Derek Fisher Signed to Mavs

via: ESPN.com

One of the most sought after Free Agents in the NBA right now was Derek Fisher. Fisher, a 16-year veteran point guard, has come to a non-disclosed deal with Dallas Mavericks. Mavs coach, Rick Carlisle, said after the team’s loss to Chicago on Weds night that Fisher would be with the team pending he pass a physical. “We need help at point guard,” Carlisle said. “I found out on the way over here that Collison would be out, and we were fortunate to get (Jared) Cunningham active. “We feel (Fisher) can help us. It’s not a cure-all to all of our team challenges, but his expertise and experience will help.”Dallas will have to release one of its current 15 players to make room for Fisher on the roster.  Most sources are saying that player will be Troy Murphy.

 Fisher, who is now 38-years-old, has an impressive resume of five titles with the LA Lakers. He also played in 20 of the Thunders playoff games last season as the Thunder made it to the finals.

-Rose Jacobson

Quotes from: http://seattletimes.com/html/sports/2019788160_apbknmavericksfisher.html
Stats from: ESPN.com

Stoudemire may return and Lakers Drama

Derek Fisher in Negotiations with Thunder

According to Marc Stein from ESPN.com:

 

Derek Fisher is in advanced negotiations with the Oklahoma City Thunder to sign with the Western Conference leaders after clearing waivers, according to sources close to the situation. Fisher is scheduled to clear waivers Wednesday evening at 6 p.m. ET. One source with knowledge of the talks told ESPN.com that Fisher is “very close” to committing to sign with the Thunder once he becomes a free agent.

 

In case you have’nt seen it..

Lakers not Happy with Mike Brown as Coach.

According to and interview with ESPN’s Chris Boussard:

According to sources, team leaders Kobe Bryant and Derek Fisher gathered everyone together in the Lakers’ locker room Monday night and tried to set the tone for the second half of the season. Their message was clear: Trade rumors do not matter; your feelings about management or the coaching staff don’t matter; all that matters is that the 14 men in that locker room support and believe in one another.

 

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Some players are upset about what they perceive to be an ever-changing rotation and the up-and-down distribution of minutes, sources said. Others aren’t liking the long practices and shootarounds, while still others have bristled at Brown’s heavy-handed approach, as opposed to Jackson’s more laid-back style.

 

 

 

What do you Guys think of Mike Brown?  Phil Jackson is a legend so I feel bad that he has to follow him up, but the Lakers are known as a dominant team in the west and if he can not help them remain that way, is he the right fit?  

Lakers fans… let me hear ya…

Summary of Tenative NBA Deal

Click me for a great article and PDF on the NBA DEAL

Article on the agreement and also a PDF to the full list of things esatblished.

On other news.. the NBA Schedule will consist of 48 conference games..

According to ESPN.com:

The NBA regular season would run through April 26 and require teams to play at least one set of back-to-back-to-back games if a new labor deal is ratified in time to start on Christmas.

The league posted an outline of what the schedule would look like on its Twitter pages Sunday. The plan is a 66-game regular season, ending about 10 days later than usual. The last possible day of the NBA Finals would be June 26, two weeks later than the championship series ended last season.

Teams would play 48 games within their conference and 18 outside their conference. Teams will not visit every NBA city.

Teams will play about two more games per month, but no team would play on three straight nights more than three times.

Back-to-backs might also be played during the second round of the postseason.

Meanwhile, sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher than the All-Star Game will be held in Orlando, Fla., though the date of the game is uncertain. An announcement is expected this week, the sources said.

NBA REACH TENATIVE Understanding… LOCKOUT OVER!!!!

If All goes right the NBA SEASON IS BACK!!!!!!!

AFTER A 15 hour meeting…

NO DEAL!!! Fight goes to COURT.

NO DEAL!!! Now there is a GREAT chance there will be no season.

Ken Berger break down :

NEW YORK — Unable to reach a collective bargaining agreement with the NBA, the union representing the players dissolved Monday and paved the way for a potentially lengthy and ugly anti-trust lawsuit to be filed within days.

With a unanimous show-of-hands vote from as many as 50 players, the union sent a disclaimer of interest letter to commissioner David Stern, which effectively ended the National Basketball Players Association’s role as the collective bargaining agent for the players. Outside counsel Jeffrey Kessler and star attorney David Boies — whom the players met for the first time Monday — will lead the legal team that will sue the NBA alleging anti-trust violations.

“We’ve negotiated in good faith for over two years,” said Billy Hunter, who now becomes executive director of the National Basketball Players Trade Association — no longer the leader of the players’ union. “The players just felt that they’ve given enough.”

Stern, speaking live on league broadcast partner ESPN, called the players’ tactic “a charade” and characterized it as a “magical trick” that ultimately will fail.

“What they’ve done is destroyed incredible value that would’ve gone to the union membership,” Stern said. “… We were very close, and they decided to blow it up.”

