by hometown hero Kevin Durant. They did not disappoint, putting on quite a show for the energetic crowd.

With a final score of 176-171, players like Chris Paul, Carmelo Anthony, LeBron James, Russell Westbrook and several others made sure the fans stayed entertained until the final whistle.a

Surprisingly, the high-scorer was Minnesota Timberwolves forward Michael Beasley, who finished with a Maravich-esque 56 points on 25-of-35 shooting from the field. Behind him, not-so-surprisingly, was Melo, who poured in a cool 43. King James finished with 40, and Westbrook added 34, but it would be the host himself, Kevin Durant, who put on the biggest show of all.

KD finished with a triple double, putting up 42 points, 27 rebounds and 10 assists, leaving the crowd enraptured throughout the scintillating performance. Other players invited to the affair included LaMarcus Aldridge, Johnny Flynn, Jamal Crawford, Jeff Green (once a Thunder player before his 2010-11 mid-season trade to Boston), Rudy Gay, Amar’e Stoudemire and John Wall.

Of course, Melo, Stoudemire, and Paul were all on the Blue Team, giving Big Apple fans a taste of what it could be like to have their own Big Three (Paul will be a free agent after the 2012-13 season). The exhibition match ran like a Golden State Warriors vs. New York Knicks game—strictly offense with a small smattering of defense sprinkled in.

Players joked and dilly-dallied around for the first three quarters, but buckled down in the closing minutes when victory and subsequent bragging rights were on the line. After being sent into overtime, it would be James and Durant that would pull the White team away for the win.

With the players exhibiting so much energy in what was a glorified All-Star game, it’s clear that they’re ready to get back to business and play NBA basketball. But if the lockout drags on, we’ll be sure to see more invitationals in the near future.

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After yet another futile attempt by both the owners and players unions to come to terms on a new collective bargaining agreement, the remainder of the NBA Preseason has been canceled, and, barring any miraculous agreement on Monday, the first two weeks of the regular season are next in line.

Following a four-hour meeting between the players and owners on Tuesday, commissioner David Stern and deputy commissioner Adam Silver took the stand to announce the bad news to the press.

“The formal position of the parties was the players at 53 [percent], us at 47,” said commissioner Stern in a televised press conference. “We asked the question of the players, ‘would each side entertain the notion of a 50-50 deal?’… While we were in the process of doing that [discussing] with our owners, we were asked to step out and we were advised by the players that that would not be acceptable to them; that they were at a higher number.”

“Today we’ll be announcing the cancellation of the rest of the exhibition season, and by Monday, we will have no choice but to cancel the first two weeks of the season.”

For those of you who don’t know the formalities of the ongoing NBA Lockout, the owners and players are waging war over who receives more of all basketball related income, as well as other minor issues. The players, who were once at a whopping 57 percent, came down to 53 percent, but refused to split the pot in half with the owners.

“We’re continuing to be open-minded about what a final deal will look like, but today was not the day to try and continue to close that type of gap,” said Derek Fisher, the president of the NBA player’s union. “It’s just not a place we feel we can go, but that doesn’t mean we’re not willing to negotiate. We’re not saying that negotiations are over, but in the forseeable future, obviously until another meeting is possibly canceled, we’re just not sure at this point.”

With the 2011-2012 NBA season looking more indefinite than ever, players are in a frenzy to head overseas and make money while staying in shape by playing basketball for foreign teams.

“The biggest thing is that I didn’t know how the lockout was going to turn out,” said Nuggets’ Forward Wilson Chandler, who recently signed a contract to play in China. “I just wanted to play so I can get a better game shape, a better game rhythm.”

And the list goes on and on, with players like Deron Williams, J.R. Smith, Kenyon Martin and Andrei Kirilenko, to name a few, heading overseas as well. There are even talks of the Black Mamba himself, Kobe Bryant, possibly entertaining a 10-game/$3 million contract from an unspecified Italian team.

The NBA is quickly losing its talent—the one thing that puts it a single notch over the increasingly convalescent international teams. With many players signing contracts without opt-out clauses, returning to the NBA won’t even be an option until they play their agreed amount of games overseas.

Commissioner Stern alluded to the fact that the owners had already lost $200 million in revenue by canceling preseason games. Unless the owners want to continue losing egregious amounts of money, an agreement in the very near future is imminent.

 
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With a joint press conference,the NFL lockout is officially over; we will finally have football.  The press conference came about an hour ago with owners, the commissioner and NFL players union all speaking in front of media in a very calm cordial manner.  It is evident that these men know the impact football has and the urgency in which this needed to get done.

The players agreed to a 10 year CBA deal which is the longest in the history of the NFL.

