Tag: NBA

The NBA’s edition of ‘Let’s Make A Deal’ kicks off today

NBA teams have already starting burning up the telephone lines as they talk with potential free agents.

But that’s only part of this dizzying chase that will compress work that would have taken place during a summer of inactivity into a few short weeks.

It seems a lot of general managers had a chance to take careful stock of their teams over the summer. And considering some of the potential trades that are being bandied about, it looks like we might see a lot of action during the next few days.

Here are some early links and speculation about some notable possible trades:

  • Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated reports that Boston with hopes of upgrading to Chris Paul rather than a confidence-shaken Rajon Rondo.
  • Marc Stein of ESPN.com reports that New Jersey is offering a package of Brook Lopez and two first-round picks to Orlando in hopes of landing Dwight Howard. The Nets would even be to make the deal happen.  
  • Citing “sources close to the situation,” ESPN.com’s Chris Broussard tweets that Paul isif traded to Boston. Broussard also notes that the for Russell Westbrook and Kendrick Perkins over the summer.
  • Yahoo.com’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports that in a possible three-team trade involving Rondo and Paul.  
  • Mike Wells of the Indianapolis Star tweets that .
  • Marca.com reports that Memphis center , or he will play in Europe. Only five European teams could afford him:  FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, CSKA Moscow, Efes and Olympiacos.

Not surprisingly, the Spurs haven’t been mentioned in any potential deals.

Tiago headed to Spain; Manu being wooed

Spurs center Tiago Splitter is headed overseas because of the NBA lockout and guard Manu Ginobili  is being recruited like a blue chip prep prospect.

One season removed from being Most Valuable Player of the Spanish ACB League, the website of ACB team Valencia BC reported Wednesday that Splitter has agreed to join the team. His contract will have an out clause allowing his return to the Spurs should the lockout end in time for the 2011-12 NBA season to commence.

Although Ginobili has said he would not consider playing overseas until the entire NBA season is canceled, his agent said he received offers from European teams on a daily basis.

“Noting is imminent,” Herb Rudoy, Ginobili’s Chicago-based agent reported via text message, “although we field inquiries from European teams every day.”

Ginobili offered Splitter congratulations for his signing in Valencia via a Twitter posting on Wednesday.

Splitter averaged 4.9 points and 3.5 rebounds in 61 games as a Spurs rookie. At the FIBA Americas tournament in Argentina in September he helped Brazil capture the silver medal and a berth in the 2012 Olympic tournament.

He will join 2009 Spurs draftee Nando de Colo on the Valencia roster.

Splitter will be the fifth Spurs player venturing overseas during the lockout, now 140 days old and embroiled in litigation after the disbanding of the players union on Monday. Three-time All-Star point guard Tony Parker is the most prominent Spur playing in Europe, leading ASVEL Lyon-Villeurbanne in France. Parker is part-owner of the team.

Forward DeJuan Blair signed with Krasnye Krylya, in Samara, Russia, but was released by the team in mid-October.

Also playing overseas are swing man Danny Green, playing in Slovenia, and point guard Chris Quinn, playing for Khimki Moscow.

Attorneys who now represent the trade association that has replaced the National Basketball Players Association in dealings with the NBA on Tuesday field an antitrust suit against the league in the Northern District of California. A second, similar suit was filed in the Minnesota District.

Player representatives from 27 of the 30 NBA teams met Monday in New York and voted unanimously to reject a proposal from the league for a new collective bargaining agreement. They then voted to disclaim interest in bargaining, disbanding as a union and become a trade association.

Sapp, Rose aren’t buying LBJ as NFL player

It’s an image that LeBron James has helped cultivate over the years.

Back in the day, James was an All-State wide receiver at St. Vincent-St. Mary High School in Akron, Ohio, as a  sophomore.  He helped lead his team to the state semifinals in football as a junior.

Those performances, his 6-foot-8, 255-pound size and his 44-inch vertical jump have led some to believe he could have been a standout receiver in the NFL if he .

If the lockout continues for an extended period, who knows? Seattle coach Pete Carroll even had James’ name stitched on a .

Despite those indicators, there’s a big difference from thinking you can play NFL football and actually thriving in the league. It’s why former NBA player Jalen Rose and NFL player Warren Sapp both doubt that James could really play in the NFL.

He’s a tremendous athlete, probably the best physical specimen you’ll see in sports,” Rose said earlier this week while serving as a guest panelist on the NFL Network’s No Huddle. 

“The one thing about football — you can go up for the football — I don’t think his feet’ll hit the ground on the way down because they will take him out. I think that game is too physical, I think it’s too demanding, I think that it’s hard to block defensive ends — it’s more to that job of being a tight end than just running routes.”

Sapp was even more forceful, wondering if James was competitive enough to play against the NFL’s best.

“How about LeBron do one-sixth of what Jordan did, let’s see him go win a championship,” Sapp said.

“Go do that. Go see if you can conquer your sport before you come over here because them boys on defense, we like pretty boys like that. We want to split them.”

But it’s also interesting to consider that basketball players a lot less accomplished than James — Tony Gonzalez, Jimmy Graham and Antonio Gates — have had a lot of success after leaving basketball to become NFL tight ends.

None of them have the combination of size, speed and explosive athletic ability that James has. Given time, he might be able to develop into an accomplished tight end.

But whether he could morph into an NFL contributor is a big, big stretch — particularly when there’s so much money for James to make in the relative safety of the NBA.