You may or may not have heard about the little incident involving Minnesota Timberwolves big man Kevin Love. On Saturday, Love took umbrage with Luis Scola of the Houston Rockets being on the floor.

So, he decided to stomp on him as they ran back up the floor and the NBA certainly took notice. Love has been suspended for two games without pay, even though he contends that it was an accident.

Yeah right.

Love will be able to come back to play against the Mavericks on Friday night, but will miss the Grizzlies and Kings. Expect Derrick Williams and Michael Beasley to pick up more minutes.

Normally, it’s not a big deal for the Philadelphia 76ers to hear that Spencer Hawes is dealing with some sort of injury. He’s been a marginal player in the past so who really cares?

But, this year has been different. Hawes has been playing very well at center for the 10-3 Sixers and because of their lack of big men, they really need him. He missed some time recently with back issues, but now, according to Sixers PR guy Mike Preston, he’s also dealing with Achilles problems.

“Coach Collins tells media that Evan Turner didn’t participate walking through plays today, Spencer Hawes now dealing w/ left Achilles strain,” Preston tweets.

Hawes is averaging 10.4 ppg and 8.8 rpg, so they can’t afford to have him out for too long. The Sixers next game is against the Nuggets on Wednesday.

One of the big reasons that I can’t stand Andre Iguodala is the fact that he plays so much. He’s being paid way too much and the Philadelphia 76ers think he’s an important part of their team. He’s not, he ruins everything.

But, there is another guy I want the hell off my basketball team and that’s Marreese Speights. The one saving grace that he has over Iguodala is that he never plays. I don’t even think they assigned him an authentic jersey. He’s soft, gutless and oft-injured. Yay.

Well, worry about Speights taking up valuable bench space no more, because he’s been shipped to the Memphis Grizzlies in a three-way deal that also sends guard Xavier Henry to the New Orleans Hornets. The Sixers will get a medium-sized package of assorted Kuerig cups couple second-round picks at some point.

Speights might actually be pressed into action quickly in Memphis. The knee injury to Zach Randolph that everyone was hoping wasn’t that big of a deal? Yeah he’s going to miss up to eight weeks with a torn ligament. And Darrell Arthur is already out for the year following his Achilles injury.

Have fun with Marreese, Memphis!

You may remember the end of last year’s Dallas Mavericks/Los Angeles Lakers playoff series. The Mavs were thoroughly embarrassing the Lakers, already up three games to none and absolutely pounding them in Game 4. So, Lakers big man Andrew Bynum decided that if his team was going to lose, he was going to go out like a thuggish punk.

J.J. Barea drove the lane for the Mavericks and Bynum committed the closest thing to assault as possible during play on a basketball court. It’s here if you don’t remember:

That move got him ejected and earned him a five-game suspension to start the 2011-12 season.

Today, the NBA announced that it has reduced the suspension to four games. Why? Because of the lockout-shortened season. Notice, they didn’t say because what he did wasn’t that bad. No, it’s because of the shortened season.

We’d still have given him the five games because that kind of behavior isn’t tolerable on the court. Punk. We just got pissed off all over again after watching that.

The New Jersey Nets are off to another rip-roaring season, and the season hasn’t even started yet! Not only are they still the Nets, but they just lost their starting center for the foreseeable future.

According to Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star-Ledger, Brook Lopez has a stress fracture in his foot.

“Brook Lopez has a broken bone in his right foot and will have surgery tomorrow,” Stephenson tweets.

The fracture is in the fifth metatarsal and doesn’t sound like much fun. Lopez’ timetable for return is not known at this point.

So, who knows how long it will be before he can get back to the court and start being soft down low again.

And if you play fantasy basketball, it’s time to start looking for new ways to have a social life.

This is just more bad news for the Los Angeles Lakers. Their trade for Chris Paul was vetoed by the commissioner. Then they shipped Lamar Odom out of town and that irritated Kobe Bryant. Then Kobe’s wife filed for divorce (did David Stern step in to block that too?), creating further turmoil for the megastar.

Now, there are more problems for Kobe. Howard Beck of the New York Times says that Kobe has a torn ligament in his shooting wrist.

