FIBA Confirms NBA Players Can Play Overseas During Lockout

The NBA lockout has received far less attention than the NFL lockout, which is rather understandable. The NBA, while popular, cannot rival the following of the NFL as well as the fact that most sports fans are simply sick of lockouts. However, while the NFL lockout did no real damage as it was more of a move to make even more money, the NBA's situation is much more dire. There are a number of NBA that are actually losing money and would continue to do so under the old agreement. The NBA will likely miss a number of games this year as they did in 1999 when the season was shortened from 82 down to 50. It's unlikely yet conceivable that the entire season could be cancelled a la the NHL a few years ago.

Another very interesting wrinkle in the whole situation is the ability of NBA players to take their talents to European teams while the NBA is still locked-out. The vast growth and success of international basketball over the past 15-20 years has made the prospect of playing overseas much more appealing than in the past. European teams have already brought over NBA talents like Josh Childress and Brandon Jennings in the past few years as well as older stars like Allen Iverson. FIBA, International Basketball's governing body, recently decreed that any NBA player would be allowed to play for another team at their own risk of injury, provided they return to their team when the lockout ends.

New Jersey Nets All-Star PG Deron Williams has already reached a deal with a Turkish team that has also extended an offer to Kobe Bryant. With FIBA's recent sanctioning one would likely expect more NBA players to consider making the jump to earn a paycheck during the lockout. This adds an entirely new level to the debacle and will give the players more leverage during negotiations if they can make money elsewhere. It is also like to help augment the continued growth of international basketball in the future.

Bob Bradley Out As US Soccer Head Coach; Juergen Klinsmann In

The U.S. Soccer Federation wasted little time in find a Head Coach after firing former coach Bob Bradley early this week. Team USA will now be managed by German Juergan Klinsmann who brings a considerable resume with him both as a player and a coach for Team Germany. Klinsmann won a World Cup as a player for West Germany in 1990 and retired with 11 career World Cup goals. He also lead the Germans as a coach to consecutive World Cup semifinals in 2006 and 2010.

Klinsmann had been contacted twice before by the U.S. Soccer Federation to discuss possibly joining Team USA but the Federation chose to go with Bradley instead. Bradley had a promising start to his coaching career after the 2006 World Cup but failed to deliver beyond the Round of 16 in the 2010. Team USA continued their mediocre level of play into 2011 and capped Bradley's tenure with a 4-2 loss to Mexico in the CONCACAF Gold Cup final despite holding a 2-0 lead.

Whether or not the addition of Klinsmann will do anything to invigorate US Soccer remains to be seen but the move has certainly been received positively. Klinsmann will now have less than 2 weeks to prepare his team for their next contest August 10th in a friendly against Mexico.

(Also sweet picture, right?)

Carlos Beltran Traded To SF Giants

The Carlos Beltran trade finally went down this week as the New York Mets were able to move the slugger to the San Francisco Giants. Right now the deal appears to be as mutually beneficial a trade as you can find these days. The Giants sent top prospect Pitcher Zack Wheeler to the New York straight up for Beltran. The Giants have had absolutely no run production from their lineup this year after winning the World Series last year, ranking in the bottom half of nearly every offensive category. They have successfully added the best hitter available on the mid-season trading block.

The Mets on the other hand were able to get a top prospect for Beltran which is something few could have predicted coming out of spring training. Beltran was coming off of two years where he only played a combed 145 games due to injury and on top of that was only able to play 3 exhibition games this spring because of his ailing knee. As I posted earlier his surprising level of play this season made him the hottest commodity in July.

The Mets have played well above expectations this year considering all the team has had to deal with including the financial woes of team ownership and a bevy of injuries to their best players (Johan Santana, Ike Davis and David Wright). Right now they are on the fringe of the Wild Card race which made it a little harder for them to part with the services of Beltran but in the long run it was a move that had to be made.

Despite his ups and downs with the Mets I am happy to see Beltran has found a good home and greatly appreciative for his 6 1/2 years of service in New York.

Post-Lockout NFL Free Agent Free Frenzy

As expected the days following the end of the NFL lockout have been frantic to say the least. I get ESPN mobile alerts sent to my phone but usually I average no more than one or two a day at the most. Since 10 AM Tuesday morning I have received 73 text messages from ESPN NFL which is almost exactly 1 per hour.

