Fisher: Latest labor talks ‘engaging’
September 30, 2011
NEW YORK (AP)—NBA players and owners are done talking for the day and planto resume bargaining Saturday.
With time running out to reach a labor deal that saves the Nov. 1 start ofthe season, LeBron James(notes), Carmelo Anthony(notes), Kevin Durant(notes) and other NBA stars tookpart in a four-hour session Friday in New York.
New York Knicks ' Carmelo … AP – Sep 30, 1:01 pm EDT Miami Heat 's LeBron James… AP – Sep 30, 12:52 pm EDT 1 of 2 NBA Gallery
Derek Fisher(notes), president of the players’ association, characterized the talksas “engaging.” When asked whether a deal could be done this weekend, he said:“I can’t answer that.”
Derek Fisher fears the NBA season won't start on time after the latest setback in labor negotiations.(AP)
Commissioner David Stern says “both sides expressed a willingness to make adeal” and again insisted that once regular season games are lost, the positionson both sides will harden.
Owners locked out players on July 1, and the sides continue to spar over thedivision of revenues and salary cap system.
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Charity game with James, Wade, Bosh set
September 30, 2011
MIAMI (AP)—After several days of finalizing details, the plan for acharity game featuring Miami Heat stars LeBron James(notes), Dwyane Wade(notes) and Chris Bosh(notes)at Florida International next weekend is now set.
The game will take place Oct. 8. Proceeds will go toward Mary’s CourtFoundation, which was established in honor of Mary Thomas, the late mother ofFIU coach and Basketball Hall of Famer Isiah Thomas.
Thomas says he was “overwhelmed” by that gesture.
Several other NBA stars including Carmelo Anthony(notes), Amare Stoudemire(notes), KevinDurant(notes) and Russell Westbrook(notes) are expected to play. Wade used his Twitter feed todescribe the game Friday as the “D-Wade vs. King James” game, and plans docall for those Heat stars to be on opposite teams.
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SEC rejects Cuban’s misconduct claims
September 30, 2011
WASHINGTON (AP)—A watchdog report says Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cubanhas no grounds to claim that Securities and Exchange Commission attorneysengaged in misconduct in an insider trading case against him.
The SEC’s inspector general’s office says in a report issued Friday therewasn’t enough evidence to support Cuban’s claims. They include allegations thatagency attorneys notified him of possible civil charges before theirinvestigation was complete.
The SEC filed charges against him in November 2008, accusing him of avoidinga $750,000 loss in 2004 by selling shares of Internet search company Mamma.comafter receiving confidential information about a private stock offering.
Cuban has fought the SEC charges and sued the commission in May 2009. LastSeptember, a federal appeals court revived the SEC’s lawsuit against thebillionaire.
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Bologna prez confident Bryant will sign
September 30, 2011
ROME (AP)—The president of Virtus Bologna tells The Associated Press he is“very confident” Kobe Bryant(notes) will sign a deal to play for the Italian clubduring the NBA lockout.
Claudio Sabatini believes “good sense will prevail” to eliminate anyscheduling problems that pose an obstacle.
Related news Wojnarowski: Biggest NBA stars are underpaid 
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He adds that Bryant’s agent Rob Pelinka agreed to an arrangement for 35 to40 days worth more than $3 million, saying that “at this point we’re justworking out the logistics.” Sabatini says a Bologna-based food company isprepared to provide cash for the deal.
Bologna has requested to play five of its opening 10 games at home. A fewother teams, however, don’t want to change their schedules to accommodate theLos Angeles Lakers’ star.
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James, ‘Melo, Durant join labor talks
September 30, 2011
NEW YORK (AP)—LeBron James(notes), Carmelo Anthony(notes), Kevin Durant(notes) and other NBAplayers arrived for meetings with owners that could determine if the seasonstarts on time.
The sides will meet Friday and are prepared to talk through the weekend.Commissioner David Stern has said there must be progress toward a new labor dealthis weekend or there will be “enormous consequences.” The regular season isscheduled to begin Nov. 1.
Miami Heat 's LeBron James… AP – Sep 30, 12:52 pm EDT NBA Gallery
Owners locked out players on July 1 and the sides continue to spar over thedivision of revenues and salary cap system.
