105776011

The life of a young NBA player is complicated. In addition to adjusting to a league of grown men, they must deal with new requests for money and all the other travails that come along with being an instant millionaire.

With all these responsibilities, these players learn to enjoy their downtime. For many of them, there's no better way to kick back than by playing video games. On road trips, especially in far-off towns like Sacramento, that can mean many hours are spent playing all manner of games like "Call of Duty" and "Gears of War." Oh, and benchwarmers can pop in any game from the "NBA 2K" series and pretend they're superstars capable of averaging triple-doubles on championship teams.

As far as I know, no basketball players have retired to pursue gaming as a profession. However, at least one has taken it on as a side job. From Jody Genessey for the Deseret News (via EOB):

Count Gordon Hayward among the NBA players who will join a new league during the lockout.

But he's not headed overseas or to Las Vegas. He'll also be playing a different kind of game.

The 21-year-old Utah Jazz player has joined a professional video game league with IGN Entertainment. Hayward will compete with other eSports video athletes in a StarCraft II competition from Oct. 6-9 at Caesars Atlantic City in the IGN Pro League.

Hayward is excited to be among 256 players shooting for a share of a $100,000 prize pool in IPL 3: Origins.

"I've been playing video games for as long as I can remember," Hayward said in a news release. "I'm a competitive guy, and I love the competitive nature of video games.

"Pro-gamers are really sports stars themselves," he added. "The mental strategy that goes into planning your next move and what your opponent is going to do are skills you need to be successful playing basketball — and playing StarCraft II. If you want to be good, you have to put a lot of time and effort into it, just like with other sports. I've got the best of both worlds."

From the sound of things, Hayward's involvement in the league may be part of a promotion, which isn't to say that he's not awesome at "StarCraft II." But, from what I've gathered, competitive gaming requires a commitment as great as that of professional basketball. Those guys experience the world of the Protoss and the Zerg on a totally different level from us mediocre humans, some of whom had to look up those names on Wikipedia.

All-Star point guard Steve Nash has always stood out as a professional basketball player who has interests outside of the game. In addition to the athlete's usual attention to charity, he has co-directed a documentary and shown sizable interest in soccer, a sport he played up until the point basketball became a legitimate career possibility. In fact, he's part-owner of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, an expansion team in Major League Soccer.

Being a owner has its perks, the best of which being that no one else can tell you what to do. So, earlier this week, Nash stopped by a Whitecaps practice to kick the ball around with the team. He doesn't look out of place whatsoever, and even knows to use vaguely British terminology like "kickabout" and "nil." This is a man who knows what he's doing on the pitch.

(Via SLAM)

112978286

On Wednesday, the NBA and its players' union held what appears to have been a successful meeting. No deals were announced (and probably won't be for some time), but signs are pointing towards progress.

Of course, we can't know that for sure, because all involved parties aren't saying much to the media. There have been no quotes, emails, or tweets about how close we are to a deal. In an age of widespread leaks, the restraint has been impressive.

On the other hand, sometimes technology backfires. Shortly after the meeeting, union VP and Knicks wing Roger Mason Jr. tweeted out the following message (image via EOB).

Mase

By the look of the closing "How u," Mason appears to have meant to respond a text or direct message to a specific question. Tweeting this update on purpose would be a breach of lockout protocol, and it's unlikely he would want to make things difficult if a deal is in fact close.

53113509

Last week, NBA brass and union officials met to discuss a new collective bargaining agreement that would end the lockout and bring pro basketball back to our arenas and TV screens. No details came out of the meeting, but the fact that subsequent interviews in the press contained minimal posturing stood out as a good sign. Even with the sides far apart, it seemed like they were finally willing to sit down and work out a deal.

On Wednesday morning, the parties met again in New York. While it's still unclear if talks progressed in a substantive way, circumstantial evidence suggests that things are going well. In fact, they've even decided to meet again Thursday. Howard Beck of The New York Times reported from the scene on Twitter:

NBA and union have concluded bargaining meeting after 5 1/2 hours. Waiting for the parties to emerge.

Everyone still playing it close to the vest, but NBA and union officials will meet again tomorrow. Seems like a good sign. #Lockout

Ken Berger of CBSSports.com also tweeted a few quotes from NBA commissioner David Stern. Check them out after the jump.

For the past few weeks, 2K Games has promoted this fall's "NBA 2K12" primarily as a chance for gamers to go back in time and play with some of the top legends in basketball history. It's a nostalgia trip, which just happens to be a smart pitch at a time when there's no new season to promote.

Still, while the wayback machine is compelling, this game has a chance to connect with fans jonesing for their NBA fix. With no televised games from Chris Paul or Blake Griffin on the horizon, "NBA 2K12" might be the closest thing we get to watching them this year. I mean, just look at the new trailer for the game featured above. To quote Sammy Sosa, it's so real!

A video game is obviously not real life, which will become even clearer when people get the game and realize that the game has none of this year's currently unsigned rookies. But, for now, this trailer makes the game seem like a pretty darn cool facsimile of the NBA we are missing. That's a good way to get people to buy your game.

(Via

107673051

This summer has been a stone cold bummer for NBA fans, all because of the lockout. There has not been the usual offseason moving and/or shaking, leaving us with a set of several months in which "LeBron trips at charity auction" stands as a bloggable story. No one's entirely happy with the NBA landscape, and for good reason. Very little is happening right now.

Yet, for all our boredom, it's important to remember that we haven't reached the really tough part of the lockout. After all, NBA teams don't hold full-team practices or games during the summer, so we've only missed the hot-stove portion of the league calendar. Now that Labor Day has hit, we're nearing the typical start of the NBA season. And that means we're about to miss some major events.

Each September, players return to team's training facilities for voluntary (but really involuntary) workouts. This season, that's not happening. Paul Coro has more for the Arizona Republic (in a piece already highlighted by Kelly Dwyer

Warning: Video contains some NSFW language.

Next Sunday, the venerable HBO comedy "Entourage" will bow out after eight seasons at the top of every fraternity brother's TV show power rankings. When the finale episode airs, everyone will have to console themselves with DVDs, or possibly even move on to a more mature show like "Scrubs" or "The Wizards of Waverly Place."

The writers are pulling out all the stops to send their series out on a high note. For a show about celebrity, that means one thing: cameos! In Sunday's episode, we saw appearances from sports luminaries such as Mark Teixeira, Alex Rodriguez, Michael Strahan, and the NBA's own Amar'e Stoudemire.

The context is perfectly normal: Turtle, friend of Hollywood superstar Vincent Chase, is trying to start a baked clams restaurant in Los Angeles, home of people who love non-trendy food typically consumed by the proletariat. Unfortunately, to get the space he wants, he needs more money from investors like Amar'e. But it's tough to

This year's international tournaments are a godsend for basketball fans pining for any glimpse of their NBA favorites. Yet these games are not just fun diversions for the players involved. For most, they're the culmination of years of hard work and a chance to give their home countries a chance to compete in the London Olympics. For others, like Chris Kaman, it's a chance to represent some far-off land where everyone speaks a guttural language they don't understand. That sounds fun, right?

So, yes, players care. For proof, just watch the video above of Puerto Rican forward Renaldo Balkman (of the Knicks, in our NBA world) headbutting Venezuelan guard Greivis Vasquez (usually an employee of the Grizzlies) during a tussle at the FIBA Tournament of the Americas in Argentina. With his team down 85-62 with five minutes left in regulation, Vasquez grabbed Balkman in the post for a foul. It wasn't a terribly dirty play, but it was all Balkman needed to start an unnecessary fight. After the