Obviously there is far too much to talk about for this one post (for anyone interested in that you can find Adam Schefter on one ESPN network or the other a minimum of 6 hours a day) so I'll just highlight some of them major deals.

The biggest (and most long-awaited) trade finally took place on Thursday with the Philadelphia Eagles sending QB Kevin Kolb to the Arizona Cardinals in return for 25-year old CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie and a 2nd round pick. The Eagles went with DRC over pursuing the big free agents Nnamdi Asomugha and Jonathan Joseph because of his age (25) size and speed (6'2", 189, 4.29 'nuff said) and perhaps most important the fact that he will only cost the team a little over $2 Million for the next two years, in other words about 10x less than Asomugha would run them. Kolb will finally get his chance to being the starting QB (wait haven't we already done this dance?) and got his big contract to the tune of 5 Years for $63 Million.

The New York Jets and New England Patriots have been making the most noise in the AFC. The Jets were able to bring back top WR Free Agent Santonio Holmes by giving him the largest amount of guaranteed money ever given to a receiver at $24. That huge bonus actually works in their favor however as Holmes' $50 Million contract will only count about $2.5 Million on this year's salary cap allowing them to aggressively pursue Asomugha. Nnamdi appears to want to play for the Jets and they clearly want him. The Jets will likely land the Star CB to pair Darrelle Revis this weekend but Asomugha will be sure to draw as much money from them as possible before that announcement is made. The Patriots made big moves in the trade market by first acquiring DT Albert Haynesworth from the Redskins for a 5th-round pick before adding WR Chad Ochocinco for two more late round picks. The Ochocinco deal appeared likely after it was clear Cincinnati wished to be free of the aging receiver's $6.5 Million contract but the Haynesworth move was surprising. The Redskins wanted no piece of Haynesworth and have to be happy they were able get at least something in return for him. More importantly perhaps they were happy to choose where he went rather than release him and have him sign with a team like the Eagles who play them twice a year.

Clearly there's more to come

Who Will Land Carlos Beltran?

The MLB Trading Deadline is rapidly approaching at July 31st and the biggest prize to emerge is RF Carlos Beltran of the NY Mets. The switch-hitting slugger has silenced many critics this year by returning to All-Star form after losing most of 2010 to offseason knee surgery. Beltran leads the Mets in HRs and RBIs and perhaps most surprisingly in 2nd on the team in games played this year answering questions about the durability of his knee.

Beltran is in the final year of the massive 7-year deal he signed with the Mets prior to the 2005 season. Despite his resurgence there is absolutely no chance the Mets will look to sign him after the season as they try to hold on to MVP-candidate Jose Reyes who is also in the final year of his deal. With no other hitters of his caliber readily available in the trade market it appears as though Beltran with fetch the highest price on the trading block, especially as it appears the Mets are willing to eat most if not all of his remaining contract for this year.

There is wild speculation on Beltran as many teams appear in need of another middle-of-the-order bat. The most prominent teams to surface have been the Phillies, Brave, Red Sox and SF Giants. The Mets are looking for a top-prospect for Beltran and it is becoming ever more likely that they will get it as GM Sandy Alderson will look to set up a bidding war for Beltran's services. Carlos has stated that he would prefer to stay in the NL but has also admitted that he will not veto any possible trades.

The Mets have played above expectations this year when you consider the time missed by stars David Wright, Ike Davis and Johan Santana but have most failed to get much about the .500 mark. Considering they play in a division with the Phillies and Braves who hold commanding leads in the Division and Wild Card races it is highly unlikely that the Mets will be able to contend as the year progress which would precipitate a Beltran trade all the more.

NFL Lockout Finally Over. Finally.

The NFLPA unanimously voted to approve a new Collective Bargaining agreement on Monday afternoon and in the words of NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, "Football is back"

With the deal's approval team can begin negotiating with their own free agents and draft picks this afternoon while trades and unrestricted free agency moves must wait until Tuesday afternoon, which is actually a day earlier than originally believed when the NFL owners first approved their deal last Thursday. Any trades or free agency transactions will not be made official until August 2nd when the league year officially begins but all term can be agreed upon.

