HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – This is always our favorite part.
Now that you can actually back up the rumors with real, live contact with free agents, we’re going to get a chance to see exactly who is serious about taking home some prizes in this compressed NBA free agency period.
Contact between team officials and players can be made this morning, meaning we no longer have to subsist on a daily diet of unnamed sources and innuendo. With courting season tipping off, we’ll get a chance to see what teams are ready to back up the hype generated in the past week.
If you like Caron Butler or Jamal Crawford, invite them to tour your practice facility and chauffeur them around town like the blue-chip free agent many teams think they are.
If Nene or Tyson Chandler is the big man you must have, the one that will solidify your team’s frontline, now is the time to show them just how much they are needed. Someone has to give these guys a reason to sign here rather than there.
And with the finishing touches on the nuts and bolts of a new collective bargaining agreement still in the works, free agency is going to come down to the same thing it almost always does (aside from cold hard cash, of course) — which team can work it best during recruiting season.
The recruiting season does extend beyond middle, high school and college ball.
Good recruiters are just as valuable at the NBA level, because they know what buttons to push to turn the head of players being pursued from nearly every direction.
The universal opinion that this free agent crop is lacking in franchise talent, a theory that is hard to argue when comparing the 2011 crop to that star-studded 2010 bunch. But that’s what makes the right recruiting pitch even more important — there were only a handful of teams with legitimate shots to land the likes of LeBron James, Chris Bosh and Amar’e Stoudemire.
What franchise worth its private jet doesn’t think it can lure David West or Kris Humphries with the right recruiting pitch?
The Rockets’ pursuit of free-agent center Nene will move to a meeting Monday in Denver between the coveted center and Rockets coach Kevin McHale and general manager Daryl Morey, a person with knowledge of the meeting said on Sunday.
Nene is considered the top free agent available and has indicated a desire to leave the Denver Nuggets after failing to reach an agreement on a contract extension before the lockout. The Rockets had tried to work a deal with the Nuggets to acquire Nene prior to last season’s trade deadline.
Morey has also been in talks with the representative of free-agent center Tyson Chandler.
Chris Paul’s agent informed New Orleans officials on Wednesday that his client will not sign a contract extension and wants to be traded to the New York Knicks, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.
As soon as the NBA lifts its lockout restrictions, Hornets general manager Dell Demps wants to meet with Paul and hear that directive from him.
Nevertheless, the prospects of the Hornets executing a trade with the Knicks appear to be relatively dim. The Knicks simply don’t have the trade assets that come close to meeting New Orleans’ criteria for a deal. Demps has been listening to overtures from teams around the league, and has been actively working under the assumption that Paul would reject a contract extension.
The Hornets have no intention of letting Paul walk away at season’s end without trying to get maximum value for him. There are several teams, including the Boston Celtics, that could be willing to make a deal for Paul with the hope of convincing him to eventually sign an extension.
If the flurry of activity expected when teams can conduct free agent business includes a transaction including Paul, the roller coaster ride for several other high-profile players could begin.
The addition of Paul in New York, where he would join All-Stars Amar’e Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony, would no doubt jolt a few other Eastern Conference contenders to examine their situations to see if there is anything they could do to combat a move of that magnitude.
You’ve got to love having this sort of drama back after that 149-day lockout!
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – No offense to Billy Hunter or Derek Fisher, the two men who have been the public faces of the players’ side of the NBA lockout for months now.
But Paul Pierce is the man most of us have wanted to hear from in recent weeks. His name has been tossed about as some sort of rebel in this entire process, the one veteran star brave enough/crazy enough to push for decertification when few others had the gumption to go there.
Pierce has been portrayed as some sort of modern-day NBA version of Robert Roy McGregor and one of the main culprits in the process reaching its breaking point last week with the disbanding of the union and the filing of multiple federal lawsuits. But how you view him is all about perspective, and which side of this argument you are sitting on.
“I’m optimistic that we will have a season,” Pierce told Yahoo! Sports by phone Saturday. “People ask me that every day when I leave the house if we are going to have a season. I’ve been probably saying, ‘Hopefully in a couple weeks,’ the last two months. That’s how optimistic I am. I just feel like something is going to happen.
“There is going to be something that turns the light on for both sides and gets this thing going. I think there is too much at stake for both sides. The [popularity] that the game is building nationally and worldwide … it’s crazy that we are at this place right now.”
Pierce doesn’t downplay his role in the whole disclaimer/decertification movement on the players’ side. And from what he told Spears he absolutely was the driving force behind informing his fellow players about their options regarding that course of action.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – While we admire the solidarity message the players’ union has delivered repeatedly throughout the NBA lockout, it’s tough to read exactly how that message has been received.
While the majority of the rank-and-file players have been saying (and tweeting) all the right things about their unified state, cracks in the union’s foundation have emerged (as Jerry Stackhouse displayed passionately). The voices of discontent over this latest standoff are getting louder and louder. And there is a growing sentiment that we could see some sort of significant movement in mood after the union brass and executive committee members gather for a “strategy session” today in New York.
Are they circling the wagons with this pow-wow and gearing up to take another stand against the owners? Or is this the beginning of the end of the “stand united” campaign and the union’s solidarity movement?
Still unable to simply fire a coach he’s determined is done with the Minnesota Timberwolves, general manager David Kahn recently proposed that Kurt Rambis accept a reassignment within the franchise’s front office, league sources told Yahoo! Sports on Wednesday.
The prospects of Rambis serving out the remaining two years and $4 million on his coaching deal so closely with Kahn in the front office holds little, if any, appeal to Rambis, sources said. Rambis has little respect for Kahn’s basketball acumen, and perhaps even less of a personal affinity for him.
