Derek Rose Done for the season…AGAIN!

Derek Rose, the star of the Chicago Bulls recently just returned from a serious injury… fans were thrilled, he was playing well, and then the unthinkable happened. After missing major time last season the Bulls were eager to have their star point guard back…and it was just announced that his latest injury led to a surgery and he will be DONE FOR THE SEASON.  This is a huge blow to Chicago and to the NBA.

ESPN reports:

Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose will miss the rest of the season after undergoing knee surgery Monday, the team announced.

The former MVP had the medial meniscus repaired in his right knee at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago.

The surgery was supposed to be performed by Dr. Brian Cole, the same man who performed the ACL surgery on Rose’s left knee in May of 2012.

Heading into the procedure, there appeared to be two options for repairing Rose’s knee. They could have either removed the meniscus, or a portion of it, and Rose could have been back on the floor in a matter of weeks. Having the meniscus re-attached, which appears to be the route Rose took, sidelines him for upwards of four to six months.

While the first procedure would have put him back on the court sooner, many players who have had that procedure, including Miami Heat star Dwyane Wade, say that it causes more problems later in a player’s career.

It appears that with the 25-year-old Rose the organization chose to take the longer approach with the hope that he can return to being the same player before his first knee injury.

Before the surgery, coach Tom Thibodeau said the team felt bad for Rose after all the work he had put in to return.

“I talked to him at length last night. He’s in good spirits,” he said. “About as well as can be expected under the circumstances. And he’s already thinking about his rehab and typical Derrick — concerned about his team, his teammates. But that being said, we can’t feel sorry for ourselves. We’re the Chicago Bulls. We have one goal, that’s to win. And I believe we have the personnel in that locker room to get it done.”

Thibodeau said he expects Rose to make a full recovery but acknowledged there is disappointment throughout the locker room.

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End of Lockout…Beginning of Basketball.

I want to thank everyone who followed my blog for all the lockout updates.  As the 149 day lockout comes to an end, the basketball season is set to begin on December 25, 2011.  A new chapter of my blog begins and a new chapter in basketball.

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: Should Be Opening Night

Instead of watching re-runs of some bad show: TNT and all other NBA broadcasting stations should be showing Opening day of NBA basketball tonight.  As the first day that the NBA season was supposed to begin, there are still no meetings scheduled at this time for labor talks between the players and the union. 

Kevin Durant spends his time playing Flag football…

So…What will you be doing instead of watching opening night?