So far, not looking too positive!

Negotiators for NBA & its players met for
2 hours Tuesday & will be talking again soon.
They say they are making an effort to end the
lockout, but it is not looking too promising right now.
The lockout has been going on for 3 months.
Both sides said neither concern nor optimism
ought to be read into the brevity of this meeting.
Time is needed for owners and players to simply
take the time out to think about what all has
been discussed. David Stern hinted the session
will determine when more discussions might be
warranted. It is expected that today there might
be a possibility of some form of negotiation,
however the members on both sides realize that
the Jewish calendar observes this time to be
a holiday. Deputy commissioner Adam Silver told
the owners labor relations committee all should be
prepared to come to the table and consider their
concepts. Lakers Derek Fisher, President of the
players association told reporters "we are trying
to see if we really can get a deal done".
Meanwhile, Lakers Kobe Bryant is considering
four different offers and Italian team Virtus
Bologna has made the offer to him of $5 million
for a one-year contract. Their main sponsor
is Canadian Solar. Another mention was that
they would offer him $900,000 to play only one game!
All the offers are pre-tax & would allow Kobe to
return to the Lakers immediately if the lockout
should end. Kobe lived in Italy for 7 years
in his youth while his father, Joe Bryant, played
pro-basketball there and Kobe speaks fluent Italian.
It has been rumored that the entire basketball season
of 2011 and 2012 could very well be canceled.
David Stern is in control pretty much for making
that sort of a decision so regular games as we
the spectators know them to be, are at stake here
but perhaps some better news will appear this week end.
Granted, it is a risk and a new collective bargaining
agreement would have to be put on the table.
Training camps already have been postponed and 43
games scheduled for the first week of the preseason
have been canceled. The league has said it will
make decisions about the remainder of exhibition play
as warranted, and those could come shortly.
And so fans, the long and short of it is really not
new to us, is it? We are eager for all parties
to come to a more friendly agreement so we
can begin to cheer on our Lakers...Please?!
Babs Wells

NBA Notes of Interest

Staff members from the NBA and players'
association met and top negotiators from
both sides are huddled in talks.
A small group from each side took part
over a few hours on Wednesday. Today
commissioner David Stern, deputy commissioner
Adam Silver and other top negotiators
from the league will then meet with
executive director Derek Fisher of the Lakers
team. He will be flying to New York tonight for an
overnight and it is believed others will be with
him from the union. Players and owners are still
clashing over the salary-cap structure as the
lockout that began July 1st reaches an important
stage. Training camps are expected to be open
October 3rd but that could easily become postponed
with no deal this week.
Ron Artest (Laker) has now officially changed his
name to be Metta World Peace so it is rumored "Peace"
will be now showing on the back of his jersey.
Ron claims he picked that name to inspire and bring
youth together around the world. He also went on
the T.V. Show "Dancing with the Stars" and did not
do so well as he was eliminated from the show already.
Wrapping up regarding the NBA solution
of hard-line owners and the myopia of the players
union for an NBA collective bargaining agreement,
really is not all that complicated and ought to be
settled and tied up soon. (Just not too tightly).
For one thing, Derek Fisher has invited DeMaurice
Smith of the NFL players' Association to speak
during the meeting today (Thursday)
about the need for solidarity. Also, Fisher
pleaded for patience and unity in an email to
his fellow players. He told them it is the owners
that are divided and not the players - that they
are unified. He claimed also to continue to
reiterate that very point.
And so we listen carefully Re: our NBA Saga and hope for
positive results.
Babs Wells

