Archive for October, 2011

Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports says David Stern let the players take the fall for him: As much as anything Stern wants his professional shame in the shadows, narrowing the scope, the coverage. For Stern, the strategy is simple: Step out of the way, and let the players impale themselves in the public eye. Two weeks of the regular season are gone, more promise to be wiped away, and Stern will feed that public desire to tear apart his star players and feed into all the worst stereotypes. Only, this lockout will eventually end, and he’ll need to repair those [...]

The song is titled “Billion Dollar Dream.” (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, ESPN 1080′s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com) and is the co-host of the ESPN1080.com Insiders Show Sunday mornings at 10:00 am EST. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

In an unfortunate but not unexpected move, the NBA has canceled the first two weeks of the regular season: The cancellations mark the NBA’s first work stoppage since the 1998-99 season was reduced to 50 games. “The gap is so significant that we just can’t bridge it at this time,” Stern said. “We certainly hoped it would never come to this.” Union president Derek Fisher agreed, emphasizing that missing any games puts the season in jeopardy. “This is not where we choose to be,” he said. “We’re not at a place where a fair deal can be reached with the [...]

Once again, we’ll turn to Brain Mahoney of the Associated Press to help us sort this mess out: Negotiators for the sides met for more than five hours Sunday before breaking for the night. They are scheduled to return Monday afternoon. Neither side offered many details, though union officials confirmed they scrapped a planned meeting with membership in Los Angeles and will instead remain in New York to talk with league officials again. Here is more information via various twitter accounts: Howard Beck of the New York Times: Needless to say, LA union meeting is canceled. But Billy Hunter just [...]

Per Ken Berger of CBS Sports, the league and the players can’t agree on a Monday meeting: According to the union source, the league would agree to a meeting Monday — the deadline set by commissioner David Stern for canceling the first two weeks of regular season games — only if the players agreed beforehand to accept the NBA’s offer of a 50-50 revenue split. The union declined, the source said, believing it could not negotiate a fair deal for the players if it gave up the right to negotiate before the meeting even began. This latest round of posturing [...]

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel explains it will take a lot more than just the amnesty clause to fix Orlando’s problems: If the Magic want to make a title run in 2011-12, they probably need to add another shooting guard who can create his own shot. But the team probably won’t be able to get anyone of substance without giving him a multi-year deal. And a multi-year deal would increase the team’s salary commitment for 2012-13, which would be counterproductive for making a run at Paul or Williams. Should the team sacrifice its chances to win now just to [...]

The Associated Press has another Lockout update: A person close to the NBA players’ association says the league is refusing to meet with the union unless it agrees to a 50-50 split of revenues. The union is seeking a meeting with league negotiators before Monday’s deadline to avoid canceling games, though the latest disagreement makes it more likely the NBA will lose regular-season games. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, ESPN 1080′s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com) and is the co-host of the ESPN1080.com Insiders Show Sunday mornings at 10:00 am EST. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on [...]

On February 8, 2010 , Vince Carter scored 48 points, helping the Magic overcome a 17-point deficit to defeat the New Orleans Hornets 123-117. (Andrew Melnick is Howard the Dunk’s lead blogger, ESPN 1080′s Magic Insider (http://espn1080.com) and is the co-host of the ESPN1080.com Insiders Show Sunday mornings at 10:00 am EST. Subscribe to his RSS feed, add him on Facebook and follow him on Twitter to follow him daily. You can download the HTD app here).

Adam Papageorgiou has a funny update on former first round pick Fran Vazquez: We still need to keep track of the 2005 eleventh overall Draft pick. Yes, it’s been that long since our front office took a gamble on the big man. Here’s the slouching 28-year-old’s photo shoot with his Spanish club. Looks like Vazquez is taking a page out of Kevin Garnett’s ‘mean mugging’ playbook. Magic season ticket holders have three options during the lockout: The Magic have created what they’re calling their “Loyalty Benefit Plan,” which gives season-ticket holders three options in case games are missed. Today, the [...]

Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel has an interesting thought – once everything gets settled, it would make a lot of sense for the Magic to play a home and home with the Miami Heat. In fact, Robbins pointed out this happened last time we had an NBA work stoppage: The Magic and Heat each played only two exhibitions to get ready for the regular season. The Magic hosted the Heat in Orlando on Jan. 30, 1999. The Heat hosted the Magic in Miami on Feb. 1, 1999. The regular season began on Feb. 5, 1999. Pitting the Magic and [...]