DALLAS – The Finals isn’t the only thing going on in the basketball world right now.
It certainly feels that way here, where the Mavericks are trying to avoid the dreaded 3-1 deficit in this series against the Heat.
But there is news breaking constantly in the NBA, the latest involving ABC’s Mark Jackson, who takes over as head coach of the Golden State Warriors.
Instead of discussing one topic or the other, here at the hideout we like to do it all. So we dove in both directions for Episode 59 of The Hang Time Podcast.
Former NBA All-Star Jerry Stackhouse, you’ve probably seen him on NBA TV in the analyst chair, holds the distinction of having played for both of these teams battling in The Finals. He played for the Mavericks in The 2006 Finals, when they lost to Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal and the Heat in six games. He also played eight games this season with the Heat, filling in early in the season when Mike Miller was battling injuries. He shares his unique perspective on both teams and the matchups we’ll likely see the remainder of the series.
HT fave and longtime NBA writer Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports also dropped in to break down the Warriors’ decision to hire Jackson, discuss this rumored Monta Ellis-Andre Iguodala trade between the Warriors and 76ers. Spears also broke down some of the other coaching movement news from around the league, while also sharing his take on the plight of Brian Shaw, the former Lakers assistant tabbed as the heir apparent to Phil Jackson who is now searching for his next job.
We finished things up a nice assist from our main man, TNT’s David Aldridge, who spent some quality time with former Duke sensation Kyrie Irving, the potential top overall pick in the The Draft. 29:45.
– To download the podcast, click here. To subscribe via iTunes, click here, or get the xml feed if you want to subscribe some other, less iTunes-y way.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – An epic snowstorm that blanketed the region surrounding the hideout might have brought the world as we know it to a halt.
But it didn’t stop us from rounding up an A-list of special guests for Episode 39 of the Hang Time Podcast, which was delayed a couple of days due to inclement weather.
We kicked off the show quizzing TNT’s Steve Kerr kicks on a variety of topics, including his take on the Carmelo Anthony melodrama, what went down with Amar’e Stoudemire in Phoenix last year and his thoughts on the Miami Heat, among other things.
We followed that up with an intense session with our main man Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, who is in Denver and shared some of his knowledge of the Anthony situation, his thoughts on the ultimate winners and losers if this mega-trade goes down and where all sides go from there and whether or not Steve Nash will be the next superstar to find himself caught up in the trade rumor mill.
We wrapped up the show with a long-awaited visit from Dave Zirin, sports editor of the Nation and a columnist, writer and provocateur who also has his own show, Edge of Sports Radio, on XM satellite radio, who shared his thoughts on a wide range of topics, including his assessment of Stoudemire as “the most important Jew in New York since Woody Allen.”
Episode 39 is obviously something you cannot miss.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS — Carmelo Anthony got back to normal last night — on the court at least.
The trade rumors are still swirling. But ‘Melo set the record straight, to the Fan Night crew (above) and on several other topics to those who have descended upon Denver to investigate this ongoing story.
There’s nothing like hearing Anthony’s words directly. He can clear up a lot of the misconceptions about what is going on right now and basically who is running this entire affair. According to Anthony, it’s certainly not his wife, La La Vazquez, whose name has surfaced in many rumors as demanding that the Anthonys relocate to a bigger market at her behest.
“Ya’ll put this in bold words, La La has nothing to do with anything,” Anthony said. “Whatever is my decision, she is going to support me. She has nothing to do with me staying or leaving. Nothing. So please keep her out of it. Thank you.
“People have to write about something and [they] come up with, ‘She don’t want to be here.’ She has nothing to do with that. This is my career. This is my decision. Of course, I got to consult her with everything. It wasn’t one conversation I had with her where she said, ‘Let’s get out of Denver.’”
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – So all we need now is for someone in Denver to press the button on this three-team, mega-deal that will change franchises forever.
Go ahead and do it already. Please rescue us all from another six weeks of speculation before the trade deadline.
But be warned Nuggets fans, things will never be the same again. You might climb out of this in a year or two and be a playoff team again. You might even be a legitimate contender some day. You just won’t have a charismatic star like Carmelo Anthony leading the charge anymore.
For franchises like the Los Angeles Lakers and Boston Celtics, there is always life after a big star departs or fades from the scene. When you are in the championship business for years and years, there is an in-house blueprint for moving on from one era to the next.
In Denver, there is only the great unknown that awaits.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – And you thought Dan Gilbert was tough on his players.
Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling has taken things to a different level, joining the chorus of Baron Davis critics this season. According to my main man Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports, Sterling has taken to heckling one of his own players:
– “Why are you in the game?”
– “Why did you take that shot?”
– “You’re out of shape!”
While Sterling has also taunted other Clippers players since the middle of last season, none have received it worse than Davis, the sources said. Davis has missed 14 of the team’s 25 games this season and is averaging 7.4 points while making a team-high $13 million. Including this season, Davis has three years and nearly $42 million left on his contract.
“There’s nothing I can say,” Davis said of Sterling’s taunts. “I have no comment on that. You just get to this point where it’s a fight every day. It’s a fight. You’re fighting unnecessary battles. I’m fighting unnecessary battles.
“It’s frustrating because I know and my teammates know I’m capable of getting it done, even dudes on the other team. It’s frustrating.”
We realize Davis has become a bit of an easy target these days. But your own owner taking shots at you seems a bit much, even in this day and age.
HANG TIME HEADQUARTERS – An epic snowstorm that blanketed the region surrounding the hideout might have brought the world as we know it to a halt.
