NBA News Blog – Page 1195 – NBA Blog

Raptors guard Jose Calderon to train with Barcelona

Barcelona says Toronto Raptors point guard Jose Calderon has followed the Gasol brothers and decided to train with the Spanish club during the NBA lockout.

Calderon is the latest Spanish international to practice with Barcelona after Los Angeles Lakers center Pau Gasol and his brother Marc of the Memphis Grizzlies linked up with the club earlier this week.

While the Gasol brothers are practicing with the first team, Calderon will train with the Barcelona B team from Sunday.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Hawks center Zaza Pachulia signs in Turkey

Days after qualifying for the Turkish Airlines Euroleague Regular Season, newcomer Galatasaray of Turkey announced on Friday the return of big man Zaza Pachulia to Europe’s top competition. Pachulia (2.10 meters, 27 years old) arrives from the Atlanta Hawks of the NBA, where last season he averaged 4.4 points and 4.2 rebounds in 79 appearances. Pachulia made his Euroleague debut during the 2001-02 season playing with Ulker Istanbul, where he stayed for two years.

— Reported by Euroleague.net

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Monday meeting reportedly canceled after players reject owners 50/50 BRI proposal

The NBA and its locked-out players are unlikely to meet again before Monday, almost assuring the first two weeks of regular-season games will be canceled.

Who’s to blame for scuttling a proposed weekend meeting between the sides depends on who you ask.

Sources told ESPN The Magazine’s Chris Broussard that the union asked for the meeting, and the owners agreed — on the condition the players agree to a 50-50 split of basketball-related income. When the union rejected that stance, the owners said there was no need to meet, the sources said.

NBA spokesman Tim Frank confirmed to ESPN The Magazine’s Ric Bucher that the owners are sticking to the 50-50 revenue split. But he said it was the players, not the owners, who declined to meet.

“We told the union today that we were willing to meet as early as Sunday,” Frank said. “We also advised them that we were unwilling to move above the 50-50 split of revenues that was discussed between the parties on Tuesday but that we wanted to meet with them to discuss the many remaining open issues. The union declined.”

As a result, the first two weeks of the season will almost certainly be canceled.

— Reported by Chris Broussard of ESPN the Magazine

Ed Stefanski in talks to become Raptors GM

Philadelphia 76ers executive Ed Stefanski is engaged in advanced talks with the Toronto Raptors to take over as general manager, league sources told Yahoo! Sports.

Stefanski would move into the franchise’s No. 2 basketball executive job under president Bryan Colangelo. Stefanski, who is in the final year of his deal in Philadelphia and has the GM title, knows he probably won’t be retained after his contract expires, sources said. Stefanski lost his spot as the Sixers’ top decision maker a year ago to Rod Thorn, and now the franchise is waiting for the NBA to approve the team’s sale to a New York investment group.

— Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports

Kobe Bryant to appear on Extreme Makeover Home Edition

According to a post on the UC Irvine athletic department’s Facebook site, Bryant plans to appear on an episode of ABC’s Extreme Makeover Home Edition, during which he will help coordinate rebuilding efforts for residents in the Joplin, Mo., area. A reported 160 people died from a tornado that swept through that region on May 22 and has been considered the seventh deadliest in U.S. history.

It remains unclear when filming will take place.

— Reported by Mark Medina of the Los Angeles Times

Utah Jazz hire Sidney Lowe as assistant coach

When Tyrone Corbin was hired to be Jerry Sloan’s successor in February, the new Utah Jazz coach received a congratulatory phone call from an old friend.

About two months later, the same buddy — whom he played alongside two decades ago — dialed Corbin’s digits for a much different reason.

“Now,” Sidney Lowe told Corbin in that second conversation, “I’m calling for a job.”

Any extra-minute fees or roaming charges incurred back then proved to be well worth it.

Lowe, Corbin’s teammate in 1989-90 during Minnesota’s inaugural season, was introduced Thursday as the Jazz’s third assistant coach.

It took half of a year for Lowe’s job-seeking call to result in an offer, but the two-time NBA head coach and his new boss couldn’t be happier that the feeler chat led to them being on the same team again.

— Reported by Jody Genessy of the Deseret News

Bill Walton thinks season may start on time

After Bill Walton made a speaking appearance Thursday in Costa Mesa, I asked him if he had any thoughts on the continuing NBA lockout that threatens the start of the 2011-12 regular season.

He said he didn’t want to comment on it then, hinting anything he said would soon become outdated.

“They’re close,” he said, grinning widely, as if he knew something he couldn’t share about the negotiations between owners and NBA Players Association.

Does that mean he is confident there will be a full season?

“Oh, yeah,” Walton said, grinning again. “They’re close.”

— Reported by Randy Youngman of the Orange County Register

NBA lockout hitting some cities hard

The loss of one game, let alone 10 or maybe all 82, will have a devastating impact on workers with jobs dependent on pro basketball’s six-month-plus season. A few teams have already trimmed their staffs and more layoffs could be forthcoming if the discussions drag on. Then there are those who don’t work directly for an NBA team but who still depend on the excitement the league brings to town.

Ushers, security personnel, parking lot attendants, concession workers, restaurant employees and others all stand to have their hours cut or join the country’s 14 million unemployed.

“Yeah, financially, I’m worried,” said waitress Jeannette Lauersdorf, a single mother of two, who on a quiet Wednesday afternoon is serving six guests at three tables inside Harry Buffalo. On a night the Cavs are playing, the place has a 30-minute wait for a table. “We’ve got bills to pay.”

Nerves, already frayed in a depressed economy, are unraveling.

As it was during the NFL’s labor dispute, certain cities around the league will bear more of a burden than others until the NBA gets bouncing again. Markets like Orlando, Memphis, Salt Lake City and Portland, with no other income being generated by a major professional sports franchise, could be facing a long winter.

At this point, there’s no telling how long the lockout will last, but NBA deputy commissioner Adam Silver projected losses if the season’s opening two weeks are canceled in “the millions of dollars.”

— Reported by Tom Withers of the Associated Press

Zaza Pachulia likely signing in Turkey

According to the Sportando blog, Zaza Pachulia reached an agreement with Turkish team Galatasaray Istanbul, where he will be playing until the end of the NBA lockout. Pachulia spent the last eight seasons in the NBA averaging 6.8 ppg and 5.1 rpg in 579 games. He’s played with the Atlanta Hawks since the 2005-06 season.

Spirou Charleroi tried to sign him as well, but Pachulia preferred to pen a deal in Istanbul, the city where he grew up.

The deal will be official soon.

— Reported by Sportando

Portland Trail Blazers to start general manager search over

After more than four months of research and interviews, the Trail Blazers’ ongoing search for a new general manager has come to this: The team is starting over.

A league source said the Blazers have decided against hiring any of the candidates they have interviewed to date and that Blazers president Larry Miller spent Thursday calling them to relay the news they were no longer being considered for the job.

The Blazers have compiled a new list of candidates, with a strong emphasis on people with extensive general manager experience, and will, essentially, restart the search.

“I don’t want to get into specific details, but what I will say is that we are expanding our search,” Miller said. “We’re going to expand our candidate pool.”

— Reported by Joe Freeman of The Oregonian