Hoops

36ers say time is up for Bogut

Completely agree w your comments about detailed insurance clauses Panther. It's exactly the reason why I'm willing to believe that Bogut is genuinely having probs getting an acceptable agreement.

There would have been a lot of clauses in AB's contract that would not allow him to put himself in a situation where he could potentially get injured, unless it was with the Milwaukee Bucks or another team in the NBA.
I remember reading a story once about Luc Longley and how he dislocated his shoulder whilst Body Boarding and then his Insurance deal disallowed him from doing that anymore. It also included things like riding a Harley Davidson, ski diving, bungee jumping etc.
All insurance deals worth that much would have some very strict details relating to the client, no of which the average Joe would know about.
So I really do think people should just get on with life and stop worrying about where he's going to play or if he's going to play.
We got some great media around the country and the world which is a great thing for our game, let's take that as a win and get on with life.
I wouldn't be surprised if AB just says I can't be bothered with this shit anymore, it's all too hard and doesn't play anywhere and moves back to the states to work out with the NBA guys over there.

His people are watching you Skip.

Be afraid, be very afraid....

=P

Not sure why any anger was thrown at me. I mentioned on my Twitter that there were people now implying that he wasn't genuine about playing in the NBL and finished the tweet saying I hoped that wasn't the case.

I never said that was my opinion. I also never tagged him in the tweet.

Was surprised he would have even seen the tweet as he doesn't follow me.

I'm not denying that he was bothered by it, in fact I am pleased to see that he seems to be responding to fans on a regular basis.

The fact that the continual hype and dragging of the process has been ongoing (with no clear end in sight - through no obvious fault of his), you could say it is slowly becoming an NBL version of LeBron's "Decision" announcement:

- Multiple teams vying for his services
- Extra focus of the media on the situation
- Teams holding out for a decision, which delays filling of roster spots etc.
- Fans of all clubs involved becoming more frustrated from a lack of information and outcomes

Now don't get me wrong, in no way am I saying that Bogut is the equivalent of LeBron in terms of the potential damage it may cause to teams, but you have to admit that a lot of the media hype may turn into backlash if something negative were to happen (ie: Not able to secure appropriate insurance and unable to play in the NBL)

To anon #333372:
As social media, Twitter is essentially 2-Way communication. If someone tweets @ me, there is no reason why I have to reply. For a professional athlete using twitter as a means of communicating with their fans, they should expect to not only be asked questions when something like this comes up, but also be willing to cop the criticism and other aspects of it as well.

Many athletes seem happy to use Twitter to promote themselves, their teams, their brands, their sponsors etc. and that's great - But they have to remember that by using social media and providing fans with this kind of access to them, they will be asked tough questions, be criticised and possibly even abused by fans (and non-fans).

Let me start by saying this is entirely my opinion, and sorry for such a long post

I think Fitz raised some good questions to Bogut/One Management on twitter, all of which were either unanswered or completely ignored.

With all the talk that teams were able to meet the insurance requirements along with salary/points cap stuff and yet no deal has been done (or looks close to done), it makes me wonder whether Bogut will suit up in the NBL.

As far as I was aware FIBA gave the initial clearance for NBA players to play overseas (starting with the Deron Williams contract), outside of that it is just a matter of meeting insurance coverage and finding a team willing to make the payments/meet the demands of NBA players.
There is something like 60+ players currently under contract in various leagues around the world during the lockout, I'm starting to wonder what the hold up is on getting a deal done.

One Management responded to one of Fitz's tweets by saying:

all players are different and are prepared to take different degrees of risk

Does this mean that given his injury/rehab progress that Bogut isn't willing to take the risk of playing and possibly injuring himself?
Wouldn't such a high number of players being cleared to sign overseas mean that all avenues of the insurance issue would be covered?
Surely if Kenyon Martin and Manu Ginobili can get clearance to play internationally and overseas during the lockout with their injury history then Bogut should be able to as well.

The One Management team said in one of the recent news articles (can't remember which one) that they needed the insurance policy clauses looked over by their legal team. But I don't really understand how there can be any significant clauses in an insurance contract for something like this. Surely it is simply a matter of 'Pay the premium, Covered for injury'?

The only reason that I can think of which may be causing the hold up on insurance clearance is if there is a clause which states that his contract is only covered if he sustains a new, significant injury as opposed to aggravating an existing one.
If this is the case, then Bogut will struggle to get any kind of coverage to allow him to play in the league, in which case I feel he should release a statement along the lines of:

"Due to issues in gaining appropriate insurance cover for my existing injury I am unwilling and unable to take this significant risk by playing in the NBL for the duration of the NBA Lockout"

By coming out and making a simple statement like that (if this is infact the issue) then he may be able to save face and minimise the damage this will cause to his image/reputation in Australia. Because in my opinion if he doesn't end up playing in the league during the lockout, without providing fans with an honest and believable justification after all this publicity and hype, he will seriously tarnish his image here in Australia.

I just wish the Bogut would make an announcement of who he intends to sign for. At least Adelaide & Sydney can then get on with the season knowing they will either have the big guy for a while or they won't. And I dare say both clubs have got fans holding off on buying tickets until they know if Bogut will suit up for them or not so it's not helping the NBL or the clubs by not knowing.