Photo Caption: Caron Butler absolutely hates playing basketball.

“Kobe Bryant has a torn lunotriquetral ligament in right wrist, according to Lakers. He’ll miss tonight’s Lakers-Clippers preseseason game,” Beck tweets.

This isn’t good. Right now we’re hearing that he’s planning on playing in Sunday’s season opener, but that doesn’t mean he’ll play well. And who knows if it eventually bothers him to the point where he has to shut it down and rest?

A bigger problem is that Kobe is 33-years old and could be piling up nagging injuries. He’s already been dealing with an irreversible knee injury and now he’s got problems with his shooting hand.

Could be a rough year for the Lakeshow. Is this the year the Clippers finally capture L.A.?

Probably not…they’re still the Clippers.

It will be a slightly less happy holiday for Monta Ellis and his Golden State Warriors. Erika Ross Smith filed a lawsuit on Wednesday accusing Ellis and the Warriors of sexual harassment.

She claims that starting in November 2010 Ellis started texting her several times a day. He would make unwanted advances and – lucky for her – even sent pictures of his genitals.

Great idea! That works ALL THE TIME! Chicks love that stuff! You should make cat calls out of your car too! Then you’ll have twice as many broads at your house!

Seriously, has it really come to this for the Warriors? “I play for the Warriors” doesn’t work any more? That’s really all it should take.

So anyway, when she complained to Warriors management about the inappropriate texts from Ellis, her job title was changed and she was eventually fired.

The Associated Press explains more details about the lawsuit.

The messages included lines such as, “I want to be with you,” and “Hey Sexy,” and proposed sexual encounters, according to the lawsuit.

“On a micro level, my client has endured unwanted harassment, has suffered and continues to suffer emotional distress and trauma,” Smith’s attorney, Burton Boltuch, said at a news conference. “On a macro level, this type of conduct, especially in the sports world, must stop.”

Boltuch said his client rejected Ellis’ advances. Boltuch also showed a photo of what he said was Ellis’ genitalia that the guard allegedly sent to Smith’s cellphone.

We just want to know what the reaction was when Boltuch showed the picture of Monta’s junk. Did people put their hand over their mouth in exasperation and say, “oh my!”? Let’s pretend they did.

Remember when the Los Angeles Lakers traded for New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul? It was a three-team deal that also sent Lamar Odom and Pau Gasol packing. Great deal for everyone, right?

Wrong. The NBA, which owns the New Orleans Hornets (that makes sense, right?), stepped in and vetoed the deal. Just about everyone associated with sports thought it was completely ridiculous. And it was.

So, imagine the ire of the Lakers when they see that CP3 was indeed traded to Los Angeles…but to the Clippers.

And a source tells the Los Angeles Times that the Lakers are absolutely “fuming” over the whole situation, despite the fact that GM Mitch Kupchak hasn’t said much publicly.

“We did the best we can to express our displeasure,” Kupchak said Monday.

We don’t blame the Lakers one bit. This whole thing stinks to high heaven. The NBA needs to find a proper owner for the Hornets pronto and stop acting like that a-hole in your fantasy football league that vetoes trades regardless of whether they are fair or not.

In a move that would surely violate the NBA’s tampering rules, the New Jersey Nets met with Orlando Magic center Dwight Howard in Miami, according to sources. ESPN’s Chris Broussard says that multiple sources told him that the meeting did indeed take place, despite the expected denials from Howard.

“There was no meeting,” Howard said in a Friday afternoon phone call.

Since the Magic didn’t know about the meeting or give Howard permission for the meeting (if it happened, and we tend to think it did), this would violate NBA tampering policy.

Photo Caption: Howard seen here with someone who isn’t Nets owner Mikhail Prokhorov. But, if it was Prokhorov, this would be visual evidence that a meeting took place.

But, Howard said it didn’t happen so he can’t possibly be lying.

“Right now,” he said, “my plan is to show up to training camp for the Orlando Magic.”

Uh huh.

The meeting was obviously about a way to get the Magic to trade him to New Jersey. Why he would want to leave Florida and play in the swamplands of New Jersey is anyone’s guess.

We’ll see what happens, but we aren’t buying that there was no meeting at all.

