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NBA labor dispute wipes out start of preseason

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

On Friday morning, Spurs forward Matt Bonner was in Montreal, preparing to play in a charity basketball game and feeling even more out of sorts than usual, when he got the news.

As expected, the NBA formally announced the postponement of training camp and the cancellation of a week’s worth of preseason games for lack of a new collective bargaining agreement.

“At this point, we should all be back in San Antonio, getting ready for camp,” said Bonner, a vice president of the players’ union who has been closely involved in negotiations with the league owners. “To not be there, it’s just really weird, you know?”

Training camp, originally slated to open Oct. 4, has been pushed back indefinitely. In addition, the league scuttled all preseason games through Oct. 15 — 43 in all.

The cancellations, forecast for days if not weeks, became necessary when the latest bargaining session broke down Thursday without significant progress made.

Among the carnage were the Spurs’ first three preseason games — exhibitions slated for Oct. 9 against New Orleans, Oct. 11 at Sacramento and Oct. 15 at home against the Kings were all scrapped. For now, the earliest the Spurs might open the preseason is Oct. 17 against Cleveland, and even that seems in peril.

“We have regretfully reached the point on the calendar where we are not able to open training camps on time and need to cancel the first week of preseason games,” deputy commissioner Adam Silver said in a statement. “We will make further decisions as warranted.”

In 1998-99, when the NBA’s most recent lockout shortened the regular season to 50 games, the league cancelled the remainder of its preseason schedule on Oct. 6. It is assumed a similar timetable would be in effect this time around.

If a deal is not reached by mid-October, it is unlikely the regular season will be able to open as scheduled Nov. 1. Bonner was hopeful Friday’s cancellations might up the ante for both sides to broker a deal before it comes to that.

“Up until now, nothing had been canceled,” Bonner said. “Now it seems more real. Hopefully, the realness of the situation will create some added motivation to get it solved.”

Bound by a gag order issued by the league office, Spurs officials are barred from commenting on labor issues while the lockout remains in effect.

The sticking points between owners and the union are twofold: How to split the league’s revenue pie, and by what mechanism the players’ share should be delivered.

The players have offered to reduce their portion of basketball-related income from 57 percent under the last CBA to 54.3 percent or lower, with the condition that the soft salary-cap system remains in place.

Owners, most of whom the league says are losing money, want the players to take a smaller cut of the pie — in the “mid-40s,” according to Bonner — while instituting a much more restrictive hard salary cap.

“Their offer is way out in left field, and they’re sticking to it,” Bonner said.

With the clock still ticking and the calendar still creeping forward toward doomsday, players can only hope for a return to normalcy soon.

“The unknown is stressful,” Bonner said. “It’s especially frustrating for players, because we want to play. It’s what we do.”

SPURS’ PRESEASON SCHEDULE

At least three of the team’s seven games will not be played because of the lack of an NBA labor deal:

Canceled
Oct. 9: vs. Hornets
Oct. 11: @Kings
Oct. 15: vs. Kings

On for now
Oct. 17: vs. Cavs, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 20: vs. Magic, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 24: @Rockets, 7 p.m.
Oct. 27: @Thunder, 7 p.m.

Thunder, Magic set lockout mini-camps to boost team development

Orlando and Oklahoma City are the first two NBA teams to opt for unified team workouts during the lockout as a way of building team growth for the future.

It’s a good sign that both playoff-caliber teams are joining for voluntary workouts. And considering the reputation of both franchises, it’s not really that much of a surprise.

The Thunder are doing their camp this week. Hoops World.com reports that key players like Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, Eric Maynor, Cole Aldrich, Nick Collison and top draft pick Reggie Johnson .

Garnett has been playing in seemingly every major playground game involving NBA players this summer. But the unity of the Thunder team with him is noteworthy.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that the Magic are getting together beginning next week. Jameer Nelson, Quentin Richardson and Dwight Howard.

“I just want guys to get together a few days a week just to get back in the flow of things as much as we can and get some weightlifting in and some conditioning and get some shots up,” Nelson told the Sentinel.

Nelson added that he wants the workouts to be as close to possible to what the Magic would be experiencing at training camp.

“This is the time we all come back into town and just get together and get around each other and hang out a little bit, whether it’s dinner or going to watch a couple of football games, and work out during the day,” Nelson said.

“It doesn’t have to be an everyday thing because we have a veteran team. Guys still do their own thing working on their bodies individually, and to my understanding, most guys are [working on their own] right now.”

