Remember how David Stern said that if a deal wasn’t reached by Monday that the first two weeks of the regular season would be cancelled? Well, we’re pretty much there. CBSSports.com reported yesterday that the players reached out about a meeting Monday, but the NBA refused because the players would not prematurely agree on a 50/50 split of the basketball related income. A union source told Yahoo! Sports’ Adrian Wojnarowski: “This just confirms what we suspected all along: The NBA was never serious about negotiating until guys missed checks.” So now we’re at a stalemate: Both sides know what they want, and yet neither one will cross that line in the sand. Read More »

There’s nothing that lights up a room of hoopheads quite like saying someone is better than Michael Jordan. That sentiment is typically met with a three-step response. First, the listener will be in shock. “What? Are you $%^&*@ serious!!” Next will come the denials and name calling. “Scottie Pippen is an idiot! He’s jealous of MJ!!” And finally, it’ll be amusement. People will start laughing at the foolishness. Back in May, immediately following LeBron James‘ destruction of Chicago in the Eastern Conference Finals, Scottie Pippen did the unthinkable and said LeBron could one day develop into a better all-around player than the greatest ever. Read More »

You may know Cappie Pondexter as the sweet-shooting New York Liberty guard – the one who has posted an 18.4 scoring average through the first third of the 2011 WNBA season. But that’s just her summer job. In the winter, you can find Pondexter in Russia hooping in the EuroLeague for UMMC Ekaterinburg. Or you can find her working for 4 Season Style Management, the image consulting company she co-founded. Read More »