NHL PROOF THAT A QUICK RESOLUTION IS NEEDED LESSONS ABOUND FOR THE NBA.Byline: RICH HAMMOND Rich Hammond Los Angeles Daily News sports writer. Instrumental in bringing the Los Angeles Kings hockey organization closer to the fans. He is the atypical "what a guy" to Kings fans everywhere. Rich Hammond on himself. NBA NBA abbr. 1. National Basketball Association 2. National Boxing Association NBA (US) n abbr (= National Basketball Association) → Basketball-Dachverband (= There's an interesting thing about work stoppages in professional sports The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please [ improve this article] or discuss the issue on the talk page. . They're always devastating dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. , yet the owners and players involved never seem to learn their lesson. The NBA is just now digging itself out of its 1998-99 lockout lockout, intentional closing up of a company, factory, or shop by an employer to prevent employees from working during a strike or labor dispute. The term lockout . Baseball needed (ahem, allegedly) chemically-enhanced home-run hitters to recapture the fans' attention and the NHL NHL Non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, see there . ... wait, the NHL used to be a hockey league, right? And now, the NBA seems poised to follow the NHL over the cliff. Basketball's collective-bargaining agreement expires after this season, and the players' union and the owners are gearing up for another billion-dollar spitball spit·ball n. 1. A piece of paper chewed and shaped into a lump for use as a projectile. 2. Baseball An illegal pitch in which a foreign substance, such as saliva, is applied to the ball before it is thrown. fight that would devastate dev·as·tate tr.v. dev·as·tat·ed, dev·as·tat·ing, dev·as·tates 1. To lay waste; destroy. 2. To overwhelm; confound; stun: was devastated by the rude remark. the sport. The sides had hoped to reach an agreement by the Feb. 20 All-Star Game An all-star game is an exhibition game played by the best players in their sports league. The players are often chosen by a popular vote of fans of the sport and the game often occurs at the halfway point of the regular season, although this is not the case for some all-star games , but a negotiating session last week in New York New York, state, United States New York, Middle Atlantic state of the United States. It is bordered by Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and the Atlantic Ocean (E), New Jersey and Pennsylvania (S), Lakes Erie and Ontario and the Canadian province of led to little except an agreement to meet again next month. Owners are seeking to bar players younger than 20 from the league, to reduce the maximum length of player contracts from seven years to five and reduce the amount a contract can increase from year to year. A more radical sect of owners is talking about an NFL-like hard salary cap, which could eliminate players' guaranteed contracts and limit the ability of teams to re-sign their own free agents regardless of their cap level. Owners would also like more control over player discipline, an idea sparked by the Ron Artest Ronald (Ron) William Artest Jr. (born November 13 1979) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays with the Sacramento Kings of the NBA. Artest gained reputation as one of the premier defenders in the game today, winning the NBA Defensive Player of the Year incident. Players are fighting for smaller changes, mostly regarding a complicated tax that cuts into their yearly salary, plus changes to the luxury-tax system that punishes teams for exceeding the salary cap. The real question is, are the owners and players fighting just for the sake of fighting? Issues of player character aside, the league is healthier than it has been since the Magic-Bird-Jordan glory days. Some owners, it seems, are intent on taking a wrecking ball to a situation that only needs tweaking tweaking Vox populi Fine-tuning to produce optimal results . Look at the league right now. LeBron James LeBron James (born December 30 1984) is an American professional basketball player who currently plays for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). , arguably the league's most dynamic and marketable player, wouldn't even be allowed in the NBA this season if the owners' proposed age limit was in effect. To be sure, the immaturity of Carmelo Anthony and his ``snitching'' video and the teenage flameouts such as former first pick Kwame Brown are regrettable, but the owners should be focusing on improving their developmental league, which might help these young players make the transition. It's also hard to see why the salary structure needs a major change. The soft salary cap, coupled with the somewhat-goofy system of limiting maximum salaries based on experience, has helped keep payrolls under control, and increased the likelihood of superstars remaining with their current teams. Look around the league. This isn't baseball, where only a handful of big-spending teams have a chance to win the World Series, and it isn't the NFL NFL abbr. National Football League NFL (US) n abbr (= National Football League) → Fußball-Nationalliga , where excessive parity has made the regular season boring. The NBA is in good shape. Teams such as the Phoenix Suns and Seattle SuperSonics are winning with smart roster management and a team like Sacramento has been able to keep many players on its roster through several years of success that have captured the hearts of local fans. If the owners are smart, they will shift their focus to player discipline. That is the one area that has the potential to damage the long-term health of the league, and it needs to be brought under control. But here's the good news: there probably won't be a work stoppage. The two sides don't seem ridiculously far apart, and players and owners are now watching hockey destroy itself. Then again, never underestimate the self-destructive instincts of professional sports leagues  