The NBA could start it’s own World Cup and more in NBA Daily Digest
Written by Adrian Gregory Glover // June 19, 2012 // Daily Digests, NBA // No comments
It’s A Wrap: If you enjoy watching NBA players representing their countries on the Olympic stage, I would advise you not to miss a single moment of this year’s games in London.
Internally it seems that the NBA and its owners are pushing to either share in or create their own global tourney that would akin to soccer’s World Cup franchise.
Why bow out? It always comes down to dollars and cents and it’s surprising that it took this long to happen.
Look at the situation with a guy like the Bulls Joakim Noah. To say his ankles are ginger right now would be kind.
If he plays for his native France, gets injured and misses a chunk of the NBA season, the Bulls and the NBA has lost dollars that it could have made off the back of one of its brightest stars.
In the same situation in a tourney that they owned or shared revenue in, there would some sort of recoup for all of the relevant parties involved.
Earlier this week during a halftime interview at Game 3 of the NBA Finals, commissioner David Stern slyly made mention that the league could impose some sort of age restriction for Olympic play.
We should all take that as the warning shot that it was intended to be.
Jaw Dropping: Let the conspiracy theories begin as somehow, someway the new owner of the New Orleans Hornets Tom Benson has tapped his GM over at the Saints Mickey Loomis to run operations for his new franchise.
Somehow, some way the jokes about the NBA lottery being rigged and Loomis benefiting from the number one selection will start to pour in soon.
It’s a little bit shocking to see Loomis being rewarded with such a position with Bounty Gate in full swing over at the NFL level.
To think he is the one guy that could really prevented a lot of this drama and could have had Drew Brees under contract by now and failed so far in both pursuits is pretty damning.
Regardless, it’s Benson’s call to make and its doubtful that the fans down that way will see it as anything but a vote of confidence that the world is out to get them.
Canceled Session: The paint really has dried on the idea that it’s better to be a Laker and lose a couple of dollars than go somewhere else and get paid.
Point guard Ramon Sessions has declined his $4.55-million player option and will head into free agency. With this and the Lakers apparently hell bent on trading Pau Gasol, this could be sign that things are about to change out West.
