Fuck Yea[h] NBA

THE NBA LOCKOUT IS OVER LINKS! “HUZZAH! HUZZAH! HUZZAH!”

Sorry I have only been able to post twice about the end of the 2011 NBA lockout, but I had a tryout for a job and I’ve been in rural Pennsylvania for a few days with limited internet capability (but I did get to shoot a Colt.45 and a snub-nosed .357 Magnum I could fit in my pocket and would blow your head clear off). Here are your links.

• Summary of CBA Deal I haven’t had a chance to go through the whole thing.
• Sekou Smith brings the best links from the [ENDING!] of the lockout (except for Fuck Yeah NBA) at the NBA Hangtime Blog including Howard Beck at the New York Times; Brian C. Mahoney of the AP in the Washington Post; Adrian Wojnarowski atYahoo! Sports; Chris Mannix at Sports Illustrated; Henry Abbott at ESPN.com; Chris Sheridan at SherdianHoops.com.
• Sam Amick of Sports Illustrated has a summary of the tentative CBA deal.
• Zach Lowe at Sports Illustrated’s Point Forward Blog covers what the CBA deal means for Eastern Conference teams and Western Conference teams.
• Howard Beck at the New York Times’ Off the Dribble Blog details the players that are most likely gone due to the new “Amnesty” provision that allows teams to waive one player’s contract from their payroll. Here are the players he mentions: Gilbert Arenas, Rashard Lewis, Metta World Peace, Baron Davis and Travis Outlaw. Of course it’s the owners and general managers that signed those players, but oh well—NBA!
• ESPN’s Marc Stein with Billy Hunter’s memo to players with a subject line that reads: “SETTLEMENT.”
• Royce Young at CBS Sports Eye on Basketball Blog says NBA jersey sales are down 38%. Well, yeah!
• Ken Berger at CBSSports on what’s in the deal and how it got done.
• Teams are going to be playing on 3 straight nights, which means get ready for sloppy basketball on the third night, and plan your ticket purchasing accordingly. 
• New NBA Schedule Breakdown for 66 games starting December 25 and ending April 26th. Training camps and freee agency start December 9th, so expect around two weeks of BREAKING! trade deals and signings. I’m tumescent at the thought. 
• Marc Berman in the New York Post is reporting the new CBA deal could help the Knicks land Chris Paul. That would make me ecstatic, but it smacks of homerism and the New York Post is a fine [news]paper that deals only in facts.

You no longer need to “stay frosy” NBA fans. We’re having a season.