HoopsHype.com Rumors

David 'Dubi' Pick: Can't believe #NBA ROY Kyrie Irving nearly signed lockout deal w/Ashkelon. Prominent Israeli agent & team sources confirmed, deal was $25k. Twitter

Cleveland Cavaliers, Lockout, Israel, Kyrie Irving 

On the lockout: “The day we made the deal, if we didn’t make it, I think we were going to spiral out of control.” “The bloggers said it was (the small market owners that were the hardliners) but uniformly, without regard to market size, there was a unanimity we had to make a deal that had a new paradigm for us.” (How committed each owner was to dragging it out to get that new paradigm is another issue entirely if you ask me.) NBCSports.com

David Stern, Lockout 

Said Gumbel on-air during the lockout: "David Stern was eager to be seen as some kind of modern plantation overseer treating NBA men as if they were boys." Stern, talking to Bob Costas for a show airing on NBC Sports Network, played it cool in his recollection of his response at the time: "His ratings are going down. It's a slow news day. He wants some headlines." Bettman was unequivocal on Gumbel: "That is probably the most ignorant, stupidest statement I've ever heard." USA Today

Media, David Stern, Lockout 

All of this happened three months to the day after the last-ditch bargaining session that finally ended the lockout. Looking back on the night when the final negotiations began -- Nov. 25, Black Friday -- several people involved in the talks recreated an incredible scene that underscored just how close the NBA came to losing the entire season. No Christmas Day. No 66-game schedule. No All-Star weekend. Nothing. Sometime between 7 and 9 p.m. ET on Nov. 25 -- and various sources' recollections of the exact timing vary by an hour or so -- the 2011-12 NBA season almost perished. CBSSports.com

David Stern, Lockout, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

In fact, based on accounts provided to CBSSports.com by people on both sides of the negotiations, the 2011-12 season was all but pronounced dead that night. Several times. Somehow, some way, it was brought back to life. "It was almost a wrap quite a few times," said Maurice Evans, a member of the players' executive committee. "Numerous times, both parties almost ended it. But each time, it was a last-ditch effort by someone to keep us together." CBSSports.com

David Stern, Lockout, Billy Hunter, NBPA, Maurice Evans 

"We're done; that's it," Hunter said, according to a person who was in the room. "We’ll let this play out in the courts. I'm not f------ negotiating anymore." The two negotiating teams scattered, and high-level members of the players' legal team tried in vain to talk Hunter back in the room. At some point, around 9 p.m. according to a person familiar with the conversation, Holt was on the phone with an official from the NBA office. The message was clear: Talks had broken down. The fight to save the season was over. Get ready for the news conference. Recollections of what happened next vary somewhat depending on who's telling the story. In one version, Holt received a knock on the door while he was still on the phone with the league official. It was a representative of the union, asking that Holt and the owners return to the bargaining table. CBSSports.com

David Stern, Lockout, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

But Hunter, speaking Saturday at the Orlando state fair grounds, said he saw this coming. "That was a camouflage," Hunter told CBSSports.com. "That was a subterfuge. That's what I'd said to you guys all along, and you never bought into it. So I can't understand why now, on the back end, when he says something all of a sudden it rings true. I said all along that's what it was about. It was about them making money. It wasn't necessarily about any competitive balance, and I said that to them in many, many meetings. It was about splitting up the dollars and the owners putting money in their pockets." CBSSports.com

David Stern, Lockout, Billy Hunter, NBPA 

Beyond lost games and revenue, any other regrets? David Stern: My regret is that we had a pretty good idea of where it was going, in terms of negotiations, and we should have been able to do it sooner. That's all. Other than that, I think the 20% of the games of one season is going to turn out to have been a modest price to pay for the fundamental change in the league's operation going forward. And by that I mean its competitiveness and the value of its franchises. USA Today

David Stern, Lockout 

Emiliano Carchia: Kobe Bryant, in an interview at Sky, confirmed that he was very close to joining Virtus Bologna during the NBA lockout. Link on the way Twitter

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Lockout, Italy, Virtus Bologna 

The Corriere goes on to cite inside sources as explaining that Sabbatini & Co. could not compromise with Bryant’s representative Rob Pelinka on the nature of the games Kobe would have played. Sabbatini’s plan was mostly planned as being “a kind of occasional collaboration” because the club was having serious problems with the league’s standard labor contract and therein that old bugaboo, taxes. Ball In Europe

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Lockout, Italy, Virtus Bologna 

Concluded Kobe’s thoughts on playing in Europe: “I was really looking forward to starting this adventure in Italy, but then things in the NBA settled down and the season started after the lockout, so [my return to] Italy did not materialize. But there is still time in the future.” Ball In Europe