The details that ended the NFL lockout are still coming out at this point, but it is important to know that tomorrow the everyday business of the NFL will officially be in motion.  Owners like Robert Kraft is said to have played a large role in the deal being done and the pace at which this was accomplished. Free agency can now begin and players will now know where they will play and although deals can’t be signed, the parameters of deals can take shape.

The deal itself specifically is generous for owners and a good deal for players already in the league.  Rookie pay scale has been reduced while the minimum pay for NFL players will increase and continue to do so every year.  The deal involves less contact during off season or preseason and more benefits for veterans and injured players as well.

The salary cap will increase to $120 million for all teams and more importantly the team rosters will increase by 10 to allow teams to go up to 80 players; very important for coaches and players.

This was a battle between millionaires that needs to be settled and surprisingly, it was settled pretty quickly.  Maybe our political leaders can do the same for the greater good. They realized what was at stake and it took some posturing and savvy public relations, but it is over.

More details on how the NFL lockout ended will come throughout the week but as of right now, all that matters is the gates to stadiums around the league will now be open and remain open for 10 years.  Winners and losers aside, NFL football is back and we are all winners for it.

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With the NBA lockout officially looming, owners and players are nowhere close to an agreement. If there is a lockout, the cause may be all the recent superstars who have left small market teams in order to join forces with other superstars on big market teams.

Charles Barkley, who is known for his big mouth and sometimes-offensive comments, recently spoke on the situation in regards to the NBA lockout. It is hard to agree with him usually, but this time Barkley is completely right in his assertion that the biggest problem leading to a lockout is the balance of power. Currently structured, the NBA’s talent is top-heavy.  You can count how many good NBA teams there are on your fingers; unsurprisingly, these good teams are in bigger markets.

While on Mike Lupica’s ESPN radio show on Monday June 27th, Barkley shared his belief that there will be an NBA lockout. His reasoning was the following:  currently, small market owners feel they are being neglected and feel the superstars are superseding their power. The fact is, this should surprise no one; the past three prominent superstars have left small market teams to team up with superstars on big market teams.

In reference to small-market owners during the interview, Barkley stated “I think there’s going to be a lockout, I think the owners are dug in, I think they want to send a message to these players. I think they’re really upset by this LeBron James/ Chris Bosh situation, because their teams don’t have to be really good, but I feel like if they have a star in their market they can make some money. And if all the stars want to play together…we’re almost becoming like baseball where you’ve got a few good teams and the rest of them stink.”

James and Bosh have not been the only prominent players in the past 11 months to flee a smaller market for the greener pasture of coexisting with other superstar talent in a bigger market.  Carmelo Anthony also did this.

Despite the fact that Anthony was not a free agent at the time, he was able to force his way out of Denver, in turn, joining Amar’e Stoudemire and the New York Knicks. Denver traded Anthony because of the way they saw the free agent scenario with James and Bosh materialize. Denver realized they didn’t want to watch Anthony leave on the free agent market and thus get no players in return.

There is no doubt a problem is created when players hold the power to take less money and collude to join forces like James and Bosh did when they decided to team up with Dwayne Wade in Miami.  Owners cannot prevent this unless there is more incentive or rules that prevent collusion from happening.

The NBA’s deputy commissioner, Adam Silver, says the goal is “to create a system in which all 30 teams can compete for a championship. And if well-managed, have the opportunity to make a profit.” Clearly there are current loopholes in the NBA with regards to competitiveness between small-market teams and big market teams. The discrepancy of competitiveness between both parties, which happens both on the court and in the front office, makes the leagues goal far from reality.

What are the disagreements between owners and players, and small market and big market owners?

Senior editor of theatlantic.com, Derek Thompson, sums up the   disagreements between NBA owners and players in crystal clear fashion. In reference to what the players want and the owners want, Thompson’s says, “The players want the NBA to be more like Major League Baseball. They want huge player salaries that are guaranteed to pay out, even if the player under-performs. The owners want the NBA to be more like the NFL. They want smaller player salaries, more “revenue sharing,” and the ability to let players go if they don’t perform.”

To understand Thompson’s summary of what may lead to the lockout, it is important to understand some background context. The league claims, “ 22 out of 30 teams lost money this past season”.  The league also claims to be losing $300 million this past season after losing $370 million and $340 million the past two season.  The owners who have been suffering these losses the most have been small market NBA owners.

Basically the owners, especially the ones in smaller markets, want to prevent these losses by limiting the amount they have to pay players who might turn out to be bad signing down the road; this sentiment is articulated by Mitch Lawrence of foxsports.com who writes,  “owners are demanding more cost certainty and the end to their practice of overpaying non-productive players with long, expensive deals.”