This article has no lead section.To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, one should be written. . --Tough week: Is the good luck running out for the Phoenix Suns and Washington Wizards, two teams that have stunned league followers with their play in the first half of this season? The Suns, who went 0-4 on a recent trip, were set to regain the services of Steve Nash, who had a bruised thigh. But then Nash twisted his back when he stepped on the ankle of Leandro Barbosa in practice. To make matters worse, Barbosa, Nash's backup, sprained his ankle and was knocked out of action. In Washington, Larry Hughes' broken thumb is just as big a problem. Hughes, a chronic underachiever, blossomed with the Wizards this season and made a great backcourt duo with Gilbert Arenas (Grant High of Van Nuys). Without Hughes, who will be out four to six weeks, the Wizards have looked lost on offense. Hughes is a playmaker play·mak·er n. A player in a sport with goals, such as a guard in basketball, who initiates offensive plays. play who set the table for Arenas and Antawn Jamison and the Wizards will feel his loss. Now the Suns and Wizards face the true test of good teams: the ability to win without star players. --No mistake by the lake: One of the more intriguing trade rumors of this season has the Cleveland Cavaliers interested in trading for Jamaal Magloire or Baron Davis (UCLA UCLA University of California at Los Angeles UCLA University Center for Learning Assistance (Illinois State University) UCLA University of Carrollton, TX and Lower Addison, TX ), or possibly both. According to one report out of Cleveland, the Cavs are looking for Looking for In the context of general equities, this describing a buy interest in which a dealer is asked to offer stock, often involving a capital commitment. Antithesis of in touch with. a third team that would help New Orleans part with one or both of the young potential superstars, and what a great move that would be. The Cavaliers haven't done anything of note since Michael Jordan hit that jumper over Craig Ehlo in 1989, but with James establishing himself as a megastar, bringing in Davis and Magloire would make the Cavaliers, already a solid team, into one of the league's most dynamic squads. Davis' positives are obvious, and Magloire would be a major long-term upgrade over Zydrunas Ilgaukas, who is finally healthy but hasn't played up to expectations. --Bad move: With the Detroit Pistons riding a six-game winning streak, Darko Milicic picked a curious time to complain publicly about his playing time. Milicic, the second pick in the 2003 Draft, is once again being used sparingly, stuck in a rotation behind not only Ben Wallace and Rasheed Wallace but also Antonio McDyess and Elden Campbell. Detroit seems to have long-term plans for Milicic, who doesn't turn 20 until June, but Milicic is averaging only seven minutes per game, and this week told the Detroit News, ``We have to find a solution.'' OFF THE GLASS BASELINE-TO-BASELINE COVERAGE OF THE WEEK IN THE NBA CHANGE FOR WORSE In hindsight, the NBA's decision to split each conference into three divisions, instead of the traditional two, isn't working out very well. If the playoffs started today, the champion of the Atlantic Division would be the third seed in the Eastern Conference bracket, even though none of the five teams in the division has a record better than .500. Meanwhile, the Washington Wizards could very well finish with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference, but because they are in the same division as the conference-leading Miami Heat, it's likely that the best the Wizards can hope for is the fourth seed. THE RIGHT GUY Say what you will about Kobe Bryant, Jerry Buss and Mitch Kupchak, but it's hard to find fault with the job Rudy Tomjanovich has done coaching the Lakers this season. It's been an incredibly difficult transition for the Lakers, who remain in the national spotlight because of their past success and because of Bryant, but Tomjanovich has remained unfailingly positive, Mr. Sunshine on a team that is being followed by a dark cloud. Tomjanovich has sought advice from his players and genuinely seems to appreciate their efforts. This team is a work in progress, and Tomjanovich's patience and teaching might pay off in the long run. THE CHRISTIE SHOW? Now this should be fun. The reality television craze has reached the NBA, as Doug Christie and his wife, Jackie, reportedly are set to star in a documentary-style show for the VH-1 network. For those who aren't familiar with Jackie Christie, she's the oh-so-devoted wife who follows the team bus on trips, doesn't like her husband speaking to female reporters and looks for Doug to use hand signals to communicate with her during games. Is there anyone who isn't just a little curious A Little Curious is a children's television show which has aired on HBO Family since 1998. The 30-minute episodes are essentially anthologies of shorts centered on a common, easily digested theme such as "Up and Down" or "Slippery. about how much control Jackie has over Doug? THEY SAID IT ``I went home and had some curry goat and rice and peas Rice and Peas is a mainstay of the Jamaican diet and is traditionally, but not exclusively, eaten with the Sunday meal. Rice and peas is made with rice and any locally available peas such as red kidney beans, gungo peas or cowpeas and coconut milk. . It's Caribbean food.'' - Chicago guard Ben Gordon, on the secret to why he hit the game-winning shot Saturday against New York. THIS WEEK'S BEST BET DETROIT AT INDIANA Thursday, 4 p.m., TNT TNT: see trinitrotoluene. TNT in full trinitrotoluene Pale yellow, solid organic compound made by adding nitrate (−NO2) groups to toluene. Yes, they're back together again, even though ``The Fight'' is now a tired topic. - Rich Hammond CAPTION(S): 2 boxes Box: (1) OFF THE GLASS (see text) (2) Daily News/CBS 2/KCAL 9 SPORTS CENTRAL POWER RANKINGS - Ross Siler |
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