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NBA talks resume Wednesday morning after 16-hour session

NBA owners and players are meeting for a second straight day, shortly after finishing a 16-hour marathon with a federal mediator.

The sides resumed talks about 10 a.m. Wednesday, about eight hours after they broke for the night.

No bargaining had been expected Wednesday or Thursday, since the owners have board meetings. But instead their labor relations committee came back for further discussions with the players’ association executive committee.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

NBA labor meeting with mediator last 16 hours; more talks planned

NBA players and owners spent a marathon 16 hours meeting with a federal mediator and planned to return early Wednesday to continue the talks.

They didn’t emerge with the deal Commissioner David Stern wanted Tuesday, but things went well enough that owners decided to alter their plans after previously saying they weren’t available Wednesday.

The sides met beginning at 10 a.m. Tuesday and went late into the night, finally breaking after 2 a.m. Wednesday. It was more than twice as long as any previous negotiating session since owners locked out players when the old collective bargaining agreement expired June 30.

Both sides left the meeting without commenting at the request of federal mediator George Cohen…

Although the fact that talks didn’t break off is good news, one person with knowledge of the process said not to presume there was any serious progress. The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because of Cohen’s request.

— Reported by Brian Mahoney of the Associated Press

NBA owners and players will resume their labor negotiations with a federal mediator on Wednesday following a 16-hour session that generated minimal progress, a league source involved in the talks told Yahoo! Sports.

The league and players union emerged from their longest labor meeting of the 111-day lockout “still not anywhere near a deal,” a league source said. Representatives from both sides refused to comment publicly on the nature of talks, citing a gag order from mediator George Cohen.

Asked if the sides had closed any gaps between them, a source in the meeting told Y! Sports: “On small stuff. Hard to see where this is going.”

— Reported by Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports

Bologna still working on deal for Kobe Bryant

The Italian club Virtus Bologna says “unexpected engagements” have made it impossible to sign Kobe Bryant(notes) this month, but both sides will keep working toward a deal in November.

Bologna President Claudio Sabatini told The Associated Press this month he had reached a tentative deal with Bryant’s agent or a 10-game contract worth more than $3 million.

— Reported by the Associated Press

Tiger Woods bummed out by NBA lockout

Tiger Woods, when asked about the NBA lockout:

“Yeah, of course I’m bummed,” he said. “I think anybody who is an NBA fan is certainly bummed. I know that probably one person who is happy is probably Doc Rivers. I mean, with the age of his team, it’s nice for them to only play half-a-season. It’s true. It’s a fact, come on.”

Woods then shifted gears to the his hometown team.

“But as far as us out west, I’m looking forward to the Lakers getting back there and we’ll see what they do,” he continued. “The problem is, you can’t talk to anybody. You can’t see who is potentially on the block of being traded, what kind of deals can we do? Nothing can be happening.

“So as a fan, it’s disconcerting because I’m excited about what we could add to the team, but it’s also I understand this is business, and everyone in this business wants to make money. I know the owners were losing a bunch of money, and some of the markets were feeling the effects. They can’t draw certain players, so they’re just trying to make it fair for everybody so everybody can win.”

— Reported by Jessica Camerato of CSNNE.com

Two stars from Psych on USA network give InsideHoops shoutouts

The show Psych on USA Network is an InsideHoops.com favorite. I watch it, and tons of our message board members love it as well. Several pro-Psych forum discussions exist and it’s almost all positive. The general consensus is that it’s an extremely fun show.

So it was cool when InsideHoops.com was recently invited to cover a USA network event called “Psych Fan Appreciation Day,” celebrating the upcoming new Psych season with dedicated fans of the show. We were treated to an advance preview of the season premiere, and met virtually the entire cast.

We’ll post some interview quotes in the next day or two, but right now we’ll jump right to the extra good stuff and present video clips of two Psych stars welcoming you to InsideHoops.com:

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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

Under new coach Mike Brown, Lakers offense will change

Mike Brown envisions an offense called “strong corner.”

“At the start of the shot clock, it will be ‘four out, one in,’ meaning that if we get the ball down the floor quick enough, we’ll have four guys along the perimeter and one of our bigs in the low post,” he said. “If the ball does go in at an early point in the shot clock, hopefully that big will have a chance to go to work without the double team.”

It certainly isn’t Jackson’s triangle offense.

Brown also plansto use assistant coaches differently than Jackson, who designated a defensive coordinator and gave the other coaches specific positions to monitor (forwards, centers or guards).

Brown’s assistants won’t have specific on-court responsibilities. He wants them to “just coach the game of basketball. Whatever they see offensively, speak up. Whatever they see defensively, speak up.”

— Reported by Mike Bresnahan of the Los Angeles Times

Team in Italy now willing to sign Kobe Bryant for just one game

Claudio Sabatini, owner of Virtus Bologna, confirmed at Radiofuturoshow Station that he had another conference call with Kobe’s agent and that it is real the hypotesis ‘one game’ for Bryant. ‘Last night we had another conference call with Bryant’s agent. Now we just have to wait the contract. We accepted his financial request and we submitted him two different proposals, for one game or for 40 days. Now the decision is up to him. We thought about the one game option to speed up the negotiations. He could land on Sunday, play the game against Benetton Treviso next Wednesday and maybe stay longer with us.

— Reported by Sportando

Doctor who treated Kobe Bryant claims he can cure arthritis

Kobe Bryant’s $3 million possible deal to play 10 games in Italy during the NBA lockout was aided by a former physician to Pope John Paul II who treated the Lakers star this summer with a pioneering blood treatment.

Bryant traveled to Dusseldorf, Germany, in June for treatment, as previously reported. ESPN The Magazine has learned that he was treated by Dr. Peter Wehling, an influential but little-known molecular orthopedist who insists he’s having breakthrough success repairing aging joints by manipulating his patients’ blood.

According to a source familiar with Bryant’s treatment, his blood was treated to isolate growth factors that attack inflammation, and then cultured with chemicals to increase their potency before being injected into his arthritic right knee.

Wehling declined to confirm or deny that he treated Bryant. But in a rare interview about his work, he told ESPN The Magazine, “I am the only one to have found a way to cure arthritis.”

— Reported by Shaun Assael of ESPN The Magazine

Kobe Bryant MAY have verbal agreement to play in Italy during lockout

Nothing is official, and verbal agreements to sign a contract pending the ability of the team owner to actually get the money to make it happen aren’t set in stone. But Kobe Bryant is now pretty close to actually signing in Italy. Wait and see if it materializes.

UPDATE: Already, this report is being shot down. It may not be true. Apparently the owners need a lot of magic to make this thing happen, and it probably won’t. But here’s the earlier report:

The AP reports:

Italian club Virtus Bologna has reached a verbal agreement with Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant to play in Italy during the NBA lockout.

The sides have settled on a $3 million contract for the opening 40 days of the Italian league season, a person with knowledge of the negotiations told The Associated Press on Friday.

Bryant, who spent much of his childhood in Italy, was in the country for sponsor appearances over the past two days but was flying back to the U.S. for labor talks with the NBA on Friday.

Bryant will get a work visa and return to Italy next week, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the deal has still not been signed.

Virtus had been due to open the season Oct. 9 against Roma, but schedules now need to be reworked after Venezia was added to the league as a 17th team.