As expected, the early days of the lockout have been dominated by accusations of financial misrepresentation, unverified claims of losses and gains, and a general deepening of the distrust dividing players and owners. The heart of the matter remains the financial health of the NBA as a unified organization; the owners continue to claim that the majority of its teams are losing money, while the Players Association contends that the data is tainted by accounting tricks and loopholes. The web has had no shortage of material to pore over:
SBNation.com: NBA Lockout Now Has A Mystery Meat: 'Other Expenses'
So what are these "other expenses" that have skyrocketed over the past 10 years leading up to the NBA lockout?
NYTimes.com: Calling Foul on N.B.A.'s Claims of Financial Distress
In some ways, the N.B.A.’s present condition closely resembles that of Major League baseball before its 1994-95 strike. Baseball was still profitable as a whole in advance of the strike, but about one-third of its teams had lost money in 1993, according to Forbes, while just four teams accounted for almost half of all league profits.The solution that baseball has since adopted — greater revenue sharing in lieu of a salary cap — could also be a natural one for the N.B.A.: the profits made by the Knicks, Bulls and Lakers alone would be enough to cover the losses of all 17 unprofitable teams.
ProBasketballTalk: NBA releases books showing $1.85 billion loss over six years
The league office has been working hard in recent days to make its case that the NBA owners are losing money. Big money. They have now released some audited net income numbers — money left after all the costs are put out — to Forbes in an effort to make a more definitive case.
Ex-UNLV and NBA star Armen Gilliam died doing what he loved - The Dagger - NCAAB Blog - Yahoo! Sports
Former Milwaukee Bucks forward Armen "Hammer" Gilliam tragically passed away Tuesday night after suffering an apparent heart attack during a pick-up basketball game. Gilliam signed with the Bucks as a free agent prior to the '96-'97 season after a strong year with the Nets in which he averaged better than 18 points and 9 rebounds a game. He seemed a good complement to the rising Vin Baker, but struggled in Milwaukee as the team limped to a disappointing finish.
It's tempting to view Gilliam's passing with a slight sense of satisfaction, since he died doing something he so enjoyed, but I would hope this will also serve as a reminder of the stress that basketball can place on a body. After tragedies like Hank Gathers, and now Gilliam, the importance of medical supervision in sports is once again highlighted. Gilliam loved basketball, but in reality there is no reason the man shouldn't still be with us.
SBNation.com: What's on NBA Team Websites Now That Lockout Is In Place?
Mentioned offhand shortly before the lockout began was the little-covered issue of NBA media, particularly on the internet, requiring a complete purge of all player-related content. The many individuals in charge of maintaining team websites were surely hard at work taking down pictures, interviews, and everything else they could be described as, "profiting from a player's likeness." The result is some amusingly creative promotions thought up by the teams. Milwaukee smartly chose to prominently feature Bango because, as SBNation's Mike Prada puts it, "Bango is awesome."
Just Desserts: Overpaid & Underpaid Remix " Wages of Wins Network
With a full season of data at their disposal, plus the lockout controversies of contentious financial claims and gigantic trucks fueling the fire, the Wages of Wins guys calculated the most overpaid and underpaid players in the NBA last year. By dividing the total salary paid out to the players by the total number of wins, they calculated the value of a win and multiplied by each player's "Wins Produced" to determine a player's value compared with his actual salary. Now, wins produced is hardly an infallible stat, but it is useful, if limited, as a comparative tool. In any case, the process has some (perhaps tautological) merit, because topping the overpaid list is none other than Milwaukee's Michael Redd. It's not really fair to blame Redd for this unfortunate honor (I don't think anyone really is), but it's still a case of a member of the Bucks ranking #1 in something, so we're obligated to highlight it. Luc Mbah a Moute was the most underpaid Buck, providing a net $5.5 million value according to WoW. Corey Maggette ranked 24 on the overpaid list.
SLAM ONLINE: "Under Construction"
Brandon Jennings had the distinction of essentially kick-starting Under Armour's burgeoning basketball line, serving, perhaps fittingly, as the poster child of a relative unknown in the market. Now he and fellow UA signee Greivis Vasquez get a fairly high-profile running mate: NCAA Champion and ninth overall pick Kemba Walker.
We're Bucked: The Players’ Advantage in the NBA Lockout
K.L. Chouinard highlights the potential advantages basketball players have over their professional counterparts in baseball and football when it comes to enduring a lockout. He also wonders if a barnstorming tour in Europe or Asia could be in the cards?
TrueHoop: Playing abroad might be a tough contest
Along that same topic, Marc Stein discusses the oversees options available to players, but wonders if stints with Euroleague are really feasible. There are a host of financial issues preventing such deals from getting done, including the relative lack of financial flexibility available to Euroleague teams (they have their own players to pay, after all), and the need for insurance on just about everybody.
TCPalm.com: PSL grad Larry Sanders coming home and giving back
The Milwaukee Bucks' first-round pick in last year's NBA Draft will host the Larry Sanders Basketball Camp at Port St. Lucie High School from July 18-22
NBAMate: The NBA’s Top 10 Aussie Ballers
This is old, but worth perusing if only for the following sentence.
Everything else I want to say about Bogey was probably summed up when I anointed him and Carlton Draught 2008 Beer of the Year Winners.