New York Knicks Blog – Page 111 – NBA Blog

Jamaal Tinsley to enter D-League draft

Jamaal Tinsley hopes to return to the NBA, and he wants to use the Development League to help his efforts.

Tinsley has sent in the needed paperwork to enter Thursday’s NBA Development League draft, sources told Yahoo! Sports. Tinsley, 33, averaged 9.8 points and 6.6 assists per game through eight NBA seasons while starting 366 of 436 career regular-season games. He last played in the NBA with the Memphis Grizzlies during the 2009-10 season. The deadline to enter the D-League draft is Tuesday.

— Reported by Marc J. Spears of Yahoo! Sports

Knicks owner is happy that NBA salary cap will stay high

Knicks owner James Dolan is frustrated the lockout rages on and the club’s season opener tomorrow against the Heat at the Garden has been wiped out. But Dolan, part of the owners’ negotiating committee, is content about one of the agreed-upon aspects of a new collective bargaining agreement: the size of the salary cap will not go down.

More than any team in the NBA, that will benefit Dolan’s big-market Knicks the most, ironically.

According to multiple sources, one of the resolved issues in a new CBA is the 2011 salary cap will remain at the level as it was in 2010 — $58 million.

“That’s what we’ve been discussing, though the exact dollar amount is not set until the new deal is done,’’ said one league source, who added no new talks have yet been scheduled.

Economic projections from sources say the salary cap will then grow to about $60-$61 million in 2012, when the Knicks will have the largest cap space in the league and have room to woo either Chris Paul, Deron Williams or Dwight Howard, who are slated to become free agents. The Knicks could be at least $20 million under the projected 2012 cap.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

A 78-game NBA schedule may still be possible

David Stern proclaimed officially Friday there is no longer a chance of squeezing in an 82-game schedule with a Dec. 1 starting date. However, multiple sources predict a 78-game slate will be staged if the sides compromise on the revenue split by next weekend. The final schedule has to be an even number, sources said.

“Anything is possible,” one union source said. “If the handshake is a week later, it’s a week less of games.”

As The Post reported earlier this month, the schedule does not pick up where it leaves off on the original document. Several contingency schedules have been compiled by NBA schedule-maker Matt Winick, pending the season’s starting date. The schedule is made from scratch, pending the availability of arenas. Many dates are the same, but opponents have changed. Any lost games for the Knicks would be West Coast opponents, according to sources.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

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Did Danilo Gallinari turn down a chance to date Kim Kardashian for reality TV?

Before Kim Kardashian met Kris Humphries she allegedly had her eye on another NBA player, former Knicks hoopster Danilo Gallinari. And, according to Web site Wetpaint.com, Kardashian specifically was in the hunt for a piece of arm candy from the NBA.

Kardashian was so eager to land a basketball player, the site says, that she had producers at E!, the home of her reality shows, contact NBA teams about potential beaus. Sources say that producers at the network called the Knicks to find out if the team’s handsome Italian import, Gallinari, was single.

“They asked if he would be interested in dating her and being on a reality show,” a source told the site. “Danilo said he would love to meet Kim but was not interested in dating her or being on a reality show … Even though E! explained it would be great for his career, Gallinari turned the offer down.”

— Reported by Page Six of the New York Post

LeBron, Melo, CP3 will not play in NBA world lockout tour

The proposed world tour of NBA elite amid the league’s lockout won’t include at least one of the Miami Heat’s Big Three.

LeBron James, whose name had been thrown into the mix for the two-week tour that opens Sunday in Puerto Rico and is scheduled to then include stops in London, Macau and Australia, will not be among the participants.

A source close to the Heat forward Wednesday told the Sun Sentinel that James had never committed to the tour and added that James is not participating, “due to previous commitments.”

…

In the wake of the Sun Sentinel being informed of James not joining the tour, ESPN reported that New York Knicks forward Carmelo Anthony and New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul also would not be participating. With Wade close to those two, his interest could also be waning.

— Reported by Ira Winderman of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel

John Wall will play in Carmelo Anthony NYC-area exhibition game

John Wall says he plans to play in Carmelo Anthony’s exhibition game in New York, if and when it’s scheduled.

“Yeah, I’ve got to,” Wall said last week. “Carmelo’s like a big brother or a big homey to me. I listen, take a lot of advice from him. So I wouldn’t mind playing in his game.”

Anthony has said he wants to host an exhibition game in the area featuring LeBron James, Chris Paul and Kevin Durant, among others. So Wall would only add to the star power.

The game is expected to be scheduled for late November and may take place in the Izod Center in East Rutherford, N.J.

— Reported by Ian Begley of ESPN New York

Roger Mason says Knicks owner wants NBA lockout to end

Knicks guard Roger Mason knows at least one owner who wished the NBA lockout ended with a labor agreement Thursday night: James Dolan.

Mason, vice president of the Players Association, has rubbed shoulders with the Knicks owner countless times this summer and fall in Manhattan hotel board rooms instead of the team’s plush practice facility.

“You can look at it and say the majority of owners don’t want a deal,” Mason told The Post yesterday from his Los Angeles home. “But there are owners eager to get a deal done. At this moment they are overshadowed by a contingent of owners who are trying to get everything they want in a new CBA.”

Asked if Dolan is one of the owners in the minority, Mason said: “Definitely. You feel excitement in the city. I know Dolan sees that, hears that. He’s definitely one of the owners who’s ready to get back to work.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post

Amar`e Stoudemire pitching a TV sitcom

NBA players with time on their hands due to the league’s ongoing labor dispute are finding that showbiz offers an opportunity to fill their schedules. While some star athletes have long maintained production companies or record labels, the lockout has provided a chance for new business.

Earlier in October, New York Knicks star Amare Stoudemire pitched to a handful of major networks a half-hour scripted comedy that he is developing with producers Jeff Kwatinetz and Happy Walters, who is Stoudemire’s agent and president of Rogue Sports, Relativity Media’s sports business.

In September, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Kevin Durant decamped to Baton Rouge, La., to play himself opposite Brandon T. Jackson in Warner Premiere’s Switch, a family comedy centered on a magic twist that transfers Durant’s skills to an enthusiastic fan.

— Reported by Daniel Miller of the Hollywood Reporter

Carmelo Anthony has huge exhibition basketball game plans for the NYC area

Carmelo Anthony’s plans for his barnstorming all-star game in the New York area keeps getting bigger.

During an appearance in Greenwich Village on Thursday, the Knicks forward said he’d like to house the all-star charity event at an 18,000-seat arena, with Izod Center in the Meadowlands being considered.

Anthony said the event, which he hopes will include at least nine All-Stars, will take place around Thanksgiving, unless the NBA lockout is settled.

Fellow Knicks star Amar’e Stoudemire, LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Paul are all committed. Even if Anthony has to go across the Hudson River, he’ll do it. The Garden, as an NBA tenant, is off limits, as is the Nets’ Prudential Center because of the lockout.

— Reported by Marc Berman of the New York Post Blog

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