Derek Fisher fears the NBA season won't start on time after the latest setback in labor negotiations.(AP)
Both sides have said they aren’t close to a deal yet. They have been talkingin small groups but summoned their full bargaining committees back for Friday’smeeting.
Union leadership was briefing the players, while owners met among themselvesbefore the bargaining meeting later in the afternoon. It was unclear how longthe star players, who are not part of the executive committee, would remain.
The league has already postponed training camps that would have begun nextweek and canceled 43 preseason games scheduled for Oct. 9-15. NBA officials havesaid they will make decisions about the rest of the exhibition schedule aswarranted.
But already real games are in danger, given it could take about four weeksfrom an agreement being reached to being able to play. The collective bargainingagreement would have to be written and a condensed free agency period allowed tohappen first.
Coming off a strong 2010-11 season, the NBA is trying to avoid losing gamesto a work stoppage for only the second time. Owners, however, are seekingsignificant changes after saying they lost $300 million last season and losthundreds of millions more in every other season of the previous CBA.
Union head Billy Hunter has said players would sit out rather than acceptthe deal owners have proposed, which would slash salaries and reduce the lengthsof contracts. But Stern has warned that offers will only get worse once gamesare missed.
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Italian team: Kobe deal 95 percent done
September 30, 2011
ROME (AP)—The president of Virtus Bologna said he has an agreement withKobe Bryant(notes) that’s “95 percent done” for the Los Angeles Lakers star to playin Italy during the NBA lockout.
Bryant will be paid $3 million for the opening 40 days of the Italian leagueseason, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press onFriday. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has not beensigned.
“We have reached an economic deal,” Virtus President Claudio Sabatini tolda local radio station. “There’s still some things to arrange, but at this pointI’m very optimistic. I would say it’s 95 percent done.”
U.S. basketball player Kobe Br… AP – Sep 29, 3:03 pm EDT U.S. basketball player Kobe Br… AP – Sep 29, 2:09 pm EDT 1 of 2 NBA Gallery
The deal should last about 10 games and would allow Bryant to return to theLakers immediately if the lockout ends.
Bryant, who spent much of his childhood in Italy, was in the country forsponsor appearances the past two days. He was to be in New York for NBA labortalks Friday and is expected to get a work visa and return to Italy next week.
“Kobe should be in Bologna by Wednesday or Thursday with his visa in handfor medical visits and then we can deposit the contract with the league,”Sabatini said. “I want to make clear that right now there are still nosignatures. We’ve got to write the contract, which will then be read over andover again.”
Virtus had been set to open the season Oct. 9 against Roma, but schedulesneed to be reworked after Venezia was added to the league as a 17th team.Sabatini wants to create a special schedule that assigns Bryant’s games toItaly’s biggest arenas.
“This is an important investment and a unique chance for the city ofBologna and all of Italian basketball,” Sabatini said. “I’m hoping everyonewants to collaborate.”
Bologna has requested to play five of its opening 10 games at home, but theclub was running into problems Friday with a couple of teams that didn’t want toalter schedules just to accommodate Bryant.
A statement on Bologna’s website said the problems with the other clubs wereputting the economic deal behind the Bryant negotiations “in serious” doubt.
The 33-year-old Bryant has three years and $83.5 million left on hiscontract with the Lakers.
Between ages 6 and 13, Bryant lived in Italy when his father Joe Bryantplayed with Rieti, Reggio Calabria, Pistoia and Reggiana from 1984-91. The elderBryant also once owned a small part of Olimpia Milano. He now coaches the LosAngeles Sparks in the WNBA.
Kobe Bryant, who still speaks Italian fairly well, discussed his memories ofhis time in the country during an interview with the Gazzetta dello Sport twodays ago.
“Italy is my home. It’s where my dream of playing in the NBA started. Thisis where I learned the fundamentals, learned to shoot, to pass and to (move)without the ball,” Bryant told the Italian newspaper. “All things that when Icame back to America the players my age didn’t know how to do because they wereonly thinking about jumping and dunking.”
Bryant added that playing in Italy would be “a dream for me.”