It wouldn’t be surprising to see some of the Spurs plan some similar work once the FIBA tournaments conclude and all of the players are through with their international commitments are concluded.

Confident Anderson ready for liftoff

By Jeff McDonald
jmcdonald@express-news.net

LAS VEGAS — The change came in James Anderson not long into one of his first games at the Impact Competitive Basketball series last week.

The second-year Spurs guard-forward was driving to the hoop, through a thicket of bodies, when an arm reached down and knocked the ball from his hands, making ample contact with his wrist and forearm in the process.

Hearing no whistle, Anderson did something completely out of character. He opened his mouth.

“That’s a foul!” the 22-year-old known to even his closest friends as “Quiet James” bellowed at the nearest official.

A few feet away, Joe Abunassar — the Las Vegas-based trainer whose gym hosted the so-called “Lockout League” and who has been working with Anderson since early June — couldn’t help but smile. For him, there was something heartening about watching Anderson finally behave as if he were entitled to a call.

“If you’ve ever talked to James, he’s a very quiet guy,” Abunassar said. “But I think his confidence level is sky-high right now.”

For Anderson, the No. 1 priority this summer was rebuilding confidence in the wake of an injury-plagued rookie season in which his self-belief became as fractured as the bone in his right foot.

Without access to the Spurs’ practice facility or the team’s player development staff, Anderson has leaned on Abunassar to help him in that endeavor.

“It’s frustrating,” Anderson said last week between games in Vegas. “I wanted to come show the Spurs what I had to offer. I feel like I’ve still got a lot to prove to myself and to the coaches whenever the season starts back.”

It’s safe to say no player is rooting more fervently for the NBA labor dispute to end than Anderson.

He entered last season with high hopes as the 20th overall pick and former Big 12 Player of the Year at Oklahoma State, and for a fleeting moment lived up to them.

Anderson appeared in six of the Spurs’ first seven games, missing one to attend the birth of his daughter, and made 10 of his first 20 3-point tries. He became the first Spurs rookie to make a 3-point goal in each of his first six appearances.

Then disaster struck. On Nov. 11, team doctors diagnosed lingering soreness in Anderson’s right foot as a stress fracture to the fifth metatarsal. It would be late January before Anderson played again, by which time his bench spot as Gregg Popovich’s instant-offense generator had been ceded to fellow rookie Gary Neal.

All told, Anderson appeared in just 26 games, averaging 3.6 points.

“It wasn’t a good start to my NBA career,” Anderson said.

At the Impact series, which Abunassar envisioned to be a souped-up replacement for the NBA’s lockout-stricken official summer league, Anderson appeared ready to make good on a second chance at a rookie season. All he needs is for the league’s labor impasse to end.

In three games in Vegas, Anderson averaged 19.3 points and shot a sizzling 68.4 percent (26 of 38). Testament to an offensive game blossoming beyond mere perimeter gunning, Anderson did most of his damage from 2-point range, netting all but three of his field goals from inside the arc.

“I see the most strides in him as he plays,” Abunassar said. “James is a great drill guy. He’s a pure scorer. But he needs to get used to where to be, when to go, when to cut, when to fade, when to do all those things. Playing with veterans every day really helps him.”

In a sense, Anderson feels as if his career is stuck on the launching pad, still waiting for liftoff.

The Lockout League was a nice diversion, but it’s no substitute for training camp. There is only so much Anderson can accomplish in the gym without Spurs coaches around.

“I still feel behind, team-wise,” Anderson said. “I feel like I haven’t got to be together with the team much. It will come. I can’t rush into it.”

After a season spent on the periphery in San Antonio as an injured afterthought, Anderson is eager to prove himself worthy of a more significant role this season.

“The games I played in before I got hurt, it was a sample of what I can do,” Anderson said. “I’ve got a lot more to offer.”

Indeed, Anderson’s confidence is quietly soaring. One day soon, he hopes to be able to do more than just talk about it.

ON HOLD

For second-year Spurs guard James Anderson, the lockout could hinder his progress as much as a broken right foot did in his rookie season.

First six games: Averaged 17.3 minutes and 7.0 points.

Nov. 10: Played in last game before going on injured list with stress fracture. Gary Neal took over, making the NBA All-Rookie first team.

NBDL: Anderson averaged 14.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.0 assists in seven games for Austin Toros.

Jan. 29: Played three minutes in his return, finishing the season with a 3.6-point average in 26 games.

Source: Express-News research

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