Yesterday, we mentioned that New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul (who Michael Perry scouted at a 76ers game once) wouldn’t sign an extension with the Boston Celtics, thus making a trade unlikely. Well, now we know why.

CP3 wants to play for the New York Knicks and his agent has informed the Hornets of exactly that, according to sources of Yahoo! Sports.

Photo Caption: Chris Paul isn’t related to Ron Paul, but here he points out that while he isn’t suggesting the United States take on Somalia’s model of less government, he would like to see less government programs in our society.

The problem is that the Knicks don’t seem to have the ammunition required to pry Paul loose. So, a third team would almost have to get involved. And, if Paul opts out of his contract after this season, he could earn a contract of four years, $74 million with another team. The Knicks would only be able to offer a four-year, $55.5 million contract. That’s kind of a big difference, Paul would have to be willing to take a huge pay cut.

But, if Paul were to make it to the Knicks somehow, that would give them CP3, Amare Stoudemire and Carmelo Anthony. Would you rather have those Big 3 or Miami’s Big 3?

There’s been a lot of talk – maybe too much talk – about the possibility of New Orleans Hornets guard Chris Paul heading to the Boston Celtics in a trade that would include Rajon Rondo. A blockbuster indeed, but according to Chris Broussard of ESPN, you might want to quell the chatter.

A source tells him that Paul has no interest in signing an extension in Boston because it’s too cold and there are too many “micks.” Okay, I completely made up that last part. He didn’t say why he wouldn’t sign.

Photo Caption: No relation to Ron Paul, although there are whispers from several teammates that Chris would prefer smaller government.

“Let all the CP3-to-Boston chatter cease. CP will not sign long-term ext with Celtics, according to source close to situation,” Broussard tweets.

That would pretty much kill any chance of that deal happening. No one is going to make a pre-season blockbuster deal for players that are just going to bounce after a year or two.

You may remember that OTR‘s own Michael Perry actually scouted Paul. Two years ago, he went to a Hornets/Sixers game and called me afterwards. I asked what he thought about Paul’s game, and Perry reported that “he’s good.”

Several people took shots at Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress.com when he tweeted recently that Sacramento Kings guard Tyreke Evans is out of shape. Specifically, he talked about his weight, hinting that he didn’t exactly share any Thanksgiving stuffing with the rest of the family.

“Sacramento Kings fans wouldn’t be very happy with the shape Tyreke Evans is in if the season started today. At least 20 pounds overweight,” he tweeted.

Well, some people didn’t like that. But, now CowbellKingdom.com writes that they would tend to agree, that Tyreke indeed looks like he got a little lazy during the lockout.

Questions arose on Friday about Evans’ weight when Jonathan Givony of Draft Express tweeted that Evans appeared to be at least 20 pounds bigger. From what I saw, he looked bulkier, heavier with less defined muscle tone. But overweight? I can’t say exactly. We’d need a check of his body fat to make a fair assessment.

Well, he’s got until Christmas to get in shape. There is still time. Lazy bitch.

As you may or may not have noticed, there hasn’t been professional basketball here in North America for quite some time. It’s okay if you didn’t realize it, most people didn’t. But yes, there is an NBA lockout.

But, it looks like it will end as there seems to be an agreement that will allow the teams to play a 66-game schedule that starts on Christmas Day.

“We expect our labor relations committee to endorse this deal, this tentative agreement, and we expect our Board of Governors, at a meeting we will call after that, to endorse the deal,” commissioner David Stern said Saturday news conference. “And we expect that a collective bargaining agreement will arise out of this deal as well.”

Billy Hunter, the executive director of the NBA Players Union, thinks that this will all get resolved in a few days.

“I think it was the ability of the parties to decide it was necessary to compromise and to try to put this thing back together some kind of way and to be able to put an end to the litigation and everything it entails,” Hunter said. “And we just thought that rather than try to pursue this in court, it was in both of our interests to try to reach a resolution.”

So…yay. Basketball is back.

Earlier this week, the 76ers’ new ownership group Apollo Global Management, headed by Joshua Harris, David Blitzer, Will Smith, and Carlton, decided enough was enough with their roided-up rabbit of a mascot.  Its a decision that has already caused massive internet waves throughout the 76ers communities.