On Wednesday, Bryant mingled with fans in Milan. He also received a warmwelcome in Rome on Thursday, where he was brought to the Campidoglio museum toreceive a commemorative medal from the 1960 Rome Olympics.
Bryant has been bothered in recent seasons by an arthritic joint in hisright knee that required several minor operations. He sat out most of theLakers’ practices last season, and his scoring, shooting percentage and minutesdecreased in his 15th NBA season.
Former USC guard Daniel Hackett, a dual citizen who plays for Pesaro inItaly, knows how he would play Bryant if he faced the former NBA MVP.
“The only way to stop a player that good is with a hard foul and he knowsthat,” Hackett said. “I’ve got five fouls to commit and they’re going to bethe hardest five fouls I’ve ever committed.”
Hackett also criticized speculation that Bologna will ask opposing clubshosting Bryant’s away games to chip in a portion of ticket sales to help payBryant’s salary.
“I really hope Kobe doesn’t lower himself to this level for economic andcommercial motives,” Hackett said, according to the Gazzetta. “To me, it wouldbe a big disappointment to see him here under these circumstances, and a loss ofrespect for a player who is too big to dirty his hands in this league.”
Sabatini replied, “Fortunately not all Italian players think likeHackett.”
Turkish club Besiktas and at least one team in China had also expressedinterest in Bryant, who has won five NBA championships and been an All-Star 13times.
Bologna also recently approached Spurs swingman Manu Ginobili(notes), who playedwith the club before joining San Antonio in 2002. Denver Nuggets forward DaniloGallinari(notes) rejoined his former Italian club Olimpia Milano last week.
The NBA season is scheduled to open Nov. 1 but owners and players havefailed to agree on a new labor deal. The sides are at odds over how to dividethe league’s revenue, a salary cap structure and the length of guaranteedcontracts. Last week, the NBA postponed training camps and canceled 43 preseasongames.
Virtus has won 15 Italian league titles but none since 2001, when it alsowon the Euroleague for the second time.
Bologna did not qualify for this season’s Euroleague. The team has bigambitions after signing former Clemson point guard Terrell McIntyre, who ledSiena to four consecutive Italian titles before transferring to Malaga in Spainbefore last season.
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Bologna has verbal agreement with Bryant
September 30, 2011
ROME (AP)—Italian club Virtus Bologna said it has reached a verbalagreement with Kobe Bryant(notes) for the Los Angeles Lakers star to play in Italyduring the NBA lockout.
“We have reached an economic deal,” Virtus president Claudio Sabatini tolda local radio station. “There’s still some things to arrange but at this pointI’m very optimistic. I would say it’s 95 percent done.”
A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press onFriday that the sides have settled on a $3 million contract for the opening 40days of the Italian league season. The person spoke on condition of anonymitybecause the deal has still not been signed.
Bryant, who spent much of his childhood in Italy, was in the country forsponsor appearances over the past two days but was flying back to the U.S. forlabor talks with the NBA on Friday.
Bryant is expected to get a work visa and return to Italy next week.
“Kobe should be in Bologna by Wednesday or Thursday with his visa in handfor medical visits and then we can deposit the contract with the league,”Sabatini said. “I want to make clear that right now there are still nosignatures. We’ve got to write the contract, which will then be read over andover again.”
Virtus had been due to open the season Oct. 9 against Roma, but schedulesnow need to be reworked after Venezia was added to the league as a 17th team.
The deal, which would allow Bryant to return to the Lakers immediately ifthe lockout ends, should last about 10 games.
Sabatini wants to create a special schedule that assigns Bryant’s games toItaly’s biggest arenas.
“This is an important investment and a unique chance for the city ofBologna and all of Italian basketball,” Sabatini said. “I’m hoping everyonewants to collaborate.”
The 33-year-old Bryant has three years and $83.5 million left on hiscontract with the Lakers.
Between the ages of six and 13, Bryant lived in Italy when his father JoeBryant played with Rieti, Reggio Calabria, Pistoia and Reggiana from 1984-91.The elder Bryant also once owned a small part of Olimpia Milano. He now coachesthe Los Angeles Sparks in the WNBA.
