jonnycomelately

Curry optimistic that sides close to tentative proposal

ESPN.com news services

With a July 1 NBA lockout date looming, the president of the NBA Players' Association said Friday he's hopeful that owners and players will have a framework for a new six-year collective bargaining agreement in place by the weekend.

With talks resuming at an undisclosed location in New York, Michael Curry told ESPN The Magazine's Ric Bucher that he is optimistic that the sides might reach a tentative proposal that each side could present to its constituents next week for approval.

Curry did not provide details on what the framework would include, but he described the tenor of the talks as "good."

"Having been through this before, I was optimistic that we could get a deal done in time," said Curry, who was part of the negotiations that resulted in the last collective bargaining deal in 1999, which followed a lockout.

The collective bargaining agreement is set to expire June 30, after which, a lockout would begin.

Curry told Bucher that he knew "it would simply take getting to the 11th hour. We're now at the 11th hour."

According to Curry, the players attending Friday's meeting included himself, Antonio Davis and Pat Garrity. Curry said the team executives at the meeting were Wyc Grousbeck, managing partner of the Boston Celtics; Steve Mills, president and CEO of MSG Sports (representing the New York Knicks); Les Alexander, owner of the Houston Rockets; and Lewis Katz, owner of the New Jersey Nets.

Friday's meeting, which included NBA commissioner David Stern and players' association director Billy Hunter, was the first since June 1, when the sides met for 2½ hours at the union's offices in New York.

"We made significant progress today and tonight," NBA deputy commissioner Russ Granik said in a statement. "We will convene again in small groups over the course of the weekend and will reconvene the larger group on Tuesday morning."

The past two weeks have been marked by public posturing from both sides, with the latest salvo coming Wednesday when Hunter traveled to the NBA Finals in Detroit to explain his side of the story as to why talks have been stalled.

Hunter said he would call Stern before the current labor agreement expires, and that call apparently was made Thursday. The sides have engaged in on-and-off talks throughout the late winter and spring.

On Wednesday, Hunter said he surmised from Stern's public comments last Sunday that only three issues remain in dispute -- an age limit for rookies, a tougher drug-testing program and the maximum length of long-term contracts, but deputy commissioner Russ Granik said Hunter's assumption was incorrect.

Owners are known to be seeking several other changes to current rules, including a new luxury tax (dubbed a "supertax") for the highest spending teams, reductions in the size of annual salary increases in long-term contracts, a shortened rookie wage scale and adjustments to the so-called trigger percentages that activate the escrow and luxury taxes designed to curtail spending on player salaries.

Stern did not reference those items when he addressed the media before Game 2 of the Finals, though he did go into detail about where the owners stand on the other items. He said the league wants the minimum age raised to 19, the maximum contract length reduced from seven years to six, and an anti-drug agreement that would call for veterans to be tested year-round. Currently, veterans are tested only once per year, during training camp.

Credit to espn.com for this bit of news.

This is good news for NBA fans. I shudder to think of a sports world without the NBA. I really hope these guys aren't just blowing smoke up our asses, and that they actually can work something out by July 1st. The idea of the NBA being locked out (again) would be quite depressing for me.

All I know is that the only bad pitcher I saw from the Royals that entire series was Jeremy Affeldt. I think that given any decent amount of run support Zach Greinke will be a solid #2 starter in the MLB and the kid Burgos in the pen has just nasty stuff. Too bad they're the Royals and those guys will probably be on other teams by 2007.

This is by far the best Batman movie to have been made. Cilian Murphy plays the Scarecrow perfectly and the whole Ra's Ah Ghul angle is awesome. Don't want to give anything away except for the fact that it is an awesome movie and if anyone has any doubts about seeing it throw them out the window. You won't be disappointed.

regardless, I watched a couple (well, enough to be able to judge) Laker games, defence was their problem, there offence was good enough to get they by, it was the poor defence which dragged them down.

←

I tired to watch the game last night, I really did. I want to enjoy the NBA finals because it is a big deal, but the fact of the matter is these two teams put me to sleep. When the highlight of a 15 minute window is a nice bank shot by Tim Duncan from bout 13 feet, it's time to turn the channel.