Massive internet waves?  Yes, and the biggest question is what should the next 76ers mascot be?  Currently, the task of coming up with Hip Hop’s successor is on the shoulders of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop (the Muppets) and Raymond Entertainment Group (the Phillie Phanatic).

PHOTO CAPTION:  Hip Hop was known for his blue flip flops

But what about the fans?  The dedicated souls who can be seen at the Wells Fargo Center sitting next to all those empty seats.  Can’t they have a say?  They were the ones who had to put up with watching a bunny for nearly ten years.  And mind you, this bunny couldn’t jump unless he had assistance from a trampoline.  So, technically it was handicapped bunny.

I say, yes, the fans should have a say, so I reached out to all fifty fans and gathered some ideas for the 76ers, just in case the brilliant minds of the two hired firms couldn’t come up with anything.

Brickman:  A big foam brick who comes out during the breaks to propel himself (via cannon or trampoline) at the basketball hoop, only to either slam against the backboard and/or rim.

Turnover:  A big foam apple turnover dessert who comes out during breaks to show off his impressive dribbling/passing skills, only to either dribble off his foot or lose control of the basketball and then throw it into the crowd as a souvenir.

Side note:  Turnover will always be wearing an Andre Iguodala jersey.  Needless to say, so will Brickman.  But only because Andre’s the captain and not for any identifying reasons.

Seats:  A big, empty folding chair who comes out during breaks to give away free tickets.  One lucky fan will be able to sit on Seats during the 4th quarter if he is the only one sitting in the section that is called.

Rimmie:  A big, iron rim who comes out during breaks attempting to have a big inflatable ball, which falls from the rafters, land inside his rim head for two points.  Many inflatable balls fall, but every single one hits the side of the rim to the sound of a “clang” over the arena’s speakers.

Side note:  Brickman and Rimmie sometimes come on the court together and continuously run into each other.  This doesn’t symbolize anything, its just good fun and the kids love it.

Big Shot:  Bring back the mascot who entertained the courts before Hip Hop; however, this time Big Shot brings his wife Missy Big Shot.  Guess which one of them more accurately depicts the past few Sixers seasons?

Any other ideas?

Phoenix Suns restricted free agent Aaron Brooks has now signed with another team. The Suns probably don’t care too much, however, because that team is in China.

According to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo! Sports, he has signed a deal with Guangdong in the country of the currency manipulators.

“Phoenix restricted free agent Aaron Brooks has reached agreement on a deal with Guangdong in China, sources tell Y! Sports,” Wojo tweets.

Photo Caption: Frustrated by U.S. zone defenses, Brooks takes his ball and goes to China.

Brooks can’t return to the NBA until the Chinese season runs out, but who really cares? The players dissolved the union just like the NFLPA did and are planning on filing an anti-trust lawsuit, also just like the NFLPA did.

It’s getting ugly for the NBA and no one really cares.

Getting back to the original story, it’s not known at this time if Brooks really is planning on playing in China, or if this is an elaborate ruse by the United States to poke China in the eye by actually sending over former New Orleans Saints QB Aaron Brooks.

If we told you that the NBA has been dethroned as the third-highest sport in the United States in terms of average attendance, you’d assume that the NHL was fully recovered from its own lockout seven years ago. “Good job, hockey!,” you may or may not say.

But you’d be wrong. NBA has indeed lost its standing as the third-ranked sport in America, but it lost out to…soccer? That’s right, MLS has gotten hot lately and is now number three in terms of average attendance, jumping up to an average of 17,870 in 2011.

The NFL is still the big king in the sports world, with 66,950 fans per game. MLB is still good for second at 30,352. Then we have MLS, which has 3% more fans than the NBA and 4.1% more than the NHL. While this doesn’t factor in television ratings, it does tell you something about Americans getting more interested in soccer.

Might even tell you more about what people think of the NBA these days.

In case you haven’t noticed, and judging by the excitement surrounding MLB and the NFL you haven’t, the NBA is in a lockout. No, it’s true. There is a work stoppage and the two sides don’t seem close to hammering out an agreement (and there is very little public pressure to do so, because…no one cares).

