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(China Daily)
Updated: 2011-05-19 07:59

NEW Jersey

NBA's top negotiator says throttle down on talks

The NBA's lead negotiator in contract talks with the players has a sense the sides understand each other and a full-court press is under way to reach a new collective bargaining agreement.

NBA Deputy Commissioner Adam Silver disclosed Tuesday that the sides have agreed to hold two days of extensive meetings in early June in the city of the Western Conference champion, which would be either Dallas or Oklahoma City.

"The throttle is down," Silver said. "We realize time is short. Both sides are very aware what has happened in the NFL and the disruption to their business caused by the work stoppage. Both the owners and the union want to avoid that at all cost. We're determined to make progress between now and the end of June."

Atlanta

Hawks owners set to sell team, arena: report

Owners of the NBA Atlanta Hawks are in exclusive talks to sell the team and its arena while also trying to peddle the NHL Atlanta Thrashers, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported on Tuesday.

Citing unnamed sources, the newspaper said the Atlanta Spirit group has an exclusive negotiating period to sell the Hawks and their home arena to John Moores, an internet magnate and outgoing owner of baseball's San Diego Padres.

The Spirit is also reported to be in talks to sell the Thrashers to a Canadian group that would move the NHL club to Winnipeg, which lost its NHL team in a move from the central Canadian prairie to Arizona 15 years ago.

The internet report said a deal is not imminent and not certain to be completed but the exclusivity period, of an unknown duration, means the Spirit group will not sell to any other buyer as it talks with Moores' group.

Indiana

Vogel likely but Brown, Adelman could coach Pacers

Interim coach Frank Vogel is the frontrunner to take the Indiana pacers coaching job, team president Larry Bird said on Tuesday, but he still wants to meet with two former NBA coaches.

Mike Brown and Rick Adelman are also on the list that the retired NBA legend plans to speak with before deciding who will have the job full-time for the 2011-2012 NBA campaign.

Vogel replaced the fired Jim O'Brien and went 20-18 over the final months of the season to help the Pacers reach the NBA playoffs, where they lost in the first round to Chicago.

"A lot of people out there feel like Frank's probably going to get the job, but it's a process," Bird said. "We want to do everything we can possibly do to get the right guy in."

Associated Press-Agence France-Presse

(China Daily 05/19/2011 page24)