←

The Dodgers just got swept by the Royals. Needless to say that is embarassing but hey the two teams in front of them in the division got swept by the Indians and the Tigers so no ground was lost in the division race. I'd just like to say to Derek Lowe, every time someone commits an error behind you, you don't need to implode and give up a ton of runs. Seriously you've been doing it for about 4 years now. And Jeff Weaver has officially been placed on my shit list.

This show is just crazy. It is definitely not a show for people who are used to normal joke-punchline humor.

Clarence (the blue puppet) is funny. "What are you running from?" and the patience sketches are hilarious. The guy doing the puppeteering must've gotten punched in the face like 100 times.

Some of the cartoons include D.O.G.O.B.G.Y.N. which is just a dog ripping babies out of women, one in one case while skydiving. It's hilarious.

But some of the actual skits are just as messed up. If you've ever seen Law and Order SVU or Oz you know who Christopher Meloni is. He does a sketch about an epidemic on the show, coodies. How they do this is just gross and makes my brother sick watching it.

On a lighter note there is a guy named Mr. Story who acts like he is reading to himself while he is illiterate. The funniest part of the sketch though is the thoughts in the kids heads. Shit, some of the things the writers have these kids say is just wrong.

I don't see this going anywhere next year but after that they'll be free of six contracts and use that money to get a big man back in LA. That being said, that big man will not be Shaquille O'Neal and The Zen Master Heir to the Lakers throne will not honor his full three year contract and go smoke weed in Montana somewhere.

All I know is that is was on NESN, the local sports station here in New England and shit was that a beatdown. When Todd Hollandsworth and Greg Maddux hit home runs in the same game I think that equals victory. And also the fact that I think everybody 1-9 in the starting lineup got a hit usually is a good recipe for success. And in closing the award for most unindpired performance in a sad attempt to end a blowout game goes to............CLIFF BARTOSH!

Levels I enjoy: Coagulation, Headlong, Sanctuary

Levels I dread: Warlock, Midship

Give me a Big Team Battle Slayer match or 1 flag CTF anyday but please stop it with the Assaults already, especially Assault on Ivory Tower.

Gamertag: grundleSLAP, I am on most often during the week as I don't have to work from Monday to Thursday until the summer starts.

You can't go wrong with Top Spin. And probably at this point you could pick it up pretty cheap or even used in the combo pack with NCAA Football 2005. It's a good game and plays well but as with almost all tennis games, the player lineup kinda stinks. Michael Chang? Cmon XSN Sports (now defunct) you couldn't have reached up a little higher than that?

The whole AL East is shaky to me at this point. The Braves can't stay healthy. The Mets nor Phillies can be consistent. The Nationals' bullpen will come back down to Earth. And the Marlins just can't score. This is anyone's division but my pick right now would still have to be the team sitting in last right now, the Florida Marlins. Willis, Burnett, Beckett, Moehler, and Leiter are a solid rotation and if the bats can just get themselves back on track this team will be a force to reckoned with. All the teams though have their weaknesses and are battling injuries so it will be a good race for the division crown until the very end.

I've already stated several times that a Pistons/Spurs finals would be unwatchable. Bore me to death. Don't get me wrong both teams are great TEAMS but I don't want to watch Ben Wallace and Tim Duncan trade missed foul shots as every layup is turned into a person face first on the floor. And memo to Rip Hamilton TAKE THE DAMN MASK OFF!

Carl Pavano looks lost out there. Not being a Yankees fan I revel in such facts but damn he's giving up bombs to Terrence Long. And hearing the players on the radio after the game, I've never heard a recent Yankees team more down. Granted they are still over .500 but they are the Yankees and their pitching is horrible. And I am not going overboard with the word horrible as they are 0-18 when they score less than 4 runs. Any day the offense gets shut down, it's over.

And as a Dodgers fan, I know it's going to be a long season when Gagne walks two guys in one inning and can't get the 1-2-3 like he used to.