According to Mark Stein of ESPN.com, Commissioner David Stern will threaten to cancel the season if no progress is made by this weekend.

“When NBA labor talks resume Friday,” Stein writes. “NBA commissioner David Stern is planning to threaten players with the cancellation of the entire 2011-12 season if the sides haven’t made major progress toward a deal by the end of the weekend, according to sources close to the talks.”

Photo Caption: Stern tells an empty room full of reporters that they are working hard towards a deal. He then opened up a Q & A and fielded no questions from the people-less seats.

And then what? No NBA? Ohhhh noooo! No me-first, individual basketball for a whole year? You’re killing us!

But, there is good news. NBA spokesman Tim Frank apparently said that’s not the case.

“NBA denies Stern will threaten cancellation of entire season if no progress after weekend. “It’s simply not true,” spokesman Tim Frank says,” some guy named Brian Mahoney said on Twitter.

The NBA should be most concerned about the fact that no. one. cares. The NBA can be fun at times, but just doesn’t capture the
American public the way baseball and football do. Hell, it doesn’t capture us like hockey does!

So yeah, take your time, NBA.

Jesus H. Christ this is ridiculous. We are not huge fans of famous people changing their names and…wasn’t this already done once with World B. Free?

Los Angeles Lakers’ firebrand Ron Artest has been trying to change his name to Metta World Peace for a little while now, but had to hold off until he could clear up some unpaid parking tickets. But now, it’s official.

“Changing my name was meant to inspire and bring youth together all around the world,” World Peace said in a statement. “After this short delay, my tickets have been paid and I’m glad that it is now official.”

The name Metta refers to “the philosophy and practice of universal love.” The kind that is usually practiced in the stands of an out-of-hand basketball game in the form of fan beatdowns? That kind?

Now, will anyone remember to call him this or will they just keep calling him Ron Artest? We truly feel bad for basketball announcers that have say stuff like, “World Peace for three!” and “World Peace misses on both and the Lakers are still down two.” They technically have to call him that, but we all know it sounds absolutely ridiculous.

Fortunately for them, there won’t be any chances to call him by his new name for quite some time as the NBA isn’t looking like it’s going to have basketball any time soon. But, we can watch the “Dancing with the Stars” hosts this season give it a try!

In case you hadn’t noticed, and judging by the minimal complaints you haven’t, the NBA is mired in a lockout. The players and owners met on Tuesday to work on a resolution, but it didn’t go so well and many think there might not be a season this year.

Ken Berger of CBS quotes Los Angeles Lakers guard Derek Fisher as saying things ain’t lookin’ so hot.

“Fisher: “We’re not marching towards a deal at this time or at any time we an [sic] predict.” That’s a killer quote,” Berger tweets.

The owners seem dead set on a hard salary cap and the players don’t like it. While there is still time that something can be done, it seems that at least part of the season will be missed.

In fact, the union head, Billy Hunter, has reportedly already told players that they can expect to sit out half the season before any kind of deal is struck.

The real question is: Does anyone care?

It’s tough to consider any athlete a bust before he even plays a minute for his professional team, but that’s kind of what’s happening to Minnesota Timberwolves point guard Ricky Rubio. His nondescript play in the Eurobasket tournament has people wondering if this kid will have any sort of impact early in his NBA career.

On Friday, Rubio played 21 minutes and produced just four points, four assists and two steals. He’s currently behind Jose Calderon, so it could be just him needing more playing time to get into a rhythm. But, the people that have seen the games say this kid just doesn’t look good.

Sekou Smith of NBA.com writes:

The Ricky Rubio cynics out there continue to build a case against the young wizard. After yet another ho-hum outing, it’s getting tougher and tougher to envision him as a difference maker in his first NBA season. But we will keep watching (and waiting) for that breakout performance.

The Timberwolves should have some level of concern, given all that they’ve gone through in terms of investing a high pick and then waiting for him to get over to the United States. The good news, though, is that there might not be an NBA season and none of this will matter.