That means get ready for the free agency frenzy we have all been anxiously waiting for since March.

All NFL training camps will open on a staggered basis as each team must report 15 days before their first preseason game so that all teams will have exactly the same amount of practice time. Teams will begin reporting on Wednesday and will continue through Sunday.

The only real casualties of the lockout then are the Hall of Fame game on August 6th, which was cancelled but traditionally serves as the opening preseason game of the year, as well as the fact that there will be no Hard Knocks on HBO this summer. And of course us fans who have been forced to wait out more than 130 days of locked-out football.

So really what was the point? In the end the owners got a little more money and the players got less practice time per season which would conceivably prolong their careers allowing players as a whole to earn more money.

Kevin Kolb and Larry Fitzgerald Workout Together

With the NFL Lockout seemingly in its final hours it looks ever more likely that the Philadelphia Eagles will send QB Kevin Kolb to the Arizona Cardinals as early as the possibly can. While certainly nothing is ever certain (see what I did there) in the NFL it would appear that Kolb to the Cardinals is as close to a done deal as you can get. It has even gotten to the point where Kolb and Cardinals' Star WR Larry Fitzgerald have begun working out together in preparation for the season.

Now of course there is nothing new to seeing players from different teams working out together during the offseason (especially when Kolb began his career spending the offseason working with Eagles' receivers at Donovan McNabb's Arizona home) this does at least indicate that Kolb and Fitzgerald expect to be playing together next season as much as the rest of us. Fitzgerald has already indicated his desire for the Cards to acquire Kolb and a deal between the two teams has become more and more likely since the Draft in April when Arizona chose not to address their need for a QB.

I guess perhaps the only reason this deal isn't a completely forgone conclusion would be that the rival Seattle Seahawks are also desperately in need of a QB and have shown as much interest in Kolb (if not more) as Arizona. I think it will boil down to which NFC West team is willing to give up more in order to get Kolb. The Cardinals have more to offer in terms of players (specifically Pro Bowl CB Dominique Rodgers-Cromartie) so the Seahawks would likely have to cough up a bounty of future Draft picks to get a deal done.

What this really means is that the Eagles are going to get a great return for trading Kolb whether it be immediate in the form of Rodgers-Cromartie or in the future with more picks. It also means that they will be in the market for a veteran QB to serve as punishment-prone QB Mike Vick's backup this year. Vince Young anyone?

NFL Owners Ratify New CBA; Players Still Upset

The NFL lockout is reaching it's fourth month but for the past week or two it appears as though there is a light at the end of the tunnel. Yesterday NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and NFL team owners voted overwhelmingly in favor of the new proposed CBA. However the NFLPA has not been quick to approve the deal on their side as they believe there are some smaller outstanding issues they that feel unhappy with and have not yet made a move to vote yet.

The current situation a bit confusing to say the least and requires some clarification. First the major issues of the CBA have be agreed due for over a week which include revenue sharing (and a $120 Million Salary Cap) between owners and players, a rookie wage scale, reduced offseason activity and practices and new free agency rules. The smaller issues that the players are citing revolve mainly around a supplemental revenue sharing program as well as benefits for retired players.

The key factor in understanding the discontent of the players is the fact that the owners ratified a proposal that had not been 100% agreed upon. Basically the owners made a final proposal to the players within the last week that apparently did not completely satisfy the NFLPA's needs. The NFLPA submitted submitted a counter-proposal with some changes to the smaller issues. The owners then addressed concerns of the players to some unknown degree. It was this deal that the owners voted to ratify on Thursday.

Essentially the owners made one last power-play against the players by certifying a new deal and placing all the pent up pressure from the public firmly on the shoulders of the Player's Association. In my opinion it was the nature of the owner's actions rather than the actual intricacies of the deal that drew DeMaruice Smith and the players' ire. Right now the end of the lockout is being held up by the players, which is exactly what the owners hoped to accomplish. However, while this may leave certain members of the NFLPA unhappy I do not think it will be enough to stop the some 1900 players for ratifying the CBA sometime in the next few days. Hopefully...