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Maybe Enes Kanter Should Look Into The WWE For The Time Being - The Downbeat - #612

Enes Kanter speaks with Brian T. Smith:

Which NBA player's given him the best advice: I played with Tyson Chandler and Danny Granger, they helped me a lot. ... They just said to 'Go to the basket, go to the basket. Shoot the ball.' When we played - I played with Tyson Chandler, Danny Granger and Ricky Rubio - they all say the same thing. Just go to the basket, no one can stop you, you're too strong.

I like that he's been working with Tyson Chandler. I would love for some of Chandler's basketball mentality to rub off on Kanter. I'm also looking forward to him playing in the WWE after 15-20 years in the league. How would those knees look? Maybe he'll take the Malone route and play in the off-season? Maybe the Jazz get wind of this and put something into his contract?

Jazz one-time draftee Nazr Mohammed had a great exchange with the new (not a parody, honestly) twitter account, @NBA_Labor:

@CV31 @NazrMohammed: Owners last proposal was a 50/50 equal split of BRI, the agreed-upon revenue share btw league & players. 17 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto


That's a verified account (which means twitter has verified that it belongs to the NBA). That means that someone is monitoring players' and media account for supposed misinformation. This account also replied to TrueHoop. Here was Nazr's reply,

That's hilarious! I can't workout at our team's facilities or have contact w/ coaches but @NBA_Labor & @NBA can harass me on twitter lol SMH 17 hours ago via Twitter for iPhone · powered by @socialditto

This is just another storyline in this already crazy lockout. Don't worry though, it's okay according to NBA_Labor,

@Whyhub: The no-contact rule doesn't prevent NBA from responding to misinfo about collective bargaining, no matter the source 1 hour ago via web · powered by @socialditto

Someone is pushing that tweet button. Is it an owner? A lawyer for the league? The Cavs owner? Dwight Schrute? Is this person allowed contact with players other than twitter? Or is that the only medium? If I was the NBAPA, I wouldn't want contact with my players directly from the league.

Lockout Links

Damage of prolonged NBA lockout won't be known until it's too late - Sam Amick - SI.com
Yet missing an entire season, Feldman said, would be an entirely different story for both sides. "There's a significant difference between canceling a month or two of the season and canceling the entire season, and I think both sides recognize that," he said. Steve Kauffman, a prominent agent for NBA coaches and front-office executives who was a player agent during the 1998-99 lockout, believes the damage could be significant and blames hard-line owners and agents for preventing a deal from being reached. "A few of these owners might not have that pure love for the game," Kauffman said. "That doesn't mean these guys aren't entitled to make business decisions that are in their best interests, but I don't think they fully are taking into account the destruction that they're causing to the game. It could become like wrestling, or boxing or the UFC. SlamBall could come back."

NHL players have advice for the NBA: Make a deal | StarTribune.com
"I always felt I owed a lot to the guys who came before me. I made the money I did because of them and I felt a responsibility to all the players who would come after me. I think everyone did." But in retrospect, the owners held firm and got the deal they wanted. Bill Guerin, vice president for the players' union executive committee at the time, recently told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram as much. "It's not worth it," said Guerin, who was perhaps the biggest crusader for the players' cause back then. "Get a deal done. I learned a big lesson: It's not a partnership, it's their league, and you are going to play when they want. It's not worth it to any of them to burn games or to burn an entire year. Burning a year was ridiculous."

Jerry Stackhouse torches Derek Fisher, NBPA - Ben Golliver - CBSSports.com
"Not to say anything against Derek Fisher, it's not that I don't think he's a great guy," Stackhouse said, "But I don't want him negotiating my contract. I want an agent who knows the lingo negotiating my contract. Derek Fisher, he doesn't negotiate his own contract. He has an agent. So why would I want him negotiating something even bigger than his contract? This [Collective Bargaining Agreement] is something more important to everybody."

If that wasn't clear enough for you, Stackhouse went on to leave no doubt that he feels Fisher is outmatched in the current negotiation.

"David Stern, he's made this league what it is," Stackhouse said. "He's one of the greatest commissioners in sports. He's got that title, he's got the NBA at the place where it is because he's a shrewd businessman and knows how to work his way, play the media, play things up to get what he wants. We don't do that. Players are emotional. Players get emotional. So no, I don't necessarily, particularly want Derek Fisher or any of the executive committee negotiating a contract for me."

Highlights that helped earn Andrei Kirilenko's Player of the Month award.

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