Standstill so far yet with NBA

NBA owners continue to crunch the numbers.
Derek Fisher, Lakers guard and Union President,
suggested the season is in doubt of starting
on time as it ought to. He and Players Association
Executive Director Billy Hunter appeared rather
downcast after last Tuesdays meeting with the Lakers
owners. The talk about town is that there seems to be
a whole lot of posturing going on and part of the ploy
evidently is the huge salary Lakers Kobe Bryant receives.
He pulls in a payday of $24 million. Evidently some of
the teams showed some big losses. Right now it stands at
owners getting a 43% gain whereby the players get 57%.
Naturally the players are unwilling to give up their
bigger share because it would mean rolling back their
salaries. Keep in mind of the BRI also. This stands for
basket-ball related income, or all the money the teams
and their players generate from ticket sales, radio and
TV rights fees, parking and concessions, along with
anything else that fills the coffers of the leagues 30
teams. Right now, the owners would certainly like to see
the numbers ratio reversed so that they could gain firmer
financial footing. In fact, there are a handful of owners
that are believed to be willing to forgo a season of playing
in order to make their points be taken seriously and have
the % numbers reversed feeling then they would be getting
a fairer share. That, of course, would mean a victory for
the owners. Meantime, we spectators sit, wait and watch
the sports news to see what on earth just might happen.
Hope to see you at the game 2011.
Babs Wells

Lakers...what did you do on summer vacation?

Labor Day traditionally marks the end of summer.
Kids trot back to school & teachers ask them to
write about what they did during summer vacation.
With our Lakers it appears their summer goes on & on.
June 30th lockout meant changes for our players
certainly. With the labor impasse & the havoc it is likely
to wreak regarding training camps scheduled to open
Oct. 1st, we sit and wonder. Derek Fisher, Laker guard,
is president of the players' union & has been conferring
with commissioner David Stern, among others, trying to
hammer out a new contract so that our season can start
on time. Lamar Odom, Laker forward, watched his sister-in-law,
Kim Kardashian, marry another NBA player, Kris Humphries. Lamar
and his wife, Khloe, also attended the Teen Choice Awards.
Andrew Bynum, Laker center, illegally parked his BMW in not one,
but two handicapped parking spots at a pricey grocery store in
Playa del Rey and of course totally embarrassed himself.
Pau Gasol, Laker forward/center joined the Spanish national
team for its defense of the European Championships, which
began last week in Lithuania. Spain is favored to win the
title later this month and thanks also to his brother Marc,
7 footer, playing for the Memphis Grizzlies.
Luke Walton, Laker forward, has accepted a job as assistant
coach at the University of Memphis. He will help the Tigers'
big men and aid with recruiting. He is planning to return
to the Lakers once the lockout is over. He is most hopeful
he will become a welcomed contributor under the coaching
of the Lakers new coach, Mike Brown.
Ron Artest, Laker forward, is the name that has cropped up maybe
the most in recent weeks with his attempts of name change
to "Metta Worldpeace". To not allow for dullness, he has
been picked for "Dancing with the Stars"..so has Chaz Bono!
Kobe Bryant, Guard with Laker team, went on a barnstorming tour
of Asia, played a few exhibitions & looked like a changed man
after undergoing a radical new procedure on his bad right knee.
There were rumors flying around all summer long that Kobe would
be playing for Turkey (or) China, both banned however due to their
existing contracts.
Another meeting is this Wednesday for the second time since the June walkout, with the lead negotiators, should give us some promise. All eyes are on this meeting in hopes the NBA's collective
bargaining tools will fall into place for a good huddle session.
Now for another ball player, we will take a minute to pause in
remembering Joe Frazier. Yet another basketball enthusiast. Joe
is 28 and was a star at CSUN and a coach for the kids at Calabasas
High. A big SUV ran a light in Tarzana CA and plowed right into Joe on his motorcycle, throwing cycle and driver to the winds - yet that driver never even stopped to give aid. Joe is now still in a coma. candles flicker, parents of this mentors' team gather to pray. Joe has such a knack of reaching out to the young and helping them become proud of their achievements and always seemed to gather the youth around him.
We add our own thoughts in private today as we ask for blessings given.

Babs Wells

NBA Fans Unite!

