NBA officials told to prepare for lockout

ESPN's Chad Ford reports that NBA's 2005-2006 season may be considerably shortened, similar to what happened in the 1999 season, or even cancelled (as in what happened to this season's National Hockey League). A lockout is what can happen when the league and the players' union do not produce a collective bargaining agreement (CBA) that outlines the operations and basically the league business rules. The issues that are being disputed are maximum contract lengths (currently at 7 for re-signing players, 6 for free agent signings). The owners want it considerably reduced to 3 or 4 years to avoid bad contracts (in case the player does not perform to the value of his contract, is often injured, or is simply overpaid). Another big issue is age limit (minimum). Current CBA rules indicate a minimum of 18 years old for international players, or a high school diploma (for local US draft applicants). The league wants to set it at 20 years old. Other issues are about the luxury tax, and the annual raises in a player's contract.

You can find an easy-to-understand explanation of the current CBA (that expires this year, which explains the renegotiations) at this site. Those who play in Dynasty Mode in the NBA Live games can find this useful. The implementation in the video games are neither perfect nor complete, but sufficient nonetheless.

The 2005 draft is less star-studded than in previous years. In 2002, there was Yao Ming and high school phenom Amare Stoudemire. In 2003, Lebron James, 'Melo Anthony, Dwyane Wade, Chris Bosh, Kirk Hinrich, Mickael Pietrus. In 2004, Dwight Howard, Emeka Okafor, youngster Sebastian Telfair (who is still currently needs a lot of improvement and maturity). This year, there's UNC's Marvin Williams, Utah's Andrew Bogut, Chris Paul, high school Gerald Green, and possibly the 7-8 Sun Mingming who's flirting with the draft.

Here's the order of the draft:
1. Milwaukee Bucks
2. Atlanta Hawks
3. Portland Trail Blazers
4. New Orleans Hornets
5. Charlotte Bobcats
6. Utah Jazz
7. Toronto Raptors
8. New York Knicks
9. Golden State Warriors
10. Los Angeles Lakers
11. Orlando Magic
12. Los Angeles Clippers
13. Charlotte Bobcats (from Cleveland)
14. Minnesota Timberwolves