Firstly: after sixteen hours of NBA Lockout mediation yesterday ended after 2 A.M., the sides split with a universal no-comment and a promise of meeting again this morning. After taking days off between 4-7 hour meetings, that’s only a good sign. Long live George Cohen forcing these guys to get things done!
Deron Williams made his “official” Turkish debut a few days ago, scoring 11 points and dishing out 5 assists in a 23-minute stint as Besiktas blew out Bandirma, 107-69. Lot of empty seats in that picture.
Trouble in paradise:Kris Humphries and Kim Kardashian are close to a split.
NBARank has come to a close, and ESPN put together an interesting “fact sheet” about each team. As it turns out, the Nets have the lowest average player ranking among their top 10 of any NBA team (229.6, 11 spots behind 29th-ranked Charlotte), even with Deron at 9.
A nice profile of Jordan Farmar over in Israel.
Discussed the benefits of Andrew Bynum vs. Brook Lopez on Twitter today with some folks. I think Bynum is, if healthy, a top-2 center in the NBA and legitimately could be a top-10 player. But his health is an enormous “if.” Playoffs included, he’s played in 260 of a possible 406 games these past four seasons; Brook’s started his career with 246 consecutive games (239 consecutive starts). I just can’t think of many 7-footers that had surgery on both knees before 25 that went on to have long and productive careers. The only guy off the top of my head is Amare Stoudemire, and Bynum puts at least 45 more pounds of pressure on his knees than Amare.
Shaq is re-visiting his dream of owning an NBA franchise in Newark. Given how Newark performed this past year with only one other franchise in the market, it doesn’t seem likely.
Speaking of ownership, if Shaq comes through on that dream he’ll only be the third-best rapper among ownership ranks, behind Jay-Z (#1, of course) and new Philadelphia 76ers part owner, Will Smith. Additionally, E-Online is trying to stoke the flames of rivalry between the teams, specifically Will and Jigga. Maybe some fun will happen on the court, but on the mic it’s no competition.