Los Angeles Lakers, Kobe Bryant, Lockout, Italy, Virtus Bologna 

Emiliano Carchia: Pablo Laso, via AS, said that Jeremy Lin was offered to Real Madrid during lockout. Reminder: Lin was very very close to signing with Teramo Twitter

New York Knicks, Real Madrid, Lockout, Spain, Jeremy Lin 

Stern: I've never found NBA owners to be deferential. I never considered them to be reliant. All that I do is knock myself out to represent their interests the best way I can and sometimes tell them, as part of my job, what they don't like to hear. And I would say that there was a fair amount of that going on as it related to the sea change that we have effectuated with this collective bargaining agreement and the attendant revenue sharing. And I would say that there were probably more unhappy owners in connection with these two arrangements than at any time in my tenure as commissioner. But it doesn't change what I do, which is to tell them what I think is the right thing and then work hard to secure it. Because if I didn't give them my full [opinion], or if I just did what was easy or convenient, then I wouldn't be doing the job. And I've never done that. Orlando Sentinel

CBA, David Stern, Lockout, Owners 

Stern: Well, I guess I would say that we eliminated 100 jobs at the league level because we were going into a new reality in an economy where we have, unprecedented in our lifetime, really, unemployment, huge mortgage foreclosures, increased homelessness, poverty and despair and something called The Great Recession. So that put huge pressure on all businesses and particularly the NBA, where we were focusing on losses and enhanced revenue sharing and a season that was disrupted greatly. So it doesn't surprise me that teams were making these business decisions. Orlando Sentinel

CBA, David Stern, Lockout, Owners 

Wall hasn’t had the best start to his second season, but he disagreed with Saunders’s assessment that players pick up too many bad habits and a false sense of confidence from success in pickup games. “No, not at all. In summer league, you get serious in the fourth quarter, other times it’s just for fun,” Wall said. “It’s basically for charity so it wasn’t — you just playing basketball, you doing the type of dunks you wouldn’t do in a game and doing things like that. I still knew how to play regular basketball. There wasn’t nothing wrong with that at all. Summer league is something you do for fun and something to do while there was a lockout.” Washington Post

Washington Wizards, John Wall, Lockout 

Durant also felt that the games didn’t have a negative influence on his game. “I think I’ve been in this league for four years. I’m going into my fifth year right now and I know how to play the game the right way,” he said. “Those games, you can pick up bad habits, but I’m past that stage, where I’m a young player and I let that affect me. I’ve grown up and I’ve learned a lot in this league. I don’t think I picked up any bad habits.” Washington Post

Washington Wizards, John Wall, Lockout 

Gary Washburn: Delonte West on his lockout summer working at the furniture store: "It told me the league minimum ain't that bad." #celtics #mavericks Twitter

Delonte West, Lockout 

Assembling a new collective bargaining agreement isn’t an easy task. It can be very frustrating at times and there were plenty of points during the lockout where talks turned sour. However, looking back on the experience, Evans and Mason felt it was extremely rewarding and worth the time they spent traveling and sitting in various hotel conference rooms. “It was a serious mental grind,” Mason told HOOPSWORLD. “You don’t know what it’s like in that room until you’re there. The guys that are there, David Stern and the owners, are savvy business men and that’s what they do for a living so it was a good learning experience. It was business so obviously there were never any hard feelings. I feel really proud that I was able to represent the guys.” HoopsWorld

Washington Wizards, CBA, Roger Mason, David Stern, Lockout, NBPA, Maurice Evans 

Prior to every game this season, opposing players have gone out of their way to thank Mason and Evans for the work they did throughout the lockout. Not only did they attend nearly all of the meetings in New York, but they also traveled the country to hold regional meetings with players and agents. It was a busy summer for the two veterans, but they’ve received plenty of support. “It’s been awesome,” Evans said. “Every game, we play guys who have just been so grateful and thankful for the work that we all put in during the offseason. I’m sure Derek [Fisher] is getting those same compliments from a lot of the guys.” HoopsWorld

Washington Wizards, CBA, Roger Mason, David Stern, Lockout, NBPA, Maurice Evans 

Evans, 33, and Mason, 31, are hoping that their experiences, both on and off the court, will help them eventually land a front office job once their playing days are behind them. “I would love to share my knowledge and my talents in the front office, and somehow use my ability to read people and evaluate talent,” Evans said. “I want to use the great experiences I have, playing on championship-caliber teams, to really help young guys develop and prosper in this league.” “I love the game,” Mason said. “I want to keep playing for awhile but when I’m done, I’ve got the experience of putting together the CBA. I’m very versed in that now and I’m sure I’ll be doing something that can take advantage at that skill set.” HoopsWorld

Washington Wizards, CBA, Roger Mason, David Stern, Lockout, NBPA, Maurice Evans