Well, this has seemed like a mighty long summer
has it not? With the June 30th NBA lockout.
Anyway, from other sources we find our former
coach, Phil Jackson, came out of retirement
long enough to speak on behalf of one of his
former players from when he used to coach in
Chicago. That flamboyant fella: Dennis Rodman.
Members of the 2011 Basketball Hall of Fame
were all eyes front and center to see and to
hear Dennis speak. Five time champion showed
he can still play role of entertainer on the
Eve of his induction. Dennis humorously
thanked NBA Commissioner David Stern "to have
me even in the building". "This game has been
awfully good to me" he stated, with a 14 year
career, including a brief stint with our Lakers.
He had been escorted up to the stage with Phil
Jackson there waiting to give his presentation.
Choking up often, Dennis accepted his day in the
sun being enshrined in the Naismith Memorial
Basketball Hall of Fame. Lakers owner, Jerry Buss
was amongst the celebs offering their applause
as well. The evening was an emotional one for the
5 time champion. Now we all look forward to the
fall season for NBA Lakers games. What is most
unusual to consider for me is this "NBA owners
locked out the players...right? And now the owners
have filed an unfair-labor practices suit against
the players? Got it? Wish I did"
Babs Wells

Summertime & a few NBA words of note

Joe Bryant, "Jellybean", father of Lakers
star, Kobe Bryant, is having fun coaching
a Woman's Basketball team called the "Sparks"
and they are doing very well indeed. Kobe
himself has been toying with the idea of
going to Turkey to possibly play with the Besiktas.
Former Laker Sasha Vujacic has been making noises
along those same lines. Another former Laker
player, California's own, Jordan Farmar, has headed
to Israel playing with the Maccabi Tel Aviv team.
During the NBA lockout, these overseas offers have
been floating in enticing players to come & play.
The NBA has actually taken action to sue the players.
During the talks for compromise, it would appear that
part of the provocation is a feeling of unfair labor
practice that is being charged with the National
Labor Relations Board. More than two dozen threats
to dissolve their union under antitrust laws to
secure more favorable terms have been confirmed.
Derek Fisher has been instrumental in the N.Y. talks
to put other options on the table. NFL players de-
certified their union this year and ultimately
resolved a 41/2 mo. labor dispute with their owners
and NBA players are using their same lawyer to make
attempts for their own possible lawsuit. David Stern,
league commissioner, is not optimistic. It seems that
the players willingness to engage in agreements are
not serious since their last meeting on June 30th.
Union chief Billy Hunter, and players Theo Ratliff and
Derek Fisher, are pretty downcast right now after their
N.Y. meeting this past Monday. The players attorney,
Jeffrey Kessler, says this lawsuit is merely a pressure
tactic and that all parties must resign themselves to
reaching an agreement before the 2011-2012 season is in
real jeopardy. Everybody ought to come to the table and
read from the same page and arrive at their conclusions
from the same place. Finally, the leagues' lawsuit also
makes an attempt to secure support for the massive
salary reform, should the union dissolve. It is a sticky wicket.
Babs Wells

Laker notes in July

One question remains. Kobe Bryant
underwent a plasma-enriched bone
on bone procedure overseas and now
is still contemplating going out
on to the courts in Turkey this fall
playing hoops, being locked out of the
NBA. It would seem rather rash for this
consideration, I would think, to put
his body in jeopardy in any way, shape
or form. I would think that a
rest until the fall season is upon us
might be the best way to go.
Kobe's Dad coached the WNBA team
(Sparks) from August 2005 through the
2006 season, guiding them to two
playoff appearances. He then was
hired in March as an assistant to
Coach Jennifer Gillom. Gillom has
since lost her position and Joe
"jellybean" Bryant (father of Kobe)
has been hired to take over as Coach.
The Bryant family is certainly
athletically talented, willing and
able to continue to give us some
basketball watching joy!
Good show!
Babs Wells