Iverson is still the man in Philadelphia, all Webber does is give them that top flight second scoring option when Iverson decides to have one of his 7-33 shooting nights. Iverson dropped 48 last night on the Bucks and Webber has proved so far that he is the compliment that Iverson needed to propel this team to the top of the weakest division in professional sports. People like Korver, Dalembert, McKie, and Green need to step up their games another level if this team is going to make any type of playoff push.

If it wasn't for Josh Smith it would have been an all-Phoenix night. Damn, Q-Rich hitting 9 in a row to beat Korver and Nash setting a record in the Skills Competition as well as putting some sick passes up to Amare in the dunk contest and Team Phoenix obliterating the Shooting Stars field (which they should have, they were the youngest team and had the only All-Star of the current players)...

But yeah Chris Andersen needs to be banned from any further televised competitions of any kind and the NBA needs to bring back the you can replace only maybe one or two screw-ups...16 though? Cmon Birdman go away.

I think the soccer pass dunk was the best of the night, followed secondly by J.R. Smith's behind the back dunk. Josh Smith just brought the fuckin' thunder though every dunk was just filthy and with authority and him leaping over K-Mart and then for his next dunk donning the Nique jersey is going to be Dunk Contest lore.

From what i've read, Iverson isn't happy with a coach, as he wasn't last season. Couldn't this be the media just building up news where there aren't any?

The sixers are Allen Iverson. Any time there was another good individual player the sixers weren't the same. All this team needs is hard working guys who know how to work with iverson. All they need is to place themselves offensively well, and he'll create scoring chances for him and for others (yes, now he does the second too, he even assisted the last 2 points of the last win when a few years back he would try to score to win). Remember the sixers didn't have a great team either when the sixers reached the NBA finals for the last time.

The only downside of AI, at least how i see him, is the fact that he's ver injury prone. Even when he's playing we never know if he's 100% phisically, as its often proven by him getting injured again, and missing the next couple of games.

All this to say i really hope Iverson doesn't get traded, cause if he does, i have no idea what will happen, but i don't expect much improvement. 

Just saw the last post. I actually think iverson would work pretty well with Garnett, but if that ever happens i hope it would be the other wayaround.

(i don't think it will happen though)

←

Tom Brady does not suck, but hes also not the best QB in the NFL, which is what people say he is. He won 3 championships which is more then every QB in the league, but that doesn't make him better. I hate that argument. Thats what everyone uses around here. "Tom Brady is better then Manning because he wins". If Manning had a defense like that, I'm sure he'd have 3 Super Bowls...

←

Dear Donovan McNabb,

Thank you for entitling me to another year of "Hey your team sucks and ours is the greatest ever." bullshit from annoying Patriots fans. Your three ghastly interceptions did nothing but brighten my day with the thought of ridiculous amounts of gloating on the horizon. And for once in my life, I can't blame the Patriots dirty play or the refs making shitty calls. I blame you and your brain dead coaches for having clock management skills that make Herman Edwards' look legendary. I blame your secondary that didn't seem to catch on that the Patriots like to throw a ton of screen passes. But Donovan you take the cake, Todd Pinkston and Terrell Owens were playing their asses off out there and you choked the game away with taking double digit losses on sacks (not the offensive line's fault when you run backwards) and throwing so many off-target passes it would make Stan Humphries look Super Bowl ready. So in closing Donovan, have your mom go knit the team some more scarfs because you just made it a very cold rest of the winter for your team and Philly fans/Patriot haters nation/world wide.

Sincerely,

A Pissed Off Patriot Hater

Plus LeBron was in the McDonald's All-American game Slam Dunk contest and he didn't do anything too crazy except all of his dunks were done with ridiculous amounts of air and he was LeBron James. If my memory serves me correctly he beat out another crazy dunker J.R. Giddens (currently at Kansas) because Giddens missed a bunch of dunks in the finals.

I got bored so I started looking at the NBA All-Star junk for this year. Noone has been picked for any of the competitions yet and I felt the need to write who I think should be in each competition just so I don;t lose my sanity in boredom...