The younger Bryant still speaks Italian fairly well, and discussed hismemories of his time in the country during an interview with the Gazzetta delloSport two days ago.
“Italy is my home. It’s where my dream of playing in the NBA started. Thisis where I learned the fundamentals, learned to shoot, to pass and to (move)without the ball,” Bryant told the Italian newspaper. “All things that when Icame back to America the players my age didn’t know how to do because they wereonly thinking about jumping and dunking.”
Bryant added that playing in Italy “would be a dream for me.”
Bryant has been bothered in recent seasons by an arthritic joint in hisright knee, which has required several minor operations. He sat out a majorityof the Lakers’ practices last season and saw his scoring, shooting percentageand minutes decrease in his 15th NBA season.
Former USC guard Daniel Hackett, a dual citizen who plays for Pesaro inItaly, said he would give Bryant a hostile reception if he faced the former NBAMVP.
“The only way to stop a player that good is with a hard foul and he knowsthat,” Hackett said. “I’ve got five fouls to commit and they’re going to bethe hardest five fouls I’ve ever committed.”
Hackett also criticized speculation that Bologna will ask opposing clubshosting Bryant’s away games to chip in a portion of ticket sales to help payBryant’s salary.
“I really hope Kobe doesn’t lower himself to this level for economic andcommercial motives,” Hackett said, according to the Gazzetta. “To me, it wouldbe a big disappointment to see him here under these circumstances, and a loss ofrespect for a player who is too big to dirty his hands in this league.”
Bologna president Sabatini replied, “Fortunately not all Italian playersthink like Hackett.”
Turkish club Besiktas and at least one team in China had also expressedinterest in Bryant, who has won five NBA championships and been an All-Star 13times.
Bologna also recently approached Spurs swingman Manu Ginobili(notes), who playedwith the club before joining San Antonio in 2002. Denver Nuggets forward DaniloGallinari(notes) rejoined his former Italian club Olimpia Milano last week.
The NBA season is scheduled to open Nov. 1 but owners and players havefailed to agree on a new labor deal. The two sides are at odds over how todivide the league’s revenue, a salary cap structure and the length of guaranteedcontracts.
Last week, NBA officials announced the postponement of training camp and thecancellation of 43 preseason games.
Virtus has won 15 Italian league titles but none since 2001, when it alsowon the Euroleague for the second time.
Bologna did not qualify for this season’s Euroleague, although the team hasbig ambitions after signing former Clemson point guard Terrell McIntyre, who ledSiena to four consecutive Italian titles before transferring to Malaga in Spainbefore last season.
Having mingled with fans in Milan on Wednesday, Bryant also received a warmwelcome in Rome on Thursday, where he was brought to the Campidoglio museum tobe given a commemorative medal from the 1960 Rome Olympics.
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Source: Italy’s Virtus signs Bryant
September 30, 2011
ROME (AP)—Italian club Virtus Bologna says it has reached a verbal agreementwith Kobe Bryant(notes) for the Los Angeles Lakers star to play in Italy during the NBAlockout.
A person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press thatthe sides have settled on a $3 million (?2.2 million) contract for the opening40 days of the Italian league season.
U.S. basketball player Kobe Br… AP – Sep 29, 3:03 pm EDT U.S. basketball player Kobe Br… AP – Sep 29, 2:09 pm EDT 1 of 2 NBA Gallery
Bryant was in Italy for sponsor appearances over the past two days but wasflying back to the United States for labor talks with the NBA on Friday.
The person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has stillnot been signed, says Bryant will then get a work visa and return to Italy nextweek.
Virtus had been due to open the season Oct. 9 vs. Roma, but schedules nowneed to be redone after Venezia was added as a 17th team.
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Weekend talks vital for starting on-time
September 29, 2011
NEW YORK (AP)—They don’t have a deal yet, and they are just about out of time.
After some two years of on-and-off negotiations, that’s about all NBAplayers and owners agree on. The gaps in their financial proposals have been sogreat that they sometimes decide it’s best to just talk about something else.
Now they have to figure it out quickly. Without at least getting very closeto the framework of a new collective bargaining agreement this weekend, hopes ofthe 2011-12 season starting on time would be all but lost.
