Lockout update: Links from around the Web

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By Chris Sheridan

“If we didn’t think there was any hope, we wouldn’t be scheduling the meetings. But that’s the best I would say right now.” — David Stern, Oct. 1.

That was about the best thing the commish did say — although he threw in a line about wrestling Dwyane Wade to the ground — Saturday night when collective bargaining talks adjourned and the sides said they would reconvene Monday.

Getting a deal done in the upcoming week is imperative to keeping the scheduled Nov. 1 start of the regular season intact, and sometime in the next couple of days we should expect an announcement canceling the remainder of the preseason.

Optimism is waning, but as I’ve said and written before, no matter how far apart the sides are on the key issue — the division of revenues — if both parties have a clear idea of where the middle ground is, they can make a giant leap from their current respective positions (owners currently are offering the players 46 percent of revenues; the players are asking for 54). And that piece of the puzzle can be completed in a matter of minutes, not hours or days.

So there is hope, but time is dwindling.

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Lockout talks to resume Monday (unless something secret happens Sunday)

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By Chris Sheridan

NEW YORK — They spent seven hours in the room together Saturday, and they didn’t even talk about the split of revenues. Instead, owners and players trying to negotiate an end to the NBA lockout discussed aspects of the soft cap system they will operate under once they get a deal done.

And when might that be?

It is now looking like the latter part of next week is the drop dead date for saving the scheduled Nov. 1 start of the regular season.

“I don’t know whether the 11th hour is Tuesday or not,” Hunter said. “Clearly they decided the had to cancel some of the preseason, and the question is going to be one of whether they’re going to be compelled to actually begin to start canceling games. We haven’t quite gotten there yet, but time is moving in that direction. And its a question of whether or not that has the kind of impact one would hope it would have to bridge the gap, but it’s a pretty wide gulf.”

No talks will be held Sunday (at least that was what David Stern and Billy Hunter said publicly. I would not put it past them to meet privately Sunday night. They had one or two super-secret private meetings in 1998 when the start of that season was in jeopardy).

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Watch the Chris Paul charity game live

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It was scheduled to start at 7 p.m. EDT. All you have to do is click on this link.

But before you do, or perhaps after, consider sending a donation to his foundation by clicking here.

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Lockout update from talks in New York, plus audio

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By Chris Sheridan

Owners and players have been meeting for 6 1/2 hours at a luxury New York hotel, and the media stakeout has had few highlights.

There was one, however:

There is a big wedding taking place at the hotel, and the groom is dressed in a red vest with a tuxedo tail. “He’ll regret that for the rest of his life,” one writer said of the groom’s outfit. Another veteran NBA reporter (also is a veteran of four marriages) chimed in: “That’s not the worst decision he’s making today.”

That’s the best I have for you now, except for this audio from the Joe Lull show in Cleveland this afternoon on 92.3 sports radio.

Click here to listen to the first part of the interview.

Click here to listen to the second part of the interview.

 

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Zagoria Column: Featured Future Pro, Kentucky’s Anthony Davis

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By Adam Zagoria of ZagsBlog

PISCATAWAY, N.J. — John Calipari has had a slew of one-and-done players during his tenures at Memphis and Kentucky.

But he has to go back to his UMass days to find a proper comparison for 6-foot-10, 220-pound Kentucky freshman Anthony Davis.

“Marcus Camby,” Calipari said Friday at Rutgers at the first annual clinic to benefit The Brayden Carr Foundation. “Marcus Camby, same. [Davis] shoots it better. Marcus was bigger, but they’re both really good.”

 

Calipari said Davis has worked especially well in tandem with Terrence Jones, a projected first-round pick last year who opted to stay on campus.

“Anthony Davis runs the court in three steps,” Calipari said.

Davis is listed as a forward but has many of the ball-handling skills of a guard.

That’s because he was a guard.

Davis played guard growing up in Chicago, but then had a major growth spurt and burst onto the national scene a year ago.

“He grew eight inches in a year,” Chicago Mean Streets coach Jevon Mamon said last year. “With his guard skills that he possesses and because he is able to do that as a big and [with] his length defensively, he can do some great things because of his length.”

He ultimately chose Kentucky over Syracuse and Ohio State because he liked Calipari’s style of play and track record of producing pros.

Now he’s part of Calipari’s No. 1 ranked recruiting class, and he’s projected by DraftExpress.com as the No. 1 pick in the 2012 NBA Draft.

Davis is one of four Kentucky players projected to go in the first 18 picks.

“Skill-wise, he’s a work in progress,” said Jonathan Givony, founder of DraftExpress.com. “He needs to work on his shooting. He needs to work on his ball-handling. He needs to work on his post moves. But he’s the kind of guy that he’s going to get all of that down the road.

“And everybody says he’s an unbelievable kid, and that’s tangible. That’s huge.”

Adam Zagoria of Zags Blog covers the future stars of the NBA for SheridanHoops.com. His column appears every Saturday.

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