2011年7月5日星期二

NBA, players quick to make their 1st moves after lockout

No formal talks have been scheduled between owners and players for about two weeks as the NBA lockout reaches Day5.
The last NBA lockout reduced the 1998-99 season to 50 games. Players are preparing to hang in as long as necessary this time, rather than agree to the financial changes owners seek.
The landscape already is shifting:
• Free agent centers Nenad Krstic and Hilton Armstrong will play in Europe next season, as will undrafted guard Ben Hansbrough, the 2011 Big East player of the year from Notre Dame.
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Armstrong, a little-used reserve since being drafted in 2006, finished last season as an Atlanta Hawk. He signed with the French club ASVEL.
Krstic, who started 67 games with the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder last season, left for CSKA Russia and received a two-year, $9.8 million contract. Krstic, however, told the Boston Herald that jumping abroad won't become a trend among NBA players.
"I don't think you will see a lot coming here," Krstic said from his home in Kraljevo, Serbia. "Europe is not in a great situation financially. There are only four or five teams now that can offer much to NBA players, and those teams right now are almost full.
"That's a problem for NBA players. It was a reason why I had to go right away. I got maybe the best contract in Europe because of that."
Hansbrough will play for Germany's FC Bayern Muenchen, and fellow undrafted forward Matt Howard of Butler also is looking to Europe.
Mundo Deportivo of Spain reported that Rudy Fernandez, traded from the Portland Trail Blazers to the Dallas Mavericks last month, is being offered a six-year deal to return to Real Madrid of the ACB, Spain's elite league. Because Fernandez isn't a free agent, however, he can't leave the NBA until after 2011-12.
• Player contracts are not insured by the NBA during the lockout, so simply working out has its risks. If a player without insurance gets hurt and misses time once the lockout ends, he faces the possibility of forfeiting money. National teams with NBA players are scrambling to find ways to insure contracts for Olympic qualifying events.
• NBA.com and team-affiliated websites have deleted players' images, video involving current players and 2010-11 box scores. That includes those from the Mavericks' NBA Finals victory against the Miami Heat. Even the NBA's touted Stats Cube statistical analysis database has been disabled, though player statistical pages remain.
• NBATV is focused on the WNBA and slam-dunk contests from before 1996. "We do not think it is appropriate to be using video and photography of current players at this time," NBA spokesman Mike Bass said in a statement.

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