Sure, I'm hoping AB signs here with the 36ers, but I'm not holding my breath. Either club can live without him though I think Adelaide are better off for centres with two near 7 footers (DJ & Halliwell) on the roster and Bogut aside, I think we'll find that DJ is going to be the best centre in the NBL this season and for a few years to come. IMO DJ can become the NBL's next Mark Bradtke.....ie the leagues most dominant centre (and while he's with the 3ers, that's a bonus for us).

What's Kobe in Italy? $3M for 40days?

Hahahaha, nice one FM

Yep, Isaac has it right. Everyone just a bit frustrated with the whole process (incl Bogut) right now and causing a bit of unnecessary angst.

Just need to let Bogut get on with it and make his decision when he is ready, rather than provoking silly comments on twitter.

On Bogut's twitter account

Where are the skip and BF comments that are being referred to?

oops, must be going cross-eyed. My comment is in response to anon

I Heard he was talking about lawn bowls Isaac... ;-)

I think we're all operating mostly on blind faith right now TR... that and Aussie basketball journalism - I'm not sure which is more reliable really.

TR, maybe there is something else he can do re: getting a sponsor on board to help with the insurance, but he has done a fair bit already in reportedly agreeing to play for the NBL minimum of $32k. I strongly doubt any other NBA players are jumping at deals to play overseas for that little!

TR, this article probably answers your question about FIBA. Is quite old though, so you would think they'd have a streamlined process for players to follow by now.

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/07/29/FIBA-clearance/index.html

One thing to remember about this process is that Bogut said some weeks back that, while he did want to play, he didn't want to bankrupt any NBL clubs either. If he went into this having been advised that an insurance deal could be worked out, but then it turned out that satisfactory insurance coverage proved a little too much for all NBL clubs, then I don't think its fair to crucify him for it.

The other thing to think about is that his agent has said lawyers back in the US are involved in the talks too. Are they Bogut's lawyers or the Milwaukee Bucks lawyers? I wouldn't be surprised to hear if lawyers representing the Bucks were insisting on stronger protections in the insurance deal than NBL clubs can afford.

Last thing to consider is that they could be stalling a tiny bit, to see what comes out of the current NBA collective bargaining talks. Stern said today that next Monday is the deadline to reach agreement before the NBA starts cancelling games. Bogut wouldn't want to sign this week, only for an agreement to be reached and for him to have to report to training camp in the US having played only 2-3 games here.

Sixers dont want to waste time,we are minus two players atm,Bogut hasnt come to Adelaide to talk with Clark face to face so he is in Sydney most of the time,he will go to big city which is Syd Kings.Good thing what Sixers did give him deadline.Sixers by 5pm doing what Gold Coast did pullout.

Yeah, every other article I've read - SMH, Herald Sun, Melb Age - is just saying that there needs to be a decision today in order for Bogut to suit up in round 1.

This Tyson Otto character from the Daily Tele is the only one who has come to the conclusion that its today or nothing. I reckon he may have misinterpreted what Kaider was saying.

Hendo, that's an interesting article. Every other article I've read used those quotes to suggest today is the deadline for Bogut to play THIS WEEK. But this one goes further to say that it is today or nothing. Gonna have to check back on those other articles. See if this guy has misinterpreted, or if he is actually on the money.

Kobe doesn't have a serious existing elbow injury. He also is dealing with a club in Italy that clearly has a lot more money to spend and can probably afford to pay whatever the insurance company asks without blinking. On top of that, they don't have to deal with an Australian-European time difference, which also slows things down.

I'm as frustrated as anyone else that this is taking awhile, but I really don't think its because Bogut doesn't want to play. Bogut has consistently said he wants to play in the NBL while the lockout is on and I have seen zero information that would suggest otherwise. So unless you have some info noone else knows about, I'd say that your claim that he doesn't want to play is based on nothing but your own imagination.

LeBron - " This was the best day of my life."
Lisa Simpson - " Didn't you sign a ninety million dollar contract ? "
LeBron - " Aw , the second best day of my life, then."

That's pretty woolly thinking there Mr Red Knitted Jumper.

It's got nothing to do with whether or not NBL clubs have met pay demands, etc.

The entire issue hangs on getting insurance to cover Bogut's Bucks contract.

If he gets insurance he will play, if he doesn't, he won't. Simple as that. And who can blame him for that?

Clarke was talkin to those alike Williamson , who were gonna come here , before we chose Williamson,
while Leeanne was talkin to Bogut's agent , who was stayin up for days tryin to get it sorted, with lawyers , insurance clauses, claims history,FIBA,NBA lockout, time differences etc.

Good to see LeBron and Yao on The Simpsons, last nite and Homer got it all sorted.

Wouldn't surprise me Isaac.

Back when he became the No#1 season ticket holder for the league (or whatever magical title it was) a few years back, he openly said "I was a big Sydney Kings fan growing up".

Frankly I'm at the point now where if he IS going to play in the league, he'd better be here for a few games; all this hyping with no action is getting annoying.

Well, the article states that by 5pm - 5/10/2011, he will confirm signing with us, or the Kings.

Plain and simple really.

And it was about time someone did. I would have hoped either Sixers or Kings management would have pulled the ultimatum out.

Regardless of who he signs with, I somehow doubt he will have as much impact as we might assume. Certainly set plays would be out for the first few weeks.

i read that, but judging by the time of the article it made no sense as it came out after 5pm today?? good on the sixers though, bogut knows who he is going to be playing for according to his agent so why not let the clubs know so they can accommodate/find someone else.