Slam Dunk Contest (can't have more than 3 years in league)

Josh Smith, Atlanta (but he's on the IL right now)

Tayshaun Prince, Detroit

Fred Jones, Indiana (defending champ)

Andre Emmett, Memphis

Tony Allen, Boston (If Smith is still hurt at the All-Star break)

Three Point Contest

Kyle Korver, Philadelphia

Fred Hoiberg, Minnesota

Ben Gordon, Chicago

Mike Miller, Memphis

Jason Terry, Dallas

Cuttino Mobley, Sacramento

Skills Challenge

Kirk Hinrich, Chicago

Jason Kidd, New Jersey

Steve Nash, Phoenix

Brevin Knight, Charlotte

And jonny, gotta give Jermaine O'Neal something, he's avg. like 26 points a game, and was up around 30 for like 10 games, same goes for Iverson, if he had some more wins, he'd be pulling for MVP contention, but because the Sixers and their division suck he ain't getting no look.His team is more depleted than Bron's.

←

Everyone should know by now that the NBA All-Star voting is going to produce the same results almost every year. The casual fan is unaware to breakout seasons or even consistently great play from people. They go to the names they know, even if they are hurt or aren't playing "All-Star" calibur ball. Canadian fans got Vince Carter in all these years and Chinese fans are going to do the same thing for Yao Ming and now since he plays for the Rockets, Tracy McGrady. Not saying that these guys aren't nasty players in their own right but a lot of other deserving players don't get looks because fucking retards like the 223,743 people who voted for Alonzo Mourning have no idea whose playing good or should I say to the highest level that season. The whole Yao thing was similar to when Ichiro came into Major League baseball and the All-Star Game was in Seattle. With baseball, the host team always gets more All-Stars than they should but in this case in Seattle it got out of hand. I see no explanation for why Steve Nash is not starting for the West except for the fact that people see Kobe Bryant and Tracy McGrady and don't even give Nash a look. True NBA fans votes show through as the returns come in as Nash went from low in the guards to third behind the ridiculous totals of Bryant and McGrady. I am not saying they shouldn't be on the team (look at my reserves) but I think the NBA should promote some of their new talent every once in a while outside of LeBron James. Here is what my All-Star lineups would look like from who I voted for:

EAST

Guards:

Dwyane Wade, Miami

LeBron James, Cleveland

Forwards:

Richard Jefferson, New Jersey who would have to be replaced due to injury (probably by actual starter Vince Carter who has stepped it up lately)

Antawn Jamison, Washington

Center:

Shaquille O'Neal, Miami

Reserves: Grant Hill, Orlando (who will be injury replaced); Allen Iverson, Philadelphia; Gilbert Arenas, Washington; Chris Bosh, Toronto; Kirk Hinrich, Chicago; Ben Wallace, Detroit; Michael Redd, Milwaukee

WEST

Guards:

Steve Nash, Phoenix

Ray Allen, Seattle

Forwards:

Dirk Nowitzki, Dallas

Amare Stoudemire, Phoenix

Center:

Brad Miller, Sacramento

Reserves: Tim Duncan, San Antonio; Kevin Garnett, Minnesota; Kobe Bryant, Los Angeles Lakers; Tracy McGrady, Houston; Corey Maggette, Los Angeles Clippers; Rashard Lewis, Seattle; Yao Ming, Houston (there are no other centers)

Nuggs on a 3 game win roll....damn the Knicks are horrendous.

←

Gatti held his end of the bargain up last night in the attempt to put together a fight between him and Floyd Mayweather Jr. He beat Jesse James Leija in the fifth round and said that a fight between him and Mayweather had already been set up for sometime this summer. Missing from the arena was Floyd Mayweather Jr. He was supposed to be in New Jersey for the Gatti-Leija fight so that promotion for the Gatti-Mayweather fight could begin right away. Mayweather no-showed. The thing was though that Mayweather no showed at a court date earlier that day as well. Gatti said that this could only hurt the chances of this scheduled superfight from occurring.

Coming in February, the 20th title defense of Bernard Hopkins vs. Howard Eastman...should be a good one.