I was trying to find a good article to describe any new developments about the lockout, and I thought this was the most telling one. Derek Fisher, the National Basketball Players’ Association president, sent out a letter to many NBA players about the current stage of the lockout, the progress made in meetings, and some criticism towards agents. Players and the owners are supposed to meet again today.
Here is the original link to the letter: http://bit.ly/qjnzfN
According the Matt Steinmetz, David Lee, Stephen Curry, and other players on the Warriors have organized their own training camp, since they are not allowed to come in contact with the coaching staff or the front office. Lee, Curry, and Wright are expected to play in the “lockout league” that’s being held in Las Vegas. After the first week of play in this league, the Warriors “training camp” will start. The Warriors players that are expected to participate are: David Lee (who’s organizing hotel rooms and other logistics), Stephen Curry (who’s contacting all the players), Dorell Wright, Monta Ellis, Ekpe Udoh, Lou Amundson, Jeremy Lin, Klay Thompson, Jeremy Tyler, and Charles Jenkins. David Lee said this impromptu training camp is meant to create chemistry. Lee explains, “More than anything it’s just us all getting together. We’re just trying to stay on the same page. Normally, at this time we’re getting ready back in Oakland, and so we’re just doing that somewhere else. It’s about getting to know the new guys and getting everyone excited about the season — whenever the season is. It will be good workouts and good competition.”
Read more of Matt Steinmetz’ article about the training camp here.
As promised, NBA owners and players met again today in an attempt to further discussions regarding the lockout. Their meeting lasted about 5 1/2 hours like yesterday’s meeting, and also like yesterday, both sides are remaining quiet about if any progress has been made. Although it was mentioned yesterday that there was a possibility of a third consecutive meeting on Friday, both sides agreed to instead meet next week on Tuesday in New York. This was planned so that more players and more owners could attend, and therefore, hopefully more can be discussed.
After Tuesday’s meeting, there could potentially be another meeting in New York on Wednesday and then each side will update their members on Thursday. The owners have planned a meeting in Dallas on Thursday, and the players are planning to meet in Las Vegas because about 40 of them are planning on playing in a pro-only league at the Impact Basketball Academy. There won’t be any formal votes or decisions being made at these meetings on Thursday, but each side will have a much greater view on if the season can be salvaged. If both sides want to ensure that training camp happens, a decision will definitely have to be made soon though.
Marc Stein, senior writer for ESPN NBA, was interviewed today and said that both meetings this week and the scheduled meeting next week proves to be “a good sign.” Watch the rest of his interview:
Disclaimer: Yes, this is another Matt-Steinmetz-related post. Expect many more in the future.
Matt Steinmetz usually has a weekly chat where anyone can come and voice their opinion or ask him questions about pretty much anything. The chat is generally about the Warriors and various NBA topics, but it can often stray into a broader range of very entertaining topics.
This week’s chat was the first in what seems like a long time. Because of the lockout, the chat has been called off in recent weeks, so I was definitely looking forward to another chat. This week, many topics were discussed including the NBA lockout, the Warriors coaching staff, the Warriors rookies this year, the 49ers matchup against the Seahawks this weekend, the Warriors’ many roster problems, and of course, a Monta vs. Steph debate.
This is another Steinmetz must-read, so check it out!
Click here, and then click on replay. Enjoy!
NBA owners and players met today for approximately 5 1/2 hours and plan to meet up tomorrow as well. If negotiations go well tomorrow, both sides could potentially meet up on Friday also. This is fairly good news for all NBA fans because both sides have barely met up since the lockout started July 1st. Before today’s meeting, they have only met twice since then. There must be some sort of progress being made because otherwise, the players and owners would not want to meet up again the next day.
Both sides are being pretty quiet on how the discussions are going though, so there wasn’t a strong sense of optimism. Derek Fisher of the Los Angeles Lakers, the players’ union president, is suggesting that both sides want to keep all negotiations private. He said, “…to characterize what comes out of the meetings and whether we’re making progress or we have momentum, we can’t say and it’s tough to say. Until the deal is done, there is no deal.”
There is a sense of urgency now to get a new agreement completed because training camps would be starting around October 3rd. Preseason would then begin around October 9th and the regular season would begin around November 1st. Many fans have believed that there will be a work stoppage and, therefore, games will be lost and potentially there will be no season at all. Originally, many representives on both sides agreed with this because of how poorly the discussions were going. However, now that there’s a stronger sense of urgency, there’s a little more optimism, even if it’s not being shown. Derek Fisher said, “Time is running down, not necessarily out, but I think we all feel in the room that if we continue to work at it we can possibly find a way to get a deal done.” Hopefully, we’ll know more tomorrow on how much progress has been made in these meetings.
Matt Steinmetz of Comcast Sportsnet started a podcast a couple months ago that features discussions with many different NBA bloggers, reporters, etc. It’s been a great series so far and if you like the Warriors, you have to check out his other previous podcasts. Many different personalities have been on the podcast so far such as Ethan Sherwood Strauss of WarriorsWorld.net, K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune, Sam Amick of SI.com, and this week, Adam Lauridsen of the Fast Break Warriors Fan Blog on mercurynews.com. The podcast this week was informative, humorous, and, of course, full of strong opinions. I love any discussion involving Stephen Curry vs. Monta Ellis, but this one was one of my favorites to listen to so far. Both sides brought up very interesting points that I hadn’t necessarily considered, and I loved listening to the pros and cons of each side. I’ve always been very pro-Stephen Curry and anti-Monta Ellis, but both Steinmetz and Lauridsen had arguments for and against my opinion, which I appreciated. This podcast is a must-listen, so do it now! If you have an extra 25 minutes or so after work or during your lunch break, listen to this entertaining podcast here.
The 3rd Sister 