Oh what it must be like to be a famous celebrity or athlete who then gets busted for something big. You go from the top of the world to the bottom of some dude’s bunk in his cell. And that’s likely the scenario that former Washington Wizard Javaris Crittenton has found himself in (if he’s convicted of course).

The FBI has tracked down Crittenton in a California airport and arrested him for the murder of a 22-year old mother of four, who he allegedly shot during a drive by.

Brian Steel, the attorney retained by family members, shockingly said he didn’t do it.

“Mr. Crittenton wants to clear his name,” Steel told the AJC. “He’s innocent of the charges.”

So, just a couple of years ago, Crittenton was having a blast in the NBA, pulling guns on Gilbert Arenas in the locker room and everything was dandy. Now, he’s facing murder charges and could be put away for a very, very long time. Maybe he can be pen pals with Rae Carruth.

Remember the Gilbert Arenas gun incident in the Washington Wizards locker room? Yeah, the other guy he got into it with was Javaris Crittenton.

While that happened a while ago, someone didn’t get the memo about why we don’t mess with guns. Crittenton has been formally charged with the murder of an Atlanta woman back on April 19th. Um yeah, there are several witnesses that say he fired the shots during a drive-by.

Here’s the thing though. Police just executed a search of his home and they’ve spoken to him about turning himself in. But as of right now? He hasn’t done so and is still at large.

It’s funny that his gorgeous house is in an upscale area in a cul-de-sac, yet he is still involved in this crap. How can that be?! Do you like this huge house and all the money you have? Guess not since it’s still worth it to play gangster.

The woman he allegedly killed was a mother of four. If you did this, you can rot in hell you f’ing loser.

Star magazine has learned that Golden State Warriors head coach Mark Jackson, Jamie Foxx and Lady Gaga have ties to a pair of drug kingpins who just got taken down for running a multi-million dollar, international marijuana operation.

While no one is saying that they are involved in any way, it doesn’t look great to have your name associated with “international drug kingpin.” Foxx is a friend and business associate of Warren Braithwaite, 38, who the DEA claims is responsible for moving thousands of pounds of pot into the country illegally. Not really a way to bring that kind of dope into the country legally, just fyi.

Lady Gaga actually worked with Kevin Mucthison, 47, who was helping her launch her Heartbeats line of headphones. You know what else he was doing? Trafficking thousands of pounds of pot. Oh, and it seems that he was working on a headphone project with Jamie Foxx too. OTR can also tell you that we know that Sincere was working with Monster Cable in the past too and we’re pretty sure he worked with Dr. Dre on his Beats headphones. Trust us on this one, we know.

As for Mark Jackson, he has ties to Braithwaite as well. He took him to his news conference in June where he announced that he’d be leaving ESPN and accepting the head coaching job at Golden State.

I’m not exactly sure what else these two guys were bringing to the table business wise, but I’d have to assume that these celebs didn’t know about their little side business.

Braithwaite is facing five felony counts related to his drug business and the DEA claims they have him on wiretaps coordinating drug-related activity. He pleaded not guilty to all five counts in June.

Not surprisingly, OTR’s Republican older brother tipped us off on this one. He would love nothing more than for this to be true. It would be another bad thing Obama did, and it would be to the hated Boston Celtics.

According to Shaquille O’Neal in some new book of his, Barack Obama ruined Rajon Rondo’s jumpshot. He claims he made a somewhat good-natured jab at him, but that Rondo took it really hard. From the book:

In early March some of the guys went to the museum of Fine Arts for a fund-raiser and got to hang with President Barack Obama. Everyone was a little bit in awe. The President turns to Ray [Allen], points at Rondo, and says, “Hey, Ray, why don’t you teach this kid how to shoot?” Everyone starts laughing.

[…]

KG told me he saw the look on Rondo’s face and the kid was devastated, embarrassed. Dissed by the President, even though I’m sure Obama didn’t mean any harm. Rondo smiled and went along with all of it, but KG told me he could see it in his eyes. It bothered Rondo. It killed him.

The next day Rondo shot the ball horribly. He stopped taking shots after that. He’s so sensitive. I think it was a real jolt to hear the outside perception of a basketball fan who happens to be the President of the United States. It messed with his mind. I’m sure of it.