Under the current structure, one hindrance to profit is that owners have to split revenues with players. Currently, the players enjoy a 57-43 split of NBA revenues; however the owners want to see a split of at least 50-50 if not more towards the owners. Thompson elaborates on this split in which the players enjoy a bigger piece of the pie saying, “If they paid closer to 50 percent of the pie, they might be in the black. That’s what this fight is about: Designing a system that allows teams to offer players competitive salaries without bankrupting smaller teams.”

Guaranteed raises also fall disproportionately hard on small market teams. Players resigning get an automatic 10.5% raise, while a player going to a new team gets an 8% raise. Under the current system these raises are automatic and not based on performance.

The economics have to improve for small market teams as the current structure is unsustainable.  It is a cost problem but more importantly a revenue problem. A more generous revenue sharing formula is clearly needed.  However, if Players Union Chief Billy Hunter is right an agreement might not be so easy to come by.

Hunter, in reference to owners of big market teams, recently stated, “Some of the major markets are not interested in sharing revenues to the tune it’s being shared in the NFL. The NBA has the weakest revenue-sharing plan of any of the professional sports, and we’ve heard people like Jerry Buss and others on the Lakers indicate they’re not interested in having to share the revenue with some of these other teams.”

All in all, the center point of the looming NBA lockout is due to owners’ of small market teams sharing the sentiment that they are unable to keep their top talent. This feeling of powerlessness has been derived from the decision of Chris Bosh, LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony. As Mitch Lawrence writes, “The small-market teams want a bigger cut of the pie because they believe it will help them keep their top players and allow them to spend more money on their team, thus making them more competitive.”

If the NBA does not figure out how to give small market owners a fighting chance to survive then the avalanche of star players leaving small market teams to join big market teams will continue for the NBA. The next two teams, who have superstars on their rosters set to become free agents, are the Orlando Magic and New Orleans Hornets. The time to act is now. If the NBA does not act, there will be two more teams who might become irrelevant and not be able to compete. If this is the case they will probably loose money as well. The time to act is now before it is too late!

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The world will in fact be coming to an end if this fall is without football or basketball…what will happen if I wake up the first Sunday in September with no football or the first week of November without games being played in the NBA.

What will we have left? It brings tears just thinking about that sad day…yes tears, real manly tears of course.

Ray Lewis spoke of increased violence if football is not played, obviously an exaggeration- but speaking of myself, I might literally harm someone; I apologize in advance.  I mean really though, what will I do, what will I talk about with friends?

Maybe we will do some shopping and bond over our newly improved wardrobes. Or talk more about the same famous movie stars which we will never have…but how long will that last…our pop culture references will surely improve though.   On Sundays, maybe church will occupy those hours which were reserved for the nfl.  On second thought, that’s not likely to happen- service on Sundays will only remind me of where I should be and what team I should be praying for; I know I’m not the only one.

I know what I’ll do, this could serve as a perfect opportunity to catch up on some illegal movie downloads and exhaust my appreciation for Netflix.

Oh how depressing you may be saying to yourself, but what choice do I have. Do you expect me to spend my Sundays watching the last round of an irrelevant golf tournament without tiger woods? Do you see me or any self respecting fan to watch the Canadian league? No sir,I won’t do neither.

I’ll just watch some soccer hoping America develops a striker good enough to lead us somewhere down the line…while taking breaks between a DVD set of the wire from starting from season 1…please Don’t judge me fellow spots fans.

Oh yeah I forgot about our pastime, baseball…the problem is, that gets old real quick and sadly enough, won’t last forever; I know I just confused some of you, but that last line makes sense if you read it from the mind of a scared confused sports fan.

Most importantly, I won’t get a chance to redeem myself from last year’s beat down in my fantasy league.  I had great team by the way, injuries just did me in…but it doesn’t matter now does it.  I had a perfect name in mind for my team this year that I won’t get to unveil; it’s a shame if you ask me.

It’s sad to say but I’ll probably watch NFL network on Sundays, pretending I haven’t seen that particular game before.  Next I’ll flip to NBA TV, watch the replay of Lebron chocking in the finals while wondering as did Dwight Howard, where his hair line will be by next year.

What else can I do? What would you do in a world without that one thing that occupies a large portion of your thoughts and ideas? That one thing that causes arguments between brothers and sisters, sometimes resulting in blood lost; at the same time causes men to gamble away the rent.

This is my take on the importance of such sports in our society; of course in an exaggerated manner, but to some, football is their religion and basketball is a soap opera that we can’t turn away from.  So ask yourself what your Sundays will look like in the winter…can you feel the chill?

Cold isn’t it?

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