Derek Fisher fears the NBA season won't start on time after the latest setback in labor negotiations.(AP)
“We realize that the calendar, the clock, the watch, whatever you want tosay, is running out in terms of starting our regular season on time. So we’regoing to try to get some things done this weekend and see what we can do,” saidthe Lakers’ Derek Fisher(notes), president of the players’ association.
The owners’ labor relations committee and the union’s executive committee—perhaps joined by some All-Stars—will meet Friday and have committed to keeptalking throughout the weekend. Both sides have cautioned that bringing back thelarge groups after as series of discussions among smaller parties doesn’t meanthey are close, but rather that more voices are required to consider the crucialdecisions.
There are 11 owners and nine players on the committees, including All-StarChris Paul(notes), who may try to bring along friends such as Carmelo Anthony(notes) andLeBron James(notes) that are scheduled to join him Saturday in a charity game in hishometown of Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
It’s doubtful the presence of the superstars makes much impact—Anthonyacknowledged this week that “we really don’t know how powerful we are at thismoment”—but opening up the room beyond the top negotiators has backfiredbefore.
Talks broke down last time the large groups were together on Sept. 13, butCommissioner David Stern said he and union executive director Billy Hunterbelieve it’s necessary to summon them again with the Nov. 1 opener at stake.
“If we’re at a period of enormous opportunity and great risk, the largerthe group that is assembled to focus on that, the better from my perspective,”Stern said. “And I think Billy and I are on the same page on this.”
They aren’t, though, on major salary and system issues.
Owners are seeking a more restrictive salary cap system, while the playersfavor the current one that allows teams to exceed it through use of certainexceptions. Players fear a harder cap system would eliminate fully guaranteedcontracts for all but the top players.
And that may be the easier one.
Owners want a significant reduction in the players’ guarantee ofbasketball-related income, which was 57 percent in the previous deal. Playersproposed lowering it to 54.3 percent before the lockout began July 1, thoughHunter indicated this summer they were prepared to go lower if owners wouldagree to leave the cap system untouched. Union officials have said the league’sproposals would have them in the mid-40s.
Each percentage point equates to at least $30 million. Players totaled $2.1billion in salaries and benefits players earned this season.
“We just haven’t been able to get to a space, at least the formal proposalsthat have been on the table, get us to place where we can agree on a deal atthis point,” Fisher said. “And so economically, we’ve tried to kind of leavethat one floating and deal with some system issues and see what we can carve outthere, but we’re working at it.”
Hunter has said players have instructed union leadership that they wouldrather sit out than accept a bad deal. But Stern has warned that offers willonly get worse once games are missed, which he seemed to be alluding toWednesday when he said without progress in the upcoming talks “then it won’t bea question of just starting the season on time, it will be a lot at risk becauseof the absence of progress.”
The NBA later denied an ESPN.com report that he planned to threaten playerswith cancellation of the entire season without progress by the end of theweekend.
With the two huge items still to tackle and numerous smaller ones remaininguntouched, it won’t come easily—and there’s a chance it doesn’t come at all.
“There’s not necessarily a win-lose scenario to get our season started ontime,” Fisher said. “We certainly have to be in a place where both sides feelthat it’s a fair deal to be sustained and we’ll see if we can do that soonerrather than later.”
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Pistons C Wallace arrested for DUI, gun
September 29, 2011
BLOOMFIELD TOWNSHIP, Mich. (AP)—Authorities in suburban Detroit sayDetroit Pistons center Ben Wallace(notes) has been charged with drunken driving andunlawfully carrying a concealed weapon after a traffic stop.
Bloomfield Township police said Thursday that the 37-year-old Wallace wasarrested about 3 a.m. Saturday after officers observed a Cadillac Escalade beingdriven erratically. Police said they found an unloaded pistol in a backpack.
Officers say Wallace was given a blood-alcohol test and he was aboveMichigan’s legal limit of 0.08 percent.
Police declined to provide further details.
Wallace, who helped the Pistons win the 2004 NBA title, was arraigned andreleased on a $5,000 personal bond. His next court hearing is Monday.
An email was sent by The Associated Press seeking comment from a Wallacerepresentative.
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