Well, it doesn't look as though the NBA season can be saved. There is still a possibility of games being played, but recent developments are truly souring the process. The NBA players union has officially rejected the league's latest offer and they are starting to disband while filing an antitrust suit against the league. This means that there won't be any games until at least after December 15th. Here's the story. However, it's not all bad news. A new Canadian minor professional basketball league has been developed and the season is already underway. It's called the National Basketball League of Canada and there are 7 teams right now: the London Lightning out of London, Ontario(the team I support), the Halifax Rainmen (from Halifax, Nova Scotia), the Summerside Storm (from Summerside, Prince Edward Island), the Saint John Mill Rats (from Saint John, New Brunswick), the Oshawa Power (from Oshawa, Ontario), the Quebec Kebs (from Quebec City, Quebec) and the Moncton Miracles (from Moncton, Quebec). London is currently 4-1 on the year, and sit atop the standings so far. However, with the Lightning losing on Sunday to the Mill Rats (the game that my mother and I went to see live at the John Labatt Centre), the Lightning have made trades. They traded away one of their forwards, Tyrone Levett to the Rainmen for a former NBA player Rodney Buford. They also picked up a new 6 foot 6 inches big man called Shamari Spears. He is 250 pounds with a wingspan of 7 foot 1 inch when he jumps and stretches out for rebounds. This is great news because the Lightning are currently LAST in overall rebounds at 45 per game and also LAST in offensive rebounds at 9.2 per game. The Lightning also released a guard called Tyler Bullock who was brought in to replace Albert White who had trouble getting paperwork in and as a result could not make the team. The other ten players can be looked at on the team website. Here are the links:
London Lightning Stats
The trade with the Halifax Rainmen
London Lightning Roster
One note about the roster, Jamaal Davis is not actually with the team. He was replaced before the season started by Mike King, a forward whose hometown is Guelph, Ontario. He is a 6 foot 7 inch forward who is 235 pounds. The other 9 players that I didn't discuss are actually still with the franchise. The Lightning's next game is Thursday at home vs the Quebec Kebs at 7 PM. London's Schedule
You can watch all the games of this league by going to the league's home page and clicking on the Watch Live page. Link for Watching NBL Games
Wow, a lot of blogging today! That's what it takes to make up for lost time. I'll see you all later.
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