We all know that Rondo has no jumper. You can look at his scoring stats, but a lot of that comes on drives, which he does really well. But, after the visit with the president in March, he shot 41% in March and 40% in April. Coincidence?

Side note though: While Obama was probably just cracking wise trying to be one of the guys, that’s kind of a dickish thing to say. As intelligent as Obama is, and as well spoken as he is, he does let stuff come out of his mouth sometimes that he should just keep to himself. Like the comments about the Special Olympics and the Boston Police (unrelated stories by the way). I’ll still take those occasional slips over the idiot who can’t remember “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

KDFM radio in Texas reports that Oklahoma City Thunder big man Kendrick Perkins was arrested early Saturday morning. He is charged public intoxication and disorderly conduct.

It’s not known if he was out and about just acting the fool and being reckless, or if he’s just an annoying drunk. Like, maybe he just kept telling the same story over and over and close-talking and people were like, “Yo, your friend has to go. He’s killing me with the pickup truck story. He’s told it like four damn times.”

Either way, he ended up in the cops’ hands. Both charges are misdemeanors and come with a maximum of $500 in fines. He posted the $150 bail shortly after being taken in.

Miami Heat guard Dwyane Wade is apparently open to playing in China during the lockout, as are many other players. But, according to his agent, he has yet to actually receive any offers.

“If offers are made down the road, will they be looked at? Absolutely,” Henry Thomas told ESPN.com.

There were previous reports that Zhejiang Guangsha had offered Wade $2 million per month to play in China. But, the team later denied that report.

The Chinese media was reporting that there would be huge offers made to the likes of Wade, Kobe Bryant and Dirk Nowitski. But, Thomas said that hasn’t happened yet.

“Neither Dwyane Wade nor I have received any offers like that,” Thomas said.

Sources told ESPN earlier this week that the Chinese Basketball Association was considering implementing a new rule that would make it extremely difficult (if not impossible) for NBA players to play in China during a work stoppage. Because….you hate top-tier talent in China? You like watching crappy basketball? Great rule!

We’ll see what happens, but there is a lot of talk of NBA players playing overseas, even if that place isn’t China. Sources tell OTR that China isn’t the only country in the world not named The United States of America.

Houston Rockets center Yao Ming is 7′ 6″ tall and has been dealing with the foot problems that go with that. That’s 310 lbs. on your feet constantly. It actually makes Shaquille O’Neal’s career that much more impressive. These are big dudes whose feet and knees can only take so much.

And so Yao has finally decided that he’s done with the NBA and has filed his papers to retire.

Yao entered the NBA in 2002 and was a very effective player when healthy. But “healthy” is the operative word. He played in just five games from 2009-2011 and underwent several foot surgeries.

Prior to the 2009-2010 season, the Portland Trailblazers signed Brandon Roy to a five-year, max contract worth $80 million. But lately, he’s had knee problems that have reduced him to a shell of his former self.

Could the Blazers have seen this coming? According to John Canzano of the Oregonian newspaper in Southwest Ohio, Kevin Pritchard, who was the general manager at the time, says the team was fully aware of his knee issues.

“Kevin Pritchard said the Blazers were aware of Brandon Roy’s knee issues when they gave him the max contract,” Canzano tweets.

Photo Caption: Roy’s insistence on using the “No Deodorant Defense” has limited his playing time over the past two years as coaches preferred he just try to steal the ball.

Wow. Remember Pritchard was hesitant to give him that deal and it made him the bad guy. We guess he’s actually looking like the smart one now, but you know the team will call BS. Just like after Tom Modrak left the Philadelphia Eagles front office, the team tried to claim that he wanted Akili Smith over Donovan McNabb in 1999. It could just be Pritchard taking shots at the team that fired him, but he’s the one that looks right about the knee.

Roy’s knee problems will most likely prevent him from playing a full season, but that shouldn’t be a problem since the NBA owners will most likely prevent him from playing a full season anyway.

Somewhere, Greg Oden is rubbing his hands together believing that he’s next in line for a huge max contract.

Remember how the Sacramento Kings signed former first-round pick Antoine Wright to a one-year deal last year and then unceremoniously cut him after just seven games? Neither do we.

