It’s Confirmed: Deron Williams Plans To Play In Turkey; And Mark Cuban Let’s All In On A Secret
Deron Williams (photo. Christian Kozowyck)
So it’s true. Following the Deron Williams-to-Turkey saga on Twitter yesterday had us dizzy. It went from “OMG, what?” to “No way that’s true. NO WAY” to “Well, maybe Williams really wants to play” to “Holy s^&* he IS gonna play.” Rumors were rampant all day until Williams’ new agent, Jeff Schwartz, finally confirmed it: the All-Star point guard has a deal in place that will pay him $5 million to play next season for Besiktas while offering an opt-out for whenever the lockout does end. With the player’s union threatening to fight the NBA should they try to prohibit locked-out players from playing, Williams’ only real risk could be injury. But even that might not matter as any voided contract will be met with resistance from the player’s union. It sounds like that won’t deter him. This is the same club that brought in Allen Iverson and they have also apparently secured Zaza Pachulia. Not only that, the team’s coach, Ergin Ataman, says they will court Kobe Bryant to come as well. Imagine that backcourt. AI, Kobe, D-Will. Would the Answer still complain about coming off the bench? (although it’s extremely doubtful Iverson will play for the club again anyways). Yet, there are still agents/people around the league who don’t believe Williams will ever take the court there … The real question for Kobe fans is would you rather seen him play or simply rest up and get his body right? It’s a cloudy question. One of the leading surgeons in the world, Dr. Bal Raj, stopped by again to talk about Kobe’s murky offseason knee surgery … All in all, this saga got the attention of a lot of NBA players. Now, there are rumors about nearly everyone looking overseas. Even Adam Morrison, who is apparently still alive, checked the availability of teams … David Kahn reportedly asked Kurt Rambis if he would have interest in taking another job with the organization, possibly as a scout or adviser. Is this dude serious? He left the coach hanging for weeks, and now wants to chop him down a few notches. Kahn is treating Rambis like he’s Milton from Office Space … Surprising isn’t the word. It’s got to be something more…astonishing maybe? With two minutes left in the voting yesterday, Kevin Durant and Monta Ellis were literally TIED in voting (the Warriors really do have the game’s greatest fans). A No. 13 seed winning a round would’ve been the biggest upset so far. But the KD faithful came through just in time to advance Durant by only three votes. In the other matchup that ended yesterday, D-Wade murdered Joe Johnson, picking up 81% of the vote. KD vs. Wade? It doesn’t get any better in the second round … Ralph Sampson turned 51 years old yesterday. For someone who was an athletic, 7-4 phenom, he had one of the weirdest careers we’ve ever seen: Insanely dominant in college, one of the most hyped rookies ever, very productive during his first few years on a team that had more potential than Lindsay Lohan in 2005, Sampson eventually just fizzled out, a victim of injuries and his own numbness towards competing. One of Bill Simmons’ favorite stories to tell is how Sampson took an ugly fall during one fateful night in the Boston Garden, and was never the same, the ghosts of Celtic past following him around for the rest of his career … Speaking of centers not reaching their potential, former Portland GM Kevin Pritchard went back in time to relive the decision to take Greg Oden over Durant, telling HoopsWorld that he never studied a pair of players the way he did those two and that Oden has always had special leadership qualities. Hopefully, the big man will have a few healthy years because he is a great kid and, despite what some people try to cling to, he is very good when he plays … And if you really need to laugh, you have to check out Deadspin’s hilarious slideshow of photos from Mark Cuban‘s college and rugby years. Amazingly, Cuban signed off on it all and agreed to even write captions for photos that make him look like he just stepped off the set of Animal House … We’re out like D-Will.
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July 8th, 2011 at 12:33 am
BRUCE says:
Early Smack today! D-Will gonna dominate those scrubs.
July 8th, 2011 at 12:42 am
BRUCE says:
It will make more than $5 Million to get Kobe. Dude already has enough money. Kobe is either interested in Italy or China. Italy because that is part of his childhood. If he goes to China, he gonna have fun with those GOOKS!
July 8th, 2011 at 4:07 am
Eric says:
Ok. Bruce is there a reason why you have to put a racial slur? When it comes to arguments, people just don’t know how to keep it clean. Grow up
July 8th, 2011 at 6:29 am
alf (from melmak) says:
That photo of Deron Williams in a Jazz uniform looks just about perfect.