Stern made no pronouncements about further cancellation of games, but added, “The calendar takes care of that.” Although the disclaimer action initiated by union executive director Billy Hunter is more expeditious than a decertification vote initiated by the players, the legal fight that will ensue certainly imperils the 2011-12 season.

During a meeting attended by the players’ executive committee, player reps from all 30 teams and about 20 more players — including superstar Kobe Bryant, Tyson Chandler, Carlos Boozer, Rajon Rondo and Elton Brand — union officials presented and explained details of the league’s most recent offer. It had been characterized as the final revised proposal the league intended to offer, and if the players didn’t accept it, Stern’s negotiating position would revert to a harsher offer — including player salaries being dervied from a 47 percent share of revenues, a hard team salary cap and rollbacks of existing contracts.

The deal on the table for the players Monday included a 50-50 split of revenues — a 12 percent reduction from their previous share of 57 percent — and a long list of system and spending restrictions. Hunter said the meeting gained momentum and changed in tone once players raised the option of decertification. They ultimately chose the more expeditious option of a disclaimer, with Hunter saying a summary judgment in the anti-trust case could possibly be reached in 60 days — about the length of time it would’ve taken the National Labor Relations Board to authorize an election through a player-initiated decertification. 

About 200 players already had signed decertification petitions, displeased with the league’s negotiating tactics and the concessions made by the union. Among these were 15 players in the meeting Monday, Hunter said.

The former union executive director said he has no intentions of withdrawing the NBPA’s unfair-labor practices charge with the NLRB, although it is not clear how the agency will view it now that the union has been dissolved.

for the article and more see CBSsports.com

Last Offer is made…

Ken Berger breaks it down quite nicely… according to Ken at CBS Sports:

 

NEW YORK — The NBA made its last offer that will contain a 50 percent revenue share for the players Thursday night, and commissioner David Stern shifted the pressure to the union by tantalizingly attaching the possibility of a 72-game season starting Dec. 15.

“There comes a time when you have to be through negotiating, and we are,” Stern said.

The players, expressing disappointment that the league did not respond with more system compromises after they’d signaled their willingness to accept a 50-50 revenue split, will bring the proposal to their player reps Monday or Tuesday to see if they will recommend the proposal to the union membership for a vote.

“The idea … is to sit down with them and say, ‘You sent us out to get something, here’s what we’re coming back with,'” said Billy Hunter, executive director of the National Basketball Players Association. “‘Now let’s sit down and decide what our next option is, what are we going to do.'”

The players’ options are few, and none of them particularly appealing. They can put the deal to a vote, and if passed, they would be locked into a proposal that is an unmitigated victory for the owners — one that shifts $3 billion over 10 years from the players to the owners and also dramatically restricts the rules governing team payrolls, player contracts and player movement. If the player reps tell the union leadership they want to reject the proposal, then Stern said the league’s negotiating position will revert to a 47 percent share of revenues for the players along with a hard team salary cap and rollbacks of existing contracts — the so-called “reset” proposal whose introduction at 5 p.m. Wednesday was delayed while the two parties bargained for 23 hours over the past two days.

“We have made our revised proposal,” Stern said, “and we’re not planning to make another one.”  

Another outcome likely will begin to unfold Friday before the union even decides whether to accept the proposal — and would continue to progress regardless of the outcome of next week’s player rep meeting: Agents dissatisfied with the deal the union has negotiated and the intransigence of league negotiators already have more than 200 signatures on decertification petitions which are ready to be submitted to the National Labor Relations Board requesting a vote to dissolve the union, according to a person familiar with the plans.

Such a move would threaten to torpedo whatever support there is among the union membership to approve the owners’ offer, and if it resulted in the players deciding not to vote on the proposal or voting it down, could throw the 2 1-2 year negotiations into the chaos of an anti-trust lawsuit — virtually guaranteeing that the 2011-12 season would be lost.

“The negotiations are over,” Stern said. “The negotiations on this proposal are over.” 

 

For the full story check out the direct link to Berger’s blog on CBS Sports:

Ken Berger story in full… Click me!

NBA Lockout Over?

Today could be it folks! David Stern and Derek Fisher were both smiling at yesterday’s press conference. Even on twitter all of the press was saying things on how both sides seemed pleased and that progress was finally made. Today in a meeting that began at 10:30 am, both sides are getting together to try and tackle the biggest issue that has been plaguing the lockout…BRI%. I am more confident now though knowing that both the players and the Union know what each other’s sides are willing to offer. I think most likely it will be a 51-50 split, but only time will tell. If the lockout does end today it will take approximately two weeks to nullify the agreement and have both of the side’s lawyers finalize the paper work. This would mean that the NBA still would not begin until late November or early December, but they have the option of putting games back into the schedule that have been removed. If they can get started that quickly they will play a full 82 game season and teams will just have less of a break in-between game. (So instead of two days off there will be one and ect.) Overall, I am quite confident and feeling positive about today’s meeting. I think this is the one we have been waiting for… but only time will tell. END THE LOCKOUT!!!! 😀 Have a great Day!