However, Wright clearly remembers it and he tells SI.com in detail what his issues were with the Kings. It should be duly noted that Wright had a poor attitude and work ethic and was his own worst enemy. But according to him, it’s not all on him.

Wright recounts exactly where it went south with the team.

“I had an issue with one of the coaches and my mother,” said Wright. “Mario Elie. I’ll say his name because I had a history with him. We had just lost a game. It was over the holiday, Thanksgiving holiday, and my mother was in town and in the [team] family room [at Power Balance Pavilion in Sacramento]. She came up to Mario Elie, and said, ‘I’m Antoine Wright’s mom. Can I have a picture with you?’ My mom is a fan of the game, a big fan of Mario Elie, and he said, ‘No, I’m with my family.’

“We’re a team now, so I came into practice [the next day] and told everybody, I said, ‘When we go into film, I’m just going to put Mario on blast.’ So I walk in last, and I come in through the front and Mario is in the back, and I said, ‘Man, you know what? That’s foul what you did to my mom. All she wanted was a picture. Everybody in this room would have took a picture with your mom if she asked, or anybody else’s mom in this room. That’s probably why we don’t have any team chemistry.’

“The next day [Kings officials] came in and were like, ‘Uh, this is not really working for you. It’s not working for us. No hard feelings. We wish you the best.’ I said, ‘Thanks for the opportunity, and I’m gone.’ ”

Shocker! You called out a coach (fairly or unfairly) and they cut you mainly because you aren’t good enough to pull crap like this!

Wright has workouts with several teams coming up as he tries to get back into the league! These comments will surely show the brass that he’s changed his attitude and can again be trusted!

And he’s not done!

“My rift, really, with the organization was that I don’t think they prepared the guys enough to win basketball games,” Wright said. “We were probably the only team in the NBA that didn’t have a scouting report. How do you expect a young team to go out and carry a game plan? Every team I’ve been on, they give you a scouting report on every guy on the team, a couple paragraphs about each guy before you go out there and play against him.

“Coming on the court before the game was chaos — no structure whatsoever, and we kind of had a laid-back coach. Westphal was pretty laid back, and with a group of young guys, you’ve got to have somebody who comes in and disciplines them.”

Still not done! Tell us about DeMarcus Cousins!

“I’m not going to throw any of their players under the bus, but one of the main players who was a big part of our team, his attitude was really, really bad — I’m pretty sure you can figure out who that guy is,” he said before confirming that he was talking about DeMarcus Cousins. “Tyreke [Evans] had a pretty good attitude. His work ethic wasn’t great, but he’s a good young player. I believed in him completely. I just don’t think the coaches did enough to prepare us to win games.”

The Kings wanted no part of this story according to writer Sam Amick. That kind of tells us what they think of Antoine Wright.

“I was a disgruntled worker, man,” Wright said. “But I was coming into practice every day and I was really vocal, and I was just getting after it. I was trying to be competitive with it, so I would challenge Tyreke. I never had a problem with any of the guys. I think it was kind of a ‘me against the coaching staff’ type of thing. And they’re going to win that battle.”

He’s got that part right.

While we don’t think that there will be a one-hour television special (but you never know) where Orlando Magic big man Dwight Howard tells the world where he’ll play next, this could be just as big. Howard is up for free agency and Orlando is obviously praying that he stays with them. But, Howard tells NBA.com that he plans on testing the waters of free agency.

“I want to win a championship,” he said. “I think the owners have to really know that. That’s been my goal and my mission since I’ve been in the NBA — to win a championship. I don’t have side goals or agendas. My main goal is to win a championship. I want to have 14 other guys who feel the same way.”

Howard was asked if the Magic have that as of right now.

“It’s off and on. Sometimes guys are there whole-heartedly and then sometimes I’ve had teammates allow people getting in their ears and things like that effect the way that they play and approach the game.”

We’ll take that as a “not really.”

He went on to say that he didn’t tell management who they should or shouldn’t add to the roster.

“I just told them, ‘We’ve got to have guys who are going to play hard 48 minutes and who are going to battle the other team, who are going to fight night in and night out for a championship,’ ” he said.

Yeah, he’s gone.