Here is how my weird imagination sees it: D-Will plays in Turkey; Nets void his contract; players union protest thrown out; D-Will becomes a free agent; goes back to Utah through a sign-and-trade involving Andrei Kirilenko and scrubs; D-Will all giddy as he finds Utah a team that is tall, athletic, and can compete deep into the playoffs. As icing on the cake, D-Will convinces Jerry Sloan to come out of retirement and coach the team again for two more seasons.
Do I hear any objections?
July 8th, 2011 at 6:51 am
Quedas says:
@BRUCE
Was there any plausible reason for you to not only say racist bullshit but YELL IT?
July 8th, 2011 at 7:06 am
Atom says:
Cuban photos are totally nuts. Nice mustache Freddy Mercury. Why is he showing his pubic hair in half of them? Not sorry I missed the 70s.
I’ll believe D-Will is playing in Turkey when I see it. The players are playing poker with the owners now, seeing who will fold first. I visited Turkey and dont think even the Turkish players want to play there.
July 8th, 2011 at 7:09 am
dcyrilcasa says:
Besiktas Cola Turka is where A.I is playing.
July 8th, 2011 at 8:26 am
dagwaller says:
Mark Cuban is an animal
July 8th, 2011 at 9:53 am
heckler says:
@ Dime—
Dont you guys run a magazine?
How difficult is it for you to get CURRENT photos of players?
WHY THE HELL DO YOU HAVE DERON WILLIAMS IN A UTAH JAZZ WARMUP JACKET?!!?
You all should be ASHAMED. its not a big deal, but it is a deal.
Dont you archive your photo shoots?
If not, cant you just have an intern or somebody download a current picture of each player from the web when you plan to feature them in an article?
..how do you expect to be taken seriously at your craft?
:Heckler shakes head in disgust:
July 8th, 2011 at 9:55 am
jdizzle says:
Shao Kahn strikes again. This dude has some nerve. You’re no longer the head coach but you can take a less paying job with us. Thats like a chick dumping you then she asks you for some bread a week later. Lol if Rambis weighed an extra 150 lbs during his playing days he would look just like Milton
July 8th, 2011 at 10:29 am
First & Foremost says:
@Heckler – More times than not, it is illegal to download pictures and use them in a publication without the written and expressed consent of the owner of the picture. I’m not sure Dime wants to catch a case in their offseason.
I too am a little bothered by the combined 20 pictures they have of Lebron, Kobe, Durant, Dwight, Rose, Melo that they rotate but it is what it is. With that said, the all white Kobe fashion photo better not show up in the 1 on 1 tournament. You know, the fruity one with him wearing a hoody getting his “Blue Steel” on.
July 8th, 2011 at 10:32 am
First & Foremost says:
@Jdizzle – Kahn-Rambis situation is more like you catching your girl cheating at your place and before you have a chance to say something, she asks you for a ride home.
July 8th, 2011 at 11:08 am
That's What's Up says:
Photos aren’t free when you post them on your revenue-generating website.
DIME probably only has them licensed for a certain amount of time.
That or they are using exclusive photos from DIME sponsored photo shoots, which will always be available to DIME but will look dated.
D-Will in a Nets uniform runs at least 20 G’s. Easy…
July 8th, 2011 at 12:29 pm
heckler says:
well…
DIME, if the phots aint free, then PAY for them g*ddammit!
it sure looks FOOLISH to have a player featured wearing a uniform in which they are no longer employed.
..and find a way to get it done. EVERY other website seems to be able to do it when necessary….
July 8th, 2011 at 1:07 pm
Austin Burton says:
Why do people from Boston exaggerate EVERYTHING when it comes to their sports teams? Red Sox curses and Celtics ghosts and divine intervention for the Patriots, etc. It’s just sports, and 90% of the time it’s purely coincidental. Stop taking yourselves so seriously.
July 8th, 2011 at 2:30 pm
goattree says:
Hey Heckler, the ironic part is that the Nets aren’t paying him right now either. The whole part of him being mentioned is because of a possible move to another new team.
Chill dude
July 10th, 2011 at 10:04 pm
Diego says:
Sampson’s knees became shot as hell, which shortened his career. Annoying Bill Simmons can suck a nut.
Sampson was pretty damn wirey and really not so much a pure post player. Perhaps in today’s world, with right training and coaching, he could have become more of a thinner, taller, blacker, American version of Dirk.