NBA Lockout League: 40+ NBA Players to play in Vegas

tchou · Sep 6, 2011

Didn't know if this was posted somewhere. Please delete if duplicate:

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/04/sports/basketball/nba-lockout-league-set-to-tip-off-in-las-vegas.html

‘Lockout League’ Is Set to Tip Off in Las Vegas
By HOWARD BECK
Published: September 3, 2011

A swarm of Knicks, Clippers and Rockets players will soon descend on Las Vegas for two weeks of intense competition — only without coaches, contracts or the imprimatur of the N.B.A.

The jerseys will be unfamiliar and the games fairly meaningless. But for the first time since June, N.B.A. players will be competing against N.B.A. players in something resembling an N.B.A.-caliber league.

The site will be the Impact Basketball gymnasium, about two miles from the Strip. The unofficial commissioner will be Joe Abunassar, a longtime trainer of N.B.A. players. More than 40 players, locked out of N.B.A. facilities because of a labor standoff, have committed to play. Chauncey Billups, John Wall, Zach Randolph and Stephen Jackson will be among the headliners.

“This is an effort on our part to get these guys as ready for training camp as they can get, without going to training camp,” Abunassar said in a phone interview. “That’s the allure of it.”

The tournament has been named the Impact Basketball Competitive Training Series. You could call it the Lockout League.

The N.B.A. season is in jeopardy because of a lockout that began July 1 and remains far from resolution. If no accord is reached in a few weeks, the N.B.A. will postpone camps and start canceling preseason games.

Abunassar wants to bridge the gap. Dozens of players make his gym their off-season home, playing pickup games after daily workouts. Abunassar is simply making the games a little more formal, and extending invitations to a few dozen more players.

As many as eight teams, featuring seven or eight players each, will play daily starting Sept. 12. The series will end with two days of playoffs, with a championship game Sept. 23. Games will be officiated and played under N.B.A. rules, albeit with 10-minute quarters and without coaches barking from the benches.

The plan is to sell tickets (about 500 a day, with proceeds donated to charity) and to stream the games live on the Internet.

A number of stars — including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony and Kevin Durant — have played exhibitions in Los Angeles, Washington and Baltimore. But unlike those pro-am events, Abunassar’s league will feature solely N.B.A. players, multiple games and some expectation of defense.

Teams will be assembled with an eye toward parity and with an emphasis on keeping N.B.A. teammates together. Billups will probably be joined by his Knicks teammates Shawne Williams and Iman Shumpert. Another roster will feature at least four Rockets: Kyle Lowry, Chuck Hayes, Chase Budinger and Courtney Lee. Mo Williams and DeAndre Jordan of the Clippers will form the core of a team, with hopes that their teammate Blake Griffin, last season’s rookie of the year, will join them.

Others who have committed include J. J. Hickson of the Kings, Eric Maynor of the Thunder, Al Harrington of the Nuggets, Jermaine O’Neal of the Celtics and Jared Dudley of the Suns.

Box scores will be kept. Standings will be posted. The stakes may be minimal, but the egos will be active. The competition level should be much higher than the typical summer exhibition. This will not be an all-star game.

“The way we’re going to play — with all the N.B.A. guys, with a lot of intensity, with not making it a circus, so to speak,” Abunassar said. “These guys are here to get the best basketball they’ve gotten.”

If all goes well in Las Vegas — and if all goes poorly at the bargaining table — Abunassar will stage another two-week series in October, he said. And in November and December, if necessary.

Nothing can replace the intensity of an N.B.A. game. But these games will carry their own prize: bragging rights.

“It will matter,” Abunassar said. “No one wants to be in eighth place, that’s for sure. It might not matter to you and I, but it matters to them.”
Click to expand...

Johndoe804 · Sep 6, 2011

All our lockout league squad would need is a big man to roam the paint.

RedRedemption · Sep 6, 2011

Well. We might finally win a championship after all!

tofu-- · Sep 6, 2011

I'm starving for any basketball at this point-- and honestly this league sounds like a good one.

JuanValdez · Sep 6, 2011

These are the guys I've seen mentioned so far:

1 Chauncey Billups
2 John Wall
3 Zach Randolph
4 Stephen Jackson
5 Shawne Williams
6 Iman Shumpert
7 Kyle Lowry
8 Chuck Hayes
9 Chase Budinger
10 Courtney Lee
11 Mo Williams
12 DeAndre Jordan
13 Al-Farouq Aminu
14 J. J. Hickson
15 Eric Maynor
16 Al Harrington
17 Jermaine O’Neal
18 Jared Dudley
19 Stephen Curry
20 Tayshaun Prince
21 Austin Daye
22 DeMar DeRozan

EDIT: Adding players...

23 Rudy Gay
24 Marreese Speights
25 Dahntay Jones
26 Omri Casspi
27 C.J. Watson
28 Ryan Gomes
29 James Anderson
30 Avery Bradley
31 Melvin Ely
32 Armon Johnson
33 Iman Shumpert
34 Kawhi Leonard
35 Jimmy Butler
36 Jordan Williams
37 Malcolm Lee
38 Josh Selby
39 Trey Thompkins
40 Travis Leslie
41 Shelvin Mack

Ricksmith · Sep 6, 2011

I wish Deandre Jordan could play on the Rockets' team so we could see what it would be like with a real center holding down the paint and Chuck moving back to PF.

Ziggy · Sep 6, 2011

Assumed 40+ meant 40 and up (ex-players). LOL on me... lol on me.

JuanValdez · Sep 8, 2011

I took Blake Griffin off my list (and put Aminu on) because it sounds like he's not going to play any basketball until the season is back on. I'd guess he wants to avoid injury, considering his history.

http://espn.go.com/los-angeles/nba/...os-angeles-clippers-teammates-las-vegas-games

[rquoter]
...The question remains as to whether last season's Rookie of the Year, Blake Griffin, will join his teammates in Sin City.

Griffin's agent, Sam Goldfeder, told ESPNLosAngeles.com on Wednesday that Griffin is not scheduled to play as of right now, but that could change.

Griffin, who first donned a Clippers uniform two summers ago during the Las Vegas Summer League with NBA commissioner David Stern watching from a courtside seat, has largely avoided the pickup game circuit that featured NBA stars playing in small gyms across the country this summer during the work stoppage.

Rather than play in L.A.'s fabled Drew League, Griffin secured an internship at Funny Or Die, the comedy website co-founded by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Later in the summer Griffin returned to his alma mater for Oklahoma's "Legends Alumni Game," but instead of playing in the exhibition, he merely threw up the ceremonial tipoff to begin the game's second half and watched from the stands.[/rquoter]

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NBA Lockout League: 40+ NBA Players to play in Vegas

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